Recording pops

[ToddBrick]

I've been using DCArt ver. 3 for a while. Recently, I noticed some subtle pops in the recorded wave file. They are not present on the analog source and are not present when the signal level is very low (silence). It almost sounds like either bit errors or something is interruppting the disk access.

Here are the specs for my computer:
AMD K6-III/450, 192MB RAM, Win2000 SP3, Creative SB Live card, Nvidia Ti200 video. Major programs running are Norton AV, ZoneAlarm, Adaptec DirectCD, Creative Audio HQ.

Like I said, I just seemed to notice it lately but it could have been there all along. I did go to the Creative Tech support and they said to make sure the disk was PIO and not DMA. That REALLY made it bad! Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance, Todd.

[Craig Maier]

Re: Recording pops

One possibility is that some apps are running in background while you were recording. That can cause glitches if the computer can not keep up with things. So, make sure that all programs are shut down including your screen saver when recording. That is my best guess as to the nature of the problem.

[Malcolm]

Re: Recording pops

Todd, I had exactly the same problem some time ago using DC32 software. I would manually fix the pop only to find that after additional processing, no matter how "insignificant" e.g. manually correcting one transient click; pops would turn up elswhere. I even found that listening all the way through the file to ensure that no pops were present, the burned CD would contain one or two light pops! I worked on the problem for weeks.
I posted the problem somewhere in the forums, and I think it was Craig suggested it might be an issue with my sound card (Turtle Beach Santa Cuz). I did not pursue the problem because I got tired of hanging on 'phone long distance at daytime rates.
However, I was so generally pleased with the software that I bought DC5/Live and have not had the problem since.
FYI under both conditions I use(d) a DELL 8500 Dimension, 2.0 MHz, Windows XP professional with maxed out memory.
Hope this helps you
m

[ToddBrick]

Re: Recording pops

Craig and Malcolm,

Thanks for tip. One thing I did learn (after puttting my controllers back to DMA) was that I don't get a similar noise (very close to record pops and clicks) when I record with my MusicMatch software also recording WAV format. My test material was a CD copy of Bolero so that the signal starts very quiets and builds. It seems to start being noisy as the level increases above a certain threshold. In fact, if I run the impulse NR on the DCart of this WAV, the noise goes away. Also, I looked at the waveform, and there are small, but definite "spikes" in the waveform. Strange... There isn't a "add record noise" function in DCart that I mistakingly left on is there? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Next, I fiddled with the DirectX and or hardware acceleration. No change. It's almost as if the DCArt32 is making a small quantization error and adding a spike (I actually saw a spike on an otherwise well-behaved sine wavish signal).

Todd

[Craig Maier]

Re: Recording pops

This is beginning to sound like a sound card driver issue to me. Did you update the drivers for your sound card? I have never heard this complaint before with the problem not being either sound card driver issues or running too many programs at the same time as DC Art. Anyone else have any ideas?

[Doug]

Re: Recording pops

Todd, I'm not sure but having "Major programs running like Norton Anti Virus, ZoneAlarm, Adaptec DirectCD" could be the problem. Maybe you should check to see if Norton Anti-virus is scanning every file you record/save (it will if it's on live scan!!!). I've had the problem (with a different anti-virus program), and I simply removed the antivirus software, problem solved!! (you can leave the anti-virus program on the computer, but have it in a de-activated form on startup, and then only activate it when required).

ZoneAlarm and Adaptec DirectCD can also be a pain (as far as I know). I think you need to close these down as well (Adaptec CD direct shouldn't need to be open while your using DC-Art). Everything you have open chews up the RAM, even if it is idle, and with only 192MB RAM you soon run out! (well that's what I was told). If closing down these programs doesn't help, then try either of 2 things:

1. Defragment the hard drive (If you are recording stereo at 96kHz, and have a slower speed hard drive, then this would be important). I found that for some reason, my hard drive didn't "spin up" in time once recording had started. My RAM (which was already largely allocated to other programs) would then fill over into the swap file on the hard drive and result in errors.

2. Increase the recording buffer size/duration under the preferences menu in DC-Art. This will allocate a larger portion of your RAM to DC-Art and recording / playing files.

I don't know if you've tried all that already, but what else can there be??
I had the same problem on my previous computer (128MB RAM, windows 98). My hard drive was high speed drive, but there was a RAM-sharing issue between anti-virus software (infact I had all the programs you've mentioned except the zone alarm). I ended up removing them all, but you may just want to turn the programs off, and then recording should work perfectly (it did for me).

[Craig Maier]

Re: Recording pops

I just remembered one other possibility. If your sound card is sharing resources with another I/O device like your video card, that can cause the symptoms that you describe. Use your control panel to check to see if this is happening.

[UnivNM]

Re: Recording pops

I am expereincing this 'recording pop' difficulty as well. I am running DCart32 on a P-II 266mHz 196mb gateway PC, and using the st audio media 7.1 input system. When I monitor the source signal it is prestine, when I record, however, glitches and pops end up in the .wav file. I have followed all the advice listed above (shut down all other applications, removed anti-virus program, defragmented the hard-drive et. al.) I assume there isn't a compatibility issue between the sound driver for the st audio media 7.1, and DCart32 because DCart32 came bundled with the st audio media 7.1. What other possiblities are there? I have attached a .wav file exhibiting this pop phenomena.
thanks.

[Jason Begley]

Re: Recording pops

What version of Windows are you running, and more importantly do you know if you have DMA enabled on your hard drive(s)?

Re: the DMA setting, if it is NOT set, it will absolutely make a difference.

Another thing to check would be the "chipset" that you are using, if it is VIA, then go to VIA Technologies and download and install their latest 4-in-1 driver set, this should help also.


Regards,