Horrific Audio Glitch

[Robert Bone]

I am no expert on those Miniport device entries - but would not imagine those would cause issues being enabled.

[Robert Bone]

But now I am confused - you say you have a wireless connection between this computer and a printer?  SO - must be a WiFi driver somewhere, unless it is using Blue Tooth and not WiFi.  *I would think

[Helos Bonos]

5 minutes ago, Robert Bone said:

But now I am confused - you say you have a wireless connection between this computer and a printer?  SO - must be a WiFi driver somewhere, unless it is using Blue Tooth and not WiFi.  *I would think

I have a wireless router connected to my LAN cable. I forgot how it's connected. I think wall to router to computer. It monitors how much printer ink I'm using with HP. I'm on a ink subscription so they monitor how many pages I print via the internet.

[Robert Bone]

I would guess the printer is connected via WiFi to the router, and then your computer sees the printer as a network device.

[Robert Bone]

I am going to circle back and try to focus on this thread, to try to figure out what to look at.  I am on the phone, at the moment, helping a friend get up to speed on using Cakewalk, so it will be a couple hours - maybe less - and then I will be able to focus on this thread. 

I have been on the phone, or going back and forth in writing, with several different folks, since 2:00 this aftenoon 

Bob Bone

[Lance Jones]

The fact that it is in  certain areas tells me that a plugin may be causing it. Maybe you have a demo plugin in the project? Have you tried holding down shift when loading the project and saying no to all plugins and then trying to record to see if the glitch is gone?

 

[Helos Bonos]

7 hours ago, Lance Jones said:

The fact that it is in  certain areas tells me that a plugin may be causing it. Maybe you have a demo plugin in the project? Have you tried holding down shift when loading the project and saying no to all plugins and then trying to record to see if the glitch is gone?

 

No demo plugins. I'll try your suggestion. Thanks.

[SteveC]

I think it was suggested earlier, but, if you import that wave file into a brand new empty project using one of the delivered templates, does it glitch in the same place?   If so, then yes, it was recorded that way and there's no fixing that after the fact (outside of something like RX or similar).   What I would also try though is recording the same thing you did the first time around in that new project, using the original version as a guide, and see whether the newly recorded clip in the new project does the same thing.    Worth a try, I think.

[Helos Bonos]

1 hour ago, SteveC said:

I think it was suggested earlier, but, if you import that wave file into a brand new empty project using one of the delivered templates, does it glitch in the same place?   If so, then yes, it was recorded that way and there's no fixing that after the fact (outside of something like RX or similar).   What I would also try though is recording the same thing you did the first time around in that new project, using the original version as a guide, and see whether the newly recorded clip in the new project does the same thing.    Worth a try, I think.

Yes, Steve. Someone suggested the same thing. I'll be trying that soon. and FYI, that glitch sound seems to be a downsampling of the audio. What could cause that? And in the same places every new track.

[SteveC]

When you say down-sampling, do you mean a bit reduced type harshness?   If so I honestly don't know what could cause that outside of a plugin specifically for that purpose, or some type of weird driver interaction getting triggered by something at that point in the project.   Hopefully trying the existing clip in a new project will help determine if the clip itself includes that anomaly or if it's in the original project.     

Until then...  If you copy that clip further down the timeline does the glitch occur at the same spot?  What if you move that copied clip to a new track in the same project?   What happens if you split the clip around the location where the glitch occurs, and then slip-edit each split clip to exclude the glitch region?    I'm just throwing out ideas to maybe help narrow down the specifics.

 

[Colin Nicholls]

Feel free to post/upload/attach a section of the WAV file for us to forensic, if you like, @Helos Bonos

[bvideo]

Any tempo changes near 9 of the first one? Tempo-based effects?

 

[Helos Bonos]

@SteveC That's a good idea to move the clip further down the timeline. I'll try that. Also, yes, the downsampling does sound like bit reduction but I think there is a slight difference between the two, technically.

@Robert Bone you are correct. The only cable coming out of my printer is for power.

@bvideo No tempo changes. Just meter changes. Interestingly, I'll have to check, but those might be around the problem areas. Just using reverb and delays for the most part. Compression.  Melodyne. But this problem was before I pitch corrected.

@Colin Nicholls Attaching some files here.

Thank you all.

Recording Glitch.m4a Liar Glitch 2.mp3 harmony glitchs-MOTU Audio ASIO Main Out 1-2.mp3

[Colin Nicholls]

mp3 encoding might disguise the nature of the glitch (whereas unconverted WAV (whatever bit depth/sample rate you're using) would not , but I'll take a look.

[Colin Nicholls]

Well, I can see the glitch in the decoded mp3. I took a look at the frequency spectrum. There's some nice hi-freq noise swiping across the stereo field that I can't even hear (>18kHz) but most of it seems to be on both channels.

I can't attach this as an embedded .gif for some reason, but here's a quick scan across the glitch section:

http://www.spacefold.com/colin/ps/temp/glitch_freq_view.gif

I don't know if anyone will be able to cast insight on that, but there you go...

[chris.r]

2 hours ago, Helos Bonos said:

No tempo changes. Just meter changes. Interestingly, I'll have to check, but those might be around the problem areas. Just using reverb and delays for the most part...

I've experienced glitches in a project with virtual synth where there was tempo changes. The tempo changes caused this synth's internal delay to produce the glitches, at least that's what I believed. It was u-he Podolski btw. Didn't check it myself but might be worth trying to temporarily delete meter/key changes and see if it helps. Or bypass the effects.

Edited June 17, 2020 by chris.r

[Helos Bonos]

REPORT:
(project settings: buffer size: 64; sample rate: 48k; Bit depth: 24)
Ok, so I started up the session holding shift as @Lance Jones has recommended to disable all plugins. Heard a crackle at the separations between audio clips. Bounced out a selection, No crackle. So it's just in the session. (this is only for the guitar audio clips). I changed the buffer to 512, still hear crackle at the same spots but not as bad. (that doesn't cut it. I need ZERO crackle. Also, I should not be getting crackle at 512 WITH NO PLUG INS ENABLED!!!)

2. As @SteveC suggested, I took a copy of the vocal clip that had a lot of glitches and dragged it further down the timeline--ZERO glitches. Then, I copied that same section to a new track--glitches present. THEN, I bounced that section of the solo vocal on the original problem track and there is zero glitch on the bounced mp3. BUT if you've heard any of my previous uploaded clips, you will know that the glitches ARE present in the bounce. Somehow, some of the glitches are session only, other glitches show up on the bounce. And some of the glitches are baked in to the clip while other glitches are just audible during playback only.

3. I copied a different section of a different vocal track and dragged it down to later in the timeline and the glitch was still there. That glitch was baked in I believe.

Conclusion: It seems I'll have to rerecord some damaged tracks but I know the glitches will show up in the same spots on the new takes. I need to find out what is causing these glitches in these spots. I think my best lead for figuring this out is LatencyMon. It keeps telling me I will be experiencing audio dropouts due to some driver issues. I've posted results before but got limited help on it.

Side note: Probably related. When I record in Reaper, I get random dropouts and a high-pitched tone (probably around 10k) which lasts for a second or so. This tone can happen during playback of recording but oddly, if it's during recording, it does not affect the audio. It only blocks what I hear but whatever was recorded still ends up on the clip unaffected.

Thanks err'body.

[Helos Bonos]

On 6/15/2020 at 3:51 AM, Lance Jones said:

Have you tried holding down shift when loading the project and saying no to all plugins and then trying to record to see if the glitch is gone?

So while I was experimenting, I noticed some minor thing that needed fixing. I fixed it and saved it. Did I just save the project with all plugins disabled? I closed it and opened it and all my plugins are still off. Don't even tell me I have to go and turn them all on again. SMH.

[Robert Bone]

7 hours ago, Helos Bonos said:

REPORT:
(project settings: buffer size: 64; sample rate: 48k; Bit depth: 24)
Ok, so I started up the session holding shift as @Lance Jones has recommended to disable all plugins. Heard a crackle at the separations between audio clips. Bounced out a selection, No crackle. So it's just in the session. (this is only for the guitar audio clips). I changed the buffer to 512, still hear crackle at the same spots but not as bad. (that doesn't cut it. I need ZERO crackle. Also, I should not be getting crackle at 512 WITH NO PLUG INS ENABLED!!!)

2. As @SteveC suggested, I took a copy of the vocal clip that had a lot of glitches and dragged it further down the timeline--ZERO glitches. Then, I copied that same section to a new track--glitches present. THEN, I bounced that section of the solo vocal on the original problem track and there is zero glitch on the bounced mp3. BUT if you've heard any of my previous uploaded clips, you will know that the glitches ARE present in the bounce. Somehow, some of the glitches are session only, other glitches show up on the bounce. And some of the glitches are baked in to the clip while other glitches are just audible during playback only.

3. I copied a different section of a different vocal track and dragged it down to later in the timeline and the glitch was still there. That glitch was baked in I believe.

Conclusion: It seems I'll have to rerecord some damaged tracks but I know the glitches will show up in the same spots on the new takes. I need to find out what is causing these glitches in these spots. I think my best lead for figuring this out is LatencyMon. It keeps telling me I will be experiencing audio dropouts due to some driver issues. I've posted results before but got limited help on it.

Side note: Probably related. When I record in Reaper, I get random dropouts and a high-pitched tone (probably around 10k) which lasts for a second or so. This tone can happen during playback of recording but oddly, if it's during recording, it does not affect the audio. It only blocks what I hear but whatever was recorded still ends up on the clip unaffected.

Thanks err'body.

I must have either missed them or saw them while my brain was melted - apologies, in either case - can you please post the results from running LatencyMon again for a few minutes?

If it is reporting issues, without Cakewalk even running, then those issues will need to be resolved, regardless of, or in addition to, whatever may be going on within your Cakewalk project.

Thanks, 

Bob Bone

[Helos Bonos]

Hey @Robert Bone, so I've run LatencyMon a few times since installing it. I feel like I get slightly different results each time. But almost always one driver shows up as being a problem: ataport.SYS atapi driver. Earlier today TCPIP was one. Now it's a different one but always ataport is the first one.
FYI: CbB is currently NOT running while I ran this test. I do have a number of other programs open though including Photoshop, Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird, Word, Spotify, ACrobat, and a few others. And NO, I never had problems with all these programs open before while running my DAW. But if you'd like me to try something, let me know. Thanks.