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Subject:pops, sqeaks, crackles
Posted by: catpeeler
Date:5/14/2002 1:58:17 PM

I am having problems with tracks I record popping, clicking, crackling, etc. at a very even rhythm. It speeds or slows based on how i set the buffering. I am running a pentium 600 with a little more than a gig and a half of RAM. I am useing a Soundblaster Live! Value soundcard. I have nearly 20 gigs of harddrive space free and defrag regularly(the drive is partitioned. could that be a problem?). The problem only occurs when the track is set to "Beatmapped". I've tried downloading new drivers for my soundcard and have played with all the settings and variables it offers, all to no avail. i've reinstalled Acid several times and moved it onto both partitions. I am really stumped and will absolutely appreciate any sort of advise.
thanks!

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Maruuk
Date:5/14/2002 6:45:03 PM

If you're talking about long audio tracks you've recorded (10 seconds+), always run them as a "One Shot" and set the time limit for audio length to be played out of RAM at max. Are you running them as beatmapped because you have beatmapped them, or as a default?

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: catpeeler
Date:5/14/2002 7:38:04 PM

i am running them beatmapped as default. It messes with the speed of the file when i do anything else, but i'll try to get used to it. The beatmapper really helps when i'm using a click track. I run the beatmapper as default on my other machine and i have no problem. it's basically the same minus all the RAM and Vortex AUxxx soundcard. would it be worth my time to swap the soundcards?

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: catpeeler
Date:5/14/2002 8:22:00 PM

actually when i set the file to one-shot it still crackles at the same strange even pace. loops, no matter how long, do not crackle, but of course get out of time because of the stretching/shortening that occurs. the one-shot isn't using any RAM, or at least it doesn't prompt me to do so like loops. is there a way to make it? thanks much.

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Maruuk
Date:5/14/2002 9:01:25 PM

Yeah, under Preferences/Audio set the "open files as loops if between" and set the high mark on the right to 300. Try avoiding the beatmapping altogether. It may help sync for your sudio overdubs relative to your loops. Beatmapping has some complications which if you don't need them, avoid them.

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: longb
Date:5/15/2002 12:07:10 PM

Hey Dude, I just read off of microsofts website that WIN98 or WIN 98SE shouldn't have more than 512 megs of RAM - They say that anything overthat will be unused and cause problems

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: lilguitar
Date:5/15/2002 12:20:11 PM

I have 256Mb running 98se and have the same problem with the cracks and pops, so I don't think it's that. 2.0 has no problems so I am still using that version.

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/16/2002 1:25:12 PM

You may want to try updating your video card's drivers as well if you haven't done so already.

I used to have those problems with the Live! Value myself. I've since upgraded to an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 and don't encounter such problems anymore. The Live! is great for MIDI, but when compared to pro-quality cards for digital audio, the Live! eats their dust.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Vocalpoint
Date:5/16/2002 3:24:16 PM

Soundblaster? I don't need to read any further. Try and update to a pro level card as soon as you can.

Cheers,

Cuzin B

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: catpeeler
Date:5/17/2002 11:23:56 PM

i just switched up my soundcards to no avail(SB live! to Aureal Vortex). it really baffles me how a 600mhz, win98se, 256 MB RAM machine can run acid better than a 1ghz, win2k, 1.5ghz RAM machine, but i guess this is just another one of the many mysteries in my life that will go unsolved. any more advice is greatly apreciated. much thanks.

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Vocalpoint
Date:5/18/2002 12:47:10 AM

catpeeler,

When I mention upgrading to a pro level card - I didn't say Aureal for crap sake! Move up to a Delta or an RME or any other $500-600 card out there. This $98.00 crap will never work.

I am running the same layout as yours (Intel 1GHZ, Win 2000, 512 MB of RAM) but I have the Onmi Studio/Delta 66 for a sound card and I have no such problems. I also use a standard ASUS motherboard, Intel Chipset, Kingston RAM and other high quality hand picked parts - what is your machine composed of - maybe we can pin down the problem there?

Cheers,

Cuzin B

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: drbam
Date:5/18/2002 8:57:39 AM

>>When I mention upgrading to a pro level card - I didn't say Aureal for crap sake! Move up to a Delta or an RME or any other $500-600 card out there. This $98.00 crap will never work.<<

I want to reinforce that CuzinB said here. If you really want to produce a quality product and avoid a lot of conflict, then a good card is an essential investment. In addition to Delta and RME, I would add that Echo's interfaces (particilarly Layla & Gina) work flawlessly with SoFo apps and have great sounding converters. I've found the new Layla24 to be awesome ( I used the original Laylas as well).

drbam

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles - I CAN"T TAKE IT ANYMORE :)
Reply by: Vocalpoint
Date:5/18/2002 10:20:03 AM

And I want to back up drbam here too. The Echo interfaces are workhorses and always perform well. The point is this: If you are going to attempt to use pro level apps like Vegas, Soundforge and Acid, you CANNOT escape spending some decent coin on good hardware. Having said that....

***TAKE THREE BIG STEPS UP TO SOAPBOX HERE***

Here's my new favorite post condensed for all you folks who need to buy a clue...

" Hello SuccessFul (Non Clicking) Sonic Foundry Users. I have a $4800.00 PC running a 6 year old OS with a $4.23 Soundblaster Live sound card that I bought with my paper route money. This week I purchased Acid/Vegas/SoundForge/AnyOtherApp and tried to record something but all I hear is popping and cracking? Now, I have about 2 weeks experience with recording digital audio so I have deduced that it CANNOT be the PC cause I have 4GB of RAM installed and a 100GB hard drive and a Microsoft Steering Wheel and a webcam and blah,blah, blah and I have reinstalled everything and it's still happening! So - since I don't to say anything bad about my $4.23 Soundblaster cause all my friends use them to play games on - it must be the fault of Acid/Vegas/SoundForge/AnyOtherApp...that's the only thing I haven't blamed yet - Someone please help me - WAAA!"

If you fall into this category or even close to it - please stop the frickin' madness, would ya? You can blame the SF software all you want. You will never achieve ANYTHING with a crappy card. You will also notice loud and clear that the rest of us in here who use SF apps day in/day out from all kinds of projects never complain about popping and cracking. If we can do it - so can you.

Time for you to think about spending some cash on some real good sound gear and making something happen with your SF software investment and your recording time (you do actually record and make music with this stuff right?) or continue on as the cheesy overpriced PC buyin', Win98SE poppin' and crackin',Soundblaster installin', Steering Wheel usin' weekend gamer lamer that you really are.

***TAKE 3 BIG STEPS DOWN FROM SOAPBOX HERE****

Sorry for the blast but - man - I can't take one more post like this....please....make...it...stop....:)

Cuzin B

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/18/2002 12:10:22 PM

To add to everyone's said, here are some links to great soundcards. I wouldn't recommend buying direct; you can get soundcards such as M-Audio's Audiophile 2496 for about $160 street.

The list:
Echo
M-Audio (Midiman)
Terratec
RME

There are more but this is just to get you started. :)

Iacobus

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Maruuk
Date:5/18/2002 1:12:27 PM

My Echo Mia for $175 has top 24-bit converters and dsp mixing/mult app support and all the latest drivers. Short of more I/O, whaddya want?

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: jsv
Date:5/19/2002 6:32:06 AM

Hi there,

I also have the Echo Mia on an Athlon xp 1700 with 256Mo DDRAM under Win 2K and I get a lot of crackles recording with Acid in 24 bit (no problem in 16 bit). I have the latest driver and i tried reinstalling Acid several times but the crackles remain. Any advice...???

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: catpeeler
Date:5/19/2002 4:55:36 PM

I have actually come to the conclusions that the soundcard was not at all my issue after talking to a few audio engineers i know and that cuzinb is a complete tool. i am of course well aware that aureal and SB soundcards are not "professional" quality, but the fact is that i achieved absolutely passable results using the aureal soudcard in my home computer. why the other computer doesn't take to ACID can only now be explained by some sort of more deeply rooted driver or hardware conflict. as another absolute audiophile fallacy i am in a last ditch effort going to try to use my ONBOARD SOUND! to all those who offered sincere advise: thank you.

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Vocalpoint
Date:5/20/2002 8:14:03 AM

catpeeler,

I am a tool? I don't come into these forums complaining about software that mysteriously doesn't work and sound cards that should be thrown in the garbage when put in the same sentence with digital recording.

Your so called "audio engineers" should know better and should tell you the real story.

Cuzin B

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:5/20/2002 10:46:48 AM

if you had a monster truck, would you put bicycle tires on it?? how well do you think its performace would be?? very poor indeed...

thats what happens when you put common consumer sound cards in an audio machine...

because yours is a monster machine and acid has its rough spots, dont you think a set of off-road tires would give better performance than those common bicycle tires??

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/20/2002 3:43:20 PM

To jsv:

I remember reading about an issue with recording via S/PDIF in at 24-bit/96 kHz with the Mia can produce erratic audio. That was a little while ago though, so I'm sure Echo fixed it via newer drivers.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: jsv
Date:5/20/2002 4:23:33 PM

To MD

The problem is that I record throug the analog input... and not the digital so there sould not be any problem + i have the latest driver for the mia.
The solution that i found is using Cubase. It's a shame coz Acid is so much easier to use...

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Maruuk
Date:5/20/2002 6:53:01 PM

Ultimately it's all a truth-in-advertising issue. If SF would simply add the following line to it's minimum config blurb nobody could complain:

"Pops, squeaks and crackles will occur with any system utilizing drives not defragged in the last 10 minutes, sound cards that cost less than $800, a non-DAW environment, and/or any other typical cheap-assed setup at least 3 months old that non-OCD, non-wealthy normal average users have."

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/21/2002 1:18:23 PM

I've had niggling crackling issues with my Audiophile 2496 ($160) and ACID Pro up until a few driver revisions ago. No problems since then.

Does anything think it might have to do with sloppily-written MME (WDM) soundcard drivers? (I know Cubase uses ASIO rather than MME.)

Also, this is an ages old issue, not exclusive to ACID. I see it all the time in other music forums, with people who use Cubase, Logic, et al., with all kinds of system setups, pro and consumer.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: pops, sqeaks, crackles
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:5/26/2002 5:36:57 AM

Windows Driver Model Audio Update for Windows 98 Second Edition (Q242937)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:


Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition


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If this article does not describe the error message that you are receiving, view the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article to view more articles that describe error messages:
Q315854 Windows 98 and Windows Me Error Message Resource Center


SYMPTOMS
The update described in this article implements significant modifications to the internal workings of Windows Driver Model (WDM) audio. If you are experiencing one or more of the following problems, you should obtain and install the update described in this article. If you are experiencing problems with WDM audio that are not documented below, it is possible that they may be alleviated by the update.

When you are using a multiple-channel Universal Serial Bus (USB) audio microphone, Sound Recorder (Sndrec32.exe), or other recording program, record only static or distorted sound. This problem does not occur for mono devices, or those that support no greater than 16-bit audio.


After an apparently successful installation, (USB) Microsoft Digital Sound System is not listed as a preferred device in the Playback section of the Audio tab in the Multimedia tool in Control Panel. A reboot is required to fix the problem.


When you double-click a MIDI sequencer (.mid or .rmi) file, the volume level control in Windows Media Player (Mplayer2.exe) is disabled and no sound is played, but no error message appears. This problem can occur after you insert a PC Card, and is a consequence of internal Wdmaudio device cleanup during Plug and Play enumeration. Rebooting the computer clears the problem. Note that this, as well as the next two items, are different manifestations of this common cause.


If you try to open a MIDI sequencer (.mid or .rmi) file in Media Player (Mplayer.exe), the following error message is displayed:


The specified MIDI device is already in use. Wait until it is free, and then try again.
Program developers who are working with the Multimedia MCI control may encounter an "MCIERR_SEQ_PORT_INUSE" error message ("The specified MIDI device is already in use. Wait until it is free, and then try again"). The Multimedia MCI control manages the recording and playback of multimedia files on Media Control Interface (MCI) devices. Conceptually, this control is a set of buttons that issues MCI commands to devices such as audio boards, MIDI sequencers, CD-ROM drives, audio CD players, videodisc players, and videotape recorders and players. The MCI control also supports the playback of Video for Windows (*.avi) files.


After you insert a PC card, the Volume Control (Sndvol32.exe) volume slider controls are all disabled and set to maximum. Additionally, some names may be corrupted in the mixer devices listed on the Devices tab in the Multimedia tool in Control Panel. A reboot is required to fix the problem.


An audio chip may stop working after your computer has been in a power-saving mode. Some audio chip driver installations may place a Power Management tab in the Power Management tool in Control Panel. For example, this tab may allow you to configure the device for 'D2' (low power; the context may be lost by the hardware, depending on the device class). If the system is left idle, enters a power-saving mode higher than the audio device, and is then woken up, subsequent attempts to play sounds may not work because the device might not be placed back in the 'D0' (fully on) state.


If you remove a set of USB speakers while a MIDI file is being played, and then reinstall them, they may no longer work. Additionally, the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" device may be missing from the MIDI for WDM-based Device list under MIDI Devices and Instruments on the Devices tab in the Multimedia tool in Control Panel.


Disabling and enabling a PCI audio device may result in the following error message:


A fatal exception 0E has occurred at (address) in VXD WDMAUD(06) + (address).
USB audio devices that do not support sampling frequency control may not play sound (.wav) files. Additionally, attempts to record from such a device may result in one of the following error messages:


A fatal exception 0E has occurred at 0028:FF02D808

A fatal exception 0E has occurred at 0028:FF027240 in VXD USBD(01) + 00000440
Calling the Multimedia API waveInOpen function returns WAVERR_BADFORMAT; calling waveOutOpen may generate the exception.
Programs that use PCI Audio Wave devices in full-duplex mode may elicit a system memory leak of 64 bytes each time an audio stream is created, or its properties are programmatically examined.


Programs that use devices that support rendering of multiple streams or hardware acceleration may occasion system memory leaks of 8 bytes each time the device is de-initialized.


Windows 98 Second Edition does not support 24-bit and 32-bit PCM waveform audio. See the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) entry for the Windows Multimedia WAVEFORMAT structure, where nBlockAlign can be set to 6 or 8, respectively. For PCM data, the block alignment is the number of bytes used by a single sample, including data for both channels if the data is stereo.


You may experience problems with AC-3 Passthrough on computers running Windows 98 SE.





RESOLUTION
A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem described in this article and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS
NOTE : In special cases, charges that are normally incurred for support calls may be canceled, if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. Normal support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:
Date Time Version Size File name
------------------------------------------------------
3/21/2000 8:34:03pm 4.10.2223 137,312 Kmixer.sys
3/21/2000 8:34:03pm 4.10.2223 169,376 Portcls.sys
3/21/2000 8:34:04pm 4.10.2224 41,568 Usbaudio.sys
3/21/2000 8:34:04pm 4.10.2225 69,120 Wdmaud.sys





STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.



MORE INFORMATION
In addition to the items noted in the "Symptoms" section, additional internal enhancements have been made to WDM audio support. For example, device power management has been improved to minimize hardware interrupts during the transition to Sleep mode. Internal data buffering for Direct Music has been improved to prevent input starvation.

For additional information about Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition hotfixes, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q206071 General Information About Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition Hotfixes

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