Possible causes for cracking sounds? -ACID Product Family

Subject:Possible causes for cracking sounds? Posted by: Mathieu Date:8/12/2009 10:02:03 AM Hi, Until recently I had very few cracking sounds when I played an ACID project, but lately it's been getting worse: for example, if I play a 3-minute piece, every minute I'll get cracking sounds beyond what's bearable, and will have to stop, open the options tab, close it and resume playback in order to get a clean sound. I tried to increase the latency of my sound card (from 20 ms up to 500ms) but it doesn't change a thing. Decreasing the sample rate helps (e.g. from 96KHz to 44.1), but I still get cracking sounds quite frequently. I also tried to not load too many VST plugins, suspecting a RAM overload, but that didn't change a thing (and I have 3GB). So my question is, what other changes should I try? Is there another cause for that?
Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds? Reply by: kitekrazee Date:8/12/2009 9:52:52 PM What sound card are you using?
Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds? Reply by: Mathieu Date:8/13/2009 2:27:23 PM EMU 0404 USB. I tried to investigate the problem a little more, and found out that there is an improvement when I turn off the buit-in effects of the Garritan Steinway (the "Ambience" setting). So it looks like processor overload, doesn't it? But then I have a fairly powerful EMU 0404, so it seems to me that the USB controller in which the EMU is plugged might be responsible for this. Sadly, I have 3 USB 2.0 sockets and the same symptoms on all 3...
Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds? Reply by: Geoff_Wood Date:8/13/2009 3:16:18 PM CPU overload has nothing to do with what USB you are using, or the 'power' of your interface - it is the computer's own resources that are limiting. If that is inddeed what is wrong. It is odd that things have changed. Anything else plugged into USB ? Even a few 'greedy' plugins can stress a marginal system. What type and speed CPU do you have, presumably at least a P4 given the RAM you mention, and what HDDs and type (SATA, IDE, USB, Firewire) ? Also kill of superflous stuff like AV. geoff Message last edited on8/13/2009 3:20:10 PM byGeoff_Wood.
Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds? Reply by: Mathieu Date:8/15/2009 10:21:52 AM I think I finally found a way around this: I use the Garritan Steinway through the ARIA for ACID interface (it appeared under the other Garritan libraries after I installed it), instead of inserting the Steinway itself as a soft synth. No more cracking sounds, no more crashing, it's much much more stable. I think that decreasing the sample rate for my project helped, too.

Subject:Possible causes for cracking sounds?

Posted by: Mathieu

Date:8/12/2009 10:02:03 AM

Hi,

Until recently I had very few cracking sounds when I played an ACID project, but lately it's been getting worse: for example, if I play a 3-minute piece, every minute I'll get cracking sounds beyond what's bearable, and will have to stop, open the options tab, close it and resume playback in order to get a clean sound.

I tried to increase the latency of my sound card (from 20 ms up to 500ms) but it doesn't change a thing. Decreasing the sample rate helps (e.g. from 96KHz to 44.1), but I still get cracking sounds quite frequently.

I also tried to not load too many VST plugins, suspecting a RAM overload, but that didn't change a thing (and I have 3GB).

So my question is, what other changes should I try? Is there another cause for that?

Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds?

Reply by: kitekrazee

Date:8/12/2009 9:52:52 PM

What sound card are you using?

Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds?

Reply by: Mathieu

Date:8/13/2009 2:27:23 PM

EMU 0404 USB.

I tried to investigate the problem a little more, and found out that there is an improvement when I turn off the buit-in effects of the Garritan Steinway (the "Ambience" setting). So it looks like processor overload, doesn't it? But then I have a fairly powerful EMU 0404, so it seems to me that the USB controller in which the EMU is plugged might be responsible for this. Sadly, I have 3 USB 2.0 sockets and the same symptoms on all 3...

Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds?

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:8/13/2009 3:16:18 PM

CPU overload has nothing to do with what USB you are using, or the 'power' of your interface - it is the computer's own resources that are limiting. If that is inddeed what is wrong. It is odd that things have changed. Anything else plugged into USB ?

Even a few 'greedy' plugins can stress a marginal system. What type and speed CPU do you have, presumably at least a P4 given the RAM you mention, and what HDDs and type (SATA, IDE, USB, Firewire) ?

Also kill of superflous stuff like AV.

geoff

Message last edited on8/13/2009 3:20:10 PM byGeoff_Wood.

Subject:RE: Possible causes for cracking sounds?

Reply by: Mathieu

Date:8/15/2009 10:21:52 AM

I think I finally found a way around this: I use the Garritan Steinway through the ARIA for ACID interface (it appeared under the other Garritan libraries after I installed it), instead of inserting the Steinway itself as a soft synth. No more cracking sounds, no more crashing, it's much much more stable. I think that decreasing the sample rate for my project helped, too.