I suspect PCI's bad reputation largely came about during the early days of soundcard design, when background noises were all too common in 16-bit models, and you were lucky to get a dynamic range of more than 60dB with models such as the Gravis Ultrasnd and Sound Blaster AWE32. Quite a few musicians still seem to think that choosing a PCI soundcard is more likely to give them audio problems than a USB or Firewire audio interface, but the reverse is sometimes true. These can occur both inside and outside the computer, but thankfully most can be cured with a little knowledge, a little sleuthing, plus the occasional use of a soldering iron. For PC users, I've written about many such causes and some possible solutions in previous issues of SOS (most recently in SOS May 2003), but there is another set of audio problems that can cause untold frustration for all computer users - fundamental hardware issues that cause hums, buzzes, and other background noises.
While there are plenty of possible causes of clicks and pops in digital audio recordings, most are related to the way the computer has been set up, are problems with the soundcard drivers, or are due to incompatibilities with other expansion cards in the same machine. We take a look at what causes them, and how to banish them for good! Many of the unwanted hums, clicks, and whirrs that compromise the performance of your computer studio are nothing to do with software.
