Well, I am worried just because I don’t know what’s happening. Dunno if it’s dangerous for my health and for my gear or even my house

Here’s a list of things to try:

  • Have your outlets inspected for proper earth ground
  • Stop using the interface, record to handheld device instead
  • Try using the interface with “audio ground isolators”
  • Make a proper chassis bond to ground for all your affected gear
  • Isolate yourself from being part of the circuit (rubber-soled shoes or rubber gloves, etc)
  • Increase the humidity in your home (for marginal improvement)
  • Consult Graham Hinton on MW
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It honestly sounds like the power supply within your interface has gone bad. What is its model?

Regarding risks: I am shy to possibly over- or understate your risks… I am an engineer, but I am not your engineer. The likeliest risk is only discomfort, but this could be a symptom of an unexpectedly serious electrical fault. Or you could be unexpectedly susceptible to electric shock due to weak heart, etc. I can only say, I have been in similar situations (temporarily) and endured the issue rather than fixing it.

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If it worries you this much you should contact an electrician to inspect it. The cost will probably be worth your peace of mind.

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I concur with oot here. There are to many variables and this should be looked at by somone with fluency in how electricity and electrical current works on a practical level. It would be easy enough to trouble shoot with a meter and a systematic approach to isolate the problematic gear or other source of the problem. I have never been shocked by musical gear, my car though is a giant static genetator and shocks me often, like rubbing socks on a carpet…

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I am thinking it could be a power supply gone bad. How do I check that?

I already gave you a whole list of things to attempt; feel free to post here with new info and we’ll try to help as best as we can.

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Seconding @desolationjones’ advice. My advice was concerning an understanding that a specific piece of gear seemed to be shocking you regularly rather than many.

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Ok, I will keep you posted and make sure I check both the outlets and the synths individually. Do you think my synths could have been damaged by this “parasitic” electricity? I am using a power strip with the on-off button but I am not sure it is a surge protector

Surge protectors are for protecting against over-voltage events (lightning, etc.). We are talking about leakage current, i.e. electrical power being dissipated through the chassis. Your chassis is electrically coupled to mains via capacitance; this is either by poor design (parasitic capacitance), degradation of power-coupling capacitors (direct capacitave coupling), or a fault with your electrical grounding. Or any combination thereof.

The safety mechanisms against leakage current include: fuses, and ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), aka residual current device (RCD). Fuses protect against high-current faults and are more about preventing fires than preventing you from getting shocked. GFCI/RCD somewhat protect you from leakage current but are typically only found in bathrooms and kitchens in the USA. Some countries have whole-house RCD.

If the voltage on your chassis is high enough to feel, then it is high enough to damage sensitive electrical components. But the same could be said for the static electricity from your socks. In truth these voltages will be attenuated greatly by the design of the synth circuits and you are much more likely to get unwanted humming rather than any damage.

Inspection of your outlets is critical. I would also suggest removing or replacing your interface. Don’t worry about the health of your synths until you have taken measures to ensure your own welfare.

Some reading on the subject:
I’m Shocked: Why am I getting a Tingle?
Handbook for Sound Engineers: Leakage Current

Tingle says, “Stay safe; get an electrician! Koo-loo lim-pah!”
image

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These articles are great! I need more please! :slight_smile:-) this is making me think a lot, especially about my 15 years old boss pedal I am using in my setup and about my korg volca drum which got spilled beer in its inlet…I also used pretty old cables a few times

I just saw a guy posting on Facebook the photos of all his burned synths. His whole studio destroyed. He said it was raining and he had left all his gear on. He was downstairs, the light went off and then everything was burning.

Reading this and watching the pictures made me deeply sad and got me anxious.

What could’ve happened?
Was it lightning? Could the guy have died?
Should we avoid to play our synths while it’s raining?
Any suggestions?

It sounds like you need to “get your hands dirty” with electricity. You have a lot of a fear of a thing you don’t understand well, but there are lots of good (and safe!) ways to build useful things with electricity. The phenomenons you’re afraid of are things that are much easier to make sense of once you need to work with it.

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you are definitely right…but watching pictures of a guy who had an entire collection of synths amassed over the years burning like that it is scary. Do you know what could’ve happened with this guy?

There is no point in pure speculation here.

There’s nothing special or different about synths or audio equipment with regards to electrical safety. Think of all the other electrical things in homes everywhere. They don’t just spontaneously catch fire when it rains.

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I’d practice the same comomon sense as you woud with computer equipment. If its a bad thunderstorm, turn off everything and unplug till it passes. A lightning strike can surge and blow out anything thats plugged in, but that’s so rare. I honestly leave my shit on all the time and I live a hundred year old house. If I know there’s a massive thunderstorm coming I then do unplug.

Without knowing all the details its really hard to say what could have caused that guy on Facebook’s problem.

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Edit: Thanks for moving this here.

Hello llllllllers,

I have a ground issue I think? Having built a new skiff this weekend for a Make Noise system with some added modules I have found a grounding issue that I am hoping there is a cure for.

When using the 0-ctrl with the new skiff the pressure sensitivity outputs on the 0-ctrl do not function? I am not sure why though. I’ve unplugged modules and I thought I found the culprit but it was a false positive on the mutable ears.

I just moved from the UK to Denmark and none of the power outlets in my new flat have a ground, they are all 2 pin. Does anyone know whether it’s safe to use these outlets for my monitors (genelec 8030), desktop pc with monitor, modular power supply etc (all of these use a 3 pin ‘kettle cable’ in the UK). It seems so wrong to plug something expecting a ground into a 2 pin outlet but I’m not sure what my options are. Can anyone in Denmark advise? Thanks

That sounds like a recipe for disaster. One modular case alone (with headphones) will likely not be a problem since most modular PSUs are isolated (check for the nested squares symbol). Even then you will probably get tingles from touching the metal panels and chassis as they charge up via parasitic capacitance. As soon as you attach it to anything else you are probably going to get some mild hum, zaps, etc., even without fault conditions.

Your own personal safety is at risk since there is no chance of properly grounding a chassis. If a fault condition energizes a metal part you are relying on your Residual Current Devices (RCD) to keep you from frying, presuming you have a whole-house RCD. Those protective devices might be the norm in Europe but in America it can be quite a fire hazard to have ground faults, especially if the wiring is shoddy. Loose neutral connections are a common failure which can place some reliance on the ground to conduct current away.

It’s worth consulting with an electrician. They may help you locate a grounded metal pipe or similar to use for your sensitive gear. They can also advise you much better than I can about the local standards.

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Yeah it’s a bit of a nightmare, I’ll check with an electrician and hope it doesn’t cost a fortune. I always took the UK electrical standards for granted. Thanks for the reply.

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