Might need to reinstall C6- intermittent distortion problem

Cubase
1

Hi all-

I’ve been getting these intermittent bouts of distortion from some of the channels on my interface.
It’s not related to the buffer settings (changing them has no effect) and I’ve pretty well narrowed the problem down to either Cubase or my interface.

So I think the next thing I’m going to try is reinstalling C6 (I’ve installed the last maintenance update).

Unless anyone has any other suggestions?

Anyway, if I do reinstall, is there any particular way I should go about doing it?
Just install the app again from the disc image over the top of the existing one?

Thanks

2

I would be very surprised if intermittent distortion came from Cubase. So before reinstalling Cubase it may be an idea to test your interface with another DAW… Maybe a free one, or a trial.

If you reinstall, make sure to save a copy of your preferences directory.

3

Aloha r,

Sometimes the answer is as simple as a cable or connection.
Cables can get loose or lose connection etc.

Might not be the prob but is easy to check.

HTH (hope this helps)
{‘-’}

4

Yeah, I’ve tried just about everything else that I can think of.

Switched the firewire cable, the firewire card, reinstalled interface software, repaired permissions, used Tech Tool to check the hard drives…
Problem persists.

I haven’t tried it with another app on the same system, but I did copy a project over and run the exact same setup with C6 on my Macbook and it’s running fine…

Anything I’m missing?

Thanks for the input.

5

Where’s the preferences directory? I didn’t see anything in
Library → Preferences
or
App Support → Steinberg

Thanks

edit:
Just tried the same interface with Ableton- worked fine. Went through all the outputs with no problem.

So to recap: exact same Cubase project and interface worked fine with a different computer
same interface worked fine with a different app.

6

Well, I don’t know Macs, but there should be an article in the steinberg Knowlegde base about ‘trashing preferences’ that should tell you the location

Ah, so we’re talking about interface outputs that are distorting; I was assuming inputs. Anyway, with the same project in two different computers and the same interface, you can only look for processing that the distorting Cubase version is doing to those particular tracks. Does changing the output for a distorting track to a different interface output channel make the distortion go away? What plugins are used on the distortiong tracks? This type of troubleshooting should be done.

Oh, and you said in the first post that it was internittent - that seems to be not the case anymore?

7

It’s ins and outs- though even that can vary a little. Usually when it starts happening the outs will start doing it then whatever is tracked will have the distortion/crackling on it.
I just checked the outputs last night so I didn’t need to bother with mics.

It is still intermittent, but it does seem to happen somewhat more consistently in some projects.

I just don’t even know what else to try…