Constant high pitched noise after exporting/rendering in Waveform.

[AronYstad]

When I rendered my project to a sound file (I tried both mp3 and wav), a high pitched noise was added to it. I have no idea why. It wasn't there before exporting, and it's even audible in the parts that are supposed to be silent. After analyzing it with other software, there is a constant tone at exactly 12852 Hz. Does anyone know why it's there or how to get rid of it (other than just adding a 12852 Hz filter through other software after exporting)?

Edit: If I export it as a wav file at 96 kHz sampling rate, the noise is instead at over 30 kHz, which makes it inaudible, but I'd like to be able to export to an mp3 file directly without having to deal with that noise.

[Watchful]

Couple of thoughts.

- Obviously something inaudible normally is being picked up by Waveform and being rendered into it. Somehow, I'm not surprised the pitch changes when you change the sampling rate, but I'm not sure why.

- This could be caused by a rogue plugin; you might need to go on a bug hunt: turning off half your plugins and rendering to see if the problem goes away. If not, try the other half. If so, turn off half of those, etc., until you pinpoint which one seems to be whistling.

- This could be a cabling issue. A USB cable that's too long is a good suspect, here. A bad audio cable as an input somewhere can also cause a problem, but that whistle sound seems more like USB noise. Ferro clamps on a USB cable can be a good, inexpensive start, but the best solution is a quality USB cable that's as short as possible. It's conceivable this noise is being introduced into your signal flow, even if you're running all local plugins and no audio components or an audio interface.

- This can also be an audio interface issue. A bad capacitor once caused a whistle on mine, which was readily recordable. Repair or replace. I was able to diagnose mine because it was loud enough to hear through headphones when nothing (NOTHING) else was on.

[dysjoint]

Just curious, is it from start to finish on the export? Are there any time stretched audio clips that run the same period as the high pitched noise? What sample rate are the audio clips? What stretching algorithm is selected? You'll need to pinpoint /isolate the problem, as Watchful suggested, keeping in mind the audio clip side also.

(context: I would be able to replicate this on purpose time stretching an audio clip, but I've never had it over a whole export)

[Maarid]

I would look, first of all, at what frequency you work directly in the editor, because increasing or decreasing the frequency of the project during rendering causes a LOT of synthesizers to malfunction. What should not be audible as part of the noise generation, when changing the rendering frequency, in a synthesizer (not adapted to this) we often get a strong pitch signal with all the resulting violations of the sound formation. Do not try to focus on switching the frequency of the project itself, a plugin working at a certain frequency of the project may behave appropriately, but in the process of forcibly switching the frequency for rendering, it will give an unpredictable result.
This is typical of old synthesizer plugins and you should always be ready for it. For example, before the general rendering, make an edit backup and start rendering each track separately, compare the result with the original one and thereby identify the problematic plugin. You will always have to render the parasitic source separately at the frequency of the project being created and leave it in the audio track format before you start the general rendering of the project.
There is no exception that not only the synthesizer can be problematic, unfortunately.
In general, a change in the tonality of a parasitic sound from a change in frequency seems to hint to us that the culprit is the source of the sound.

[AronYstad]

In response to most of the stuff that has been said, my project was quite simple. I recorded audio using a sound interface which I know works correctly, and then I used Waveform for reverb, EQ and volume adjustments (I only used the plugins that come with Waveform). I know for a fact that there is no problem with the recording itself, since it works with other software, and the high pitch wasn't there until I exported. When I get back to working on it, I'll try turning off the EQ and reverb, but it seems like the built-in plugins shouldn't do anything that unusual.

[AronYstad]

Just curious, is it from start to finish on the export? Are there any time stretched audio clips that run the same period as the high pitched noise? What sample rate are the audio clips? What stretching algorithm is selected? You'll need to pinpoint /isolate the problem, as Watchful suggested, keeping in mind the audio clip side also.

(context: I would be able to replicate this on purpose time stretching an audio clip, but I've never had it over a whole export)

The high pitched noise is audible throughout the entire export, and I did not use any stretching. The sample rate is 96 kHz.

[Maarid]

I used Waveform for reverb, EQ and volume adjustments (I only used the plugins that come with Waveform).

I'm afraid to disappoint you, but it was my built-in plugins, specifically samplers, that very often failed, right up to the blue screen of death when dragging drum samples onto the plugin icons. After all, we all have very different computer configurations, and what works flawlessly for one can cause severe difficulties for another.
Try changing the reverb first, it's obvious.
The mp3 format supports the maximum possible sampling rate of 48 Khz, it is quite obvious that when you try to render a project directly from 96 to 48, you get a forced frequency reduction and as a result, a pitch. Is it possible to render a project in Wav and then convert it to any format with a smaller range without fear of any surprises?