Pops and clicks

[gidman]

Y'know the deeper I get into my home studio the more and more I am not liking my Pro Audio 9.0 software. It seems that the pops and clicks don't go away even after I followed everything that cakewalk said to do. I even went the extra mile and got a faster hard drive. Does any body have any suggestions?


AMD athelon 750mhz
Daimond max maxtor 40 gig 7500 rpm
128mb ram
Gadgetlabs Wave 824 I/O and sound card. (Yeah the suckers went out of the biz shortly after I bought the harware...Just my luck...)


Gidman

[jontflesh]

Are you clipping audio tracks? Have you tried to lower the volume levels on your instruments and the input of your soundcard?

I had alot of clicks when I first got a Darla 24 card but went into the Darla interface and pulled the input volume down a couple notches then it was all good.


jontflesh

[eichler]

What OS? I had the sane problem with Win 2000 and it went away after I uninstalled it and put Win 98 SE on instead.

[DavidK]

Ditto what jontflesh sez; when I had the pops and clicks, I found they had to do with Darla24, NOT with cakewalk. I few tweaks in Darla and I havent had problems since.
Perhaps the Gadgetlabs could be the culprit?

[gidman]

My OS is Win 98...I have tried everything. It went away when I installed the new hard drive, but came back. Its very annoying.
Is there a program I can use to remove the pops?
I don't know if the wave 824 is the problem or not...
I know its not the input levels...
Should I try and reinstall CWPA?
Should I reinstall the Gadgetlabs driver?

I am using the maxtor 7500rpm as the slave drive could this be the problem? Should I swap it around and make it the master?
I guess this is my last option.

Thanks for all of your input.


If ya want to listen : http://www.mp3.com/slow_joe_crow
Some pops are predominant...some are not.

Gidman

[jontflesh]

Do you have Wavelab? If so you can try and pull the peak down in the wav.
If you have anny effects plug ins too you can try the pop and crackle remover.

Another thing might be your cords. Get some new heavily shielded ones.

I tend to think your soundcard is on it's way to the grave though if it is not volume levels. Like I said before also try and turn the volume down on the instrument or preamp itself. That might be where is is coming from.
Were the tracks clipping (you can tell on the meters on the console view there is a box above the live meter and if it is lit you are recording too hot)?


jontflesh

[gidman]

No,
The trs cords are fairly new and I have switched them around with different ones.My console is a 3208 mackie thats about 8 months old.
I can record 8 tracks at one time, six mics on drums,direct on bass and guitar mic'd with no pops and then if I overdub something like lead or vocals then I have the pops. I have slowed my 64 meg graphics card to 1/3.
I have change the latency from what the manual says to use... 4096 stereo and 2048 mono... to what the wav profiler does... which sets the latency automatically,I know that the latency is for the playback, but after 8-12 tracks, with effects, EQ, gates,and compressing, I have drop out problems. I have to change the latency so I can play it back. Or remove the effects
I have an ocassional 0db peak, thats not it...the pops are random...sometimes with no audio on the spot at all.
The Gadget Labs Wave 824 sound card and I/O are about 2 years old and I haven't used them that much. So I would hope that its not that...
No I don't have wavelab...is that a click remover?
I was thinking about ordering Ozone...but you can only use that on the final mixdown, in CW, and I think it has a declicker.
I have CW's FX1 and I'm not pleased with it...

Power conditioner?

Thanks again,

Gidman

[eichler]

Don't know this from firsthand experience but some of the pro-audio guys at my local Guitar Center were saying that the AMD processors do not get along well with PA9. I'm not sure why that would be true but perhaps it is a direction to look into.

Sounds to me like you are pushing the limits of computer with all those tracks with effects. 750MHz and (especially) 128MB RAM is really not a whole lot for PA9. Are you recording 24bit or 16bit? If 24 bit, then you could lower it to 16 bit and that should help, too.

A few other ideas to get around the problem (if indeed related to the limits of your system) : Make "safety" clones of tracks without effects and then apply (save) the effects to the original track - that will definitely reduce processing requirements and you can always go back to the original track if necessary. NOTE: When you clone tracks to make a "safety" make sure they are not linked beofre you apply the effects to the original track! Also make sure you archive any tracks you do not need to listen to - this also saves processing.

[dachay2tnr]

Have you tried disabling your USB port? I found I was having problems with random noises, and disabling USB along with reducing graphics acceleration did the trick.

Sounds like you've already done the graphics accleration route. Try disabling USB. I didn't need to do this at the BIOS level, in Control Panel Device Manager just "disable in this hardware profile". If you ever need to use it for something (e.g., I have my scanner hooked up to USB), just enable it temporarily until your done and then disable again.

[A1MixMan]

Don't know for sure about AMD either but...
I have heard also about using cakewalk with Intel pentiums only.
That's what I use with no clicking.
Cakewalk just help Intel launch the P4 2ghtz so that might be a sign...

I would use the 7200 rpm drive as the main drive, I wouldn't use a 5400 rpm drive for anything to do with recording.

Man, as I am writing this i am listening to "ice Cold" and I can really hear the pops and clicks, the recording is hurting my ears!
WOW!

You are recording alot at once. Maybe this has some thing to do with the pops.
Have you tried a test recording by recording 1 track at a time to see if the pops come back? Just Keep adding a new track on top off the others and push it as far as your system will go.
This will give you an idea of what your setup can handle.
I would upgrade your ram as cheap as it is right now.

Any way good luck and Keep Making Music!

[gidman]

Ooooh so much to answer...

DSB... This PC is used solely for recording...no scanner...no printer... to ethernet connection... no dial up connection...
All utilities non essential gone...

AMD When I bought the bundle package Wave 824 and CWPA 9.0...I questioned the AMD processors...I was told by CW and GL that the problem was with the K6 and K7...one little ol' motorola chip in the processor...and They offered a remedy...were to find a replacement...

I am recording 24 bit...I am wanting to upgrade to 256+ RAM
I know it wouldn't hurt...

No pops or click if I do one track at a time...

Thanks,

Gidman