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  #1  
Old 04-04-2015, 01:55 PM
yurtpoh yurtpoh is offline
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Default clicks and pops during playback

i keep getting frequent clicks and pops during playback. they don't show up on an audio track if i'm recording, but it is extremely obnoxious.

what frustrates me is that i'm running PT11 on a fairly new computer (built it 6 months ago), and i'm still having CPU spikes and other issues. i've set the playback engine H/W buffer all the way to 2048 samples, and the "ignore errors" box is unchecked... i have 16 stereo audio tracks (no plugins); 2 guitar tracking tracks bussed to one aux with an amp emulator (that is currently bypassed for CPU space); and 13 MIDI tracks all tracked to an Inst track with a drum emulator... (holy cow, i said the word "track" a lot)
i'm trying to fiddle with the drum's MIDI ticks to help blend it into the current audio, but the clicks and pops are making it hard to concentrate...

i've opened up "System Usage" and noticed that every once in a while my CPU usage spikes all the way to 100% for no reason (it's not a plugin or track that causes it; it happens randomly, not in a consistent place). and sometimes when i'm not even playing it back, the CPU usage spikes... there is nothing running in the background, and i ran a full system virus scan just a few days ago and it came up clean...

my project is 32bit 192kHz, running through an ASUS xonar essence STX soundcard... my CPU is an i7 Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150 and i have 16 gigs of RAM... i'm running windows 8.1... what is the problem, and how can i fix it? i'm getting fed up with this.

Last edited by yurtpoh; 04-04-2015 at 01:58 PM. Reason: forgot to put OS
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  #2  
Old 04-04-2015, 02:16 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: clicks and pops during playback

It must be 192 kHz day...

Well first question is why are you wasting time trying to work at 192 kHz? Many systems will fall over trying to work at such a high sample rate. For something you won't hear any difference with.

Clicks may be Pro Tools errors or clocking errors from your interfaces (you need to describe any digital inputs or outputs to/from your interface and how they are clocked). What exact interface and driver version are you using (hopefully the ASIO driver for that interface? What exact playback engine is selected in Pro Tools (e.g. you are not tryign to use ASIO4ALL aggregation). Normally if Pro Tools is having problems that woudl cause clicks then errors not having "Ignore Errors" checked would cause a AAE error to be thrown, if you don't see that it makes it seem more likely you have some sort of clocking or hardware error ... on output of you can't see the problem recorded in the signal.

Edit: Ugh a PC sound card, outputting a sample based VI (with samples recoded at what? 44.1kHz?) and you are at 192 kHz.. that is beyond silly. Get back to 44.1 or 48kHz and make sure you are using the latest ASIO (not ASIO4ALL) driver for that card... assuming it has one.

To exclude a Pro Tools problem....

How about you start over in less bizarre land, set up a session at say 48 kHz. Then do standard debugging and troubleshooting. And post a Sisoft Sandra report here. Make clear on which drive in the Sandra report you have audio/session and samples stored. Start at the "Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!" link up top of this and every other DUC web page.

So you are running a Drum VI, not a MIDI track to an outboard drum gear... VIs and 192 kHz is an ugly combination of load on your computer.

Quite a few Pro Tools 11 users are reporting CPU spike issues, but *always* suspect plugins. You need to do extra careful plugin troubleshooting, which includes removing third party plugin files (including VI plugins) from the Pro Tools plugin folders. Trying to do any troubleshooting at 192 kHz is likely a waste of time, get out of that first.
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Old 04-04-2015, 02:31 PM
yurtpoh yurtpoh is offline
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Default Re: clicks and pops during playback

oh, jeebus. i'm an idiot... /facepalm
you're going to laugh at me... i had EQ plugins on all my audio tracks... i must have put them on the last time i was messing with this project (over a month ago) and forgot about them... and then i didn't even check before i posted the OP because i was apparently too confident with telling myself that there weren't any plugins other than the drums... smh...

as for the 192kHz, i honestly can't give a logical reason why i use it... maybe it gives me more to work with before i downgrade it to 44.1 kHz for sharing. idk, i'm making stuff up now lol.

sorry for wasting anybody's time on this... i feel kinda stupid right now
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  #4  
Old 04-04-2015, 02:37 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: clicks and pops during playback

Well EQ plugins should not cause clicks or pops unless something else is badly wrong. If just taking off the EQ plugins and things get OK it may mean you have bad plugins (were they Avid or third party EQ?) or that other things are wrong.

192 kHz is just likely to cause you problems for absolutely no benefit. Most folks here won't work higher than 96 kHz. But if you are mostly working to output with sample based VIs I'd just work at 48kHz. You won't notice any audible difference and you will take a lot of load off your system which is likely to be challenged enough running decent drum VIs.

When I see an Audio sound card being used I worry that folks might be trying to aggregate a separate audio interface as an input device for tracking. You do *not* want to do that. If you want to reliably record audio you need to get your audio output using a real ASIO interface with inputs and outputs.
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  #5  
Old 04-04-2015, 02:48 PM
yurtpoh yurtpoh is offline
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Default Re: clicks and pops during playback

they are the avid EQ3 plugins. when i bypass them, i don't get any clicks until the drums come in... i don't think they're bad plugins, but i would think 16 of them on top of NI's Battery 4 drum VI might top out my CPU.

that does make sense though - i'll take it down from 192kHz for future projects, but right now i have a bunch of time put into this particular one and i'm not exactly in the mood to restart at the moment lol

thanks for the quick responses though. this is why i like this forum
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  #6  
Old 04-04-2015, 02:54 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: clicks and pops during playback

Ah NO (for want of a better word )! You need to get things properly set up with a chance of being reliable. Start with File>Save Copy In and save as a 48 kHz Session. Then use that saved copy. That takes what a minute?

If you have any more problems please post a Sandra Report.
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Old 04-04-2015, 03:44 PM
yurtpoh yurtpoh is offline
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Default Re: clicks and pops during playback

wow, i didn't realize it was that easy... lol. well thanks for that
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  #8  
Old 04-04-2015, 03:47 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: clicks and pops during playback

You are welcome.
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