Anyone Have This Issue and Resolved It?

[Jerry Gerber]

I'm experiencing an issue that my normal troubleshooting routines aren't resolving.  If I open the piece I'm working on in Cakewalk and start playback, at around measure 30 I get a pop, and what sounds like a missed note, I think, in the string section.  If I play it again it's fine and the problem won't return until the next day, no matter how many times I edit or play the piece.

I've tried changing the audio buffer size in my RME interface.  I am sure it's an audio, not a midi problem.  I'm sending CW MIDI data via Ethernet to a dedicated computer for my VSL library.  I tried changing audio buffer size on the VSL computer's ADAT interface as well.  I've also tried upping the buffer size in the MIR Pro reverb on the VSL machine and also upping the sample pre-load size in the VSL utility called Directory.

So far, none of these solutions work.  I ran a test to make sure my computers are still capable of handling audio (they are)  Both machines have 32GB memory, fast SSD drives (a total of 5 drives) and both are running Windows 10 with an i7 CPU.  

I had this issue once before last year and I fixed it by increasing the preload sample size for my VSL samples but this time that's not resolving it.

Thanks,
Jerry

 

[mettelus]

If it plays through fine after the first pass, it sounds like an issue with the initial sample read (dynamic loading). There are also disc read/write caches that can be enabled in Sonar that may help. You have enough RAM you might be able to increase read caching (anticipating what is coming down the pipe) with success, since it seems that once they are in RAM you are not having issues.

Of course, the fallback would be to freeze whichever tracks are causing the issue and only unfreeze them when altering the VSL structure. If you do that, save the preset you are specifically using as a precaution so that if unfreezing glitches, you can get the patch/presets back without losing them.

[Amberwolf]

Were there any updates to anything involved between the time it wasn't doing this, and the time it started again now?  

Automated updates to OS, or drivers, or software?   Or manual ones?

If so, it could be directly related, though rolling back might not change it depending on what exactly caused it.   

[Jerry Gerber]

1 hour ago, mettelus said:

If it plays through fine after the first pass, it sounds like an issue with the initial sample read (dynamic loading). There are also disc read/write caches that can be enabled in Sonar that may help. You have enough RAM you might be able to increase read caching (anticipating what is coming down the pipe) with success, since it seems that once they are in RAM you are not having issues.

Of course, the fallback would be to freeze whichever tracks are causing the issue and only unfreeze them when altering the VSL structure. If you do that, save the preset you are specifically using as a precaution so that if unfreezing glitches, you can get the patch/presets back without losing them.

Thanks Mettelus.  I tried that on your suggestion but it didn't help.   I did notice that CCCleaner was sending me notifications to update, since I don't use it anymore I uninstalled it.  That might, or might not be the culprit.  We'll see...

[Jerry Gerber]

18 minutes ago, Amberwolf said:

Were there any updates to anything involved between the time it wasn't doing this, and the time it started again now?  

Automated updates to OS, or drivers, or software?   Or manual ones?

If so, it could be directly related, though rolling back might not change it depending on what exactly caused it.   

Yes, but earlier versions had this issue too.  As I mentioned in the above post CCCleaner is kind of obstrusive so I uninstalled it, we'll see if that works..

Thanks Amberwolf.

Jerry

https://www.jerrygerber.com

https://www.youtube.com/@astromusicvideo

 

 

[Amberwolf]

Was worth a shot. 

[Jerry Gerber]

Now that I think about it, it probably isn't a problem being caused by CCCleaner.  I thought it might because today CC Cleaner was trying to goad me into upgrading while Sonar was playing today.  But since the audio glitch always happens around the same measure in the piece, it's not likely being caused by some event involving another app, i.e. virus checker, downloading virus updates, etc.  If it were it would not always happen around the same measure.

 

 

[Amberwolf]

More thoughts, not knowing much about your system or instruments' functionality (just general observations of software):

But it could be caused by one of the instruments being played, having some issue that is causing an overload of it's own buffers or audio stream or playback engine.  

If any of the instruments has had an update to it's engine or other software bits, that might cause it.

If that one spot happens to call a sample that isn't used anywhere else, and the sample is damaged or if it's one of those instruments that updates it it's samples, it might be a cause.  

 

 

[Jerry Gerber]

11 minutes ago, Amberwolf said:

More thoughts, not knowing much about your system or instruments' functionality (just general observations of software):

But it could be caused by one of the instruments being played, having some issue that is causing an overload of it's own buffers or audio stream or playback engine.  

If any of the instruments has had an update to it's engine or other software bits, that might cause it.

If that one spot happens to call a sample that isn't used anywhere else, and the sample is damaged or if it's one of those instruments that updates it it's samples, it might be a cause.  

 

 

That's true.  A corrupted sample can cause this.  I can always reinstall the sample as I have it backed up.  That may be the next attempt!