Subject:SF8: Audio Spike

Posted by: Larry1

Date:11/13/2007 3:49:33 PM

Hi,

I'm using SF8.0d. When editing, I will often place a marker at the end where I want the file cut. Delete the remainder. Then create a fade out. Then add a second of silence at the end. The problem: I will often times get an audio spike at the point where I cut the file. Then I end up having to cut that out :( Is there anything I can do to eliminate that? NEVER had that with previous versions.

Thx

Larry

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: Kennymusicman

Date:11/14/2007 3:03:49 AM

Are you cutting at a zero crossing?

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: Steven Myers

Date:11/14/2007 4:10:04 AM

I mixed an album a few months ago. When I was making my final idiot checks before sending things off to the mastering engineer, I was surprised (and dismayed) to find single, audible "clicks" at the ends of several songs.
Granted, these were not "spikes," and I did not add anything after the cuts, but it seems similar to what the OP described.
(I, too, was using 8.0d at the time)

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: Larry1

Date:11/14/2007 6:01:42 AM

No. And I understand that cutting at a zero crossing would produce a desired result (no spike) . Some of my songs (hard rock) I'd be hard pressed to find a zero crossing ;) In versions past, I didn't have this issue.

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: ForumAdmin

Date:11/14/2007 6:49:51 AM

After deleting the tail end, make sure you select to the end of the file and not just up to the marker position. 7.0 behaved identically. 6.0 and earlier treated selection ends inclusively, so this didn't come up the same in those versions.

FWIW, I've already adjusted 9.0 to go ahead and include the last sample when selecting up to a marker that falls on it, since that is almost always the desired behavior. That will appear in the next update.

J.

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: Larry1

Date:11/16/2007 5:52:09 AM

Thanks kindly :)

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: Larry1

Date:11/16/2007 5:57:49 AM

"I was surprised (and dismayed) to find single, audible "clicks" at the ends of several songs.(I, too, was using 8.0d at the time) "

Same thing ;(

Fwiw, even on some tracks where there wasn't a visible spike in the audio (full zoom in), I would hear a soft bump (no better words to discribe it) in the audio, and mild jump of the meters . I would go ahead and cut that out, and the bump would be gone. Strange.

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: Larry1

Date:11/16/2007 6:12:48 AM

"FWIW, I've already adjusted 9.0 to go ahead and include the last sample when selecting up to a marker that falls on it, since that is almost always the desired behavior. That will appear in the next update."

I really try to be understanding about software developers and issues that arise, and I was just going to let this go by. But I guess I just have to add a further comment. This edit that I do is so basic that I really don't understand why the issue is there in the first place. Particularly since it wasn't there in other versions. I've owned SF since it first came out and was my 'go to' editing software. Ok, I didn't use it all that much (most just making music in the studio vs. editing), that it didn't really annoy me until now. And I guess that I'm feeling a little 'burnt' having it included in an upgrade that I'll have to pay for later, going from 8.0 to 9. I really have no problem supporting SF. Afterall, you have brought editing audio to us slobs. But something this basic should not be an issue. And as you have said
"that is almost always the desired behavior", I don't know, atleast in my audio when it wouldn't be. Maybe it would be best as something that could set in Preferences.

Thanks. And I don't mean to be malicious about this post. SF is basiclly a great piece of software, and I appreciate the efforts.

Larry

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: ForumAdmin

Date:11/16/2007 7:13:22 AM

It was the same in v7.0, when selection ends were changed from inclusive (end = start + length - 1) to exclusive (end = start + length) to align Forge with the rest of our applications (and pretty much everyone else, too).

When selecting right to a specific sample (marker or region) we select "up to" but do not include/process the sample the marker lies on (that is, region ends are also exclusive, e.g. wouldn't want to process the first sample of region 2 when processing region 1).

The single exception is when the marker lies on the last sample (because certain file formats do not allow it to fall beyond the last sample and some programs, including Forge, will bound such markers to the last sample anyway). While it is "correct" not to include the sample for this selection methodology, it is not usually what the user intends, hence my recent change.

You certainly don't need to upgrade for this behavior, and I didn't intend to imply that. Just make sure you always select to the end of the file instead of the marker (either Ctrl+Shift+End or Shift+Click in the non-data area). Another FWIW, it sounds like a short script could do all these steps for you with a single click. Scripting is available to you in v8.0.

J.

Subject:RE: SF8: Audio Spike

Reply by: Larry1

Date:11/17/2007 6:41:49 AM

J,

"Another FWIW, it sounds like a short script could do all these steps for you with a single click. Scripting is available to you in v8.0."

Thanks for the detailed reply. Will check it out.

Best Regards

Larry