Crackling noise

[Frank DeFede]

I am using the new Sonar free version.  I am getting fine crackling noises in my mix.  I have tried raising and lowering the buffers in preferences. nothing seems to work. any ideas please!

 

Thank you!

[David Baay]

Is this affecting all/most projects of comparable complexity? Are they mostly/all audio or mostly/all soft synths? Are you still using the Presonus Studio 24 or the V-Studio 100 mentioned earlier? If you're running 192 or 96kHz and the project has no recorded/rendered audio yet, try 48kHz.

Is your PC optimzed for streaming audio?

Ensure the following at a minimum:

- If it's a laptop, plug it in.

- Set Windows power management to Best Performance.

- Set onboard audio (e.g. Realtek) as the default device for Windows and generic multimedia apps to play audio.

- In BIOS, disable Speedstep and C-States (CPU-throttling).

- If problems persist, adidtionally disable Bluetooth and WiFi (at least temporarily to determine if either is a factor).

- If problems still persist, run LatencyMon to see what might be causing high/spiking Defered Procedure Call Latency - a measure of the PC's readiness to respond to interrupts from the audio interface requesting a buffer refill (not to be confused with audio buffering latency).

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

 

 

 

 

[Frank DeFede]

David, thank you for replying to my post. I am now jusing the Presonus Studio 24c. I left the house for most of the day after i tried this morning, and when I came back with the project still open it seems to be working.  I think I hear a pop now and then, but nothing like what was going on. I am still concerned about what was going on.

I will try some other older projects that I know were working fine and let you know if they have any problems. I will also follow your detailed instructions to see if any of that helps should the problem start again.

Frank

[AB99]

Are you using any plugins?  I had a plugin that would do that to me.  

[Frank DeFede]

I am using plugins, but I think I have stumbled upon the problem.  It is happening with everything I play through the system, even windows sounds. I am not sure what that could mean? I am trying to figure it out.  Any suggestions?

[Frank DeFede]

4 hours ago, David Baay said:

Is this affecting all/most projects of comparable complexity? Are they mostly/all audio or mostly/all soft synths? Are you still using the Presonus Studio 24 or the V-Studio 100 mentioned earlier? If you're running 192 or 96kHz and the project has no recorded/rendered audio yet, try 48kHz.

Is your PC optimzed for streaming audio?

Ensure the following at a minimum:

- If it's a laptop, plug it in.

- Set Windows power management to Best Performance.

- Set onboard audio (e.g. Realtek) as the default device for Windows and generic multimedia apps to play audio.

- In BIOS, disable Speedstep and C-States (CPU-throttling).

- If problems persist, adidtionally disable Bluetooth and WiFi (at least temporarily to determine if either is a factor).

- If problems still persist, run LatencyMon to see what might be causing high/spiking Defered Procedure Call Latency - a measure of the PC's readiness to respond to interrupts from the audio interface requesting a buffer refill (not to be confused with audio buffering latency).

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

 

I think I have stumbled upon the problem.  It is happening with everything I play through the system, even windows sounds. I am not sure what that could mean? I am trying to figure it out.  Any suggestions?

 

 

 

[Frank DeFede]

I did more testing.  I exported a file and put it into dropbox and it plays fine on my phone. I changed the audio output to the computer speaker, and it is fine. 

I used my headphones out of the Studio 24c, and it is distorted the same as it is through the main speakers.  Apparently it is something to do with the Presonus Studio 24C.  I haven't had this very long, but I think it may be the issue. 

[David Baay]

And check for the age-old culprit of many crackles: Steinberg Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver. Even when not in use, it seems to wreak havoc with Sonar and should be uninstalled.

[57Gregy]

USB cable?

[Bristol_Jonesey]

Sounds like it's possibly a bad cable in your output chain. Check them all.

[Frank DeFede]

I thought I had it fixed. I had updatd the firmware on the Personus Studio 24c even though it said it was up to date it allowed me to update anyway. It updated. I turned off my computer and restarted it.  It worked great! I finished mixing the song I was working on.

I put the computer to sleep, and put myself to sleep. 

This morning I woke up the computer, and accidentally went to the old bandlab instead of the new one and I heard the noise again thought the speakers. The old bandlab came up with a message of no audio outputs assignment.  I tried to close it, but it hung up not responding.  I finally got it to close, and opened the new Sonar cakewalk which was crackling again.

I closed it, and turned off the computer, restarted, and the crackling is gone.  I am not sure what this means, but I am suspicious of the old bandlab software 🤔 as this has happened twice.

I will work more with it today to see what happens.  I'll post to let you know.

Any thoughts on this?