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Old 11-19-2011, 07:16 AM   #1
samir.y
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Default Hearing crackling sound / Although I've got a Core i7 CPU

Hello, this is my first post here,
I am experiencing a popping sounds problem when playing an 8 tracks project, the worst thing is the CPU usage in Reaper doesn't exceed 30% and I am hearing those. I don't hear them all the time, just sometimes.
I don't know If latency affects this, cuz I've tried some high latencies (big buffers size) and still I've got those.
Any tip to make Reaper use the CPU in better manner ? I mean the CPU isn't even fully used and crackles can be heard isn't it weird ? I know that crackles can be heard cuz of CPU being tired. I am not experienced in programming side of music, I just use Reaper to record/mix/master music.
P.S. I have Reaper 4.02
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Old 11-19-2011, 07:34 AM   #2
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Im a new user of Reaper and recently had this problem but it was only during playback. I changed the settings in Option>preferences>Audiosystem and that solved it for me. Not sure if you did a search of the forums yet, but there are numerous threads on things to try to get rid of the popping. Hope you find your solution !
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Old 11-19-2011, 07:37 AM   #3
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Control panel-system-advanced system setttings-performance-set processes to background, it's on the other one by default. This makes a big difference on my computer.

Then general optimizing, turn off all background services with msconfig, firewall, antivirus, all you can possibly turn off
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:15 AM   #4
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Run the DPC latency checker tool.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Regardless of your monster CPU, there can be other issues with your DAW. Also, make sure that you have any onboard soundcard disabled if you use a dedicated interface. Check into any "power-saving" features in your bios (speedstep, etc). Look this up, it made a huge difference for me. If this is over your head, pay a little bit and look up these guys.

http://www.studiocat.com/3/index.php/Home

Reaper user and DAW builder, they also do consulting. Very very awesome guys.
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Old 11-19-2011, 11:38 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by samir.y View Post
Hello, this is my first post here,
I am experiencing a popping sounds problem when playing an 8 tracks project, the worst thing is the CPU usage in Reaper doesn't exceed 30% and I am hearing those. I don't hear them all the time, just sometimes.
I don't know If latency affects this, cuz I've tried some high latencies (big buffers size) and still I've got those.
Somethings up. I have to run 40+ tracks with loads of plugins before I get near 30% on my i7. This box was built for music only, there is nothing else on it.
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Old 12-10-2011, 03:28 AM   #6
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Okay guys I've ran that latency checker and I've got this message :
Some device drivers on this machine behave bad and will probably cause drop-outs in real-time audio and/or video streams. To isolate the misbehaving driver use Device Manager and disable/re-enable various devices, one at a time. Try network and W-LAN adapters, modems, internal sound devices, USB host controllers, etc.
^^ What should I do ?
Edit: would it be my Behringer UCA222 ? or maybe something else ?
Edit 2 : When I've used the Behringer UCA222 as system default (For Windows media player) I was able to hear crackling, that would make it clear that this device is causing problems, but still Reaper crackles even when using the internal sound card.

Last edited by samir.y; 12-10-2011 at 03:40 AM.
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Old 12-10-2011, 04:50 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by samir.y View Post
Okay guys I've ran that latency checker and I've got this message :
Some device drivers on this machine behave bad and will probably cause drop-outs in real-time audio and/or video streams. To isolate the misbehaving driver use Device Manager and disable/re-enable various devices, one at a time. Try network and W-LAN adapters, modems, internal sound devices, USB host controllers, etc.
^^ What should I do ?
Well, as a start I would do what the latency checker advises and go into Device Manager and systematically disable/enable the devices they suggest until the "culprit" becomes obvious, i.e. no crackles.

However, I would suggest you visit www.resplendence.com and download the free Latency Monitor. Whereas DPC checker tells you whether or not you might have problems, Latency Checker actually tells you which process etc. may be actually causing the problem.
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Old 12-10-2011, 08:39 AM   #8
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Power settings in your motherboard for core distribution could cause it too, speedstep and power states are worth scouring forums for as they can cause cores to go into sleep mode at bad times etc.
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Old 12-10-2011, 09:10 AM   #9
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Go to devices and disable the Wireless Network, all of them if more than one. Then do the latency checker again. You might be pleasantly surprised.
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Old 12-10-2011, 02:35 PM   #10
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I always mention that aero has been known to cause audio card drivers to be wonky in the past.

This is for vista, but it still applies to win7.

http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/...hp?Index=31969
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Old 12-10-2011, 02:48 PM   #11
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You ARE using ASIO drivers or wasapi, arent you?

This is probably the single most common cause of newbie problems with setting up audio on a PC.

Just the fact that you are een trying to use your internal soundcard is highly persuasive that your problem lies in this area..
The Behringer interface DOES have ASIO drivers, hopefully? It isnt one I m familiar with.

This link
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA222.aspx

will take you to the behringer download page for your interface and the first item is the 32bit and 63bit ASIO drivers, which you DO need to install if you didnt already.
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Old 12-10-2011, 05:57 PM   #12
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and the first item is the 32bit and 63bit ASIO drivers...
63bit? Are they getting chintzy on us now, stealing a bit for a new architecture? Jeez.....
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Old 12-10-2011, 06:49 PM   #13
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63 bits is because you had one bit taken away. Behave or we'll keep taking bits away
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Old 12-10-2011, 07:07 PM   #14
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The lost bit is probably in the bit-bucket!
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Old 12-10-2011, 09:44 PM   #15
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63 bits is because you had one bit taken away. Behave or we'll keep taking bits away
Thanks for the warning! I WILL behave, I need all of my bits for sure!
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Old 12-10-2011, 09:46 PM   #16
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The lost bit is probably in the bit-bucket!
I always suspected this! I always believed that the stories I've heard of the famous "bit-bucket" were myths, the things of fairy tales.....Now I know it's for real!
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Old 12-11-2011, 12:36 AM   #17
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All your bits is mine!

I owns ALL your bits, innit?






P.S. Sorry for the typo - arthritis strikes a gain
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Old 12-11-2011, 12:40 AM   #18
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All your bits is mine!

I owns ALL your bits, innit?






P.S. Sorry for the typo - arthritis strikes a gain
I wasn't trying to make fun of your arthritis..... My apologies, seriously. Just making fun, though. I WOULD love to save up my bits for when I need them for heavier audio projects.
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Old 12-11-2011, 08:48 PM   #19
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I still have plugins sometimes crackle on my i7-2600. But usually it is plugins that are giant cpu-suckers to begin with, and on patches with long tails and lots of notes held. And that happens even if they are the only plugins running (say one or two instances). It doesn't seem to matter even if the cpu appears to be only mildly pegged (say, around 7-13% cpu usage per the performance meter).

I don't think this is a problem with Reaper, tho; I think it's a problem with the software (synth) plugs I get this problem from. (e.g. some u-he's, Largo).

Everything else about my Reaper rig works pretty great. Well ok amp sims are also sometimes cpu hogs.
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Old 12-11-2011, 09:11 PM   #20
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On my 860 I sometimes get my cpu up to 25/30% :sarcasticchuckle:

I get no crackling. But I only run at 44.1k.....BUT I do run with the buffer set at 64
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Old 12-12-2011, 01:05 AM   #21
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I wasn't trying to make fun of your arthritis..... My apologies, seriously. Just making fun, though. I WOULD love to save up my bits for when I need them for heavier audio projects.

I know, buddy - just making sure anyone who is not used to my random typos understands I am NOT illiterate, just hamfisted.

And on another tack, what ya gonna do with those bits?

A 1980s style bucket brigade delay could use 'em....

Like a fool I sold my 8 bit Yamaha 1010 years ago. Wish I still had it. Especially with all those extra bits!
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Old 12-12-2011, 07:42 AM   #22
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I'm also experiencing crackling, at least when having racked up FX (~25 instances in my current project), unless I increase latency to 1024 samples (at 88.2 kHz SR) The CPU load is only ~12%. I have an RME HDSP 9632 soundcard with ASIO driver, i7 3.4 GHz CPU, 24 GB RAM, Windows 7 SP1 x64. I'm sure I've turned off power saving functionality in the BIOS.

I've also tried increasing the SR to 176.4 kHz in this project, then the playback becomes extremely choppy for some reason (the CPU load still isn't very high).
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Old 12-12-2011, 09:12 AM   #23
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I know, buddy - just making sure anyone who is not used to my random typos understands I am NOT illiterate, just hamfisted.

And on another tack, what ya gonna do with those bits?

A 1980s style bucket brigade delay could use 'em....

Like a fool I sold my 8 bit Yamaha 1010 years ago. Wish I still had it. Especially with all those extra bits!
Yeah, I owned one of the first MXR rack mounted digital delay/doublers in the early 80's and foolishly got rid of it...... sigh.
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Old 12-12-2011, 09:14 AM   #24
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I'm also experiencing crackling, at least when having racked up FX (~25 instances in my current project), unless I increase latency to 1024 samples (at 88.2 kHz SR) The CPU load is only ~12%. I have an RME HDSP 9632 soundcard with ASIO driver, i7 3.4 GHz CPU, 24 GB RAM, Windows 7 SP1 x64. I'm sure I've turned off power saving functionality in the BIOS.

I've also tried increasing the SR to 176.4 kHz in this project, then the playback becomes extremely choppy for some reason (the CPU load still isn't very high).
Increased your sample rate? I would imagine that to make things worse, and strange for your system. Run the DPC latency checker.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
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Old 12-12-2011, 11:33 AM   #25
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Stuff That Will Mess Up Your Audio

The Task Manager in Windows is your friend.
Run it and look at the performance meter, also check and see what processes are running, not just applications.
As a matter of course I always disable wireless cards and anything that does routine sniffs, like antivirus, etc.
Dpclatency checker is of course a must to help find cpu spikes.

Make sure you are using ASIO or WASAPI drivers that suit your interface.
ASIO4All is a wrapper that makes the cruddy old windoze audio drivers usable under ASIO, not a universal ASIO driver as such.

Having an appropriate bit depth etc WILL help.
I personally run 24 bit 44.1 or 48.0 all the time.
Despite what all the purists and techie-nerds will tell you, the amount of gain available using higher rates is not worth the increase in cpu/ram/disk space overhead unless you are running a SERIOUS pro studio.

And the poster above with the i7 with 24gb of ram.... I run a lowly AMD 6 core at 2.8 with 8gb of ram & can run large projects with multiple VSTs ans VSTis - everything I do has either EZDruummer or Superior or similar plus generally Kontakt and often Sample tank as well, so your system should eclipse mine.

I have an RME 9652 and can comfortably run at 64 buffer, in smaller projects I can run at 32 as well! That gives a ridiculously low round trip latency, far below what I need to use, which is why my buffer stays generally a t 64 or 128.

But once again that is at 44.1 or 48 and 24bit only.
You have to consider whether you would rather have a non-working system at 88.2 or a working one at 44.1 - convinced this is at least part of your problem.
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Old 12-12-2011, 01:56 PM   #26
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Most of it comes down to the audio-card IMO. I used to have problems with an old audio-card... same session with new one ran like butta.
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Old 12-12-2011, 06:15 PM   #27
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Most of it comes down to the audio-card IMO. I used to have problems with an old audio-card... same session with new one ran like butta.
lxm is right I bet. Often an audio card driver will wreak so much havoc on a DAW, it's hard to believe. Try looking for a driver update before you buy a new one. And as strange as this sounds, I had luck once rolling back to an older driver.... these DAWs can be perplexing.
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Old 12-13-2011, 01:46 PM   #28
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Increased your sample rate? I would imagine that to make things worse, and strange for your system. Run the DPC latency checker.
Agreed... and I don't imagine. If you are having issues at 88.2... you will have many more at higher rates. Let's try 44.1 and see what you get.
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Old 12-21-2011, 04:42 PM   #29
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Agreed... and I don't imagine. If you are having issues at 88.2... you will have many more at higher rates. Let's try 44.1 and see what you get.
My point was to exacerbate the problem I guess; that doubling the sample rate leads to extreme choppiness points to something being out of whack. There must be some systemic problem if Reaper can't play back at 176.4, and that crackles appear at about 12% CPU @88.2. I've decided to build a new DAW in any case (for other reasons), so I'm going to try to pick a motherboard that's known to work well for low-latency audio.
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Old 12-21-2011, 05:59 PM   #30
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One stealthy culprit that could be causing this is feedback routing. Check that you don't have for example one track sending audio to one track, and that particular track sending MIDI back to the other. Also uncheck "allow feedback routing" in the project settings.
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Old 12-22-2011, 09:07 AM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by samir.y View Post
Hello, this is my first post here,
I am experiencing a popping sounds problem when playing an 8 tracks project, the worst thing is the CPU usage in Reaper doesn't exceed 30% and I am hearing those. I don't hear them all the time, just sometimes.
I don't know If latency affects this, cuz I've tried some high latencies (big buffers size) and still I've got those.
Any tip to make Reaper use the CPU in better manner ? I mean the CPU isn't even fully used and crackles can be heard isn't it weird ? I know that crackles can be heard cuz of CPU being tired. I am not experienced in programming side of music, I just use Reaper to record/mix/master music.
P.S. I have Reaper 4.02
Hey and forgive me for not reading all of the replies so if someone told you this understand. I had some popping once and found it went away once I increased the ASIO's Buffer Size and Amount of Buffers. Enjoy
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