Random Crackles on Recording

Leachim

New member
Hi

I am using CEP 2 with an M-Audio Delta 44 which enables me to record on 4 tracks simultaneously with XP pro on a 700Mhz computer with 256 RAM

I am getting random crackles during playback which all appear in the same place (for that particular recording) each time I play back through the sound card - so it must be on the recording which is in 16 bit.

Any chance of a solution ?

Thanks

Mike
 
yup. your computer is with respect slow.
for todays multitrack software environments i would suggest minimum a 1ghz processor.
preferably 2ghz. life will be easier.
also your memory is under what xp likes. 512 is better.
you didnt say at what track number it puffs out.
you might try mixing to stereo. bringing the mix back in to add more tracks.
you didnt mention which sound card.
 
yes you did mention sound card. sorry - i was distracted by my cat jumping
on a table. if your using a via chipset in your pc - older via chipsets had a problem.
search this bbs on the issue. also make sure your delta drivers
are not old. did you just install this delta ?
would help to know your full pc confign including chipset etc.
 
manning1 said:
yes you did mention sound card. sorry - i was distracted by my cat jumping
on a table. if your using a via chipset in your pc - older via chipsets had a problem.
search this bbs on the issue. also make sure your delta drivers
are not old. did you just install this delta ?
would help to know your full pc confign including chipset etc.


Hi

It is an Intel P3 processor with the driver dated July 2001 and the Delta 44 soundcard driver is dated May 04. It was installed 2 months ago. XP pro SP1.

If you want more info, is there a program which extracts this easily ?

Here are m-audio's min specs for the delta 44

Compatibility

ASIO 2
MME
Sound Manager
OMS
DirectX
GSIF
Mac OS X Core Audio / Core MIDI

Min system req.

Windows 98SE / Me / 2000 (SP4) / XP (SP1)
For 96kHz operation: Pentium III 500mHz w/ 128MB RAM
For 48kHz operation: Pentium II 400 w/ 64MB RAM


I only want it to record 3 tracks at the same time, and not really interested in overdubing as yet. I set it to record in 16 bit. (where does the 96Khz or 48Khz come in)

3 clean tracks would be nice.......how do other people do it ?

Thanks
 
leachim. you should be able to do 3 tracks.
more like 20 actually on that p3.
in control panel do you have dma enabled on the hard drive ?
if not get a tech to look at your system, and if you dont know what your doing get him to set your drive for dma PROVIDING THIS OPTION IS AVAILABLE AND ITS NOT SOME ANCIENT HARD DRIVE. excuse ,e but ive seen some weird stuff . AUDIO NEEDS THIS.
do this test also.
export one of the tracks you recorded as a wave file.
play it back in windows media player. if you hear no artifacts that tells me that the recording side is fine, and its either the dma issue or a setting in your recording software buffering.
at this point i suspect your hard drive is not dma enabled possibly.
so get back to me and tell me if it is.
 
manning1 said:
leachim. you should be able to do 3 tracks.
more like 20 actually on that p3.
in control panel do you have dma enabled on the hard drive ?
if not get a tech to look at your system, and if you dont know what your doing get him to set your drive for dma PROVIDING THIS OPTION IS AVAILABLE AND ITS NOT SOME ANCIENT HARD DRIVE. excuse ,e but ive seen some weird stuff . AUDIO NEEDS THIS.
do this test also.
export one of the tracks you recorded as a wave file.
play it back in windows media player. if you hear no artifacts that tells me that the recording side is fine, and its either the dma issue or a setting in your recording software buffering.
at this point i suspect your hard drive is not dma enabled possibly.
so get back to me and tell me if it is.


I exported the wav file and played it back in Media Player and the crackles are still there. It seems to happen on louder sounds, even though the signal does not go into the red.

Not sure how to check the dma - I did see a box which said "dma if available".
I have 2 hard drives, both 7200rpm.

The buffers are 5 seconds using 12 buffers.

Hope this helps
 
I have almost the same setup...

check your sampling rates on the MAudio control panel and make sure they match the sampling rate of CEP2.0.

When you start a new session, you pick your sampling rate...44100, 88200, etc. After choosing this sample rate go to the soundcard control panel (through your system tray) and make sure it matches.

Mismatching causes cracks&pops.
 
JKestle said:
check your sampling rates on the MAudio control panel and make sure they match the sampling rate of CEP2.0.

When you start a new session, you pick your sampling rate...44100, 88200, etc. After choosing this sample rate go to the soundcard control panel (through your system tray) and make sure it matches.

Mismatching causes cracks&pops.


Thanks

All seem to match at 44100. Codec sample rate on the Delta 44 also the same.

Would it make any difference on adjusting the input levels from +4 to -10

Mike
 
i don't think so.

Consumer speakers, use -10.

The signal itself seems to be the problem. I think it may be a bad link in the tracking chain. How did you record the instruments? Mabey the signal is clipping before it gets to the Delta44...and recording clipped even though the CEP meters are not red?

just a thought, hoping I could be of some help.
 
manning1 said:
leachim. you should be able to do 3 tracks.
more like 20 actually on that p3.
in control panel do you have dma enabled on the hard drive ?
if not get a tech to look at your system, and if you dont know what your doing get him to set your drive for dma PROVIDING THIS OPTION IS AVAILABLE AND ITS NOT SOME ANCIENT HARD DRIVE. excuse ,e but ive seen some weird stuff . AUDIO NEEDS THIS.
do this test also.
export one of the tracks you recorded as a wave file.
play it back in windows media player. if you hear no artifacts that tells me that the recording side is fine, and its either the dma issue or a setting in your recording software buffering.
at this point i suspect your hard drive is not dma enabled possibly.
so get back to me and tell me if it is.


Hi

I attach 2 pictures of my dma settings for you to look at........

Thanks

Mike
 

Attachments

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  • dma2.doc
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hmm . i have a question. how old is your drive in that p3.???
did it come with the p3 originally ? or is it newer ?
also i would like to know the drive transfer speed. i assume your using one drive right for windows AND everything.
????
there is a utility at prorec.com called dskbench. or something similar in the software section. it measures drive transfer speed.
it might be usefull to try it and tell me what number of tracks it indicates and the drive transfer speed. this will help me nail down if its the drive.
please note i run two drives. one small one for windows and one for my audio tracks.
your REALLY LIGHT also on memory for running XP.
could you also do something else for me ?
try the demo of ntrack from fasoft.com . normally this multitracker on your p3 should get at least 18 tracks. just record blank if you wish.
i'm real curious how many tracks you get with this.
if you get lots of tracks this helps me nail things down better.
and i would be curious if you still get crackles. OR NOT.
also - could you tell me your signal chain into the sound card ?
THIS WOULD HELP as well.
just trying to help.
 
OK - I got this far

Timer Check - 1001
CPU check - 50.58
CPU index - 3.74
Open - 0 ms
Write - 10815 ms, 23.67 Mb/s, CPU = 34%
Flush - 70 ms
Rew - 0ms
Read 8532 ms, 30 Mb/s, CPU = 43%
Close 0 ms

Blocksize = 131072, Mb/s=10.36, Tracks=123, CPU 15%
Blocksize= 65536, Mb/s=7.51, Tracks=121, CPU = 16%
Blocksize 32768, MB/s=6.26, Tracks=74, CPU=18%
Blocksize=16384, Mb/s=4.77, Tracks=56, CPU=27%
Blocksize=8192, Mb/s=3.8, Tracks=45, CPU=39%
One other reading that disappeared when screen closed....

I have 2 disks - D (120mb in partitions - 1 yr old) is where XP is and C (30Mb) is from another computer which had 98 on it. I can assume it is 3 years old. Both are 7220rpm.

How do you choose where CEP writes the files to ? All I can find is Temp folder choice which is primary C, and secondary D.

I,ve noticed the crackles happen on louder noises, but nothing is peaking. A mic goes into the back of a mixer and direct out to the Delta 44 input which goes into the soundcard.....?

Puzzled

I will try out your other suggestion later

Thanks anyway
 
Hey

Just downloaded ntrack - NO CRACKLES

Number of tracks wasn't a problem to start with. I was just recording one or two - still with odd distortion - but not with ntrack (yet)...

What does this all mean

??
 
well well leachim.
those diskbench numbers are fine. not fantastic - but look at the track counts, as i suspected - your pc can do quite a lot of tracks.
PLEASE clarify. you have two disk drives ? because i'm confused.
one drive or two ?
please do me a favor. keep on recording tracks in ntrack. just blank tracks.
ie: click the recording button and record for 10 secs.
and repeat for 18 tracks. at the end use ntrack or explorer to delete the tracks. tell me if you get to 18 tracks fine without problems.
then delete the 18 tracks, and try with real music recording.
18 tracks again. but THIS TIME real music recording . ie: do a rough song for 18 tracks. tell me if you get asny crackles or pops or distortion.
bear with me.
 
re: what does it all mean ?
heres the answer. i'm a puter engr. different computer programs are developed and programmed in different ways. some consume more pc resources than others. and some operate on some pc configs better than others. just the "computer mojo" or in laymans terms luck of the draw.
to sum up - if you find you can record in ntrack 18 PROPER MUSIC TRACKS WITH NO DISTORTION OR POPS OR CRACKLES OR PROBEMS. (solo each music track to check each track), it leads me to suspect that maybe memory is the issue here and that to run cool edit you might need more memory.

by the way - i try and help lots of people but they always forget to click my scales on the upper right hand side of my post !
if you think ive helped up my scales maybe ?

also if you get a chance try downloading what i use . try the demo of powertracks from pgmusic.com. this has a usefull bit of info i can use to help me figure out with your system.
up in the menus is a pc test that assesses how many tracks a PC will do.
if you get a chance , please run this test and tell me how many tracks it says for your pc. thanks.
 
manning1 said:
re: what does it all mean ?
heres the answer. i'm a puter engr. different computer programs are developed and programmed in different ways. some consume more pc resources than others. and some operate on some pc configs better than others. just the "computer mojo" or in laymans terms luck of the draw.
to sum up - if you find you can record in ntrack 18 PROPER MUSIC TRACKS WITH NO DISTORTION OR POPS OR CRACKLES OR PROBEMS. (solo each music track to check each track), it leads me to suspect that maybe memory is the issue here and that to run cool edit you might need more memory.

by the way - i try and help lots of people but they always forget to click my scales on the upper right hand side of my post !
if you think ive helped up my scales maybe ?

also if you get a chance try downloading what i use . try the demo of powertracks from pgmusic.com. this has a usefull bit of info i can use to help me figure out with your system.
up in the menus is a pc test that assesses how many tracks a PC will do.
if you get a chance , please run this test and tell me how many tracks it says for your pc. thanks.


Yep, 18 tracks - no probs

I have 2 disks -- 120Gb split into partitions, one of which holds XP on the D drive - 30 Gb which came from my '98 computer and is about 2 or 3 years old.

I downloaded powertracks and the pc test said 48 tracks.

So, what I have gathered so far is that CEP uses more memory and because of this creates the distortion.

What software programme would you suggest I use - all I need to do is to record 3 vocal tracks simultaneously, with the option of adding guitar afterwards - midi a bonus, but not essential at this time.

Couldn't see how to record 3 tracks at the same time on power tracks.............using the delta 44

Anyway, are we getting there ?

Cheers

Mike
 
mike. ok we are getting there. greeat ! was this 18 tracks of proper music ? if not do that next.
in powertracks you need to tell it the 44 drivers to use . its in the menus.
if you have problems many folks use the 44 with powertracks.
talk to a guy called rharv on the powertracks forum at pg.
in conclusion its the low memory i feel and operating system demands together with ce at the same time.
tell me how it goes.
peace.
 
ps mike. to record an audio track in powertracks notice the "ty"
column. (track type). click it on the track you want to record for recording a MONO track. then record. stop of course once finished.
and again for a STEREO track. then click record.
AFTER telling powertracks the drivers and clicking MOVE DEVICES TO TOP button. ie the selected sound card drivers.
 
now ive had my breakfast , hers some more info.
to set up your drivers in powertracks so you can record,
and test go to options in the menu then >>>preferences>>>audio tab
>>>click on drivers button and hi lite the drivers you want to use.
might also be a good idea to press default and let it scan your audio card.
like all programs it needs to know which drivers of the sound card to use.
notice that clicking the midi plug on each track type turns to a mono audio icon or stereo. you do this before clicking the recording button.
 
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