Crackles in Reaper – OK in Logic. Help!

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by MonkeyBars

Setting the core number does nothing to hyperthreading.

Right, it doesn't but it is related to Reaper performance when HT is enabled if memory serves; that's the subtle but very important distinction I've been making. Reason being, if changing that number solves such an issue (for whomever), then they may want HT available for all the other apps that can benefit from it. Though HT is generally considered good to disable for Reaper, I've never actually had to do it.

[MonkeyBars]

By the way, I still got crackles when I brought the CPU usage up past 60% – disabling hyperthreading "just" bought me an extra 18% or so.

Dstruct and I determined it must be the 13" MacBook Pro's crappy onboard video choking the machine on the meters, so I bought a Mac Pro. Setting it up now, cross your fingers...

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by MonkeyBars

Setting it up now, cross your fingers...

Crossed

[MonkeyBars]

Originally Posted by karbomusic

Crossed

Thank you!!

Originally Posted by karbomusic

Right, it doesn't but it is related to Reaper performance when HT is enabled if memory serves; that's the subtle but very important distinction I've been making. Reason being, if changing that number solves such an issue (for whomever), then they may want HT available for all the other apps that can benefit from it. Though HT is generally considered good to disable for Reaper, I've never actually had to do it.

The only way I found it was relevant was that the number of cores listed in the Reaper prefs is double the physical count when hyperthreading is turned on, and equal to the physical core count when HT is off.

[Aymara]

I had similar issues on my Macbook Pro with an i7 quad core and I would never disable hyperthreading, but that is a different sorry, I don't want to discuss in detail.

I'm posting here, because MY solution was pretty different and who knows, maybe it helps here too.

Let me borrow a screenshot from a neighbour thread:



Activate the "ignore running change notifications" setting and check, if that helps. In my case it did.

[MonkeyBars]

Okay, new machine unfortunately gives me no more juice at all from the quad-core processor. However it gives me no crackles until hitting 95% RT CPU. I think to get those extra 5%, I would need a graphics card upgrade. I think I'm ok for now though. Thanks for all your support and help y'all.

Edit: Actually I think I'm getting a solid 15%, maybe 18%, more out of my new quad CPU, according to the RT CPU reading.

[vanhaze]

Ok, thx for the help !

[vitalker]

Originally Posted by Dstruct

Because you wouldn't get the latency of the audio device.

I have PDC on the master. Track manager shows it.

[Dstruct]

Then you have plugins on the Master. Better to use these on a Folder track instead.

[vitalker]

Originally Posted by Dstruct

Then you have plugins on the Master. Better to use these on a Folder track instead.

Yep, I know that there are plugins there I'll try. Thanks!

[vanhaze]

After a few months, bringing up this thread again, cause i pulling my hair out.

Hackintosh X99, with (physical) 6 core CPU
32 GIG Ram.
GTX 970 videocard.
OSX 10.10.5
Reaper 5.22 64 bit.
RME pci audio card.
UAD 2 pci card
Buffersize : 512
SR = 44.1

Situation:
Reaper project with only 1 track,an instrument track, record enabled.
Tested with several vsti's on that track, like kontakt, izotope iris 2, Wiggle.
All these vsti's give instant crackles, when only playing 2 or 3 notes at a time on my midi keyboard.
Tried dozens of combinations of all the audio settings in Reaper, no succes.
Tried to disable Hyperthreading in BIOS,but then, my Hack won't startup anymore

In Logic Pro: No crackling at all with these vsti's when played live.
In Live 9 - 64bit : also no crackling at all with these vsti's when played live.

On my macbook 2015:
16 GIG Ram.

OSX 10.10.5
Reaper 5.22 64 bit.
Apollo Twin thunderbolt audio device
Buffersize : 512
SR = 44.1
Reaper project with only 1 track,an instrument track, record enabled.
No crackling at all with the mentioned vsti's when played live.

I am afraid my problem is like searching for the wellknown needle in a hay stack

I would be very thankful if i could get some serious help.
Willing to pay for it to solve it.

[Aymara]

Originally Posted by vanhaze

Willing to pay for it to solve it.

Well, then the fix is pretty easy, buy a real Mac

Joking aside, fixing latency issues on a Hackingtosh is nearly impossible, but ... have you tried disabling of the onboard soundcard?

[vanhaze]

Thank you for your response !

I am not talking about latency issues.
I am talking about crackling sounds when played mentioned VSTi's "live" from my midi keyboard.
Or is that for you the same as latency issue ?

I do have internal soundcard disabled in BIOS.

[Aymara]

Originally Posted by vanhaze

Or is that for you the same as latency issue ?

I meant latencies in the system itself, not the audio playback versus recording. Such latencies usually cause the described crackling audio. That's why so called Latency Checker software exists for Windows, where this is a more common problem, than on Macs. And because you use a system designed for Windows ... well, you guessed it, right?

On Windows these issues are usually caused by crappy drivers. I once had such issues on Windows 7 because of a buggy network driver installed by VirtualBox ... a VB update fixed it.

I do have internal soundcard disabled in BIOS.

No, but I have a Macbook Pro, you have a very specific audio system on an Asus board, that was not designed for OSX ... a huge difference ... the drivers you are running were not optimized for this hardware. It might also be the NVidia card, causing these issues.

I guess, you already checked the general tips given by Native Instruments?

https://www.native-instruments.com/e...io-processing/

[vanhaze]

Thanks again for your help, really appreciate it.

I am not running Reaper with the built in soundcard of my Hack,(which i have de-activated in BIOS).
I am running Reaper with a RME pcie card, as said: buffersize 512, samplerate 44.1 ; nothing too constraining on CPU if you ask me.

I can understand that using a Hackintosh X99 platform with OSX is maybe not optimal, cause X99 is not officially supported by OSX.
Stupid me lol.

But then question/ confusion remains why i DON'T have any crackling issues in Logic Pro and Live 9 when using VSTi's which presumably are abit of CPU eaters, like Ozone Iris 2, Kontakt 5 or Wiggle (from 2nd Sense Audio), in "live" mode, that is: record enabled instrument tracks which receive midi input from my midi keyboard.
I definitely stay with Reaper cause, for me it's such a much greater DAW than all the other big ones.
However, this crackling issue in Reaper on my Hack is quite a major drawback.
I really don't believe there isn't any solution for it.
So i will keep digging :0)

[Aymara]

Originally Posted by vanhaze

I am not running Reaper with the built in soundcard of my Hack, ...

Sure, you don't, but I didn't knew, that you deactivated it, which is usually not needed on a Mac, but on some Windows systems. So I mentioned it as a an example of a potential source of general latency issues, which doesn't seem to be your problem, when we come to the next fact:

But then question/ confusion remains why i DON'T have any crackling issues in Logic Pro and Live 9 ...

Sorry, I've overseen this fact, that is proof, that my above latency theory about your Hackingtosh might be wrong.

Maybe I got it ... I totally forgot, that my old Tascam interface caused similar issues without a special Reaper setting called "ignore running change notifications":

Options->Preferences->Audio->Device->"Ignore running change notifications (may be required for some devices)

Activate that setting and check if that helps.

Don't ask me, what this setting exactly does ... I found this hint last year in an old OSX thread, but didn't find any explanation, only that it is required for some interfaces to get rid of latency issues in Reaper.

PS: Compare post #45 … I didn't remember, that I already posted it in this thread.

[vanhaze]

Many thanks Chris !

I am at the moment not behind my Hack but i will for sure try that setting you suggested :0)

[heda]

I've just read this thread.. It is very strange, but in my case I get better performance when I activate Hyperthreading in the BIOS. All my buffering settings page is in default I think. Maybe it depends on the number of tracks you use, or the number of plugins you use, or which plugins youu use. It's complicated. It's a i7 PC. In any case everyone should use what is best for their systems by testing it. That's why we can change some options in the BIOS or in the REAPER settings.

[vanhaze]

Thanks for your help !

As stated, i only use 1 track in a test project.
Being a virtual instrument track, record enabled.

[Aymara]

The above mentioned "ignore" setting didn't help as it seems?

Does it also happen, if you use Kontakt's VST instead of AU?

It might also be worth to compare to Reaper 4.78 ... the strange thing is, that Live 9 works and Reaper doesn't.

[vanhaze]

Tomorrow, i am behind my Hack again and will try out the "ignore.." setting.
I did try VST versions instead of AU versions of virtual instruments that give me instant crackling when played live but no difference.

[Aymara]

Because it's only Reaper having this issue, and the same Reaper version works well on a Macbook, it's very likely, that it is the "ignore" setting.

I'm very curious, what you'll report tomorrow.

[Aymara]

Originally Posted by heda

It is very strange, but in my case I get better performance when I activate Hyperthreading in the BIOS.

I myself never needed to deactivate hyperthreading, be it my Macbook Pro with OSX 10.10.5 or my old Vaio with i7 and Win7.

But on both I still use Reaper 4.77 ... might this be a Reaper 5 only issue?

[vanhaze]

Originally Posted by Aymara

Because it's only Reaper having this issue, and the same Reaper version works well on a Macbook, it's very likely, that it is the "ignore" setting.

I'm very curious, what you'll report tomorrow.

Hey Chris,
"Ignore" setting turned on in Reaper on my Hackintosh doesn't make a difference, too bad
Thanks anyway.

[vanhaze]

Yesterday, i did experience something very weird:

I was working in a Project, not that big, around 20 tracks, performance meter showed around 10% CPU.
Besides the crackling sound when played a (quite cpu hungry) instrument plugin live, i
also suffered from crackling sounds, just playing the Project.
The transport bar was constantly red flashing.

So i decided to manually remove each plugin in the Project one by one.
When i removed the 2 UAD plugins (i have uad2 card, latest software), that were in the Project, the crackling sound during play and the
crackling sound during live play of instrument completely vanished, hooray !
But then i tried something else:
I disabled anticipative processing in Preferences and also live processing.
I brought the 2 UAD plugins back in the Project: still no crackling sound, project played smooth !
Then i re-activated anticipative processing in Preferences and also live processing:
still no crackling sound, project played smooth and also live input of cpu hungry instrument plugin gave no crackles at all !

Someone who has an idea what is going on here deserves a medaille, cause you can shoot me,
i am totally lost in this Weird Science (lol).

[vanhaze]

Yesterday, i did experience something very weird:

I was working in a Project, not that big, around 20 tracks, performance meter showed around 10% CPU.
Besides the crackling sound when played a (quite cpu hungry) instrument plugin live, i
also suffered from crackling sounds, just playing the Project.
The transport bar was constantly red flashing. (no, i don't have audiofiles with different samplerates in the project and project samplerate is equal to audiodevice samplerate in Reaper).

So i decided to manually remove each plugin in the Project one by one.
When i removed the 2 UAD plugins (i have uad2 card, latest software), that were in the Project, the crackling sound during play and the
crackling sound during live play of instrument completely vanished, hooray !
But then i tried something else:
I disabled anticipative processing in Preferences and also live processing.
I brought the 2 UAD plugins back in the Project: still no crackling sound, project played smooth !
Then i re-activated anticipative processing in Preferences and also live processing:
still no crackling sound, project played smooth and also live input of cpu hungry instrument plugin gave no crackles at all !

Someone who has an idea what is going on here deserves a medaille, cause you can shoot me,
i am totally lost in this Weird Science (lol).

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by vanhaze

Hey Chris,
"Ignore" setting turned on in Reaper on my Hackintosh doesn't make a difference, too bad
Thanks anyway.

"Ignore running change..." affects only a handful of interfaces that rely on a driver written by a 3rd-party company.

Originally Posted by vanhaze

I really don't believe there isn't any solution for it.

Well there is...install Windows.

[Aymara]

Originally Posted by vanhaze

i am totally lost in this Weird Science (lol).

But your issue is completely solved now?

[serr]

Originally Posted by vanhaze

Yesterday, i did experience something very weird:

I was working in a Project, not that big, around 20 tracks, performance meter showed around 10% CPU.
Besides the crackling sound when played a (quite cpu hungry) instrument plugin live, i
also suffered from crackling sounds, just playing the Project.
The transport bar was constantly red flashing. (no, i don't have audiofiles with different samplerates in the project and project samplerate is equal to audiodevice samplerate in Reaper).

So i decided to manually remove each plugin in the Project one by one.
When i removed the 2 UAD plugins (i have uad2 card, latest software), that were in the Project, the crackling sound during play and the
crackling sound during live play of instrument completely vanished, hooray !
But then i tried something else:
I disabled anticipative processing in Preferences and also live processing.
I brought the 2 UAD plugins back in the Project: still no crackling sound, project played smooth !
Then i re-activated anticipative processing in Preferences and also live processing:
still no crackling sound, project played smooth and also live input of cpu hungry instrument plugin gave no crackles at all !

Someone who has an idea what is going on here deserves a medaille, cause you can shoot me,
i am totally lost in this Weird Science (lol).

Did you ever try disabling anticipative fx processing just on the tracks with the UA plugins?

[vanhaze]

Hi Serr,

No i didn't ...actually.
That's a very good tip, i will try that and report back.

Many thanks for your help !