Several Sound Problems - Video Link Shows it all!

Tracker
1

Hey Tracker experts! I’ve contacted support about this because I am stumped. But I’ve previously gotten good help here too. I’m not sure if I’m experiencing a malfunctioning Tracker, user error, or simply a Tracker limitation.

The link above is a video I made showing the problem–(listening to the vid with stereo headphones really highlights the issue best). I’m an experienced drum machine/DAW user, but I’m new to the Tracker so anything is possible. But as the video clearly shows, I’ve got:

  1. Preview button problems (the vid shows it all!)
  2. Sound dropouts at the start of pattern loops (on step 1) and
  3. Sounds sliding left and right randomly as (it seems) like the machine struggles to play a pattern.

Again, listening to the video linked above in stereo headphones shows everything.

In the video, the pattern example I show is only 8 samples and is using 2% of project memory, so it’s far from “maxing out” the machine as far as I can tell. If what I am experiencing is simply a limitation of the Tracker, then I may have made the wrong purchase. But man, I sure hope not because this thing makes music the way I want to make music. But I just need a more stable sound than what it is currently giving me. If I have a malfunctioning machine, then that’s a different story.

Any help or ideas greatly appreciated!

PS: I have reflashed the machine using the latest firmware and also deleted the workspace folder to no help.

2

Yeah that is strange, I no longer have a Tracker, but can’t recall experiencing this issue, the only thing I can think of is have you checked the instrument settings, is there an envelope or lfo set to affect the volume or filter of the instruments it is occurring on?

3

@wkduffy could you upload this project (or if you prefer send it via DM)? i would like to test this on my own tracker. The behaviour is indeed super strange. And nothing i’ve ever encountered.

But yeah, by just watching the video and not knowing the project and/or how things are setup in it, i’d say that is either one nasty bug or a faulty tracker in my opinion.

Which is good news! Both things are fixable :blush:

4

@Sandroid - The project file is appended. Thanks for taking a look at this. And I’m sorry for the length of this message, but it’s necessary as you’ll see. Having just gotten this machine, this is my first project with it. So I’m operating without experience here and want to share everything correctly.

The preview button issue I show in the video is irritating, but to me it’s actually the least important. The issue with the dropouts and the instruments sliding left to right (the other two problems I highlight in the video) are more concerning since it affects the quality of the audio output overall.

@troxx suggested I check the Instrument Parameters page to make sure there were no LFO filters maybe creating the problems. But everything is disabled there on my machine.

So I guess checking the preview button issue is easier to tackle first, and it may just be connected to the other problems? But even that is tricky because the fade out with repeated presses of the preview button (as I show in the video) will happen sometimes, and not happen other times, even on the same instrument. So if you were to just load up the project and hit the preview button randomly around the grid, it may not show the issue at all.

BUT with some deducing, I’ve figured out a way (on my Tracker anyway) to reproduce the problem every time. So here are some insanely specific instructions once you load up the project–see if you can make the problem appear on your end?

After loading, you may want to just test a few steps at random, hitting the preview button rapidly ten times or so for a few instruments to make sure they seem to be working normally? If they do, then here’s how I can reproduce the issue every time on my machine>

  1. Go to Track 4, step 23. It’s a stab/chord sound that has a high pass filter on it. Hit the preview button 5 or 6 times rapidly. It should work normally.

  2. Then go to Track 2, step 15. It’s a hi-hat. It has a swing effect of 65 on it. Hit the preview button quickly several times and YOU’LL HEAR THE SOUND SLOWLY FADE WITH EACH BUTTON PRESS ALL THE WAY TO ZERO VOLUME.

  3. At this point (if the sound has faded like it does on my machine), if you go to any of the hi-hat steps in Track 2, none of them will make a sound with the preview button. They are all at zero volume.

  4. Also, at this point if you go to any of the steps on Track 1 (it’s a kick sound normally), none of those sounds will work with the preview button either.

  5. But then: Go to Track 4, step 7. It’s the same stab/chord as #1 above with reverb and a high pass filter. Hit the preview a few times. It will sound normally. NOTE: I HAVE NOTICED ON MY MACHINE IF YOU HIT THE PREVIEW BUTTON VERY VERY RAPIDLY AT THIS STEP, YOU CAN HEAR THE STAB SOUND AND REVERB EFFECT SLIDING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AT RANDOM–but you have to press the button SUPER-SUPER FAST a dozen or more times. (I can post another video showing you this if you don’t get the same effect.) I don’t know if this is normal behavior as the machine tries to process the rapid input, but this random movement from left to right (and it also drops out some too upon some presses) is what happens during pattern play that I show in the video that concerns me the most.

  6. Anyway, continuing with the preview button issue> At this point, if you go back to Track 2, step 15 (the same hi-hat from step 2 above), it will play normally with the preview button.

  7. But to reproduce the fading preview button issue again, all you have to do is go back to #1 above (Track 4, step 23) and rapidly hit the preview button on the stab sound again, and then move to the hi-hat on Track 2 again and listen to it fade. BUT AT THIS POINT IF YOU WANT TO HEAR A DIFFERENT SOUND FADE INSTEAD OF THE HI-HAT, YOU CAN GO TO TRACK 1, STEP 1 AND HIT THE PREVIEW BUTTON MULTIPLE TIMES FOR THE KICK SOUND. It will fade the exact same way as the hi-hats on Track 2 (at least for me it does).

Sorry to be so specific, but this is how I can faithfully reproduce the issue each time. If you don’t get these results, I guess all I can imagine is that somehow my machine is borked? I don’t know, but I’m stumped. And I REALLY want this machine to work normally. But like I said, the dropouts and weird sound panning during pattern playback concerns me more. Though maybe it’s all connected…

Thought: Does it have to do with the way I have used the swing effect (since that affects when instruments trigger)?

Thanks again.

wkduffy-test-preview.zip (282.0 KB)

1 Like