Smooth crackle / noise invading audio files when editing!!

mouritzen · Post by **mouritzen** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:15 am

Hi everybody - has any of you this problem:

When I cut audio into pieces and rearrange them I will - at some point - get noisy 'smooth crackle' on top of the sound file. It is not visible. It is not 100 % repeated. But it is there and it stays with the bounced file, so this should be no buffer issue. I don't need to push the cpu to experience this (I run dual g5, 2,5 ghz and 2,5 gb; repairing the permissions, cleaning the disk etc.).

I first encountered the problem 2 months ago, but that was when I was transfering files from the laptop so I thought it was the recording or something. But now it happens again - and: I play, cut and rearrange the file with no problems in Nuendo, Live, Soundtrack Pro ...

I have no clue whatsoever could be causing this. Just downloaded the 5.12 and it is still there ...

I really appreciate any comment on this issue, thanks.

Mouritzen

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:34 am

Can you give more info? Smooth crackle doesn't tell us much. Does the noise happen just at the splice points or at other points in the soundbite as well? Does it always happen at the same points in the soundbite? What's your hardware configuration? Any additional info will help.

Phil

dave898 · Post by **dave898** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:09 pm

I do a lot of audio editing in DP, and I know exactly what you're talking about. I call it the "phantom crackle". There's really no rhyme or reason to it, but it often occurs when you overlap soundbites on multiple tracks.

I've only ever encountered it in DP5 and OS 10.4. I haven't figured out how to prevent it from happening, but I'm usually able to get rid of it by quitting and restarting DP. After the restart, the noise is gone from the affected soundbites and busses.

It's a pain, but it usually works. Hope this helps.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:24 pm

Matcher · Post by **Matcher** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:12 am

dave898 wrote:I do a lot of audio editing in DP, and I know exactly what you're talking about. I call it the "phantom crackle". There's really no rhyme or reason to it, but it often occurs when you overlap soundbites on multiple tracks.

I've only ever encountered it in DP5 and OS 10.4. I haven't figured out how to prevent it from happening, but I'm usually able to get rid of it by quitting and restarting DP. After the restart, the noise is gone from the affected soundbites and busses.

It's a pain, but it usually works. Hope this helps.

Hi Dave, if you do a lot of editing, could you help me out in this thread?

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20902

chrispick · Post by **chrispick** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:22 am

Are you applying crossfades and merging soundbites?

DP works best with continguous files and crossfades help eliminate errant pops and cracks at edit points. In case you don't know.

chamelion · Post by **chamelion** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:13 am

Tim wrote:

LOL - Good one Tim!

dave898 · Post by **dave898** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:37 am

chrispick wrote:Are you applying crossfades and merging soundbites?

DP works best with continguous files and crossfades help eliminate errant pops and cracks at edit points. In case you don't know.

This problem goes beyond standard editing issues (like clicks at edit points). This is literally a phantom crackle that has no reason to be there, and a it's a bug in either DP5, or OSX.

There was some discussion of this issue a while back.

wylie1 · Post by **wylie1** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:39 am

I use to have a crackle come and go problem similar to this.
I had the core audio output on the back of my Mac plugged into a mixing desk that caused a ground loop when I unplugged it the periodic crackle was gone.
I remember how painful it was tracking that down.

quezbor · Post by **quezbor** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:11 pm

I too have this static, it comes and goes, and worse of all it's in the bounced file. It was happening less often 2 months ago but now it happens consistently. I'm using a mac pro and I think it has to do with that Intel chip. It's a smooth white noise, aliasing like but louder. It's pretty consistent now and annoying, had to work off my slow laptop to save an ADR session. Laptop has same OS and DP version. I'll call tech support now and see if I can get any useful info. I will post it here if i do.

marcmarc · Post by **marcmarc** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:49 pm

10.4.9 & dp 5.11 on a g5 : never heard this kind of white noise.

10.4.9 & dp 5.11 on a macPro : now I've got it sporadically.

RROY · Post by **RROY** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:58 pm

I have had something like that happen on my G4 with DP 4.61. It's near an edit point that has a crossfade but the crackle does not happen consistently. Sometime the track will play with no noise at all. Not exactly confidence inspiring.

quezbor · Post by **quezbor** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:38 pm

I just got off the phone with tech support. They suggested I change user account and start with a new empty template. After messing with permissions and all that fun stuff I managed to get a new project up and running in another user profile. i didn't hear any crackle, even though I haven't really done much work with this mock up project other than random edits and fades.

I opened up a problem project with the crackle/hiss in the other user and crackle hiss was there.

I opened up the new clean test project with the original user account (the one with the problems in the first place) and behold, no hissy noise. so i think the problem lies within the file, not the user. but maybe...

Then I tried the age old OS9 trick, trashing the prefs, and amazingly it worked. Been working on the file for about 20 minutes and hiss hasn't resurfaced yet..... oops never mind... it came right back after a few edits, time to call tech support again...

The project works fine on my laptop so it's probably a Mac pro problem. (Anyone having this issue on a non mac pro??? )

dave898 · Post by **dave898** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:48 pm

quezbor wrote:I just got off the phone with tech support.

Wow! You got through to MOTU tech support?

quezbor wrote:The project works fine on my laptop so it's probably a Mac pro problem. (Anyone having this issue on a non mac pro??? )

I'm using a 2.7 Dual G5 (PPC) which I got in August 2005, and I've been noticing this problem since I first started using DP5.

The difficult thing about isolating this issue is that it's never consistent and it's tough to recreate...

quezbor · Post by **quezbor** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 3:08 pm

yes i got through to tech support on my first try. fluke i guess cause I tried again and again all afternoon but got a busy signal until finally got through 3 minutes after their office closed. I'll try to send them an email now and call again tomorrow. 6am west coast time. gotta get this resolved asap, unless they want to deal with my producer!! argh!!

MOTUnation.com

Smooth crackle / noise invading audio files when editing!!

Smooth crackle / noise invading audio files when editing!!

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