The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Argh, all my FX are off and when I play muted notes they sound echo-y (and record echo-y). Was it always this way? I don't like it.

Happens with two guitars, so I'm guessing it happens with all my guitars.

That's weird. Can't think of why that would be happening. Do you have some kind of software monitoring turned on?

All software was closed. I have input monitoring on my interface, but it's not something that should be happening out of the blue... more investigation is needed. I read something online that said maybe it's my action, but that seems silly.

I'll have to try plugging in more directly when I'm done with this stupid song.

Set your latency on your AISO buffer to a smaller number, like 512. (mixer>settings>ASIO buffer size>512) But that's generally for monitoring. Not sure why it's recording the latency. Unless you are also listening through whatever mixer/program that sets up that stuff and just "hearing" the echo, but it's not actually recording the echo. Just a shot in the dark, good luck.

Can you list everything in your signal path?

Guitar -> ??? -> DAW

Guitar -(1/4th)> Pod -(2x 1/4th)> Interface -(firewire)> motherboard -> DAW

I'm going to try pulling out the Pod, but that shouldn't be causing it since delay/echo aren't on... I'm wondering if it just always happened and I never noticed.

It's very common to hear a lame delay when your monitoring goes all the way into the daw before going back out to speakers. AFAIK, the only way to *record* that delay is have the daw record both pre and post monitor. That's not as tricky as it sounds. A lot of interfaces give you some options for monitoring, and blending wet/dry signal. ie: Is the software side of your interface (not the daw) allowing monitoring to happen, and feeding it back to the daw?

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Guitar -(1/4th)> Pod -(2x 1/4th)> Interface -(firewire)> motherboard -> DAW

You send a stereo signal to your interface?

Billy's Little Trip wrote:

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Guitar -(1/4th)> Pod -(2x 1/4th)> Interface -(firewire)> motherboard -> DAW

You send a stereo signal to your interface?

Pod sends out a stereo signal. Reverb, rotary, etc.

This probably isn't your issue, but it's a good tip in general: Put some tissue under the strings on the headstock of your guitar, past the nut. Not a big deal on electric, but on acoustic 12-string you'll eliminate all kinds of ringy, dissonant crap. Unless you like that. Which is fine.

Sober wrote:

Billy's Little Trip wrote:

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Guitar -(1/4th)> Pod -(2x 1/4th)> Interface -(firewire)> motherboard -> DAW

You send a stereo signal to your interface?

Pod sends out a stereo signal. Reverb, rotary, etc.

I know, I run through a POD too. But I go mono out to my interface so I can pan as needed without weirdness. The final mix down takes care of my stereo field.

Although stereo out from my POD does sound great. I only use it to go to my stereo head FX loop and stereo out to two cabs or my stereo split cab. Sounds amazing live.

Alright, here is the guitar plugged directly into the interface. It's not as bad as through the pod, but still note the resonance ruining what should be a sweet, clean muted sound.

Weird. Is it maybe string noise from behind the bridge or from the headstock behind the nut?

What's the common link? The interface?
Do you hear the echo when the guitar is plugged into an amp?
Do you have another interface you can try? If you send some other signal does it happen, like vocals or a keyboard?

I'm not hearing echoing, I'm hearing hum. That just sounds like technique to me. As in non involved string buzz that you're resting on, string buzz as you change muted notes, etc.
How much hum/buzz do you get if you just take all hands off the guitar? Ground loop? How close are you to your computer screen. Try turning your back to it or swiveling in your chair to a new spot.