Hercules Starlight Controller - Headphone Output Crackling with 2nd Audio Interface.

[Michael_Wisniewski]

Not really a bug report, thought someone might run into the same issue - so here’s the Problem with a Solution.

In djay Pro, the Hercules Starlight headphone jack outputs a crackling sound in the preview audio whenever a second audio interface is used for the main audio out - as if the Starlight headphone jack is not getting enough power. In the photo below, the Mackie MDB-USB DAC (black box with XLRs) is outputting the main audio and the Starlight controller will be used for headphone preview/cueing.

For some reason the crackling in the Starlight headphone jack occurs when the audio is routed directly like this:

But the crackling in the headphones goes away if you put both audio devices into an aggregate device, and route the aggregate device in djay Pro like this:

Notes:

1. The exact same setup with the Numark DJ2GO2 Touch doesn’t have this problem. The Numark works as expected - only the Hercules Starlight has this issue.

[Djdash]

Out of interest, do your cables have that little knob at the end of the cable that grounds the cable reducing interference?

[Michael_Wisniewski]

Are you talking about ferrite cores? All my USB cables have ferrite cores.

[Djdash]

Yes correct. That is what I was talking about. If that is not the problem then unfortunately I am at a loss.

[Emily]

Hi @Michael_Wisniewski,

Thanks for sharing your findings here with the Hercules Starlight and this particular setup. That is interesting indeed!

In addition, I’ve shared your feedback about this with our Development Team in case there’s something we can do on our side in future developments to improve the ease of audio setup using this particular hardware. Thanks again for sharing your feedback!