Continuous Feedback Sound with Heat

Elektron Gear Analog Heat
#1

Hey everyone!

Got my Heat last week and I have to say i LOVE it. Its helped me attain a few sounds that I’ve been after for years (honestly subtle stuff, but important nonetheless). I’ve been using it via USB and it works really great, amazing workflow.

I did however run into a problem that I can’t deduce if its the Heat or some way I have my UAD set up. Basically, when trying to use the Heat in Analog mode I get a very loud high pitched sound continuously, sounds like a feedback loop sort of. This is without any signal being fed into it. If I feed a signal into it from the daw I’ll get a weird distorted effect that sounds not so good and I’ll hear the continuous sound pop in-between notes. Mind you, I’ve used it USB so I know what the distortion should sound like and this isn’t it. I’ve tried different cables, different routing and I just can’t seem to figure it out. Is there a special mode I need to be in on the Heat to avoid this? Or for the UAD users out there, do I need to fiddle in the console to stop what sounds like this continuous feedback loop?

Below is my setup:
Late 2016 Macbook Pro
2.6Ghz Intel Core i7
16 GB Ram
MacOS Mojave 10.14.4

UAD 9.8.0 (build 63443)
Apollo Twin Mk2 Interface

Analog Heat MK2 (1.11 V3 Beta)
Overbridge (latest version)

Really appreciate any help!

#2

What does “Analog mode” mean? No signal means no physical inputs attached or just no signal from DAW or other source? Do you hear the wired noise if there are no physical inputs and no USB cable is attached? Maybe input sensitivity to high?

#3

sounds linke a feedback loop
have you connected the heat directly sourced by one device only?

audio --> heat --> monitor speaker

if the noise is gone using direct you will have to rethink your cabling
also had this when I connected everything to my Mackie mixer but was feeding the “heated” signal back to heat and so on …

#4

I just meant, not through overbridge, with ins and outs. And No signal meant I wasnt running any sounds through it, it just constantly made the noise. I’ll check the input sensitivity, but I fiddled a bit with it and it didnt seem to work

#5

I can try this when I’m back at the studio, but even if that works it doesnt help me as I’m trying to record the signal, not perform with the device live.

#6

It seems that your routing is bad. Please detail it…
Is it through a mixer? Bus / Fx send ?

#7

Silly question. But is your gain too high on the analog heat? Might just be the simplest of things.

#8

So I tried turning down the input sensitivity, it seemed to sort of work but the incoming signal is crazy low and as I turn up the volume i start to hear a phasing sound (which im assuming is the feedback loop). On top of that, once I stop the playback in the daw after messing around a bit, it will hang on a feedback loop that won’t go away until i turn off the unit.

Heres how its routed:

The Outs on the Analog Heat are going to channels 1 and 2 on my Twin, I have them stereo linked (1/2).

The Ins on the analog heat are going into outs 3 and 4 on my Twin, I have them stereo linked (3/4).

In Logic (or Ableton as I’ve tried both now). My soft synth channel is being sent out 3/4 (on my twin). Then I have another audio channel receiving 1/2 (on my twin). It should theoretically be able to record the signal thats coming back into the computer at that point. Instead I either get complete feedback (input sens turned up) or an extremely quiet, finicky signal that one wrong knob twist will turn into a high pitched ringing sound.

Also I should mention I’ve tried using unbalanced and balanced quarter inch cables, as well as an XLR to quarter inch balanced cable for the inputs (on the twin). I’m really bad with understanding when to use certain cables (this is my first piece of hardware!) so it could be something as simple as that though I seemed to have tried all the combinations, and none of them produce different results.

#9

I replied below with the routing. When you say Bus / FX Send, are you talking about the routing within the DAW or within UAD’s console? Its worth mentioning that this will also give feedback with no Daw present, just with the console alone.

#10

Ok the routing can be complicated with your gear I don’t know…:slightly_smiling_face:

To be sure it’s feedback, i’d plug headphones on AH and remove cables from its outs to compare.

#11

Check if TWIN in 1/2 are not sent to 3/4 out.
How do you proceed to send your synth to 3/4 out?

#12

Ok, so I unplugged the outs of the heat and plugged into head phones and it now seems to be working properly, and its distorting as intended. So that means it must be a feedback issue, so thanks for that!

Now back to routing. I’m not sure what you mean Twin 1/2 are not sent to 3/4 out? I think by default anything going into the interface goes out the main out (which would be 1/2, not 3/4) or maybe it automatically goes through to all outs. I’m not sure how I would even check how 1/2 is going to 3/4 in console.

As for the synth, I’m doing that in Ableton. In Ableton I can set any specific channel to any output.

I think after all this I’m sure the problem is within UAD, now its just a matter of finding it :wink: Thanks for all the help thusfar!

1 Like
#13

If the 1/2 in signal goes to 3/4 out you have feedback. Feedback can be interesting too!
Good search. :slight_smile:

#14

I get that, but for the life of me I can’t find in the console where that would be. It looks like everything is set up properly, my 1 / 2 outs are sent to my monitors, and my 3 / 4 is just a line going out. I don’t see where I could check to see if my 1/2 input signal is going out to 3/4. I assumed it was just coming in and going out the main outs (1 / 2)

#15

Just wanted to bump this, still haven’t been able to figure this out. If anyone uses a UAD twin in this way your help would be appreciated!

2 Likes
#16

Did you ever figure this out, I am running it exactly the same way and it literally just plays a really loud feedback loop and is unuseable!

#17

Hey Jim,

So I did end up figuring it out but its been so long since I used it in Logic that I sort of forget what I did. I took a note thought and a picture that maybe will help you (if you are using UAD).

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Screen Shot 2019-10-16 at 1.45.48 PM.jpg1198×866 206 KB

Hope this helps in some small way!