Snap Crackle and sometimes Pop

[rguagenti]

Working with CWHS2004XL, on Windows XP Professional, 1 GIG RAM plenty of storage. Using an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Soundcard, just downloaded the latest drivers.

Everything was rolling along just fine until one day I sat down and wanted to lay down a vocal track on a song that I am building. The tracks all DXI synths(Edirol and RealGuitar) and play fine. That is until I add an Audio TRack and start to record the vocal, I get stuttering and popping in the playback. As soon as I delete th Audio track all is right with the world.

I went back to some other past projects and the same thing. If I Archive the Audio track the song plays fine. Once I de-Archive it, stuttering at al. My typical song consists of all DXI synth tracks and my vocal track.

If I mixdown to audio I get the stuttering(because now it's a pure audio track.)

My rocket science brain finally determined that I have a problem with the pure Audio tracks. Once I add it to the song Snap Crackle and sometimes Pop(Dropout).

I've done the delete AUD.INI file, defragged the computer, defragged the file,
switched between ASIO, WDM , Use Default, latency adjustments, buffer size adj. infinitum ad nauseum.

Any help would be appreciated. It's Sunday night and I want to sing, but to no avail.

Thanks for any help.

[Jamz0r]

Your problem is simple...

Stop eating cereal in the studio!


lol..
Before your list of troubleshooting, I'd have said to look into your latency settings.
Other than that, maybe do some selective startup and disable any background apps while you record.

[warble2]

What chipset does your motherboard possess? I've had issues previously with the M-audio 24/96 PCI card and VIA chipsets. I tried a variety of things to try to get it working, but it just wouldn't play well.

It's been a couple years since my problems occured, so it's possible newer revisions of the drivers would have helped, but I had a lot of headaches.

[Freudian Slip]

Just for kicks I'd look under Options, Audio and see what you have set as your timing masters. You may have a problem there. You may also want to look under the advance (in the same place) and try switching your synchronization option back and forth to see if that helps.

I had a problem a little like that in PA9 (only dealing with audio) and getting those options set up right cured it for me. To long ago to remember exactly what setting got thing right though.



F.S.

[TelePaul]

Im a cubase user but I had something similar...it still creeps back from time t time when i run alot of plug ins, but I only have 512mb. I know exactly what you mean too; its not just the odd pop you hear randomly from adding or dropping a plug in, it occurs while tracking and cant be removed. I think with a gig, your problem could be caused by some of the follwoing:

Internet connection: disable this, a track messed up on me last night because windows started automatic updates. Also, If you have a dial up connection, disconnect the phone line from your modem.

Antivirus: This can cause problems too, as it also automatically updates. Itd be a good idea to scan your computer for viruses and adware before you start recording though, just in case theres something nasty causing you problems there.

Background programs: Kill these! Many will probably automatically launch when you boot your PC and you mightn't know it. in the run command menu, (start -> run) type msconfig. This will allow you disable alot of programs that laod on start up...these include msn messenger, maybe i tunes helper, stuff like that.

Disable other non-essential devices you may have connected to your USB/Firewire port; I use my midi controller through a USB and thats taxed my shitty amount of ram a few times.

If this keeps fucking up, uninstall and then reinstall.

Hope this helps. TelePaul

[rguagenti]

Telepaul:

Did all of your stuff. Even updated CW and drivers again.

Still back to square one.

As a case in point, this all started happening about the time when I installed an official version of Windows XP because I was getting the "you may be a victim of software piracy" message.

Coincidence???

[warble2]

Originally Posted by rguagenti

As a case in point, this all started happening about the time when I installed an official version of Windows XP because I was getting the "you may be a victim of software piracy" message.

Coincidence???

Fresh instal, or did you go through MS and get some kind of code (don't know exactly how it works, just heard about making XP installs legit through MS's Website)?

If you were running a pirated version, I'm surprised things were running smoothly. Maybe it's time to do a fresh install and start from scratch the right way.

[brzilian]

When was the last time you defragmented your HD?

[jpw23]

Are you recording to a separate drive on another bus.....if not you need to do so....its hard to run a program and record to the same drive.

[Jamz0r]

You do?

I have no problems using 1 HD.

[brzilian]

Originally Posted by jpw23

Are you recording to a separate drive on another bus.....if not you need to do so....its hard to run a program and record to the same drive.

I've been recording to my main HD since day one. Not a single problem...

[jpw23]

It is recommended that you use a different drive for recording and storage. Check the tweaks for xp on http://audioforums.com

[Jamz0r]

Might be something you can do, but if you have issues, I'd suspect user settings of the PC and/or audio settings in the recording software.

Hard drives are bigger and faster than ever these days.

[brzilian]

Originally Posted by jpw23

It is recommended that you use a different drive for recording and storage. Check the tweaks for xp on http://audioforums.com

Their info is outdated. If I can capture DV video via Firewire to my main drive, it can certainly handle digital audio.

[maximum octopus]

It almost sounds like the audio track in the background is using a different bit-depth and sampling rate. Make sure that you current sample rate/bit depth match the one that the file was recorded at.

I have had these randomly change on me in Cakewalk.

It could also be that the M-audio software has a different setting for one or both of these than Cakewalk has and it is locking them there.

Make sure allof your Windows sounds are disabled as well if you have the M-Audio chosen as your default sound card.

Sometimes a windows sound playing will reset the CARD itself down to like a ridiculously low sample rate and it will stay there even if you go into Cakewalk where it is set different.

[rguagenti]

What I finally did was reinstall Windows as a new install(after backing up my fils of course).

All is fine now. I just posted a tune in the Songwriting Forum that I was finally able to finish. Give it a listen if you are so inclined.

Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions. It was a learning experience and there was a lot of good info from you guys.