Today I wanna tell you what happened today. I went to a certificated Roland electronic repairman (one of the many available here in Italy). He told me that my tb 303 is absolute fine. I was bored for some kind of internal noise but he told me that all analogs has those kind of things, and that it can't be done anything.
Also he advised me to use some kind of gate or any other gear to cut the unwanted part of noise (kind of difficult, already tried). He also told me that its not really all because of grounding loop. Its the synth made like that.

Summary: Is it real? All (old) analogs has some unique timbre of noise?

Have you ever heard about that?

I use Audient ID14 MKII
here a little pattern cutoff to almost low freq, resonance high, env mod middle, decay middle, accent high:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/olmb...ey=dslqt65o5o21kkj7zl4rliq5b&st=wvyzr72f&dl=0


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zwu0...ey=qjcll8x9ev1lb7iki8j7n0qhu&st=asxvwr7v&dl=0
here is the noise floor, no played notes (play mode and pitch mode) i added 1 gain max (i think 10 db)
to let you hear everything:

cheap roland rcc-3-trtr cable (20 euro max) its trs, not xrl. i am waiting monday for my new cable

no DI BOX USED, it worst the sound quality my opinion (too low volume, noise replaced with another noise), i tried. also i am using pile battery (no ground loop problem)

BIG THANKS, BLESS YOU ALL.

 

Last edited: May 15, 2025

For brevity I'll just say yes. When is the noise occurring? When not playing both VCF and VCA should be closed...ie the gate is closed. If while playing... are we talking the squelchy wikka wikka i just took a tab and oohhh birds... kinda noise or are we talking clicks, pops, filter staying open after release ends kinda stuff? If we're talking more noise while you're not playing and it fluctuates or is high pitched then I'd suspect power issues with the socket you're using. If its constant loud white noise I'd suspect you arent gain staging correctly.

Noise can be lots of things. Gotta be super specific to start nailing it down.

Curious how you have a tb303 and not know what is supposed to sound like anyway? Once upon a time, a dime a dozen... that time is long gone.

 

This is normal. You are used to digital VSTs. It can add some personality to the mix.

 

All analog is noisy, not just synths but the processors as well. The only question is how much.

 

All hardware has noise, some more, some less. And yes, a gate is the answer.

 

Use a Gate FX VST as the first device in your mixer chain. There are often presets such as power supply noise or interference etc.!

 

Could you please me name me some good vst.

 

Can you post a wav sample zip about 10sec 16bit/44.1 no effect (no mixer) full dynamics as clear as possible, random pattern, let's have a listen.

what ADDA?

BTW never use gate fx, it really sucks.

 

FabFilter Pro-G

First in Chain: Placing the gate first removes unwanted noise before it hits other processors, preventing issues like noise being amplified by compressors or EQs

 

Even the stuff in the earlier digital age was quite noisy. My Kurzweil K2000 was so noisy I brought it into a repair shop. They tested it thoroughly and then were like "ah, yeah, no... these things just ain't better than that."

PS: If you need to get rid of the noise because your synth needs to be heard solo or something: Record it and take a noiseprint with izotope rx. but dont overdo it, a 10db reduction of noise should do.

 

Snr ..check what is and what influences it in a modern digital to analog converter, google is your friend and in italian should be “rapporto segnale rumore nella conversione digitale analogica” even chat gpt should help a lot..is not so complicated and is the base of the electronic debate about how better or colourful is the real synth compare to the emulated and so on… (digital synth emulated).
A good way to start is here:
https://gearspace.com/board/electro...nomy-early-digital-synthesizers-samplers.html

 

I use Audient ID14 MKII
here a little pattern cutoff to almost low freq, resonance high, env mod middle, decay middle, accent high

sure hese the dropbox:


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/olmb...ey=dslqt65o5o21kkj7zl4rliq5b&st=wvyzr72f&dl=0


here is the noise floor, no played notes (play mode and pitch mode) i added 1 gain max (i think 10 db)
to let you hear everything

cheap roland rcc-3-trtr cable (20 euro max) its trs, not xrl. i am waiting monday for my new cable

no DI BOX USED, it worst the sound quality my opinion (too low volume, noise replaced with another noise), i tried. also i am using pile battery (no ground loop problem)
:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zwu0...ey=qjcll8x9ev1lb7iki8j7n0qhu&st=asxvwr7v&dl=0

 

Last edited: May 15, 2025

I've listened to your examples. Change the outlet, move the device somewhere else – sometimes something interferes with the device, such as neighbors' baby monitors, etc. You've already ordered the XLR, and use Waves Z-Noise VST FX to filter out the noise afterwards.

I once had a Korg drum machine that had a very loud background noise. I was able to filter it out with a Gate FX VST.

GVST - GGate
- Noise gate effect - free VST audio effect plug-in download for music production, broadcasting and general audio editing.
https://gvst.uk/Downloads/GGate

 

Last edited: May 15, 2025

Your noise floor recording sounds like crosstalk between the digital circuitry in the TB to the analog path.
If you're into electronics, I'm sure you'll find the many resources about minimizing it.

I had a quick look at the PCB layout and Roland obviously didn't care much about separating the analog from the digital sections. It wasn't built to be a high end instrument in the first place.

 

Last edited: May 15, 2025

@r3neg8 it sounds perfect to me, don't care about it anymore, about -72db noise from this unit is definitely acceptable. forget about a gate and denoiser too.

That noise you recorded sounds weird to me, somehow bit reduced, have you tried to record something else? i.e. another keyboard or just nothing but a cable with the same input level.

p.s. to Behringer TD-3 users, can you hear how better it sounds lol

 

Last edited: May 15, 2025

re we talking the squelchy wikka wikka i just took a tab and oohhh birds.

lol that killed me too funny

 

Analog is noisy yes and the older the gear the noise can be worse than new caps break down over time plus just the analog in general is noisy why do you think we all crazy when digital gear cam out we were all like little girls in a barbie shop squeal!!!! oh also pots get dirty switches get dirty all adds to the fun. my advice find a great tech that knows there stuff to refresh your 303 IE clean/replace pots/ test caps/clean /replace triggers switches keep in mind just because they say they are Authorized Roland repair does not mean they know what they are doing it might just need to be cleaned.

 

Welcome in the world of analog "warmth".
There is a reason why I don't use anymore my still working old analog gear.

 

Yup, its normal, use a noise gate.

 

Yeah, i should take the synth as it is, and have fun with all its particularities.

Yes i have tried to record something else:
TR-707 (drum machine) sounds perfect, no noise. (maybe it is because is digital.)
JUNO-106 (synthesizer) has some high freq noise, but not the same high as the TB-303. (maybe it's grounding)