Very loud audio pops?

[kazzamy]

Hi, have you ever experienced extremely loud audio pops?  I wasn't playing anything but just editing audio and all of a sudden, extremely loud pops.  They just happened randomly, I had to cover my ears because though the mixer was at very reasonable audio levels, the pop was at full volume.  It lasted instantly (think of dropping a very large object on the floor) but the Cakewalk main mixer which controls the output volume was peaked at red though I heard no audio after that pop.  I pressed play and there was no audio though mixer was still at max volume.  The pop returned and the mixer went down from max volume.  Any ideas what is the problem?  It doesn't happen often but really hurts my ears and might damage my gear.  

 

My gear:

* Windows 10

* Cakewalk 2021.9

* Brand new very high end computer with all SSD drives, 128 gigs Ram, latest version of Windows, etc.

* RME Fireface UCX with latest drivers 

* ATC speakers

 

[bitflipper]

EMI would be my first guess. Maybe RFI if you're near a strong radio source, e.g. a radar installation (but those tend to be cyclical) or a machine shop where they do arc welding.

Best defense against EMI is isolation and good grounding. Make sure all your gear is plugged into the same circuit and there are no "cheater" adapters in use. Check what else is sharing the circuit with your computer and interface, that there are no motors or compressors (e.g. refrigerator). Ideally, you'll have a dedicated circuit just for your recording gear, but that isn't always practical. If that isn't possible, a power conditioner might do - bearing in mind that a real power conditioner isn't cheap, and a power strip with a surge suppressor isn't a power conditioner, even if it says so on the sticker. Pull out the outlet you've got everything plugged into and make sure it's grounded correctly (should have a green wire that disappears into the conduit, hopefully going all the way back to the distribution panel). There are cheap testers you can get at the hardware store to test outlets; they'll alert you to the most egregious wiring mistakes.