I wonder has anyone experienced the same thing and/ or can help me troubleshoot this issue:
Pops and clicks can be heard on the bass track of a song I’m working on. The song has 5 tracks (2x drums, 808 BD bass, pad & vox), but this problem occurs when 3 of them (2x drums & 808 BD bass) are playing simultaneously - I have auditioned each track separately and with each other, but the clicks only go away when I mute the bass.
Furthermore, the clicks can be heard when the drum tracks are playing but at -inf dB (not muted).
The clicks sound as though the bass sample is being triggered or ending on a non-zero crossing, but when the bass is soloed, the clicks disappear, so it can’t be that.
I thought that I may have somehow hit the RAM buffer, but again, if the problem arises when only 3 tracks are playing (no Bass Boost, Space, lowest Saturation, flat EQ, Limiter disabled, no send FX or Overdrive on any of the 3 tracks) so I highly doubt it’s a resources issue.
To reiterate, the clicks are present when both drums and the bass tracks are playing, but disappear when either both drum tracks or the bass are muted.
The clicks do repeat in the same place in the pattern, but I can’t work out what might be casuing them.
For better troubleshooting, can you post a recording of the issue?
To me it sounds like simple clipping, when you sum the channels your volume exceeds 0db.
1.does it also occur when you lower the volume of the bass and drum track?
2.is it in your rendering? What’s the overall loudness of the track?
3. Do you also hear the articfacts on other playback devices (headphones, speaker)?
4. What’s your limiter, headroom and alaising setting in the project config?
Thanks for getting back to me on this!
Recording (recorded in Audacity):
Starts with just the bass, both drum tracks muted - no clicks can be heard.
Both drum tracks un-muted and play at volume.
Drums are then gradually reduced in volume - at which point the clicks become more obvious. Drums eventually faded to -inf dB (not muted), leaving just the bass audible, clicks persist.
Drums quickly brought back up, then muted leaving just the bass - no clicks can be heard.
I thought the same, but it hasn’t happened on other songs with similar sounds, at similar levels. And surely if it were clipping, the clicks would go away when the decibel level of the drum tracks is reduced (because the summed dB level is reduced - if my understanding is correct), which it doesn’t.
No, as I mentioned, I’ve narrowed the problem down to the drums and bass tracks, which is why the other 2 aren’t heard in the recording.
No, it seems not. I reduced the drum tracks to barely audible while the bass played at full (as in the recording), but no clicks can be heard.
I can hear the same thing through two pairs of headphones connected directly to the Tracker, through the headphones out of my USB mixer when the tracker is connected to it and on the playback of the recording (when recorded into Audacity via my mixer onto my PC).
I’ve never touched the Config section, so all those settings are factory.
I hope my answers help.
It’s an interesting puzzle. Thanks again.
Thanks for the audio example! That’s interesting indeed. It’s still clipping i think. The start or loop point is much higher in amplitude. The artifact is always at the same point.
Can you turn off the delay of the drum track?
Is this a drum slice or a loop? In both cases offset the start and end point of the slices or sample/loop start by a tiny amount. Zoom in to get a better resolution.
The delay is via an FX slot on one beat (s56), not a send on the track btw. I deleted all the FX in both slots, on both the drum tracks and the clicks are still kind of there.
The drums are both beat slices of the Soul Pride break. I could give that a go, but it would mean going through all the slices which I don’t have time for right now, so it’ll have to remain a mystery for the time being.
I appreciate the your efforts @Patrick, thank you. If I come back to this and find a solution, I’ll be sure to let you know, who knows, I might finish the song - Terry Tibbs v. Soul Pride.
I have the same Problem when i use single cycle waves on more then 4 tracks and especially if added bass frequencies. It also occurs in Projects with drum sample slices and from a chopped brake sample when i introduce the bass. To me it seems like a hardware problem. When too much is going on it cant handle it. I think that because even if i turn down the volume of the bass track and unmute it starts to clip and pop in many ways. If i render the selection it is not a problem even with the bass. Also the pattern starts to stutter when all 8 tracks are playing! Its such a shame. The Tracker would be such a powerful device for synth shenanigans if 8 tracks of single cycle waveforms could be played at the same time. Especially with the perform page one could do some crazy stuff!!