Noise in the program, a crackling sound

[Чело Век]

Hello, I have a Steinberg ur44 sound card with the latest firmware version 2.12 and the latest drivers v1.10.3. There is a problem:
When I turn on a project with a 32ms buffer size configured in the driver, there is noise in the program, a crackling sound. 
But when I use sonar platinum in the same project with the same settings, the sound plays perfectly.

I want to use the latest version of CakeWalk Bandlab but I need to get rid of this problem.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Чело Век

[Robert Bone]

You indicated 32 ms for your buffer, but it is actually referring to the number of samples, so your setting is currently at 32 samples.  (Just trying to explain it for you - no issues - just correcting your initial referral to the buffer size).

Anyways, it is possible that one or more of the effects loaded into your Cakewalk project is adding enough latency to where it affects the sound at that setting.  You can easily test this out, by loading up your project with the audio issues, and hit the letter 'E' on your computer keyboard - this is as Cakewalk shortcut to toggle on or off the bypassing of effects in the project.  SO, hit 'E' once to bypass effects, and if your crackles go away, then that tells you that one or effects are the problem.  Hit 'E' again, to stop bypassing the effects.

It is also possible that 32 samples is just cutting it too close - and you may find it necessary to bump up your ASIO Buffer Size to 64 Samples, and see if THAT makes the audio issues go away.  You should be well lower with latency - at 64 samples, to where you shouldn't hear any lag between playing a note and hearing it back.  I actually COULD run at either 64 or 32 samples, but I just run at 128 samples for my buffer size, because I still don't hear any lag when recording, and everything hums along nicely - performance wise.  The lower your ASIO Buffer Size, the more you are making your CPU work, and at some point - usually at either 64 or 32 samples, it gets to where the CPU cannot quite handle it, and you end up with some crackles.  Bumping up the buffer size should get rid of the noise for you.

If you found that bypassing the effects got rid of the noise, then you might have accidentally used a plugin that is too consumptive - meaning it either needs a larger buffer size to do its thing, OR it is CPU-intensive.  Either way, if this is the case, you can either turn off that effect until you move on to mixing, where you WANT a super large ASIO B uffer Size, or you can temporarily swap that effect out for something less 'needy' of buffer or CPU, until you finish recording, and then when you bump up your ASIO Buffer Size (1024 or 2048 samples), for mixing, THEN you can swap that effect back into your project, and the larger buffer size should allow that plugin (like a convolution reverb) to do its thing without causing crackles.

Bob Bone

 

[Чело Век]

Thank you for your answer. But the fact is that interference occurs with off effects. You can get rid of cod and noise only by setting the buffer size to 128. But that's a bit much for me, as I play with live instrument processing and on a MIDI keyboard in real time and the delay matters to me. This is about the program itself, its interaction with the driver. Since Sonar Platinum, apparently there have been deterioration in the program on the part of the driver.

If the developers do not pay attention to this problem by making changes in one of the future updates, I guess I'll have to stay on the old version of the program Sonar Platinum Version: 22.11.0 BUILD 111 [2016.11] where this problem is not, and it copes with the size of the buffer 32 samples

I just want to keep up with the times and use the updated programs. I hope this feature of the behavior of the program can be corrected.

Good health to All!

Edited May 31, 2019 by Чело Век

[JohnT6794]

I agree.  Working on the same project that I created in Sonar Platinum with zero crackling issues.  Now that I installed BandLab, I have the cracking.  So for me, I won't be using BandLab until this issue is resolved.  I tried all of the suggestions above and none solved the problem.  To me, as a developer myself, it is quite clear that this is a software issue since all settings, audio files, FX, and project is the same.  In Platinum, runs fine without crackle, but in Bandlab it does not.

[Terry Kelley]

This is one of several things that work in Sonar but have issues in CbB. But they are working through them.

[Noel Borthwick]

@JohnT6794 and Чело Век which release of CbB are you running? This message was posted back in May and many things have changed since then. Please run this release that we plan to publicly release soon and report back.
Also when did you first notice this specific issue? Have you directly compared the settings you have in SONAR to CbB? If so please contact me and we can troubleshoot it further with you. If you can reproduce a difference there is likely a simple explanation.

Most drivers will have a hard time using a 32 sample buffer and do it by using internal buffering. In all my tests I see better performance at low latency in Cbb than SONAR. However perhaps the issue you are having isn't performance related.

@Terry Kelley I'm not aware of several things that work in SONAR but not in CbB. More the converse situation - we've fixed hundreds of issues that preexisted in SONAR. Can you be more specific?

[Terry Kelley]

6 hours ago, JohnT6794 said:

I agree.  Working on the same project that I created in Sonar Platinum with zero crackling issues.  Now that I installed BandLab, I have the cracking.  So for me, I won't be using BandLab until this issue is resolved.  I tried all of the suggestions above and none solved the problem.  To me, as a developer myself, it is quite clear that this is a software issue since all settings, audio files, FX, and project is the same.  In Platinum, runs fine without crackle, but in Bandlab it does not.

For me, I have to run my Presonus iTwo box at 2048 to avoid crackles but also disable all effects (FX) when I record to stop the delay. 

On a side note, make sure your CPU isn’t overheating and slowing down. I use a laptop and was getting crackles as it warmed up. The heatsink and fan were pretty dirty. Drove me nuts for a bit. There are many CPU temp apps out there and it’s worth checking. 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Terry Kelley

[Terry Kelley]

4 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

...

@Terry Kelley I'm not aware of several things that work in SONAR but not in CbB. More the converse situation - we've fixed hundreds of issues that preexisted in SONAR. Can you be more specific?

I chose bad wording. I didn't mean there are known issues you are working on but rather you are working to solve CbB issues specifically and some are quirks from Sonar.

However, our issues with the TTS-1 plug in is an example were a CbB problem project will work in Sonar. I now have three other people that have confirmed it. And once a project is created with a crashing TTS-1, it appears nothing will fix it. I am clear that your team doesn't have access to the source code for TTS-1 which is why support declines to address tickets. It's just a really weird and frustrating issue.

That said, while I started with CW back with Greg's DOS version, I am using a totally free program that blows away everything from the past. Every dime I spent has been returned to me with CbB.  It is far more stable than the past versions (like Sonar). I am truly grateful to the team for this. Free and works great. But I still want to roll up a newspaper and beat TTS-1 about the head and shoulders until it gets in line.

And Merry Christmas to everyone here and the Bandlab team!

Edited December 24, 2019 by Terry Kelley

[Noel Borthwick]

Phew thanks for clarifying  

Re TTS1, its really sheer coincidence that you are seeing it work "better". Known crash bugs are like playing russian roulette - sometimes you get lucky and sometimes the trigger will get you! There is nothing special in CbB other than it has more code than older versions and as a result a greater likelihood of tts1 corrupting something more important. I can assure you that we had several reports of it crashing old versions of SONAR as well.  If you have a simple project that can reliably crash CbB with TTS1 there is a remote chance that I could work around whatever damage its doing so let me know. 

TTS1 code was written by Roland developers and Roland themselves abandoned it many years ago. (The original devs from Roland who did it are long gone)
We have a very old version of the code - however even if we had the current code it would be impossible to fix since it was machine generated from their synths and is next to impossible for a human to understand let alone fix!
We're considering an alternative a replacement for TTS1 for the future, but if you really want to get something now, Roland has a SoundCanvas VST plugin that you can buy. I've have not tried it myself.

[Terry Kelley]

Sorry Noel but TTS is being a brat.  It taunts me ...

[rsinger]

Just an FYI. I updated my computer to win10 and a larger SDD and as part of the process tested all my licensed SW to make sure it all worked. I noticed that Omnisphere created noise inside CbB. (It was a release a few months old.) It is fine in Sonar Platinum, Live 9, and Samplitude. I updated CbB to the current release and the noise is gone. Very strange - it was only Omnisphere. The Korg Legacy synths, Alchemy, Reaktor 6, cakewalk synths & samplers all worked fine. ASIO buffer size is 96 which isn't pushing it on my system and performance meters were really low. 

[Pieter]

I have the same crackling noise issue.

I used to think it was due to my old slow computer, but now that I'm running bandlab on a newer, more powerful machine unfortunately the crackling remains.

It appears about every minute or 2 for a second or 2. I'm connecting through a Steinberg UR22mkII Interface

Any suggestions on how to get rid of the crackling noise are very much appreciated.

 

I'm not very knowledgeable, but I hear all of you talking about ASIO. When I switch driver mode to ASIO, Cakewalk gives me the message that Cakewalk is incompatible with Realtek ASIO. when I force it to switch to ASIO the audio no longer runs via my Interface, but out of the regular speakers of my computer.

 

Is there an incompatibility issue between the Steinberg interface and Cakewalk that I'm not aware of?

Any ways to resolving this?

Thanks

Best regards,

 

Pieter

Edited December 2, 2021 by Pieter

[57Gregy]

Welcome to the forum. Since this thread is almost 2 years old, it would have been best to start your own thread, but here you are.
Check the Steinberg web site for a Steinberg ASIO driver for the UR22. The RealTek ASIO driver is not good and shouldn't be used.
Download and install the Steinberg ASIO driver and try that.
Often, a periodic pink noise sound is a symptom of a plug-in that is in demo mode or hasn't been activated/registered yet. If you have audio effect or soft synth plug-ins running in the project, try turning the plug-ins off one at a time to find which one is misbehaving.
Good luck.

[scook]

Make sure to uninstall ASIO4All.

It can conflict with factory ASIO drivers.

[Mark Mitchell]

I was searching for a topic of sound load status - and hit this thread - which reminded me of a sound situation that is not being discussed here.

I was working on a project over the last two weeks - and I kept hearing a crackling sound - and thought it was maybe a part of the sound file..

in parallel with that - I had some brand new libraries that were talking over 6 minutes to load.. into Kontakt.

Searching for that answer led me to understand that the antivirus software could be scanning the sound sample files and slowing things down - which in turn I figured was also what could be happening to create those crackles in the audio .  I found the location in my antivirus to add Excluded Folders - and it fixed the load times - now down to 15-20 seconds and I am not hearing the crackles.

 

Now - what I had hoped to find was - when you load a project - nothing tells you when all the tracks audio plugins and finished loading their samples..  A status light or a popup might be a good signal to have.

[John Vere]

Please start a new thread for your topic. It's a big waste of our time because people open this thread and read it not always seeing the date.