Avid Pro Audio Community

Avid Pro Audio Community

How to Join & Post  •  Community Terms of Use  •  Help Us Help You

Knowledge Base Search  •  Community Search  •  Learn & Support


Avid Home Page

Go Back   Avid Pro Audio Community > Legacy Products > Pro Tools 12

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-22-2017, 07:12 AM
tendashi tendashi is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 19
Default Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

I've been having this issue for quite a while now, but never seemed to be able to even come close to any solution.
So I recorded some melody on either the xpand2, the MiniGrand, the Massive AAX, the Vacuum... you name it.
Once I start playing it back I get those annoying crackling and popping sounds.
Everything seems fine as long as I'm just playing around in Input-mode or while tracking, but as soon as I playback (a previously tracked clip) it starts doing that.
Increasing Buffer-size doesn't do anything and System usage isn't even hitting the 16% mark in that particular session which contains 11 instrument tracks and 8 audio tracks. Also, I have not checked the 'Ignore Errors During Playback/Record'-box in case someone is wondering :)

Could someone please help out?
Thanks a lot!


PT 12.5.0
OS X 10.10.5
iMac Intel Core i7 3,4 GHz (2011) 16 GB ram 695 GB SATA
RME HDSPe Madi
MacbookPro Intel Core i5 2,3 GHz (2011) 4 GB ram 389 GB HDD
Fast Track Solo

Last edited by tendashi; 03-22-2017 at 08:23 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-22-2017, 08:23 AM
Southsidemusic's Avatar
Southsidemusic Southsidemusic is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Stockholm - Sweden
Posts: 13,767
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Hey which computer are you seeing this on?

You have two different Macs in your signature.
__________________
Best Regards
Christopher

#thestruggleisreal
—————————————
South Side Music Group
WEBHOME
—————————————
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-22-2017, 09:33 AM
tendashi tendashi is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 19
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Thanks Southsidemusic,

the problem occurs on either of them.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-22-2017, 10:10 AM
Southsidemusic's Avatar
Southsidemusic Southsidemusic is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Stockholm - Sweden
Posts: 13,767
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Do you record to a secondary hard drive as needed and what deives are in the macs now. Very important as that might be the issues here.

And the 4GB is 4GB too sparse as PT12 need atleast 8GB or 16 recommended.

So the Macbook might be used for other stuff as it is an older slower computer and i would spend my time getting the imac working for PT rather than buying more RAM and new hard drive for the OS on that one.

So, hard drives inside and hard drive for recording?

And the iMac, is it a fusion drive inside as OS drive and no recording drive then thats the problem. Fusion drives are hell for Pro Tools and if you dont use a secondary drive for recording on any of the macs it is another addon for problems.
__________________
Best Regards
Christopher

#thestruggleisreal
—————————————
South Side Music Group
WEBHOME
—————————————
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-22-2017, 11:12 AM
tendashi tendashi is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 19
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Thanks a lot for the info so far Southsidemusic!

Yeah, I always record to external hard drives.
However the one i was using for the particular session may not be the quickest though.
Plus I did record to the external hd plugged into the macbook.

I hooked it up to the imac by now that has a partitioned hard drive for tracking as well, but i'm only editing/mixing here - no tracking involved.
I test-opened the session on the partition too, and there's no difference.

So does that mean that once an instrument track is being recorded under non-ideal circumstances (unsufficient RAM, slow hd etc...) all of its downsides are literally being 'printed' onto the file?
I would have thought so with audio, but since this is sort of midi I thought it would adjust itself depending on the surroundings computer-wise.
Also, for instance when I loop one of the clips, those cracklings never occur in the same spot with the same intensity. They differ quite a bit time and time again but wouldn't disappear.

thanks again for your help.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-22-2017, 11:21 AM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: The Sopranos State (NJ)
Posts: 19,136
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Quote:
Originally Posted by tendashi View Post
Thanks a lot for the info so far Southsidemusic!

Yeah, I always record to external hard drives.
However the one i was using for the particular session may not be the quickest though.
Plus I did record to the external hd plugged into the macbook.

I hooked it up to the imac by now that has a partitioned hard drive for tracking as well, but i'm only editing/mixing here - no tracking involved.
I test-opened the session on the partition too, and there's no difference.

So does that mean that once an instrument track is being recorded under non-ideal circumstances (unsufficient RAM, slow hd etc...) all of its downsides are literally being 'printed' onto the file?
I would have thought so with audio, but since this is sort of midi I thought it would adjust itself depending on the surroundings computer-wise.
Also, for instance when I loop one of the clips, those cracklings never occur in the same spot with the same intensity. They differ quite a bit time and time again but wouldn't disappear.

thanks again for your help.
What kinds of vi's are you triggering by your MIDI? Samplers like Kontakt, Sampletank or Omnisphere or what I call computational synths like NI FM8, Vacuum or any of the Arturia stuff? If samplers are your samples stored to a separate drive from the system and recording drives? Also crackling and popping - is everything plugged into the same AC mains outlet?
__________________
Jack
See profile for system details
iMac dead & retired as of 11/4/17

QAPLA!
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-22-2017, 11:46 AM
tendashi tendashi is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 19
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Thanks Jack,

for this session I'm using the xpand2, boom (no crackling issues here), FM 8 and NI Massive - all computational I guess...?

Yes, everything is plugged into the same socket.

Perhaps I should add that the crackling sounds occur especially when triggering contiguous notes. That's I assume why there's no issues with the boom as it has just kicks on a 4/4 beat.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 03-22-2017, 12:09 PM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: The Sopranos State (NJ)
Posts: 19,136
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Quote:
Originally Posted by tendashi View Post
Thanks Jack,

for this session I'm using the xpand2, boom (no crackling issues here), FM 8 and NI Massive - all computational I guess...?

Yes, everything is plugged into the same socket.

Perhaps I should add that the crackling sounds occur especially when triggering contiguous notes. That's I assume why there's no issues with the boom as it has just kicks on a 4/4 beat.
FM8 and Massive are what I call computational versus samplers like Kontakt. Both tend to be a bit on the high side of cpu usage at least for me and the system on my profile page.

As Christopher says that 4 gig in the laptop is literally unusable - you need to add more ram pure and simple. As to the iMac - have you done the 'normal' optimizations? Are you trying to surf the net the same time you're working ion PT? Do you have any kind of wireless connection going on when working in PT other than maybe mouse & computer keyboard? Wireless internet can cause all kinds of problems.
__________________
Jack
See profile for system details
iMac dead & retired as of 11/4/17

QAPLA!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 03-22-2017, 01:12 PM
TrentWilliams TrentWilliams is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 985
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Have you tried setting your playback buffer to a higher value?
__________________
Pro Tools 2024.3.0|Perpetual • MTRX Studio • HDX1 • Sync-X • S3 • Dock • Mac Mini 2018 - 3.2GHz i7 6-core macOS 13.6 • RAM 64GB DDR4 GPU AMD 6900XT 16GB • Monitor LG 32UL950-W
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 03-22-2017, 01:57 PM
tendashi tendashi is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Berlin, Germany
Posts: 19
Default Re: Crackling and popping sounds when playing back Instrument tracks

Quote:
Originally Posted by musicman691 View Post
FM8 and Massive are what I call computational versus samplers like Kontakt. Both tend to be a bit on the high side of cpu usage at least for me and the system on my profile page.

As Christopher says that 4 gig in the laptop is literally unusable - you need to add more ram pure and simple. As to the iMac - have you done the 'normal' optimizations? Are you trying to surf the net the same time you're working ion PT? Do you have any kind of wireless connection going on when working in PT other than maybe mouse & computer keyboard? Wireless internet can cause all kinds of problems.
Yeah, system usage seemed fine though (15%) and optimizations are set to 'normal' indeed.
I'm not surfing while on PT but have to admit that I do not always turn off wifi.
Otherwise there's no wireless involved, mouse etc...
I get the point in terms of tracking to insufficient RAM on the macbook, but I still maintain whether a mediocrely recorded instrument track isn't able to adjust when played back on a proper system...?
I know PT isn't known for its midi-skills in the first place, but isn't this some pretty basic stuff? Sorry for bothering, but I have no clue.

Thanks a lot!
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
PT 10.3.10 random crackling and popping sounds dolceveta macOS 1 05-19-2015 12:51 AM
Popping, cracking when all tracks are playing [SOLVED] swaffordsongs32176 Pro Tools 10 14 05-13-2015 06:02 PM
instrument track not playing back MIDI apartmentstudios Windows 1 01-11-2013 07:08 AM
crackling and popping in play back..ON DRUMS ibraxis Pro Tools 9 2 10-02-2011 08:33 PM
Need Help! Popping and Crackling Sounds!! Chris LoA 003, Mbox 2, Digi 002, original Mbox, Digi 001 (Mac) 2 10-07-2001 01:40 AM


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 09:21 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited. Forum Hosted By: URLJet.com