horrific noise floor

[saemskin]

My test input/output consists of any synth in my studio and an old pair of Koss headphones that are broken in half, so its not line level.  True mono operation.     When I checked the DS-1 it worked fine, but tonight I connected it to my DAW and holy smokes the noise floor is at nearly -30 dbfs!  And the Green Ringer I completed and built a nifty little encolusre for out of uhmw sides and lexan top/bottom has a -22 dbfs noise floor.

This renders these things completely unusable.  Is there anything I can do to fix this poroblem?  The BYOC delay I built has a noise floor at around -58 dbfs which works fine with a gate plugin.

[Meanderthal]

 It's a dirt box, compared to other kinds of pedals it WILL seem noisy as hell at high gain settings. This is normal. Actually, a ds-1 isn't as bad as some! You have to get pretty handy with the stompswitch with distortions- bypass when not using. That's just the nature of the beast. You might want to try a gate, or better yet a good expander after it... or maybe seek out a 'gated' distortion like the opamp muff fuzz...

[Meanderthal]

 One thing I forgot to mention- Lexan is plastic, right? You really should shield the enclosure if noise is a concern. Won't guarantee a reduction, but it will eliminate one possible cause. Using old aluminum electrolytics or old pots can add noise... also any kind of booster will bring out the noise that's already coming from a synth. Some of mine have noise problems...