FYI,,,
Thankfully the owner of the sewing store where i purchased my Artistic18 came out to my home to take a look at the machine.
My problems were all caused by the tensions set wrong. He recommends the settings be at 4. He also had to adjust the bobbin.
For threads he recommends RA ~ Robison-Anton 100% cotton 50wt. I've never heard of it before,,,trust me it works in my machine. He also mentioned that the stitching works much better if using batting by warnm & natural (which is what i like)
That weird noise ,while using the encoder mode,,, he didn't feel it was a problem. That i just needed to control my speed ( get into a rhythm ) try not to slow down & speed up. I didn't think i was but i promise to work harder on that.
Now that the tension on my machine is set right the TENSION in me will be much better also. lol
Hope this helps the rest of you. Happy Stitching Ladies!