MOTUnation.com

HI Guys.
Anyone had this?
Random popping and static on a recording channel or playback. The sound "flanges" also.
If I reset by going into configure hardware driver, it goes away. Sometimes after dormant for a while it appears and today upon creating a similar (new) track.
When I monitor the guitar through my 828 mk2, I will hear it as I am playing. I have also had it appear upon playback. It has happened about 10 times in the past 3-4 days.

Any feedback appreciated.
Early 2009 2x2.26 quad core with 10.8.3 installed.
Latest Hardware drivers
No plugins installed other than MOTU and Apple

BTW, all sleep modes are off except I allow the monitors screen saver and off in 1 hour. But no hard drives.
Thanks-
JC

What's the buffer set to? If it's low, set it higher (like 1024) and see if that improves things.

Thanks Dan,
It was set at 64. When I raised it to 128, it went away and then returned. I put it back to 64 and it has not returned in the past several hours.
This BTW, is with 2 or 4 tracks total. Very small session.

I will say too that if this is a buffer issue (I hope not with only a few tracks running) it would be unlike any buffer noise I've heard from any DAW. It sounds like the track is super flanged with static added. Most buffer noise I am familiar with is like POP-Crackle.
JC

JCazmusic wrote:Thanks Dan,
It was set at 64. When I raised it to 128, it went away and then returned. I put it back to 64 and it has not returned in the past several hours.
This BTW, is with 2 or 4 tracks total. Very small session.

I will say too that if this is a buffer issue (I hope not with only a few tracks running) it would be unlike any buffer noise I've heard from any DAW. It sounds like the track is super flanged with static added. Most buffer noise I am familiar with is like POP-Crackle.
JC

When DP overloads the CPUs, it's been my experience that all kinds of odd things can happen to the audio. The other day I forgot the buffer was set down to 64 and I opened a large project that barely runs at 1024 on my system. When I hit play it sounded like the audio was playing in reverse and tracks would cut in and out and all kinds of weird effects were happening. Scared the heck out of me, actually.

Why it would be doing this on your system when playing a project with just a few tracks, I don't know. What plug-ins and VIs are you using?

Hi Dan,
I had a few (3-4) of the MOTU verbs running. Thats it. I am a bit concerned that no one else has encountered this as I am testing a refurbed Mac. (Mac of all Trades) I don't have any other yellow flags, the Mac seems fine but, I do only have 30 days if there is an issue.
I have posted a tech link at motu.com and will let you know what they say. Hope they are speedy about replying.
Thanks again-

64 is way too low a buffer setting. I've never recorded at a setting that
low. The lowest I ever use is 256, most of the time it's 512, and for mixing
I run at 1024.

I truly believe you need to set your minimum buffer to 256. Is there a reason
you're running at such a low buffer setting?

I'm currently running 128; this allows responsive VI performance when recording using VI's. I haven't tried using 64; not sure my interface (MOTU 828mkII) even allows it. I detect no lag at 128 when playing Ivory. 256 feels sluggish by comparison, but can be cool when doing string (slow attack) stuff. The delay causes the performer to anticipate keystrokes, and things sometimes fall back nicely into place on playback when ADC kicks in!

Thanks for the info guys. I typically adjust the buffer depending on the latency and track count.
I was monitoring 2 tracks with a couple of others muted and needed as low latency as possible.
I agree 64 is low but I am not sure that this was the cause as everything would be fine for several hours then it would start. I switched to 128 and it happened again. So..not sure..
I was doing 1 take over and over on the same track and selecting a new take each time but I wouldn't think that would effect the buffer. (thats why so few tracks over a long period)
Anyone know what the average tech link reply time is? It's been a few days.
Thanks again!
JC

JCazmusic wrote:Thanks for the info guys. I typically adjust the buffer depending on the latency and track count.
I was monitoring 2 tracks with a couple of others muted and needed as low latency as possible.
I agree 64 is low but I am not sure that this was the cause as everything would be fine for several hours then it would start. I switched to 128 and it happened again. So..not sure..
I was doing 1 take over and over on the same track and selecting a new take each time but I wouldn't think that would effect the buffer. (thats why so few tracks over a long period)
Anyone know what the average tech link reply time is? It's been a few days.
Thanks again!
JC

Tech links are undependable. You may receive an answer tomorrow, next month, next year, or never. I've experienced all the above.

You want answers? Call.

Shooshie

Thanks Shooshie, will do.

Well, I have not called and decided to wait to see if the Tech Link would provide any answers.
This has a small but annoying issue ( I have had to scrap takes because of it ) but I am guessing all in all it will take an hour on the phone and that is tough for me to come by.
Shooshie was sure right about the undependable part! I checked on it again today after no emails (your supposed to get one when they answer) and my request had vanished!
I have posted it again and will let you know.

It seems like something that older versions of DP used to do when it when to sleep. Not exactly but similar. I have everything in the energy saver section unchecked and hard drives set to never. Only the monitors set to sleep after an hour.

Eh. Everything else in this version has been really solid. I would love to have 100%.
BTW, I'm on 8.04 now, same issue.

Quick Update:
TechLink has replied with a few things to try and I am working on them.
Will let you know-

Hi guys,
I am updating and reviving this thread in hopes that someone else has encountered similar issues and have made more headway than I have been able to.
I have been in contact with MOTU since 8/15 and while they have been very nice, we still have not figured out what is going on.

To recap: when the computer sits for 24-48 hours (no sleep, no screen savers) I come back and record and get a distorted sound on the new track, no matter what instrument.
We have tried delete prefs, reinstall, and updating to DP8.04 (I was at 8.01 when this started)
and some other things too. I am currently trying DP with another ADMIN profile. (fingers crossed!)

The "fix" is to select Configure Hardware Driver and click OK (without making any other changes)
Whatever DP does during this process "repairs" albeit temporarily, the issue.
TS was fairly convinced that it may be a hardware issue until I tried recording to the distorted track and QT simultaneously, with the QT track sounding normal and the DP Track still distorted.

If I were a shut down person as opposed to leaving CPU running 24/7 when working, I would have never encountered this as the frequent restart probably would have masked the issue.
It *seems* like a software issue given the above?

If anyone has had this, please let me know.

BTW, the only significant change that I have seen was recently: after I deleted and reinstalled DP, the issue took longer (48-72 hours) to appear and when it did, the distortion sounds different. The flange has gone away and it now just sounds weak with distortion-sort of like a bad cable.

Thank you,
JC

You didn't specify your setup precisely. What exact Mac, what audio interface,
what OS, etc. And you should be on 8.04 now. It's a free update for you.

If 8.04 doesn't fix it, then I'd suspect it was a hard drive failing, even
if the Mac is "refurbished". It's similar to what happened to me when the drive on my old G5 started to go wonky. I replaced it and no more problems.

It might also be motherboard-related, or RAM related. Have you run diagnostics, with something like Tech Tool, or Disc Warrior?