Question / Help Problems with dual pc and mixer

[ZinnieGaming]

Hi,

So I decided to try a dual PC stream setup since I had an older PC laying around doing nothing, and I figured the best way to connect both PC's and my microphone was through an external mixer.

So I bought the Behringer Xenyx502 which had 5 inputs.

My plan was to run both PC's into separate channels on the mixer, and then connect headphones and microphone to it.
The issue is that once I connect both PC's to the mixer, static noise and crackling appears. If I play the PC's solo, the audio is fine, so it does not seem to be an issue from the PC themselves. but rather from having both of them live on the mixer at the same time.

Is there anyone that has had similar issues like this and perhaps has a fix?

 

[Simes]

Is all of your equipment grounded?

 

[ZinnieGaming]

yes, double checked every socket and cable.. Everything is grounded.. The mixer and second computer is also running on a separate outlet.

Have tried changing cables, rearranging sockets.. Its so weird, because solo'ing the channels, everything sounds clean, but as soon as I open both channels at the same time, I get a lot of noise.

Could potentially just be a defective mixer.

 

[vapeahoy]

seeing as you say "an older pc" you may be using onboard audio? If so try a usb audio card or something. I also had crackles with onboard when i tested it for fun. No such thing if you use anything but onboard, shouldnt be anyway.

 

[ZinnieGaming]

I thought it might be the on-board sound card.. But when I solo the PC channel, everything sounds fine.. WHen I solo both channels everything is fine.

It seems to only be a problem once I use both channels at the same time.
I did contact Behringer and hope that they might know a solution, if not, I might just buy a new mixer.

 

[vapeahoy]

Here's the thing tho, onboard audio is not just onboard audio. I watched an amusing vid on yt about this where some idiots basically set their sound cards on fire or what it was. Yes onboard can be fine if demands are low, it ends there however. There's many good reasons why you can find audio cards that cost just as much as a motherboard, even in the server price range ++++.

With onboard audio you inherit the influence of everything attached to your motherboard, the power supply, the grounding rmi, the eletrical conduit between ground and psu and so on and so forth.
A proper pci or an older pci even would be miles better then onboard no matter what motherboard it is. With a self powered usb audio card you rule out all other variables to quite an extent. By rule i mean minimize. A cheap way to achieve it which isnt so much used is also hdmi audio outlet from a hdmi adapter if you're going to run display to capture pc f.ex.
I'm not surprised at all it sounds fine when u run it solo, hence my starting comment.