Crackling audio? Try CoreAudio Aggregate Devices.

[Shooshie]

Note: There are some strange developments happening with DP 4.6 in regard to internal file management, especially as regards getting chunks mixed up, plugins mixed up, and not being able to access or open plugins, soft-synths... in short, it's the kind of stuff that nightmares are made of. It is too soon to tell if Aggregate Devices has anything to do with it, but I can report that several people reporting these problems are using the AD.

I say it so that you will be aware, and proceed with caution. If you notice any strange goings on within a day or so of the AD, let us know. Honestly, I don't think they are related. We only discovered the AD a couple days ago (although qo was using it for a week or more prior to telling us about it--trouble-free, to boot), and I think at least one or two of these problems pre-dates the report of the Aggregate Device tip. But mine seems to have happened SINCE switching to the AD.

Too soon to tell; just be sure to work with backups, OK? If you work with backups and never save to the original file, I think you'll be fine.

Shooshie

PS: If anyone wants to follow this story, here are the pertinent links:

UnicorNation Bulletin Board: Crackling audio? Try CoreAudio Aggregate Devices. (that's this thread, by the way. It's part of the list I'm sending to MOTU to take a look at)

UnicorNation Bulletin Board: Report on 4.6 problem

UnicorNation Bulletin Board: AU softsynths gone AWOL in DP 4.6

UnicorNation Bulletin Board: Switching Chunks DP 4.6

UnicorNation Bulletin Board: mixing board layout

<small>[ August 06, 2005, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: Shooshie ]</small>

[croyal]

Thanks Shooshie.

I was using ADevice and have heeding the warning and switched back to normal I/o with no ill effects. Maybe the switch to ADevice resets Core Audio in some way.

Well it's worth a shot at going back to normal to see if it lasts on other systems as it has on mine.

Thoughts Qo, Shooshie, others?

[Parkerhead]

Hello,

I'm running DP 4.6 with a Presonus Firepod (replaced a 1208 MK II) with a G4 Dual 500 and have been having similar popping and crackling audio problems. I have since discovered that Presonus has not yet certified DP (they're apparently working on it) for use with the Firepod or the smaller Firebox...what a drag, because otherwise, the Firepod works like a champ (the mic pre's sound really great for the money and set up was a breeze).

At MOTU Tech Support's suggestion, I increased the host multiplier to 4 and set the priority to low. This helped with 44.1 K sessions, but I'm still experienceing frequent crackling in 88.2K and 96K sessions. My processor is below what Presonus recommends, but I'm pretty certain this is not the problem because I am usually dealing with a very low track count and the CPU is not redlining in the Audio Performance Monitor.

I'll give your CoreAudio Aggregate Device solution a try and report back. Thanks for the tip.

Parkerhead

[vigormusic]

I'm confused about whether or not I should consider the Built in Audio as a device when making the aggregated device.

I am running a Firepod thru a dual 2gig Powermac G5 and still seem to have crackling noises.

I noticed these noises after I had applied all of my inserts when mixing a song. Could it have something do with that? and if so, how would I go about adding effects that wouldn't become noisy?

[Shooshie]

I'm confused about whether or not I should consider the Built in Audio as a device when making the aggregated device.

I am running a Firepod thru a dual 2gig Powermac G5 and still seem to have crackling noises.

I noticed these noises after I had applied all of my inserts when mixing a song. Could it have something do with that? and if so, how would I go about adding effects that wouldn't become noisy?

Not sure if this is the thread for you. If you are planning to try Aggregate Devices, I'd advise you to read this thread and the links in the post I made not too far above this one.

It may work like a dream, but some of us experienced a disaster like a train wreck in ultra-slow motion. For me it proved to be bad enough that I eventually wiped my hard drive clean and reinstalled everything. That was last October or so, and I'm still getting things back to normal.

So... tread cautiously when dealing with ADs. Be sure you have backups, and don't use the original copy of any DP file when you begin the transformation.

Shooshie

[vigormusic]

I'm confused about whether or not I should consider the Built in Audio as a device when making the aggregated device.

I am running a Firepod thru a dual 2gig Powermac G5 and still seem to have crackling noises.

I noticed these noises after I had applied all of my inserts when mixing a song. Could it have something do with that? and if so, how would I go about adding effects that wouldn't become noisy?

Not sure if this is the thread for you. If you are planning to try Aggregate Devices, I'd advise you to read this thread and the links in the post I made not too far above this one.

It may work like a dream, but some of us experienced a disaster like a train wreck in ultra-slow motion. For me it proved to be bad enough that I eventually wiped my hard drive clean and reinstalled everything. That was last October or so, and I'm still getting things back to normal.

So... tread cautiously when dealing with ADs. Be sure you have backups, and don't use the original copy of any DP file when you begin the transformation.

Shooshie

Thanks for your input. I read most of everything in this thread. I am going to look more into the plugins, mainly dynamics, MW eq, and everb because I think that may be the problem since I noticed the cracking after adding all of the inserts during mixing. I am still pretty new to digital recording. (I have tons of analog experience)
Thanks,
-Kevin

[philbrown]

It may work like a dream, but some of us experienced a disaster like a train wreck in ultra-slow motion. For me it proved to be bad enough that I eventually wiped my hard drive clean and reinstalled everything. That was last October or so, and I'm still getting things back to normal.Shooshie

I second that. Aggregate Devices hosed my G4 ("train wreck in slow motion" is a great description!) and eventually had to wipe the HD to fix. Not to mention weeks of troubleshooting.

Phil

[vigormusic]

what kind of problems arised that you had to wipe your hard drive?

The links at the top of this page don't work anymore.

I created a few last night but then deleted them because they didn't work as I thought. I did use the original file for a song that I was working on when I switched. Do you think I'm safe after deleting the AD's? I didn't use them for long. I only used them to test the crackling noises.

[Shooshie]

what kind of problems arised that you had to wipe your hard drive?

The links at the top of this page don't work anymore.

I created a few last night but then deleted them because they didn't work as I thought. I did use the original file for a song that I was working on when I switched. Do you think I'm safe after deleting the AD's? I didn't use them for long. I only used them to test the crackling noises.

The first things that I started to see were windows and/or tracks appearing in the wrong sequence. I would double click on a track to edit, then I thought I was editing the track I clicked on, but it would turn out to be a similar track in another sequence. The sequences got all mixed up. That was the beginning, if I remember correctly, but I do not remember what happened next.

It's a shame that the links don't work. What happened to our archives? There's a lot of important stuff up there. Well, no use crying about what we can't help.

[vigormusic]

what kind of problems arised that you had to wipe your hard drive?

The links at the top of this page don't work anymore.

I created a few last night but then deleted them because they didn't work as I thought. I did use the original file for a song that I was working on when I switched. Do you think I'm safe after deleting the AD's? I didn't use them for long. I only used them to test the crackling noises.

The first things that I started to see were windows and/or tracks appearing in the wrong sequence. I would double click on a track to edit, then I thought I was editing the track I clicked on, but it would turn out to be a similar track in another sequence. The sequences got all mixed up. That was the beginning, if I remember correctly, but I do not remember what happened next.

It's a shame that the links don't work. What happened to our archives? There's a lot of important stuff up there. Well, no use crying about what we can't help.

So was there a way that was discovered to get around the crackling since then? I am at work right now, I am going to try to look up some info on the effects and if that would cause any crackling.

When you had to wipe your hard drive, are you saying that this effected things other than DP files? or do you have a separate HD for that?

-Kevin

[bendrissa]

Read this with interest... but dissapointment. I've just switched to DP (4.6 on a Dual 2) and I'm having the crackling audio problems on any buffer setting apart from 128. It'd be nice to be able to change it since, oddly, my machine is showing 50% CPU hit with two tracks and two Guitar Combos plug-ins.

I have a Firebox. The A/Devices fix doesn't work for me. Will keep searching.

Very dissapointing - really thought my days of faffing around with all of this were over.

[bendrissa]

Just tried reducing work priority to 'low', which has allowed me flexibilty of buffer settings without audio problems.

Still concerned that, on a Dual G5 with 2.5GB RAM and the much-praised DP, I'm having to fiddle with settings to get an acceptable working environment.

[Shooshie]

No, I don't think it will affect other things on your drive. But there was no repairing DP, and reinstalling it didn't seem to work. I threw out DP prefs, but that didn't fix it, either. I knew it had worked beforehand, so I just started over, and that fixed everything.

Shooshie

[vigormusic]

So how are you operating now? with crackles?

[Shooshie]

I try to limit myself to one interface when possible. If I use only one interface, I don't usually have any trouble with crackles. Also, I've noticed that the problems usually just occur when monitoring input. Output doesn't have any problem. The soundbites are not compromised. Everything's good.

Shooshie