# How to Eliminate Pops/Cracks in Cubase Export?



## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 22, 2010)

Hey guys..I can't seem to export a file without having a bunch of subtle pops and cracks in the .wav that I export of an orchestral track.

I have tried almost everything. 

1. Mixed everything down really low where no tracks that I can see go into the red.

2. Tried to record it with the ASIO driver set to max buffer 2048 or whatever it is.

It doesn't seem like clipping as caused by a particular section that's too loud because the pops/cracks seem to happen randomly even in parts of the track that are very sparse in orchestration/instrumentation whereas other parts with full tutti blaring there is often no pops or cracks. 

What can this be?? Can anyone please give me some tips. I'm on Cubase 4.1 trying to export my project to a .wav file. 

thanks


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## José Herring (Feb 22, 2010)

You need to provide more info. What soundcard are you using? What are the specs of your machine? Are you using a slave computer? ect...

If everything is good quality you shouldn't have any pops and clicks even at low latencies. So there's something in your setup that isn't performing well.

Jose


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## veetguitar (Feb 23, 2010)

Hallo requiem_aeternam7 !
I assume that you do not have clicks and pops while normal playback, right?
You could check if you do real time mixdown in the export options menu.
Also try out th free voxengo recorder that you can insert into any channel or masterbus. It is available here: 
http://www.voxengo.com/product/recorder/


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 23, 2010)

veetguitar @ Tue Feb 23 said:


> Hallo requiem_aeternam7 !
> I assume that you do not have clicks and pops while normal playback, right?
> You could check if you do real time mixdown in the export options menu.
> Also try out th free voxengo recorder that you can insert into any channel or masterbus. It is available here:
> http://www.voxengo.com/product/recorder/



Yep there's pops and clicks in normal playback as well... to answer the question I have a quadcore PC with the stock soundblaster audigy soundcard.

Are these stock cards not capable of accurately rendering audio or something? I don't get it, I thought the whole point in exporting something is to 'render it' so that even if the computer is ultra slow (which mine isn't, like I said quad core 2.7 or so ghz) it is still able to render the sound accurately rather than playback where a cpu might not be able to handle all the sounds. This particular track I'm working on is not even all that heavy, has a few woodwinds and strings and that's mostly it..why is there so much crackle/pop, do I need a high end audio card and what would people recommend that's a LOW end card but that is still good........?


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## Stephen Baysted (Feb 23, 2010)

R_A, 

They're not known affectionately as Soundbastard Fraudigy for nothing! You really do need to get a different audio card, and you won't have to spend a fortune either. 

Before you do it's worth checking that it's definitely the sound card that is causing issues rather than something else. Worthwhile downloading ASIO 4 All drivers to bypass the Sound bastard, and if the pops and crackles are still there, then you know it's probanbly not just the card. 

http://www.asio4all.com/


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 23, 2010)

Thanks for the help so far guys..I've managed to sort of isolate the problem I believe, in that it appears to be coming from the reverb. When I deactivate the reverb everything seems fine.

To be more specific, I am using an instance of reverb on each group channel like Kontakt player has its own reverb and then my vienna ensemble with the vienna instruments (because they're mostly woodwinds) have their own light reverb and both of these are being bussed out to a master orchestra reverb. Now when the master orchestra one is activated, that's when the nonstop crackles and pops occur but when it's deactivated everything is fine even when the other light 'verbs are left on...any idea why this is happening?

I've tried everything, latency buffer at everything from the lowest 100 some odd to 2048. I tried doing the export in real time etc...I also monitor the playback and export with the f12 feature of cubase that shows the "VST Performance" of the asio driver (I am on asioforall v2 by the way for someone that asked) and it never peaks higher than 15-20% at all...what can be the problem?


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 23, 2010)

also some further info, I am using the free trial of that lexicon reverb, as opposed to my usual altiverb. This to my knowledge has never happened before with altiverb...is Lexicon a screwed up 'verb or something? A shame because I was actually considering purchasing this because the sound was really good.

p.s. to try to prove that this can't be any sort of cpu/disc streaming issue, I exported a .wav file without the reverb of my project. I then started a new project and imported that .wav file so that there are NO vst's or anything loaded, just a single tiny .wav. Then I applied that same lexicon reverb and setting to this .wav and exported it and voila crackles and pops again...what the heck is going on? I highly doubt my 8gig ram, quadcore CPU and 7200rpm hard drives can't handle putting a reverb on a solitary .wav file...


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## Pzy-Clone (Feb 23, 2010)

yes, but if you are using External intruments like the VSl Ensemble\Pro...they wont be reflected in cubase`s vst performance meter i think...so you are prolly overloading your cpu 

AND\OR

your audio VST drivers are NOT good enough. ( period, you will never get smooth optimized playback with soundblaster and "Asio for all" compared to "pro" card Asio drivers...) and if you get something like a Echo card or some other relatively cheap but ok card with stable drivers, your problem will most likely go away immediatly.

Edit: Didnt see your last post...well, if the Lexicon reverb is screwin up no matter what, then its obviously something wrong with it lol, i have 0 experience with it so i can`t comment on that. But i still say your card is poo.


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 23, 2010)

thanks a lot for the feedback much appreciated. PLEASE can you guys point me to a good decent low to mid range sound card I can get to replace this soundbastard fraudigy heap?? What's everyone using these days, what sound card do you guys have?


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 23, 2010)

Oh by the way, I don't have any routing things yet like VE PRO etc, everything is just done in my comp BUT I am getting a slave comp soon with VE PRO. 

Question: Should this slave comp also have a good sound card, or does it not matter if it has soundbastard fraudigy with Asio4all since it's only shipping the data over via ethernet to the DAW computer which will have a good sound card? Or do they both need top notch sound cards??

Thanks.


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## Pzy-Clone (Feb 23, 2010)

oh my bad, i thought you said you were using Vienna Ensemble...which uses (as far as i know) its own resource allocation scheme, so that wont get reflected in the cubase performance meter becouse it is a seperate application connected via a server interface or whatever---even if its on the same host computer.- 

Well, i can suggest the Echo Mia card, it sounds good enough, and has very stable and reliable drivers. 
But offcourse...RME is the way to go 

No you dont need any soundcard at all in the slave computer if you are running VEpro over ethernet ...which is part of the concept and appeal to begin with


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 23, 2010)

Pzy-Clone @ Tue Feb 23 said:


> oh my bad, i thought you said you were using Vienna Ensemble...which uses (as far as i know) its own resource allocation scheme, so that wont get reflected in the cubase performance meter becouse it is a seperate application connected via a server interface or whatever---even if its on the same host computer.-
> 
> Well, i can suggest the Echo Mia card, it sounds good enough, and has very stable and reliable drivers.
> But offcourse...RME is the way to go
> ...



That's very awesome to hear mate, thanks for the help. And yes I was using vienna ensemble loaded into Cubase as vst not stand alone and I see what you're saying it has its own resource management but like I said my comp is pretty powerful and the project I'm working on is not that heavy...the vienna ensemble you're right lists its own resource meter to my knowledge in the form of cpu % and it never goes above 10-20% either in usage so I'm not even coming close to using my computer's capabilities on this track that for the most part doesn't use THAT much stuff. And to be honest, I even solo'd certain tracks and exported them, just ONE instrument and it still was full of pops and crackles so I highly doubt the comp can't render a single trumpet line you know what I mean? So yeah something is definitely up with the reverb and causing some sort of confliction and keep in mind I've never had such a problem before even WITH my SB Audigy and asio4all so this is a first for me but either way I want to upgrade to a new and better soundcard...what is RME and is there a particular type I should look for?


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## Svencanz (Feb 23, 2010)

If you're just writing a Wav file from Cubase using one computer, then the sound card is not involved. It would only be used when you are creating sound for the speakers.

But if you are using slaves to process libraries, then I guess sound is produced on the slaves and sent as audio data to the host, the 'writing' computer.

That's the sum of my knowledge,
S


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## Markus S (Feb 25, 2010)

Nice nick!

Yes, get away from Soundblaster, that's about 99% sure the problem here. You might want to try *anything* from RME, a really good low cost soundcard is also the m-audio audiophile 2496, but maybe not ideal for recording purposes.

Good luck!

Markus.


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