Pops and clicks in playback- SOLVED!!...really

[zedman]

Ok, after months of searching for a solution to the pops, clicks, stutters that happen during playback I have found a solution. But first...what is causing these noises? Well...you may have noticed that you can't see spikes in the audio track, right? That's because the audio track in not producing the pops/clicks. It's a result of the effects plugins processing and is something called denormalization. What happens is this; on tracks with a plugin the signal gets processed but when there is a silence the processor stops after a certain thershold and this causes a pop to happen. You can watch this happen if you open the "system usage " window in pro Tools....after (around 2 bars) a region of sound you can see the CPU effects bar suddenly spike. This is where the processor makes the switch. This is not a Pro Tools bug, this is the way the processor operates. However this is rubbish for your audio track because it pops/glitches/stutters. You can try this for yourself and it is perfectly reproducible and repeatable.

So, the solution. Well, it's more of a workaround. In empty sections that produce the pop you need to give the plugin processor something to do. Just paste some random noise into that region and pull the volume down to infinity. Pops, glitches, stutters gone.
I've done this track for track in my last recording and it is fully glitch free now. I hope this works for everyone and that you are finally relived to have a solution for this infuriating problem.
cheers,

Zedman

[cwsand]

Glad you found a solution, but this is not normal and shouldn't be happening. Only time I get pops and clicks if if i have a lot of VSTi's in a session. My guess is there's a problem with your computer either not being optimized, something in the BIOS not set correctly, not enough RAM, or maybe the computer is just too slow or incompatible. If this was a common issue for many users, there would be a whole lot more posts about it.

Anyway, glad you have it working for you.

Chris

[Srose]

hi zedman

thanks for the post

I have similar issues.

Brand new laptop win8, 4gig ram. mbomx mini2 ptLE8.0.5

the track plays fine - about 32%CPU. but when it comes to the breakdown section there is a terrible click and i see the cpu spike.

ive tried your method but still this occurs - in the same place everytime (there is nothing causing this in the music - ive checked)

any other ideas greatly appreciated

[Srose]

FYI

Solved this - certain plugins cause dernomalization - sansamp in my case was the culprit.

simply delete or replace with an alternative - problem solved. there is a thread elsewhere on Avid site I'd recommend.

is there a list anywhere of plugins to avoid that cause denormalization/pops?

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Srose

is there a list anywhere of plugins to avoid that cause denormalization/pops?

No. The denormalization issue goes way back on Windows and yet it still manages to rear its head in obscure ways. You can usually negate the issue by putting the dither plugin before the offending plugin with the setting at 20-bit.