JamPro

Just spit-ballin' here: what happens if you create a volume automation lane for that master bus and set it to 0 db (or -12 db; or +3 db)? Does the errant master bus respond to any volume automation?

This cannot be correct because I hear distortion when playing track1 solo - i.e. when track1 plays by itself and nothing else is mixed in. The problem went away when I re-recorded a different track - a track that was not in playback when I am playing back track1 solo and am hearing distortion. Thank you. This is a good idea for troubleshooting future problems. Can I actually post 8 tracks of a 5 min. project here in this forum? One stereo track of 5 mins. of audio is about 50 mB; not all eight tracks are stereo, but we are still talking about 100s of mB of audio data. (There is a little notice at the bottom of my forum view that says "Drag files here to attach. Max total size 4.88 mb.")

Call me stupid: I'm still not understanding. In CW, I solo track1 and hear distortion when the CW meters peak at < -10bdFS. I take the same audio clip and play it in Sound Forge, and there is no distortion. The obvious conclusion is that CW is adding distortion.

Mr. Dickens: I don't understand. So you are saying that it is proper functioning of CW to cause distortion in the playback of track1 when there is a (presumed) problem in track2 - and track1 is soloed and track2 is muted? And you understand there is NO distortion in the playback of track2 when I solo track2 AND there is no distortion in track1 when I play the audio of track1 using a different audio editor? Please explain - why does CW add distortion to a given track when there is a (presumed) problem in a second track (a problem that cannot be identified when playing back the second track alone)? Mr. Vera - thank you for the tip. I will check it out.

Thank you to all who responded. I appreciate your thoughts Mr. Vere - "And to clarify- do you really mean to say " a glitch" . In other words there is a short burst of nasty sound at this point on the track." Yes - what I am calling "distortion" is a quick burst of white noise during playback. "Put Span on the track and see what it's true peak level reads." I don't think I know what Span is - can you explain? Mr. Dickens - "You sure the master output isn't clipping?" Yes. The levels of the track where I hear distortion are no more that -10dbFS at the point I am hearing distortion. The level of the master output is no more than -2 dbFS at the point I am hearing distortion. And I hear this distortion when I am playing back with the distorting track soloed (and no other tracks are soloed). Like you Mr. Dickens, I am a long-time CW user - I got my first copy back in 1997 or 98 when CW was a midi-only. Mr. Gregy - "Is there any situation in which the noise doesn't occur?" Yes - actually many situations. So I am hearing distortion on 2 tracks (we'll call them track1 and track3) of a project containing 8 tracks in total. I am hearing distortion (only at location meas96, beat 2.5) anytime I play back either or both of track1 and track3, and any combination of other tracks. I am hearing distortion anytime I play back with either track1 or track3 soloed. I DO NOT hear distortion when I mute track1 AND track3. I DO NOT hear distortion if I solo track2 (track2 is the track that contains an audio clip I edited at location meas 96, beat 2.5 - a possible bad split where the audio was not at a zero-crossing - I haven't actually examined the track to see if there is a non-zero crossing split - but the distortion I am hearing is suggestive of a non-zero crossing split). I DO NOT hear distortion if I delete track2 or if I delete the audio clips in track2. I DO NOT hear distortion is I listen to track1 and track3 in another audio editor (Sound Forge). So while it is possible the edit I made on track2 is causing distortion, I do not hear the distortion when playing back track2 soloed - I only hear distortion on track1 and track3 when those track are unmuted or soloed (regardless of whether track2 is muted or not). This is what I think is a CW software problem: something in track2 is causing CW to introduce distortion on the playback of 2 other unrelated tracks. So last night, I resolved this distortion problem by deleting the existing audio clips in track2, and re-recording the material on that track (same "virtual" instrument, same set of notes). Having done that, there is now no more distortion at meas. 96, beat 2.5 when playing back any tracks - tracks1 and track3 are now free of distortion. Fortunately, this problem is fixable. It took me 3-4 days to investigate and find out what was causing the problem. Once I had a better idea of what the nature of the problem was, fixing it was the easy part. So the problem in my project is resolved, but my suspicion that there is a significant unresolved problem in the functioning of CWbBL is as strong as ever. Thanks again

Hello. Let me summarize to see if I got this right. You are able to launch CWbBL, and load a project, but there is no sound on playback, or any audio is badly distorted. Is this correct? Some things to try: - try loading other projects and see if you can get good audio playback. - make sure your master outputs are set to your audio interface. - if none of your projects can playback good audio, I suggest you find the latest driver for your audio interface, and load it into your computer. Follow the manufacturer's instructions on loading the driver. Does that change anything. Report back if you continue to have problems. Have fun.

So let us assume you are correct Gregy, and I have made a bad cut not at a zero crossing in (let's call it) Track B. When I solo Track B and play it back, I hear no distortion. And if I solo Track A (where there is no bad edit) and play it back, I hear distortion. Even if you are correct and I have made a bad edit in Track B, there is no way - in the world of functioning audio recording software - that a problem in Track B will cause distortion heard during the playback of Track A when Track A is soloed. This kind of behavior should be recognized as a malfunction of the audio recording software. While I recognize (and appreciate) the CWbBL is free, it has to be said that what I have been describing is clearly a bug in the functionality of CW - and a significant bug as well. Sadly, I think I have noticed other similar bugs in CWbBL where it appears that things that occur on one track will impact the proper playback on an unrelated track. These kinds of bugs make the software unappealing to use: BandLab needs to address this problem pronto or risk becoming a joke in the world of audio recording software. I hope the team at BandLab is paying attention.

Hello. So I can confirm that if I take the audio clip in which I hear distortion and play it in Sound Forge, it sounds fine: no distortion. So the audio in the clip is not distorted but I will hear distortion at the specific song location if I play the clip in CW. I might have found the problem. One of the other audio tracks that also play at the meas 96, beat 2.5 location has an edit right at the meas 96, beat 2.5 location. (I created this audio by playing the RD-2000, and recording the output into the corresponding track (track 2 to distinguish it from the track in which I hear distortion) in CW. No midi was involved. After recording this, I decided I need to rerecord some sloppy notes in the last measure, so I used the Split Tool to cut the clip and then recorded a second pass on a Take Lane in that track.) If I solo this other track, it plays back fine, no distortion. But I am suspecting the edit made in track2 is for some reason causing CW to distort when it plays back track 1. I will do some further investigation and report back. It has been my impression for some time now that I am coming across bugs/anomolies in CW. On a couple of occasions, it seems some of my softsynths are responding to events on other tracks having nothing to do with the softsynth.

Thank you Gregy for your reply. I have tried creating a new audio track and then either moving the original distorting audio clip to the new track. When I do this, I get the same distortion at the same meas96, beat 2.5 location. If I try to re-record the sound module into a new track, I get the same distortion at the same location. I am very sure that the original clip has no distortion on it. I have to confirm this by listening to the clip in Sound Forge. But I feel very confident when I do this, I will not hear distortion on that audio clip. So my diagnosis is that CW is having some issue at the song location meas 96, beat 2.5 that is creating distortion.

Hello. I am using the latest update of CWbBL, in Win 7. I am having a weird distortion problem in a project. The distortion appears in an audio clip in an audio track in a project that contains 8 audio tracks. The distortion occurs at one specific point in this audio clip that is 30-40 secs in length. The distortion occurs at meas. 96, beat 2.5 - there is no distortion anywhere else in that audio clip except at meas 96, beat 2.5. At that location, the CW meters show the audio to be more than 10 db below 0 dbFS (so the distortion is NOT due to audio clipping). I created this audio clip by first recording a midi track to drive a sound module (Roland rd-2000). I then capture the audio output of the sound module on a separate audio track. This means I can monitor the audio output of the sound module and re-record the audio so it will always be exactly the same as the initial (same volume, etc.). When I monitor the audio output of the sound module at my hardware mixer, I hear no distortion of the audio. The meters of the hardware mixer receiving the audio output of the sound module are well below 0 dbFS - so the audio coming out of the sound module is NOT distorting the AD converter. OK so here is where it gets weird. If I slide the midi track forward 20 measures or so (well beyond the location at meas 96, beat 2.5), and re-record the sound module, I get a audio clip that has NO distortion in it: it sounds great. Yet, if I then slide or copy/paste this audio clip that has no distortion in it to the location at meas 96, beat 2.5, this audio clip will now play back with the distortion, just like the previous clip. So in sum: the audio output of the sound module itself is not distorted; the audio output of the sound module is not distorting the AD converter, and I can record the audio output of the sound module to CW without distortion as long as I am not recording at meas 96, beat 2.5. All the other audio tracks except one play without distortion at meas. 96, beat 2.5. I am hearing a similar distortion in another audio clip on another audio track at the same meas. 96, beat 2.5. This other audio clip was also created by first recording a midi track and then using the midi track to drive the sound module. Can anyone tell me why I am getting distortion at this one particular location (and not at any other location). Can anyone suggest a way to avoid or remove the distortion? Thanks.