Hi,
Does anyone know what could be causing this?! It's driving me crazy.
When I play any MIDI instrument in Ableton Live or any audio clip and there is also an effect on that track, whether internal or external, that prolongs the sound e.g. reverb, delay etc, then when I stop playback there is a faint, distorted ringing from that channel which continues regardless, and then cuts off after about 6 seconds. It's totally weird. Other than that, Ableton behaves totally fine and there's no problem with the sound.
I'm on Mac, with no external interface, no MIDI controller, just the basic set up. Is something wrong with my soundcard maybe?
Any help would mean a lot as this is driving me crazy!
A Strange Faint Sound Continues When Playback is Stopped in Ableton Live
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- KVRer
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
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- KVRAF
- 7115 posts since 22 Jan, 2005 from Sweden
Daws usually have settings for
a) reverb tails length
b) if to reset controllers in midi instruments at stop
You could try and insert a AllNotesOff midi event as last in a clip - and test running past that at playback and then stop.
That is often what Panic button on external hardware send, if stuck notes etc. It often shuts all effects off as well.
There are a couple of midi CC#120 and above that do similar shut downs. Test those too.
Then look at mentioned settings for midi, and the rest too.
Probably an effect within instrument that rings.
If a sampler, it happends to me loading own samples, I had wrong playback mode on sample to be OneShot - meaning it plays until the end disregarding note off event. One shot is common for drums, but not playable notes.
It's common on samplers to show number of voices/samples used at all times, so passing a note you can often see how long it lasts. If a long tail that stays at "1" until the end.
A few ideas maybe....
a) reverb tails length
b) if to reset controllers in midi instruments at stop
You could try and insert a AllNotesOff midi event as last in a clip - and test running past that at playback and then stop.
That is often what Panic button on external hardware send, if stuck notes etc. It often shuts all effects off as well.
There are a couple of midi CC#120 and above that do similar shut downs. Test those too.
Then look at mentioned settings for midi, and the rest too.
Probably an effect within instrument that rings.
If a sampler, it happends to me loading own samples, I had wrong playback mode on sample to be OneShot - meaning it plays until the end disregarding note off event. One shot is common for drums, but not playable notes.
It's common on samplers to show number of voices/samples used at all times, so passing a note you can often see how long it lasts. If a long tail that stays at "1" until the end.
A few ideas maybe....
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
Thank you for the ideas... unfortunately I don't think it's those, as it happens even if I have a single audio track with just one audio file e.g. of a crash cymbal, and then an Ableton reverb on that audio track.
If that's all there is, and I press play and then stop even a half second into the crash cymbal, the very faint distorted sound will come from there and last a few seconds. It's so low it's almost inaudible but it is there.
If that's all there is, and I press play and then stop even a half second into the crash cymbal, the very faint distorted sound will come from there and last a few seconds. It's so low it's almost inaudible but it is there.
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- Beware the Quoth
- 35517 posts since 4 Sep, 2001 from R'lyeh Oceanic Amusement Park and Funfair
Could be the most unexpected thing, and not necessarily in the box. Ive got a set of 4" Edirol speakers connected to my TV, with a 'bass enhancement' button on them. If its switched on, and the sound cuts off, there's a faint garbled glitch for a few seconds while that 'bass enhancement' thing shuts off.
If you can, try and isolate it by swapping and checking one thing at a time.
If you can, try and isolate it by swapping and checking one thing at a time.
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
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- KVRAF
- 2328 posts since 24 Jun, 2006 from London, England
I remember as a teenager having some crappy speakers (the thought being 'cos they've got a big subwoofer they'll be awesome!') that had a slow acting noise gate on them, so when it perceived silence they'd cut out and then when the audio coming into it hit the threshold it'd take a split second to turn back on againwhyterabbyt wrote:Ive got a set of 4" Edirol speakers connected to my TV, with a 'bass enhancement' button on them. If its switched on, and the sound cuts off, there's a faint garbled glitch for a few seconds while that 'bass enhancement' thing shuts off.
Fine when there was constant music playing but I remember at the time being a fan of the game Delta Force (a sniper-based FPS) which was quiet for ages, would be a slight gun bullet noise from you or the enemy, then quiet again - The speakers had no idea how to react to this so all you'd get throughout the game was: Silence, weird crackle of it turning on but being so slow that it missed the audio of the bullet, then silence !
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
Thanks for this too. I agree it could be something very unexpected. I have Sennheiser HD25 headphones plugged directly into my mac laptop so there aren't too many steps in the process. I think it occurs regardless of using speakers or headphones.whyterabbyt wrote:Could be the most unexpected thing, and not necessarily in the box. Ive got a set of 4" Edirol speakers connected to my TV, with a 'bass enhancement' button on them. If its switched on, and the sound cuts off, there's a faint garbled glitch for a few seconds while that 'bass enhancement' thing shuts off.
If you can, try and isolate it by swapping and checking one thing at a time.
I'm going to try and see if it happens outside of Ableton as I have a suspicion it is to do with Live, possibly interacting with some other software.
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
Ok, I tried an instance of Kontakt 5 in Ableton with a single celesta instrument and no effects except the built in ones, and the faint distorted ringing was there.
I tried kontakt 5 on its own outside Ableton and the same result.
So maybe it's not to do with Ableton...
I tried kontakt 5 on its own outside Ableton and the same result.
So maybe it's not to do with Ableton...
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
I've also tried another set of earphones and it's happening still.
Also it happens with Massive loaded on its own outside any DAW.
Now I'm thinking maybe it's to do with my Mac's soundcard. I thought Mac's were supposed to be good at sound?
Also it happens with Massive loaded on its own outside any DAW.
Now I'm thinking maybe it's to do with my Mac's soundcard. I thought Mac's were supposed to be good at sound?
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
One last reply - sorry for all this:
I just tried listening through only my Mac laptop's speakers, and I don't think I can hear the strange lingering sound. This is very mysterious.
Maybe it's only when connecting something through my laptop headphone socket?!
I just tried listening through only my Mac laptop's speakers, and I don't think I can hear the strange lingering sound. This is very mysterious.
Maybe it's only when connecting something through my laptop headphone socket?!
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- KVRian
- 852 posts since 28 Oct, 2004
I ran into a similar phenomenon and I am mostly sure it was due to a sample rate mismatch between recording and playback - I recorded with one USB interface and played back with another USB interface. Somehow the computer began to do some realtime resampling and I got some nasty ringing effect because of this. So might check for that..
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
Interesting.. if I don't have an audio / USB interface, is this a possibility? And it only seems to happen when listening through the headphone socket (I think). Also it happens outside of any DAW.larm wrote:I ran into a similar phenomenon and I am mostly sure it was due to a sample rate mismatch between recording and playback - I recorded with one USB interface and played back with another USB interface. Somehow the computer began to do some realtime resampling and I got some nasty ringing effect because of this. So might check for that..
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
Haha, no, just dogs, and their noises are far more noticeable.Aloysius wrote:Do you have a cat?
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 9 posts since 13 Apr, 2018
It's really getting to me this strange sound.
I've noticed that when it's ringing faintly in the background after stopping playback, if I just play any note on any instrument on any track in Ableton, it immediately is cut and when I release that note, it's immediately back, like the kind of behavior you'd get from a side chain compressor. Which is so, so strange.
I've noticed that when it's ringing faintly in the background after stopping playback, if I just play any note on any instrument on any track in Ableton, it immediately is cut and when I release that note, it's immediately back, like the kind of behavior you'd get from a side chain compressor. Which is so, so strange.