Had to switch back to Reaper due to audio pops within cantable

Cantabile
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So the sound guy reported that my line is popping and i can also hear it very noticeable. After making the asio buffer to 256 to 512 to sample rate from 48000hz to 44100hz, I just switch to Reaper, and then all the popping has stopped. Switched my buffer settings back to 128 and my sample rate to 48000hz. Even the sound guy reported that he doesn’t hear any pops anymore.

What’s going on with Cantabile? Is there a setting that I need to change to alleviate the audio popping? My setup is a Lenovo Legion Pro 5 with an AMD processor and a NVIDIA graphics card (memory upgraded to 32GB RAM maximum). Interface is a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4.

Advices much appreciated.

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Also merry Christmas everyone!!!

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Also merry christmas to you. And can you share what VSTs you used when noticing the pops?

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I suggest you access profiler (View menu… View -> Profiler.) 1st, then load your instruments. You will see what vst is killing your resources.
Many of us here know from experience to use vsts with low cpu usage. In other words, Omnisphere, Diva and huge Kontakt libraries are not for live performance to the average user. Your audio popping may be overuse of large vsts, the use of 48000hz in live setting (not needed), and sample rate. For us to detect your problem, it would help to take screen shots of “profiler”, vsts you use, and how they are routed. Also, make sure you are using the Focusrite ASIO in options. Hoping this helps!

Merry Christmas

Corky

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At the time, it was Keyscape and Roland XV-5080 stacked. Which was weird cause I have my reaper template with a much heavier approach (keyscape, Roland JV, Roland XV-5080, IK Multimedia B3, and Kontakt.

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Will do that later on!

As for focusrite asio, that’s already set!

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I actually do use 48kHz live because of some testing I did with Kontakt libraries. Don’t have the details at hand, but Kontakt is noticeably more efficient if the samples in the sound library have the same sample rate as you are running in the DAW / audio interface. The cost of the sample rate conversion seems to be especially high with Kontakt.

In one case, I actually re-built a Kontakt sample library to convert the sound samples to 48K … a bit extreme, but it is a sound I use a lot.

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Found the details of my testing, done 4/11/2022. I was doing latency testing (not CPU load) … looking at the effect of keeping the buffer size the same (RME UCX II) but increasing the sample rate from 44.1 to 48kHz.

Latency improved when shifting sample rates from 44.1kHz to 48kHz. When working with audio signals, latency improved by almost exactly the ratio of the two sample rates (8.1%).

Latency when rendering Kontakt sound libraries improved noticeably more: 18.4%. This may be due to the 48kHz sample rate of the sound samples in the library I tested (The Grandeur).

However, this testing was done to improve latency, not CPU load. (I didn’t even know about Cantabile’s profiler at the time … tsk tsk). So … if you need to reduce pops and clicks due to CPU overload, then reducing the sample rate might be in order …

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  • Keyscape is notorious for its high cpu demanding.
  • IK Multimedia B3X is notorious for its high cpu demanding.
  • Roland Cloud plugins are not so light as being “rompler” would make it seem.

Whether you use Reaper or Cantabile or “every-DAW-you-want” just check the buffer settings.

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I had a lot of trouble with popping/clicks on my Lenovo with Cantabile until I learned to kill all the Lenovo Vantage services that were automatically starting when I boot and sometimes they try to start a second time and I have to kill them again. I didn’t want to remove Vantage completely, but I don’t let it run while Cantabile is running. I don’t have this issue with most of my other audio applications, but occasionally even they are impacted. With Cantabile, it always causes an issue.

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I have trouble with pops and clicks through the pa system, but that is nore because my laptop isn’t powerful enough to handle what I want to do, and the !cost of gigging" crisis means that I can’t afford better.

As I think most should for live work, I set my set list to preload all the vsts, so for the first song absolutely everything is up and running, but as I move through the set, I close down any vsts I will no longer use, and the cpu load lightens as a result. Sometimes I will modify which vsts I use for the opening song to keep the load down, as well.
Another issue was my not understand vst multiplayers like Kontak, Halion and
UVI Workstation, and would run an instance of each of these for each vst I was using - until I realised what multiplayer actually meant! No w I go into “wiring view” and add an extra line form the keyboard to Kontakt/Halion/UVI, allocate a MIDI channel and then add the vst. Now I only have a single instance of a multiplayer, even though I may be running 3 or 4 vsts through them, and this has reduced popping as well.

TO most of you seasoned professionals, this last part my be blindingly obvious, but to this mere mortal it has been a significant discovery!

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Your pops and crackles might be more related to your overall computer workload then the settings you have. This is what happens if your computer can’t keep up with digital to analog conversion. Maybe close some other background apps and see what happens. I get pops and crackles sometimes when my antivirus software kicks in.

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When setting your computer up for music, it is best to turn all background processes off, that is not needed. On my music machines, I shut down many processes, no antivirus, no Windows defender updates, no internet connection.
Everyone using a computer for music should read the following:
https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

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Stating the obvious, but check out the “Glitch Free” pdf under Supoort. There are lots of specifics with regards to Power Management, Device Management, Core Parking, Scheduler, Page Files, etc. I’ve also had good luck with Winareo Tweaker to totally turn off Defender and other CPU hogs. But, my music PCs are never connected to outside world.

Edit:
Well, Corky beat me by a minute!

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I think it was 30 seconds…but who is stop-watching? :laughing:

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I’ve a check list of what I review if there are computer/audio problems. I think this was distilled from “Glitch Free” and other sources. I’m big fan of getting the PC set like I like it, then use Macrium Reflect to fully backup to external drive and SyncToy to update changes such as new songs. The OS and installed programs are covered by the Macrium Image and SyncToy keeps the songs, sets, racks, etc. backed up. If there is a hiccup, my work is secure.

Power Management
 Switch to High Performance
 “Never” turn off display
 “Never” turn off Hard disk (enter 0)
 Minimum Processor state is 100%
 “Pause” Slide Show
 “Disabled” USB selective Suspend
 “Off” PCI Express Link State Power Management
 “Never” turn off display (enter 0) - checking on above action
 “Never” sleep or hibernate
 Set power buttons and lid as desired

Device Manager
 Set all USB Roots, Hubs, etc. to not allow computer to turn off

Hard Drive
 Disable indexing
 Disable compression

Screen Saver
 Set to None

Visual
 Disable Themes
 Adjust appearance for “Best Performance”
 Adjust performance for “Background Services”

Core Parking
 Regedit
 Find “dec35c318583”
 Change “Attribute” to zero(0)
 May be several instances in Registry
 Now a new setting will appear in Power Options for Core Parking
 Set to 100%

Scheduled Tasks
 Task Scheduler
 Disable or move to non-performance time block

Page File Settings
 Custom Page File
 Set to 1.5 x RAM

Windows Update
 Turn off

Windows Audio
 Turn off System Sounds
 Disable non-professional Audio Drivers

Disable Start-up Apps
 Open Settings, Apps, Startup
 Sort by Startup Impact
 Turn off what is not needed

Disable Relaunch apps on start-up
 Open Settings, Sign-in Options
 OFF slide: Automatically reopen apps after update or restart

Disable background Apps
 Open Settings, Privacy, Background apps
 Turn off what is not needed (or turn them all off!)

Disable Transparency Effects
 Open Settings, Personalization, Colors
 Turn off transparency effects

Check Hard Disk Storage
 Open Settings, System, Storage
 Delete Temporary Files as possible

Repair Installation Files
 Admin CMD: SFC / scannow
 Admin CMD: DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
 Admin Powershell C:\windows\system32> Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth

Prepare and Backup
 CClean
 Defrag
 Macrium Reflect

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