crackling sound when using some effects and plugins

[Samuel Sheehan]

Hello,

thanks for reading,

today i got a focusrite scarlett 2i2 interface. Since using this, there is a crackling sound on my tracks (particularly at higher volumes) when i use certain plugins and effects. I had to change multiple settings to get the interface working correctly so maybe something i changed has caused this issue but i cant seem to work it out. 

it is similar to a clipping sound but more crackly and distorted. there doesnt seem to be a problem with the interface or mic as it sounds fine through the direct monitoring, also the distortion happens when using my midi controller with certain but not all plugin instruments.

I'm new to cakewalk and relatively new to recording so any help appreciated!

Thanks a million

[StudioNSFW]

First place to look will be your Buffer size in Preverences > Devices> Driver Settings.

Slide more towards Safe and see if that doesn't get it. 

[Samuel Sheehan]

Thanks for the response but unfortunately that seems to make no difference to the sound

[Robert Bone]

1) Is your Driver Mode in Cakewalk set to ASIO?  (Edit>Preferences>Driver Settings).  After settings that, you may need to select you audio interface as input and output Audio Devices, also in preferences.

2)  Do you happen have any effects plugins loaded into the project, such as any kind of convolution reverb or linear-phase type of effects?  If so, thes generally require really large ASIO Viffer Sizes (1024 or 2048) to have enough rooom to do their thing.  Quick way to test if effects are causing your issues - hit the FX button to the right of the transport controls up at the top of the Cakewalk window, and that will temporarily disengage all effects - then hit Play, and see if your issues disappear.  If so, then one or more of your effects plugins is likely meant to be used during mixing and not during recording, and again for those you need a large ASIO Buffer Size.  Hit FX again to toggle the effects processing back on for all loaded plugins in the project.

3) If your computer has WiFi drivers that are enabled, these can sometimes cause streaming audio interference, and if so, folks generally 'disable' the WiFi drivers just before launching Cakewalk, and after finishing their Cakewalk session, they go back in and 'enable' the WiFi drivers again.  You can do this in Device Manager, expand the Network Adapters category, then right-click on your WiFi driver, and click on either Enable or Disable, to set it or reset it.  If running Windows 10, you can right-click on your Windows Start Button, then simply click on Device Manager from the list of options presented. 

Bob Bone

 

[Samuel Sheehan]

Thanks for the response bob, unfortunately your recommendations havent’t changed anything.

audio track was recorded before using the sonitus reverb but the breakup sound arrises when I add the reverb.

also happening with my midi controller when using certain instruments (spitfire labs) but not others (cakewalk electric piano)

and it’s all only at louder volumes, but they’re no where near clipping levels...

Again, any help appreciated, really stuck!

thanks 

 

[Egil Hansen]

I've been a user of Cakewalk for many years and i have been defending it as the best DAW around...... sadly this is not true anymore :/ I bought a new audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 3rd Gen) and recently built a monster PC that should last me a couple of years..... I fired up Cakewalk just to realize that the performance was still sluggish :O Lowered sample/buffer size, tried to find the golden spot, but it's no way to get a good performance using VSTs. Sure it works fine recording without any active VSTs but that's not always what you want to do!

So I decided to try out Reaper, to see if this is an issue with other DAWs as well...... Well it's not! I went all the way down to 128 samples, have no noticeable latency and i can run as loads of VST's without any audio dropouts or crackling! :O

So for now, until the obvious performance issues are dealt with, Cakewalk is a no go!

[Samuel Sheehan]

Thanks Egil for the response,

I’ll keep trying to sort out this problem but in the meantime I’ll take your advice and experiment with reaper...

[Samuel Sheehan]

If anyone else does happen to have any other solution to this sound I would be delighted with any help!

[abacab]

Try running "LatencyMon" from Resplendence. https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

"LatencyMon checks if a system running Windows is suitable for processing real-time audio and other tasks. LatencyMon analyzes the possible causes of buffer underruns by measuring kernel timer latencies and reporting DPC and ISR excecution times as well as hard pagefaults. It will provide a comprehensible report and find the kernel modules and processes responsible for causing audio latencies which result in drop outs. "

[Robert Bone]

On 5/15/2020 at 3:43 AM, Samuel Sheehan said:

Thanks for the response bob, unfortunately your recommendations havent’t changed anything.

audio track was recorded before using the sonitus reverb but the breakup sound arrises when I add the reverb.

also happening with my midi controller when using certain instruments (spitfire labs) but not others (cakewalk electric piano)

and it’s all only at louder volumes, but they’re no where near clipping levels...

Again, any help appreciated, really stuck!

thanks 

 

Can you please list the exact name every effect plugin your project is using?  (only the ones in the project, not asking for a list of all the effects plugins installed on your computer).  Please also include any ProChannel components that you are using, like Breverb, for instance.

I have a feeling one or more of those reverb plugins are convolution reverbs.

Thanks, 

Bob Bone

[Robert Bone]

Also, with Cakewalk NOT running, please download and run Latencymon, for a couple minutes, and please post back here with the results of its monitoring, to make sure something outside of Cakewalk is not causing latency issues.

Here is a link to the page where you can download Latencymon for free.  Once you download and run it, click on the green arrow (like a Play button) up at the top left of the window, and that will begin the monitoring process.  It will tell you if things are OK or not, for handling streaming audio, which is what Cakewalk does.  Again, have Cakewalk not running, when you run Latencymon, so that it measures just your system.

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon 

Thanks, 

Bob Bone