Audio pops

[Msx]

Hello Everyone

Sorry to start up another pops and clicks post but could do with some advice. We have had sudden pops and clicks appear on our multi channel audio playback that seems to get progressively worse as the day/show goes on. Everything will start out fine and then gradually more and more audio pops, clicks, scratches will appear over the course of the day, a cache clear seems to solve is for a while and its in no particular place in the show. This is a large and pretty complex show but is being run on hardware and software that is know to us, has done bigger and has never suffered from the audio problem in the past. We are using an ASIO device in WO 6.4 (6.3.1 tried) running on high end display servers within a windows 10 LTSB image that is built for this very task.

I don't see anything obvious that is causing this but it must be something in this particular show as others have been clean. Audio device is set to 48Khz and all audio files are 48Khz however there may be a couple of videos that have muted audio tracks that are 44.1, could that cause it? Anything else anyone thinks i should check and any feedback welcome

Thanks for your help

[Dean Stevenson]

Hi MSX, The different sample rates could cause this,  are the Video files with audio HAP Codec?

I had a problem earlier this year with Pops and clicks when using Dante Virtual Sound Card on a 6.3.1 system (Win7 Pro). we were able to get around it by running 6.2.2, were also able to solve the problem by upgrading the OS to Win10  and using 6.3.1 

 

Regards 

Dean

[wiesemann]

Always make audio a separate .wav file and mute the videos own audio. Even with last minute changed content.

[Msx]

Hi Dean

Yes everything is HAP or HAPQ. We are in the progress of stripping out the audio from those files in the hope that will fix it. Not tried 6.2.2 but certainly worth a shot

Thanks

[Jason H Thompson]

I discovered a similar issue when using Motu boxes for audio playback. Audio would play fine for a few hours then it would increasingly become more distorted. Resetting the computer solved the issue temporarily. This was in a museum installation, so playback had to be rock solid throughout the day.  I switched to a Focusrite and the issue was gone.  I’ve always found finding the best audio playback device to require testing several models and that even those change over time. Focusrite has been the most consistent for me.

[Playground]

Asio or waspi?

[Martin Pfeifer]

On 6/27/2019 at 7:45 PM, Jason H Thompson said:

I discovered a similar issue when using Motu boxes...  ...then it would increasingly become more distorted.... 

We have similar "distortion/scratching problems" with MOTU 828 mk3. We choosed this device because it was used in https://www.dataton.com/academy-video-watchout-6-multi-channel-audio-playback
It would be nice if Dataton could recommend a few compatible audio boxes.

[Muath I J]

i can feel your pain !! we had similar issues recently and we solved it by changing to 48khz from windows sound setting not from WO , then in WO set sample rate to auto ,one more thing to do is to "NOT" set your output audio card to default audio device" in windows" try choosing something else and then just choose your audio output card from WO this will allow the buffer of that card to be used fully by WO.

if you dont have RME sound card yet , its time to invest your money there.

 

cheers.

[Diego Marchente]

On 6/25/2019 at 9:42 AM, Msx said:

Hello Everyone

Sorry to start up another pops and clicks post but could do with some advice. We have had sudden pops and clicks appear on our multi channel audio playback that seems to get progressively worse as the day/show goes on. Everything will start out fine and then gradually more and more audio pops, clicks, scratches will appear over the course of the day, a cache clear seems to solve is for a while and its in no particular place in the show. This is a large and pretty complex show but is being run on hardware and software that is know to us, has done bigger and has never suffered from the audio problem in the past. We are using an ASIO device in WO 6.4 (6.3.1 tried) running on high end display servers within a windows 10 LTSB image that is built for this very task.

I don't see anything obvious that is causing this but it must be something in this particular show as others have been clean. Audio device is set to 48Khz and all audio files are 48Khz however there may be a couple of videos that have muted audio tracks that are 44.1, could that cause it? Anything else anyone thinks i should check and any feedback welcome

Thanks for your help

Hi,
if you convert all files via FFMPEG to 44.1KHz you should have no more problems.
Wo v6.3.1 and v6.4 suffered some bugs especially on 48KHz audio files.
Also check the Drivers version of the Audio card you use, they could generate problems if they are too dated compared to the version of Windows you're using.
I also advise you to always use separate Audio and Video streams in Timeline, some containers can generate annoying bugs if the program that encapsulated them does not maintain the standards.
If you know by digital output from the Audio tab, verify that the one receiving your signal is aligned with the quantization frequency and that the connection cable does not generate too many disturbing Jitters.
Good luck.
Diego