Ableton Forum

does anyone ever have this problem with hardware synths?

i plugged in to my alesis main output jacks today( left mono, right mono) as well as the headphone jack and i got some scratchy noise, and the level was really low.

and on the headphone, i get sound only in one speaker instead of stereo.

now if i pull the cables out a bit from the jack, it all works fine, but if i plug the cables/headphones in all the way, i get weird scratch or mono sounds.

do my jacks need to be cleaned or something?

its very strange and annoying.

any help would be appreciated

Sounds like the jacks should be cleaned. If they work briefly when you jiggle the jack then the solder might have cracked on the plug joint. Open it up, touch the connection with a soldering iron for 4-6 seconds, be sure to heat up the metal as well as the solder. Rubbing alcohol or something similiar that doesn't leave a residue can be used to clean the jacks, or get some electronics cleaner.

When you pull the jack out you're actually getting mono out because the working part of the jack is touching the plug in two places, left and right.

Hope that helps...

bloody hell, i hope it helps too.

i just trieed it again.

when i plug my headphones in to the jack i only get sound into the right speaker. pull the headphone jack out 1/2 way and i get sound in both left and right(as you explained)

when i plug into the left mono main out, i get signal from the left speaker but the signal is about half as loud as it should be.
i get the exact same thing when plugging into the right jack.

oh well, i'll go buy some cleaner and report back.