Pulsing sound when playing midi instruments

[JohnnyHeat]

I am using PT 2019.12 and when I play any midi instrument I hear a pulsing noise along with the instrument.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHeat

I am using PT 2019.12 and when I play any midi instrument I hear a pulsing noise along with the instrument.

What specific vi's are you using? What specific patches? I doubt it's every one unless you have another problem going on. Any effects on the tracks?

[JohnnyHeat]

I just tried another file that has no midi and the pulsing sound is still there. This seems to have started after upgrading to the latest PT release. I have trashed the preferences and the noise persists.

[Darryl Ramm]

I doubt anybody can guess what your "pulsing" sounds like.... how fast is it pulsing? how deep? Do you see that in meters or only hear it? Could it be a phasing issue? Could you accidentally have say a monitoring path in mono? Does this happen when you bounce to disk? ... if so can post a sample somewhere?

[JohnnyHeat]

I tried to attach a recording of the sound however it is not allowed. The sound does not appear when the session is bounced to a .wav file. the pulse is like static and not consistent. if all tracks are muted there is no pulsing. If i only have the click track on the static is present with the click.
Here is a link to the sound
https://soundcloud.com/johnny-heaton...ic-pulse-in-pt
Made by playing a note via midi and recording the speaker with my phone recorder.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHeat

I tried to attach a recording of the sound however it is not allowed. The sound does not appear when the session is bounced to a .wav file. the pulse is like static and not consistent. if all tracks are muted there is no pulsing. If i only have the click track on the static is present with the click.
Here is a link to the sound
https://soundcloud.com/johnny-heaton...ic-pulse-in-pt
Made by playing a note via midi and recording the speaker with my phone recorder.

Once again - what sound are you playing on what vi? What effects are on the track?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHeat

I tried to attach a recording of the sound however it is not allowed. The sound does not appear when the session is bounced to a .wav file. the pulse is like static and not consistent. if all tracks are muted there is no pulsing. If i only have the click track on the static is present with the click.
Here is a link to the sound
https://soundcloud.com/johnny-heaton...ic-pulse-in-pt
Made by playing a note via midi and recording the speaker with my phone recorder.

Yes, what VI etc. (we are assuming you are playing MIDI through a VI not recording an outboard MIDI instrument... but you need to really describe what you are doing).

For your recording was the transport in wait for MIDI? or running before you hit the note?

When in doubt simplify: Try starting with a new totally empty session and create just one track you are playing MIDI into that same VI.. what happens?

This could something as simple as a click track driving though some plugin. The pulsing sounds like a 4/4 click track driving something like a VCO.

Things may not have been bounced to disk if they were not select them as a bounce source. Is that a possibility? But again/ Do a one track test in a new session.

[JohnnyHeat]

The sound is present on all sessions.

I have sessions that where recorded last year that had no static pulse and now when I open them the static pulse is present Midi or no Midi the static is there.

I started a new session with one track added the click and played only the click and the static was present.

I deleted the track and created a new Instrument track and added the Xpandi2 using the MIO midi interface and the Casio keyboard playing any note the static is present. The track was record ready but the transport was not in record and idle.
I appreciate your assistance, Thank you.

[Darryl Ramm]

Oh boy, darn I hate these. I was hoping it was something simple like phasing.

So it only happens when you are playing back stuff through Pro Tools, of any type MIDI through a VI or just a click...

It does not happen on a bounce to disk... but I'm always cautious about that as a test in case the source is not included in the bounce. And are you listening to the bounced wav file through the same monitoring path as when playing in Pro Tools?

What playback engine and monitors are you using? what are all the devices in the playback path.

Can you playback audio through the same physical interface and monitor hardware from iTunes and make sure that is OK.

Are you aggregating devices? Especially if so open a session with Built-In Output as the Playback Engine (so no inputs) and see if that plays back better. Try that even if you are using a dedicated interface.

Otherwise I'm at a loss...

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Oh boy, darn I hate these. I was hoping it was something simple like phasing.

So it only happens when you are playing back stuff through Pro Tools, of any type MIDI through a VI or just a click...

It does not happen on a bounce to disk... but I'm always cautious about that as a test in case the source is not included in the bounce. And are you listening to the bounced wav file through the same monitoring path as when playing in Pro Tools?

What playback engine and monitors are you using? what are all the devices in the playback path.

Can you playback audio through the same physical interface and monitor hardware from iTunes and make sure that is OK.

Are you aggregating devices? Especially if so open a session with Built-In Output as the Playback Engine (so no inputs) and see if that plays back better. Try that even if you are using a dedicated interface.

Otherwise I'm at a loss...

After sleuthing in his profile here's the audio interface the OP is using: https://www.allen-heath.com/ahproducts/qu-24/ I wonder if it's a clocking issue? In the 'software' tab on the &H site there's this notice:
Important

Allen & Heath + macOS Catalina The correct operation of this product with macOS Catalina is not yet verified by our development and test departments. As a result, macOS Catalina is not currently supported.
As our test programmes are completed we will update this notice.


The op is running Catalina. Combine that with PT 2019.12 not being fully compatible with Catalina this might well be the issue.