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Old 06-04-2018, 10:21 AM   #1
conflict
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Default Reaper distorting after a few mins use

I have been using reaper for a few months now, it is great and love it .
I have been sending files between myself and another band member for our album pre production...

Since a few weeks back, we are now both experiencing distorted tracks and it gets worse and worse.
Yet when you render or play back ... nothing wrong...

I was going to upgrade to the full version this week as was the other member ..
Any ideas what the hell this could be ???

Thanks so so much .
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Old 06-04-2018, 10:32 AM   #2
solger
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- Windows or macOS?
- Which audio interface? (Or are you still using the RME Babyface in this case)?
- What are your current settings under Preferences > Audio > Device?
- and so on ...

Quote:
Yet when you render or play back ... nothing wrong...
When does the distortion occur then, exactly? And in which way?
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Old 06-04-2018, 11:00 AM   #3
conflict
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Mac OS X sierras

Other person windows 10

Scarlet 6i6 audio interface via usb audio device settings are to the interface

The whole track gets distorted after a few mins on both of our systems and we have to turn off then re load every 2 mins
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Old 06-04-2018, 11:23 AM   #4
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In general, I'd recommend to re-check the audio device settings (sample rate, buffer size), first.
And also to go through some DAW optimization tips, in addition (to rule out that something else might be causing issues):

macOS:Windows:
Just in case, also make sure that there aren't any demo plugins used in the project which might be causing issues (or generate noise when the demo time limit is over).

If this doesn't solve the problem, try reinstalling the audio interface drivers. Or check the manufacturer page if any newer (or beta) drivers are available.
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Old 06-04-2018, 12:00 PM   #5
conflict
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I did try and download a demo vst as it goes
It went wrong shorty after !!
It was sonivox and it did not work
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Old 06-05-2018, 08:03 AM   #6
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yep made no difference ....
could it be that it is the evaluation edition and not full paid. I am happy to buy it no problem at all, however i do not wish to do so if its broken.
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Old 06-05-2018, 09:14 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by conflict View Post
could it be that it is the evaluation edition and not full paid.
No. There is no difference in functionality between the eval and full version of Reaper (except for the eval start dialog shown at the beginning).
And according to your posts it seems like it was working before.


Some other things you can try in addition to the suggestions in my previous post:

o) Doing a [Clear cache/rescan] via Preferences > Plug-ins > VST. And restarting Reaper afterwards.
o) Using View > Performance Meter (also have a look at the right-click options in the Performance Meter window) to check if any specific plugins or Tracks in the project need a lot of processing power which your systems might not be able to handle

o) Making a fresh portable Reaper install to a separate folder (side-by-side to your existing install) to check if the behavior is the same there:
- http://lacinato.com/cm/blog/25-reaperportable
- http://www.kennymania.com/videos/rea...all-of-reaper/


o) Have you already checked if the issue occurs in general? Or only in certain projects (for instance with a high track count, when specific plugins are used, etc.)?
o) Just in case: have you already ruled out that the shared audio files (or file format) might be part of the problem?

It's just very strange that both of you seem to have the same problem on different systems (Windows and Mac) at the same time ...


Otherwise try to contact Cockos Support directly (see email at the bottom in the link): http://cockos.com/

Last edited by solger; 06-05-2018 at 10:06 AM.
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Old 06-05-2018, 11:41 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by conflict View Post
yep made no difference ....
could it be that it is the evaluation edition and not full paid. I am happy to buy it no problem at all, however i do not wish to do so if its broken.
There is no difference between the eval and commercial versions. And it's not broken. Trust us when we say the problem is with you.

I still don't understand what the issue is, though. You say it distorts, but is fine on playback.

If that is the case, then when exactly, is it "distorting" and what is the nature of that distortion?
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Old 06-06-2018, 02:51 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil View Post
There is no difference between the eval and commercial versions. And it's not broken. Trust us when we say the problem is with you.

I still don't understand what the issue is, though. You say it distorts, but is fine on playback.

If that is the case, then when exactly, is it "distorting" and what is the nature of that distortion?

well distortion, is distortion ......

The sounds starts to artifact and gradually gets worse over the next 3 mins or so until it is totally un useable.
Entailing a close and re open, then it behaves for about 5 mins then starts all over again.
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Old 06-06-2018, 03:15 AM   #10
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and have you tried muting / soloing tracks to see if you can isolate the problem to a particular track or plugin. Perhaps you have a quiet-ish delay plugin somewhere with high feedback which is accumulating over time?
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Old 06-06-2018, 09:47 AM   #11
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So is this in a specific project or multiple projects?

I would guess without more info that it's a dodgy plug. Are you using third party plugs....freebies??

If you want to upload this project somewhere I'd be happy to see if it happens here with only the plugs I have installed and that might narrow it to those I don't have.
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Old 06-07-2018, 08:23 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by conflict View Post
well distortion, is distortion ......
Well, no it's not. Is it clipping? Is it feeding back? And you still haven't told us when it is distorting because it is "fine on playback." Are you hearing this when you monitor? Is this through a mic, or through some MIDI instrument? What *exactly* are you doing when you're hearing the distortion?

Quote:
The sounds starts to artifact and gradually gets worse over the next 3 mins or so until it is totally un useable.
Entailing a close and re open, then it behaves for about 5 mins then starts all over again.
That sounds to me like you've got some feedback from a live audio source.
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Old 06-10-2018, 07:49 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil View Post
Well, no it's not. Is it clipping? Is it feeding back? And you still haven't told us when it is distorting because it is "fine on playback." Are you hearing this when you monitor? Is this through a mic, or through some MIDI instrument? What *exactly* are you doing when you're hearing the distortion?



That sounds to me like you've got some feedback from a live audio source.
Hi thanks for the answers, it is happening across multiple sessions, all the vst are paid for absynth 5
Project sam, superior drummer plus expansions
Ozone

They have all been fine for months and months, some years.

It seems to be a time thing, after about 5 mins the entire track begins to distort and is no longer audible.
Pc still runs fine everything works and is enabled monitor wise an ot should be
41 on the buffer, tried 48, nope and tried much higher also nope.

Still doing it on my reaper and my band mates alsonos hvig the exact same issue.

I have mac Sierra she has windows 10
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Old 06-10-2018, 09:59 AM   #14
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Just to clarify, are you and your band mate using the same Audio-interface or are we talking about two hardware units.How old is the Scarlett?
Did you try the in-built audiocard of your mac to check there?
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Old 08-01-2018, 11:57 PM   #15
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I’ll try the built in audio today
See if that distorts
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Old 08-02-2018, 03:57 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by conflict View Post
I have been sending files between myself and another band member for our album pre production...
Once? Multiple times?

How do you send these files? Dropbox? Mail?

It could be file corruption slowly creeping in. Remember you used to have to send text files as "text" and other files as "binary" when using ftp?

Of course, Dropbox etc. handles these automagically these days, but it can stil fail if you don funky things, like when sending a folder with different items in it.

A short sound sample of the distortion would help...
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Old 08-02-2018, 09:13 AM   #17
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I struggle as it happens through the headphones when I monitor
Yet the audio interface works fine on everything else
I have removed all drivers gone through many many workarounds with focisrite, all to no avail
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Old 08-27-2018, 10:58 PM   #18
conflict
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Ok
Re I stalled Mac OS
Same with reaper and all the files
Everything was behaving well, however now I have it back again...

I changed the audio settings to Mac as I was doing a Skype guitar lesson and installed torpedo wall of sound and literally it was unstable again on the next session...

Close to moving my gaming rig in to office and using another daw.
However I am persevering as I am sure it’s user error somewhere .
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Old 08-27-2018, 11:02 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cyrano View Post
Once? Multiple times?

How do you send these files? Dropbox? Mail?

It could be file corruption slowly creeping in. Remember you used to have to send text files as "text" and other files as "binary" when using ftp?

Of course, Dropbox etc. handles these automagically these days, but it can stil fail if you don funky things, like when sending a folder with different items in it.

A short sound sample of the distortion would help...
This is where it’s strange .... if I use audio interface through I tunes or any other software
it has no issues, only with reaper, when the artifaacting occurs, if I put the output through Mac speakers it no longer happens !
So frustrating and I have almost got to the stage of selling Mac and stopping using reaper , I am sure it’s user error somehow but this is taking months to resolve and has stopped the pre production process dead
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Old 08-28-2018, 02:54 AM   #20
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Could it be a trial version of a plugin that is common to all the affected projects? Some trial plugins deliberately introduce noise/distortion after a set time....

Next time the distortion happens turn off all FX globally (there's an action for this...) and try the project again.
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Old 08-28-2018, 06:18 AM   #21
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Action is "Track: Bypass FX on all tracks" (or Ctrl-ly-click on any track's bypass FX button)

To turn back on again "Track: Unbypass FX on all tracks
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Old 03-02-2024, 05:32 AM   #22
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Since two weeks I have the exact same problem.

I am running on Windows 10, with a Focusrite Forte, using Asio4All.

When I play a session, after a minute or so, it gets progressively more and more distorted (that nasty digital, choppy kind) until the music is almost inaudible.

The only way to get rid of it is restarting my laptop.
It makes using Reaper virtually impossible for anything useful.

It does this on every session I open. However, the bigger the session the quicker the distortion.
I've even changed the buffer size to 2048, which didn't help.

If I play the session on my laptop's speakers or headphone the problem does not occur.

The sound doesn't have any glitches, when using the Forte, outside of Reaper either (e.g. Analog Lab or Pianoteq).



The strange thing is that it just started doing this overnight. I didn't change any setting, nor did I install anything (that computer is literally disconnected from the internet. Why upgrade/change when everthing works fine).
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Old 03-02-2024, 05:51 AM   #23
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why are you using asio4all? is there a proper driver available?
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Old 03-02-2024, 11:30 AM   #24
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Can I just check that your project isn't using some sort of synth, delay, reverb, or perhaps amp, that has feedback set on somewhere? If you have a feedback loop but nothing decaying it, sound can just gradually build and build over time. It's perfectly possible to do this with just the settings of these types of plugins with nothing being technically wrong with any component of your system.

Please can you confirm you've checked the plugins in your project for this type of behaviour?

One other thing I want to confirm is that you've not got some weird corrpt MIDI thing going on with some missing note-offs -- that's not the cause of your ongoing noises is it? Let us know.
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Old 03-02-2024, 12:05 PM   #25
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I suggest you post your rogue project as an attachment - no media, no plugins - so anybody interested can check your routing, etc.
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Old 03-02-2024, 12:15 PM   #26
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It wasn't just with a single rogue project. It was with every project.


I solved the problem by changing my USB power management. That also explained why the problem only occurred when using the Forte and not when using the internal soundcard.


BTW I am using Asio4All because there is no official Win10 driver for the Focusrite Forte. It is too old.


Maybe a good time to start looking for a new one.
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