Crackling / Digital Noise

WaveLab
1

Hi, all. Using Wavelab 11.1 and a UR44. I’ve been seeing cases where Wavelab suddenly starts severely crackling. I just experienced this when trying to use different playback speeds. What I heard just now seemed to be in the right channel only. I’ve seen this maybe a dozen or two times recently (most not related to playback speed) with version 11. I don’t recall having seen it in previous versions.

The problem is always cleared by restarting Wavelab (don’t need to touch the UR44).

Wondering if this is a known issue. If not, I’ll start documenting it when it happens to help figure out what’s up.

. M

2

I have only ever experienced this when I accidentally loaded a very high sample rate file and loaded some CPU intensive plugins… And that was in 9.5.

Does this occur only when there are CPU intensive plugins?

3

Nah, no plug-ins to speak of.

. M

4

What exactly do you mean by “playback speed” ?

5

I have this also actually,

PG I have a few different playback speeds (1x 2x 2.5x 3x) like the OP and now and again when changing the playback speed using the icon there appears to be crackling/skipping/weirdness in 1 channel…for me its the right side

I fix the issue by changing the audio device and switching back, (without rebooting or restarting wavelab), but it doesn’t seem to matter what audio device i’m using, it seems to do it on any audio device I’m using including Aggregate devices

I just thought it was an oddity on my system

6

Hi!

Even with Built-in Audio in OSX ?
What about buffert settings etc…

regards S-EH

7

The transport bar has a clock icon near the left edge (it’s about three o’clock!). The feature allows real-time time stretching. Manual page 126.

8

I’m running Windows 11. This definitely isn’t about buffer settings. Not an occasional click but major distortion. And the last time I heard this (yesterday) it was only in one channel so definitely not buffer settings.

9

So having not heard otherwise, I guess this is NOT a known problem currently being investigated.
Any suggestions for what I can do to collect clues when it happens again? Obviously, I’ll make an audio recording but what else?

.

10

Real-time audio stretching (because this is what it is about) is a heavy process if you have large ratios. Do your problem only occur from eg. 2 x or do you get it also eg. for 1.5x ?

11

I was slowing down audio in the range of 2/3 to 90% actual speed. Unfortunately, not repeatable. I’m fairly sure I’ve seen this “out of the blue” as well… not related to playback speed.

12

for me -
if on built in OSX audio card, 512 buffer (doesn’t appear to matter if I adjust the buffer size up or down when this occurs)

1 plugin on track, 1 master rig channel, (16gb intel OSX 10.15.7 1 TB SSD) it will do it whenever it feels like it

I’m doing the opposite, speeding up the audio from 1-3x speed
I also agree it doesn’t sound like buffer issues

13

The track plugin is normally vstdynamics, or postfilter

14

Hi!

Yes I have played around here with

Blockquote
The track plugin is normally vstdynamics, or postfilter

and I also get distortion but mostly when I have plugin window open

I wonder if this have something to do with graphic card or resolution
I always try to pinpoint problem step by step like audio device or graphic etc
I work right now with a old MacBook Air late 2013 and Big Sur 11.6.8 (20G730)

maybe PG or someone else have a clue here ?

thanks!

regards S-EH

15

im on Radeon 5500M GPU 4gb, with 1 screen 3072 x 1920 resolution if it helps, I did wonder if it could be apple’s auto GPU switching between internal chip and the 550M, but the OP is on windows 11

16

I managed to correct the issue of crackling and popping by taking the following steps:
1 - EXIT SOFTWARE that drains the audio driver resource:
Since my WaveLabs Elements was set not to release the driver, other applications with audio could interfere with the buffer/use of the audio card and/or driver.
2. Increase buffer from small to medium.
3. Made sure I was on 32 bit float.

After listening with the monitor on (in app) there was no more crackling or popping and verified on a recording as well.

I hope this helps others.

1 Like
17

*** Update ****
Problem solved, it was a plugin issue

I have an Steinberg UR825 audio interface and Windows 11 and just installed WL 11.2.

Every time I start the playhead, it makes this vibrato crackling sound as if the play head is going back and forth then continues normally.

During the 1 sec when it crackles, my WL meters totally freeze up. It’s really weird.

I installed the latest Nvidia Studio Driver, but the problem is still there.

I am investigating…