posted this in the other forum when i didn't notice this one...HELP!
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=76115
HELP! trouble with signal turning into digital noise?
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- KVRist
- 146 posts since 14 May, 2004 from Orygone
Welcome to the Tracktion forum, aka Raw Materials Software forum.
Good thing you came here...your "advisor" on the other forum seemed more interested in bashing Tracktion than in helping with your issues...
Anyway, that being said, there are a few things that could possibly be causing your problem..
1 low ram...if you are running with 128 meg or less ( depending on your system ) that can cause the problem you described. 256m or better seems to work best.
2 Pentium denormalization...if you are running a pentium processor, you could be experiencing denormalization. I have no idea what exactly it is, but there is a setting on the settings/plug-ins page to add "low level noise" to compensate for this problem..just turn it on and see if that solves your problem.
3 CPU overload...it is possible that you have a VST or VSTi that likes to gobble up your CPU. keep an eye on your CPU meter to see if it spikes or redlines when a particular VST comes in to play. The best way to compensate for this is to "freeze" tracks that you aren't working on right now....freezing tracks is very unique and useful feature of Tracktion, it allows you to run a lot more tracks and/or VST's than you would otherwise be able to..
and finally 4... and this is a rare one...if you are running a PCI graphics card it may be fighting with Tracktion for the use of system resoures. There are 2 possible solutions to this problem. Add more ram or reduce the graphics card's demand for resources by tweeking it's settings...
Give these a try. if it doen't solve your problem, it may give you more info to bring back here. One thing that always helps when dealing with these types of issues is to list your system specs...CPU speed and type, amount and speed of your RAM, HD type and speed, type of audio interface...etc.
bottom line is don't give up, keep coming back til you get the answer you need. there are lots of experienced Tracktion users here and they're are pretty willing to help if they can...
Good Luck.
A Tracktion "Freak" ( LOL ) and proud of it...
Good thing you came here...your "advisor" on the other forum seemed more interested in bashing Tracktion than in helping with your issues...
Anyway, that being said, there are a few things that could possibly be causing your problem..
1 low ram...if you are running with 128 meg or less ( depending on your system ) that can cause the problem you described. 256m or better seems to work best.
2 Pentium denormalization...if you are running a pentium processor, you could be experiencing denormalization. I have no idea what exactly it is, but there is a setting on the settings/plug-ins page to add "low level noise" to compensate for this problem..just turn it on and see if that solves your problem.
3 CPU overload...it is possible that you have a VST or VSTi that likes to gobble up your CPU. keep an eye on your CPU meter to see if it spikes or redlines when a particular VST comes in to play. The best way to compensate for this is to "freeze" tracks that you aren't working on right now....freezing tracks is very unique and useful feature of Tracktion, it allows you to run a lot more tracks and/or VST's than you would otherwise be able to..
and finally 4... and this is a rare one...if you are running a PCI graphics card it may be fighting with Tracktion for the use of system resoures. There are 2 possible solutions to this problem. Add more ram or reduce the graphics card's demand for resources by tweeking it's settings...
Give these a try. if it doen't solve your problem, it may give you more info to bring back here. One thing that always helps when dealing with these types of issues is to list your system specs...CPU speed and type, amount and speed of your RAM, HD type and speed, type of audio interface...etc.
bottom line is don't give up, keep coming back til you get the answer you need. there are lots of experienced Tracktion users here and they're are pretty willing to help if they can...
Good Luck.
A Tracktion "Freak" ( LOL ) and proud of it...
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 12 posts since 20 Feb, 2005
hey thanks for the info.....hope these responses can help...
1. i have 256mb of ram, so that should be ok...
2. i am running a pentium 4 1.7 ghz processor, however, it is not a problem with a small amount of noise within the signal, the whole signal turns into solid noise that is a repeated distortion...not sure if that helps....i might post an mp3 of it later today...
3. as far as what i'm doing, i am not using any plugins at all, i do EQ and reverb and thats about it, but that is after the the performance. so during these recordings all i have is one stereo track recording with a level meter, volume/pan, and thats it....although i should add that when the system locked up it said something about not being able to load a VST plugin when i kept trying to start tracktion.
4. Ok here is the system right now:
- Gateway p4 1.7 Ghz with a 32MB nvidia video card
- USB 1.1 Mackie XD-2 Spike interface
- Firewire OWC Mercury 80Gb external HD
- Groove Tubes GT-44 Condensers
1. i have 256mb of ram, so that should be ok...
2. i am running a pentium 4 1.7 ghz processor, however, it is not a problem with a small amount of noise within the signal, the whole signal turns into solid noise that is a repeated distortion...not sure if that helps....i might post an mp3 of it later today...
3. as far as what i'm doing, i am not using any plugins at all, i do EQ and reverb and thats about it, but that is after the the performance. so during these recordings all i have is one stereo track recording with a level meter, volume/pan, and thats it....although i should add that when the system locked up it said something about not being able to load a VST plugin when i kept trying to start tracktion.
4. Ok here is the system right now:
- Gateway p4 1.7 Ghz with a 32MB nvidia video card
- USB 1.1 Mackie XD-2 Spike interface
- Firewire OWC Mercury 80Gb external HD
- Groove Tubes GT-44 Condensers
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- KVRist
- 230 posts since 25 Nov, 2004
You don't state the operating system. Are you using Win98? Or WinXP with FAT32 file system? If so, this could be the problem. FAT32 has a 4GB file size limit. Is it possible you're running into that limit? Check the size of the file, if it's around 4GB, there's your problem.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
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- KVRAF
- 6740 posts since 25 Mar, 2002 from sheffield, england
The problem sounds to me most likely to be related to sound-card drivers: make sure you have the latest stable versions of these installed.
256MB of RAM is a little on the low side tbh, especially if you use XP, but I can't imagine it causing the problem you describe..
I would sugest grabbing the latest version of Tracktion as well (I'm on V.1.6.0.1) just in case..
256MB of RAM is a little on the low side tbh, especially if you use XP, but I can't imagine it causing the problem you describe..
I would sugest grabbing the latest version of Tracktion as well (I'm on V.1.6.0.1) just in case..
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- KVRist
- 146 posts since 14 May, 2004 from Orygone
Ok, that narrows things down a bit...
one problem may be that un-cooperative VST. Might be best, just for the sake of troubleshooting, that you find it and remove it from your plug-ins folder.
more likely though, is the problem that dealwithit mentions. the file size limit in Fat32 will cause what you are describing. there are 2 solutions that I can think of , right now. one would be to split the audio file into smaller files. this would be difficult if you are recording live, since you would have to stop and re-start recording. The best solution, especially if you are recording a lot of live stuff, would be to reformat the drive to NTFS which allows for larger file sizes. this will provide additional benefit in that the NTFS indexing is faster than Fat32.
on the other hand, if you are already running NTFS on your external drive, I'm stumped....but, that doesn't mean that there isn't someone else here that can figure it out for you...
BTW, what OS are you running.?? I forgot that question in my orignal post...
one problem may be that un-cooperative VST. Might be best, just for the sake of troubleshooting, that you find it and remove it from your plug-ins folder.
more likely though, is the problem that dealwithit mentions. the file size limit in Fat32 will cause what you are describing. there are 2 solutions that I can think of , right now. one would be to split the audio file into smaller files. this would be difficult if you are recording live, since you would have to stop and re-start recording. The best solution, especially if you are recording a lot of live stuff, would be to reformat the drive to NTFS which allows for larger file sizes. this will provide additional benefit in that the NTFS indexing is faster than Fat32.
on the other hand, if you are already running NTFS on your external drive, I'm stumped....but, that doesn't mean that there isn't someone else here that can figure it out for you...
BTW, what OS are you running.?? I forgot that question in my orignal post...
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- KVRist
- 146 posts since 14 May, 2004 from Orygone
Platinumears...he stated in the other thread that he has already installed the latest version. but the point you bring up about drivers is quite a valid one. While I'm not sure what drivers the XD-2 Spike uses, checking those drivers and the installed USB drivers would be worth the effort....
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 12 posts since 20 Feb, 2005
ok sorry guys,
i'm running XP with NTFS
i have d/l'ed the 1.6 version of tracktion and since then haven't gotten the distortion problem....hopefully that is a good sign, although i cannot reproduce this problem as it has happened without warning....
the other problem i am still worried about is the program locking up and freezing....what happened is when adjusting harware settings i started to see the little hourglass and it would just think forever....couldn't do ctrl-alt-del or anything....rebooted many times and had to take it home and reinstall to open tracktion again. it would lock up when trying to initialize and said something about looking for 3rd part plugins....
also....could an antivirus prog. do this?
i'm running XP with NTFS
i have d/l'ed the 1.6 version of tracktion and since then haven't gotten the distortion problem....hopefully that is a good sign, although i cannot reproduce this problem as it has happened without warning....
the other problem i am still worried about is the program locking up and freezing....what happened is when adjusting harware settings i started to see the little hourglass and it would just think forever....couldn't do ctrl-alt-del or anything....rebooted many times and had to take it home and reinstall to open tracktion again. it would lock up when trying to initialize and said something about looking for 3rd part plugins....
also....could an antivirus prog. do this?
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- KVRAF
- 6740 posts since 25 Mar, 2002 from sheffield, england
settings -> audio devices -> realtime priority mode
make sure this is turned OFF.
make sure this is turned OFF.
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- KVRAF
- 6740 posts since 25 Mar, 2002 from sheffield, england
Do you mean ASIO "direct" mode? This concerns monitoring: I wouldn't imagine it causing a crash. Mine is turned off. 
You do have ASIO drivers selected don't you? ("Wave device" field, at the top of the audio devices page)
You do have ASIO drivers selected don't you? ("Wave device" field, at the top of the audio devices page)
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- KVRAF
- 6740 posts since 25 Mar, 2002 from sheffield, england
Try removing all your plugs (temporarly rename your "plugins" folder "_plugins" for example) and see if that improves matters.. if it does you need to find the one(s) that are causing the problems.jfw834 wrote: it would lock up when trying to initialize and said something about looking for 3rd part plugins....
If may also be worth turning off the "always check for new plugins at start-up" option (plugins page).
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 12 posts since 20 Feb, 2005
ok i have unchecked the "search for new plugins at startup" and i hope that helps.....also it had said it was attempting a "rewire"? should i uncheck that one as well?
does anyone else here know about the "time adjust" function and what that might deal with......i was attempting to auto-set it thinking that it might be causing my problems. Thats around when it started locking up, although not exactly then. I have it set back to 0 now, but when it was attempting to automatically do it, it was saying something about there being an "inconsistent delay in the signal"...
i'm recording live classical music by the way....
does anyone else here know about the "time adjust" function and what that might deal with......i was attempting to auto-set it thinking that it might be causing my problems. Thats around when it started locking up, although not exactly then. I have it set back to 0 now, but when it was attempting to automatically do it, it was saying something about there being an "inconsistent delay in the signal"...
i'm recording live classical music by the way....
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 12 posts since 20 Feb, 2005
also....just to add, i'm recording in 24/44.1 right now even though i know the drivers are available for the XD-2 to do 88.2 and 96khz. They are still Alpha drivers and i don't need any more issues right now! 
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- KVRAF
- 6740 posts since 25 Mar, 2002 from sheffield, england
Probably best to disable re-wire as you're not using it..
The fact that your drivers don't yet support high sample-rates implies that they aren't really finished yet.. maybe its worth giving the Alpha versions a go?
That doesn't sound good..but when it was attempting to automatically do it, it was saying something about there being an "inconsistent delay in the signal"...
The fact that your drivers don't yet support high sample-rates implies that they aren't really finished yet.. maybe its worth giving the Alpha versions a go?