Crackling, Can Someone Else Confirm?

Hey, I think I may have found a bug but i want to know if anyone else can replicate the behavior. It seems to me that when I open Virus Control and begin editing a sound from the "start" patch that I get random crackles and pops in the upper frequency range whenever changing a parameter, whether it be the filter or oscillator etc. However, if I save the patch (into the hardware's ram), it seems that many of the undesirable artifacts disappear.

Last night when I was making a saw patch based on 7th chords the Virus broke up/crackled with a unison of 4 (although the release was very high). At first I thought the unison was too high, but didn't get better results when going down to 2. Since I had designed the patch using the hypersaw oscillators (each set to only 1 voice) I tried switching to the classic oscillators which seemed to give less artifacts, even though they showed more bars on the hardware complexity indicator. Finally, I tried saving the original hypersaw patch to the hardware and experienced far fewer problems, even with the unison at 4.

Anyone else getting crackles while editing in VC?

Okay, so I was a bit off the mark. Crackling has returned irrespective of whether or not the patch is saved to ram. Interestingly, the patch works without a single glitch when used without Virus Control. I am going to try and roll back the drivers to see if there is any improvement. I have had my Virus since '06 and have only had these problems since the last 2 releases.

So I have been communicating with Jorg from Access Music about issues with crackling and would like to share some of the conversation. I informed Jorg that I had made a patch with heavy unison and a high release setting and that although the complexity meter was low that I have been experiencing heavy glitching from a simple 4 note chord phrase.

A video link (sorry about the quality) of the issue can be found here:

Now, I ended up re-reading the Virus setup guide and found the section about polyphony reduction and discovered that many of the usual suspects (unison, high release, analog filter) were indeed at play in contributing to my Virus running out of resources. I ended up asking Jorg if running out of power could cause crackling to which he replied:

Zitat

If the Virus runs out of power it indeed can cause crackling especially with UNISON sounds, since in that case the amount of voices the unit would have to produce normally go over the limit quite heavily and then the TI needs to "cut off" voices very quickly to get new voices out. This doesn't happen with just one voice over or so.

However, what I don't understand is why I can hold down huge chords and even press down whole octaves using the same patch in stand alone and never hear the faintest crackle. The last email that I received from Jorg suggested that this may be due to the internal sample rate of the Virus being set to 44.1 instead of 48 (in which case the Virus would have more power). The answer is nope. I have set the internal sample rate to 48 and played the keys like an ape on acid and not heard a single click. Voice stealing, yes. Crackling, not at all.

So, I have come to the tentative conclusion that the problem is somehow related to Virus Control. I have tried using the direct outs with the same issues.

And just to clarify, this is not an issue related to my DAW's soundcard and audio buffers. I can get crackle free performance with the virus depending on the patch. Also, I am not talking about an over the top crazy patch here. No reverb, release about 3/4 of the way, no oscillator 3, distortion as only effect, and a unison of 4.

So, my question is, can this be fixed? Can someone confirm that Virus Control is the main culprit? Can I give you my patch to see if the results are reproducible? Anyone else having similar issues (particularly after OS 4)?

Just to put it out there, I am using a Virus TI Mk 1 desktop, on a PC running Windows 7 32bit, with Ableton. My soundcard is the Emu 1616m PCI.

Thanks Marc,

I have tried using the "D" button and experienced the same problems. Is there a difference between routing the signal to specific outs by right clicking and depressing the "D" button? I'm going to try it to be safe...

Okay, so I retried the analog outs and the problem persists.

So again, can this be confirmed/ fixed? Do the guys at Access already know about Virus Control causing crackling? Is anyone willing to try my patch and see if they can reproduce the results?

Thanks

Just to followup a little more...

I'm pretty sure the crackling problem is somehow related to midi playback. It seems that I can play pretty resource intensive patches in realtime (with a keyboard) through Virus Control without any, or many, glitches. It is when I record a sequence that things start clicking and popping. I have tried all the recommendations, such as giving the Virus a measure to adjust, to no avail.

I have tried playing with the live button on and off, with the sequencer running and not, without any real issues. The problem occurs when I record and playback midi clips in Live. In fact, usually while I'm recording, I don't hear many glitches at all. Playback is the problem. Unfortunately, that means I am having a tough time getting the Virus into audio. Fortunately, this has to be a bug (and is hence fixable). Right?

Thanks Ruari!

So, what's the best way to post a single Virus patch?

Also, what I posted earlier about crackling being solely a playback issue should be disregarded. That was yesterday, this is today. I managed to work pretty much crackle free last night, but today my Virus is crackling with just single oscillator filter sweeps. I'm starting to worry that there is something wrong with my Virus (although I don't see what could have happened to it sitting in my rack with minimal use during the school year).

Ha!

you were too fast. I just sent you a pm with the patch attached.

Thanks!

Okay, just one more question until I hear anything back.

I have noticed in the config menu that my Virus (when using Virus Control) sometimes says "Auto" for the audio clock but still lest me select between sample rates and other times there is a black box under the frequency setting that says "synced to host." Is there perhaps a sync issue going on?

Okay, thanks Ruari.

I have tried unplugging all other usb devices to no avail. I also tried the usb pci car I have installed with no luck. I ordered another one last night just to be safe, but I have doubts that it will help. Now I need to figure out if it's my Virus, my computer, or the way Virus Control is running on Windows 7.

I don't think that you having a TI2 makes much difference as I am experiencing (seemingly random) problems with patches that never used to give me issue.

I am curious about this "synced to host" discrepancy though, as more often than not my Virus does not show this setting.

Thanks again for taking the time to help out.

Zitat

"synced to host" it shows when VC is instantiated.

Not on my system. That's why I'm asking. Most of the time when I use Virus Control it shows "auto" for the source but lets me change the sample rate. Is this normal?

Thanks

Bump.

Still having issues here.

Is anyone from Access willing to chime in about Windows 7 and crackling, why my Virus doesn't say "synced to host," or willing to test my patch on a TI1? I want to get this fixed and haven't heard back from support since last week.

Thanks