Help! Why is this happening?

[Ptron]

I mix down to my computer through the line-in of my soundcard. I use dart pro software. I recently started getting distinct pops at the beggining and end of tracks. I was completely nonplussed when I discovered that my wave forms in the graphic display were off-center. What I mean by this is, when there is little or no sound, such as tape hiss at the beging of a song, the waveform should be a flat line that follows a "center" or "zero" line(I'm not sure what to call it). My whole waveform is shifted "up" a bit. You can see in the display an instant "jump" up to this spot. Then if there just a bit of tape noise, my signal will be a straight line parallel to, but above the zero-line. I checked out some of my older recordings and they ARE centered(and therefor don't have annoying pops). I don't know what happened. I can't find anything in the software that adjusts or re-calabrates this. Am I doing somehthing wrong or is there just a ghost in the machine?

 

[frogpondaudio]

Several things worth checking out... First I'd check whether your dart pro software has a "DC Offset" switch, and if so, activate it. Are you using Win95? If so, rightclick on my computer, select "properties", "Performance Tab", then click "file system"... once here slide the "read ahead optimization all the way to the left.. close the windows and reboot computer. You can alway "undo" these changes if there is no change. Lastly, have you said this is a new problem. What's different with your computer? New audio card? New software? Check for address or irq conflicts. Hope this helps.

 

[Ptron]

I tried the "read ahead optimization" thing to no avail. Everything is the same as before I think. At least as far as soundcard and software go. However I did go back and take a closer look at some of my older recordings and most DO have this problem. It's just not as drastic. The offset seems to have varied slightly and in at least one recording the waveform is offset below the zero line. *&%$#! Here's the kicker. I found this info in the help. "CHANGING OFFSET. If the displayed waveform is not centered around the zero amplitude line, or if you wish to examine waveform peaks, You can change the DC offset of the plot. In order to do this 1)drag the vertical scrollbar thumb or 2)click the up/down scollbar arrow or 3)Press the keyboard CTRL+HOME key whenever you want to restore the zero offset." Bingo right? Wrong. All these do is move the entire graph in its window, zero amplitude line and all. arrrgghh.

 

[Ptron]

Oops. I posted this question on "computer rec. & soundcards" first and gave up on it rather quickly after not getting a reply. I just went back and checked and there is one that says it's probably a symptom of my cheap Soundblaster card and gives a link to a fixit plugin. It is http://www.analogX.com. Pretty cool.