Re: Snap, Crackle, Pop - VST Effect & Sound Card Problems

["Krispen Hartung" <khartung@cableone.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dean, Hal " <HDEAN@wcupa.edu>

Kris-

One other thing you might try - start Windows in Safe mode and then look
for instances of the Creative Labs drivers, hardware, etc. I've found in
the past that this reveals "leftovers" that for some reason are not seen
otherwise. Since you've edited the registry already this may do nothing,
but give it a shot.

Hal Dean

*******************

Thanks, Dean. I did that. In fact, that was a requirement on the Creative 
website, for the "so-called" clean sweep uninstall. I say so-called 
because 
even after I did it, I found Creative in the registry. What a complicated 
mess.

This is an odd duck problem, indeed. I still think it's strange that the 
clicking and popping does not occur when I'm just running through my VST 
host with no effects, and that clicking a button to load or activate a VST 
effect makes a click/pop sound, and that some VST effects that modulate 
produce a clicking/popping sound that seems to coincide with the 
modulation. 
And that when using VST effects like Reaktor Metaphyisical or Krypt, which 
generate their own sounds, there is no clicking and popping. The problem 
is 
limited to the context where the signal is generated through the Echo card 
input. I have a gut feeling that these are good clues, but I just can't 
piece them together and draw any conclusion regarding causes. I hope to 
get 
on the phone with Echo today.

Kris

-----Original Message-----
From: Krispen Hartung [mailto:khartung@cableone.net]


Hello all. Thanks for all your responses here. Below is a summary of my
actions...plus I am corresponding now with tech support from Echo,
including
one of their developers...plus I copied Create Labs customer support.

I attached my email to echo too, which reveals some more facts. The
interesting thing is that this popping/clicking doesn't occur with all
of my
VST effects (e.g, PSP42 and Filter), only some.  And there is also
clicking
when I activate or deactive a VST in the VST host, by clicking the
button
for that effect. Very odd.  Some of the clicking seems to be
synchronized
with the modulation of the effects.

Kris



> Sounds like a defragment is in order?

Done. No effect.

> What is your cpu usage at right now when the crackles start?

Very low. 10%. With this new ThinkPad, processing has not been an issue.
I
haven't seen it above 55%, even with Reaktor plugins running and some of
my
high powered plugins like PSP84.

> My first guess would be to check levels, if the sound card supports
> both
> +4dBu and -10dBV, sometimes this gets reset to the other value and
> +screws
> up gain staging.

Not a feature on this IO card. It is line level, no adjustment allowed.

> The next guess would be that it's some kind of driver conflict.  I
> would
> have expected that uninstalling the Audigy drivers would clear that
up,
> but who knows.  Go to Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and

> check to see what audio drivers are installed.  If you still see the
> Audigy drivers uninstall or disable them.

Did this, and in fact did a clean sweep uninstall based on Creative Labs

instructions, plus removed everything from the registry. No effect.

> For the IO driver check the Resources tab and see if there are any
> conflicts. ven though you can usually share interrupts these days,
audio
> devices are still touchy and like to have exclusive use of the
interrupt.

No conflicts.

> Installing and uninstalling hardware makes changes to the windows
> registry. I've never had much luck "hacking the registry",

Did this, no effect.

>uninstalling Windows should solve the problem.

Yikes. No way. I will avoid this at all costs and keep searching for the

source of the problem. Echo doesn't think I should have to do this
either.
It's a last resort, blanket solution.

> Before you wipe the system and start again (and I'm not saying that
> that's
> not what you'll ultimately have to do), go to the 'Run' item in your
> 'Start' menu.  Type "regedit" to bring up the registry edit tool. Use
the
> "Find" feature to look for anything that possibly might contain
keywords
> related to your Audigy card.

Did this. Deleted everything related to Audity and Creative Labs, Sound
Blaster, etc. I even searched for instances where sample rate was set to

48000 and changed down one level.

> Might want to try "system restore" before doing anything else.  If the
> problem is driver related, you should be able to go back to a
checkpoint
> unless you specifically disabled system restore.

Unfortunately, I had disabled this before the problem to free up
resources...I wish I had not now.

> Check your multimedia/sound settings.  Try changing the Default Device

> to
> something other than the IO. Under Sound and Audio Devices, check the
> advanced settings.  Be sure that under Audio Playback, the hardware
> accelleration is set to Full and sample rate conversion is set to
Best. Be
> sure that under Hardware, the SB is no longer listed.

Did this. No result.

> Turn off Windows sounds.

Already had this set. No result.

>> Be sure that under Hardware, the SB is no longer listed.  There may
>> still
>> be some legacy stuff installed. try http://www.drivercleaner.net/

Did this.