Crackling and popping on some playback

[schumacher574]

My play setup was working completely fine, and I decided to upgrade to Play 2.0something, after which I would receive messages saying "file not found" on certain patches and would get constant and extremely annoying popping and crackling on certain libraries (mainly SO gold, SC, and SD...doesn't seem to happen ever with RA). I took a break for a month and when I came back, I upgraded to the latest PLAY, which fixed the missing file messages, but I still get the crackling and popping.

I tried switching my ASIO latency (changed buffer from 256 to 512 to 1024 to 2048...no effect besides delayed playback at higher values). I also tried switching my driver. This problem does not occur with any other libraries or VSTs, only certain EastWest libraries, so I feel it is directly related to PLAY. Any suggestions on how I could possible fix this?

Here is my setup if it helps:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
CPU: Intel i7 860 2.8 GHz
Motherboard: eVGA P55 (Intel P55 Chipset) (Supports SLi)
Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600
Graphics Card(s): eVGA GeForce 9600GT 512MB
Sound Card: M-Audio Delta 1010LT (PCI)
Hard Drives: 1) 250GB SATA 7,200RPM w/ 16MB Cache (Primary OS)
2) 150GB 10,000 RPM 8MB Cache Western Digital Raptor (Libraries)
3) 500GB WD 7200 RPM (Recordings/Projects)
PSU: Corsair 750W
Case: Antec 900
Cooling: Maximum case fans

Thanks,

Erik

[schumacher574]

Other potentially helpful information:

I'm using Cubase 5. This occurs in Cubase as well as Standalone.

edit: I used a latency watcher to check for spikes, and didn't notice any big jumps...maybe its the actual sound files that were somehow corrupted?? I wish I never updated my PLAY version.

[aptmusic9]

...this doesn't look good. PLAY instruments only you say? You could try using REAPER and see if that changes anything? Try changing the engine settings in PLAY. For quad core procs, a setting of "high" is probably best in most cases

In Cubase, make sure multi-processing is on. Are you using 64-bit or 32?

Have you tweaked all your Windows settings so that your computer and hard drives are running optimally? (AHCI support for drives, power options, display optimization for 'best performance' etc)

Are your library drives healthy and getting defragged regularly?

Jbridge costs 15 bucks or so, and as a last resort it might be worth a try. Although its primary purpose is to allow you to use 64-bit inside Cubase 32, JBridge handles the processing for PLAY now instead of Cubase, and it might help your issue and even prevent future ones. I found that unless I used JBridge, I ran into issues and PLAY wouldn't play nice with my other plugins. Now I use VE Pro instead, which is different but accomplishes the same thing. It completely isolates PLAY outside of Cubase.

[schumacher574]

Thanks for the response.

Yeah, PLAY instruments only, and not all PLAY libraries only some of them (SO, SC, SD) have the problem. I changed the engine settings, tried low med and high, no effect.

I am using 64 bit. I'll check if multi-processing is on once I get back to my studio later today.

I don't think I've done AHCI support for drives, but I feel like those other Windows settings won't really have an effect on it since my computer performance is not ever low, I just hear popping and crackling.

Should I defrag my sample libraries' drives?

I was thinking about trying JBridge, the only problem is that PLAY as a standalone outside of Cubase still exhibits these issues, so I'm not sure having JBridge handle is processing instead of Cubase will accomplish anything. I'll give it a shot, though.

[aptmusic9]

If thats true, JBridge shouldn't affect it then. its a good idea to set your drives on a defrag schedule fore once a week or once a month or something. Since you are only reading data and not writing it, I'm not sure if its necessary to defrag it. Perhaps someone on this site knows and will chime in.

have you tried a support ticket? I think now would be a good time to send one.

[schumacher574]

I'm a little worried now, because the clicking and popping randomly went away. I was gone for about 4 days and when I got back, the sounds are muuuch much clearer. I'm worried now that it is something to do with my PC...such as a RAM issue (although I have 8 GB and my computer should handle PLAY no problem). I guess I will enjoy the clear sound while it lasts!

[aptmusic9]

could it have been a scheduled defrag? There is a test you can run on your ram if you can afford to let it run overnight. MdSched.exe, or just start to type mem in the search bar. a feature built into windows.

[schumacher574]

It wouldn't have been a defrag. I'm going to run the mem test overnight, thanks for the suggestion.

[jarkkoh]

Well I have to say that PLAY is the single only piece of vst that causes problems on my projects. When the project starts getting big, PLAY is the one that starts to crackle or pop sometimes. Kontakt never does this to me, nor does any other sampler like vienna etc. Even though I would have millions of other samplers loaded up with a number of libraries and have one little PLAY instance with something loaded up in it, that's the one that crackles and pops. Not to mention those hidious incredibly loud hissing sounds it produces sometimes out of the blue to give me a heart attack.

I like the east west sound and their products, but I can't say I've had many pleasurable experiences with their sampler.

[johng]

Are you running at 48k?