Popping!!!

they're probably worried that it actually is an error on their part, but we're not trying to prove you guys messed up we want to help you out. if you post up a program that you've experienced popping on, and we try it out on windows 7 and there's no popping on the same program, then we know for sure that it is a software issue.

post up a program fools

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/655 ... %20Bad.wav

I hope this is the popping you guys are talking about. That nasty digital noise that gets in samples when trying to record sounds in the software. I've been dealing with this since day one.

That example sounds to me like you've filled up your audio buffer, different to the popping and crackling at the beginnings/ends of samples that people have been talking about.

try increasing your audio buffer if you are getting that sort of harsh crackling distortion.

fdodds wrote:That example sounds to me like you've filled up your audio buffer, different to the popping and crackling at the beginnings/ends of samples that people have been talking about.

try increasing your audio buffer if you are getting that sort of harsh crackling distortion.

It has nothing to do with buffer. This has been going on since day one.

No matter if I record from the RCA input on the interface, or I record from soundflower, the same thing occurs. Other people can vouch for having this happen. There was a discussion some time back about it. Akai has yet to fix this issue.

As far as the popping in the samples go, I think if they implemented an automatic fade feature on the ends of each chop, this wouldn't happen. This happens because the audio isn't directly on the center line at 0db when it's chopped.

bearhead wrote:As far as the popping in the samples go, I think if they implemented an automatic fade feature on the ends of each chop, this wouldn't happen. This happens because the audio isn't directly on the center line at 0db when it's chopped.

This is currently how it is working.
When I do my chops and convert them to a Program MPC Software automatically assigns a Decay=6 in every chops envelope.

Okay we're mixing stuff up here now.

Originally people were complaining about popping at the start and ends of chopped samples. We've already been through the concepts of sampling and zero crossing and DC bias has even come into the discussion, we're now waiting on someone suffering from this program to post a program so that users who haven't experienced this problem can confirm that the problem is a software error and not a user error(ie. the popping occurs even when samples have been chopped correctly or are suitable for chopping).

Ends are automatically faded, but starts are not. If I had to guess I would agree with bearhead that the popping that some people are complaining about is because of how the samples are chopped, but it's a possibility that it's a software error. Someone needs to post a program that they've experienced these supposedly software caused pops on so that people can try them on their computers to see where the problem actually lies.

The distortion bearhead posted is a different issue, someone else posted up some audio earlier that sounds the same. I've only head my software make sound like that when my computer has come out of hibernating while the mpc software was still running. it reminds me of distortion i've heard on other software when running heaps of vsts and my memory has filled up.

The two audio examples posted so far sound like an audio buffer overload problem.

I had a new RME Fireface 800 in 2007 have this problem and no amount of DAW settings fiddling could prevent it fully. The audio overloaded too easily and did this crackling.
Replacing the FF800 with another one fixed the problem entirely.
It's been working perfectly ever since.

If the people with issues could try a different computer with their Ren and send the problem Projects to people without this problem they will be able to figure out whether it's their Ren hardware that is at fault or something on their computer.

just passing through....

jimmie wrote:The two audio examples posted so far sound like an audio buffer overload problem.

The thing that gets me is that it comes and goes. You can have a completely empty project, and it will happen. How I get rid of it is I'll set my laptop's mic as the input and record a little bit of feedback. For some reason, that seems to fix it for a little bit.

I have both of these issues that we're talking about.

1. The loud distortion, crackling, and popping seems to be an issue that I can mostly control with the buffer settings. I haven't been able to completely 100% get rid of it though.


2. The random, quieter digital pops at the beginnings and endings of samples is even more annoying. I've been away from my Ren for a few weeks until now, so I'm gonna try messing with the zero crossing settings and see what kind of results I get. But again, this kind of popping happens randomly and inconsistency within a sequence and doesn't necessarily attach itself to specific sounds.

funkycoldmedina wrote:1. The loud distortion, crackling, and popping seems to be an issue that I can mostly control with the buffer settings. I haven't been able to completely 100% get rid of it though.

The same as when I had my first FF800. The only solution was to exchange for another FF800 which happened to have slightly newer firmware on it.

funkycoldmedina wrote:2. The random, quieter digital pops at the beginnings and endings of samples is even more annoying. I've been away from my Ren for a few weeks until now, so I'm gonna try messing with the zero crossing settings and see what kind of results I get. But again, this kind of popping happens randomly and inconsistency within a sequence and doesn't necessarily attach itself to specific sounds.

It's not going to be a zero-crossing problem.
I've found that this digital popping occurs due to audio buffer problems and it also happens when you have two digital signals whose sample rates are not sync-locked properly together, e.g. when you put a 44.1kHz S/PDIF cable into an audio card that is running at 48kHz.

I bet that this issue is due to a combination of bad Akai (Nukai) drivers and bad Akai software.

I just restart my MPC.

Yep.. two different issues are being discussed here.

The issues that Kipperi and Bearhead posted are typically related to buffer underun, or in the case of the MPC ASIO, and in my personal experience.. are actually issues with the ploytec USB driver. In most cases I have seen, and in my own battles, this came down to incompatibility with USB3 controllers of some kind. I've personally had the Ren on 3 different PCs. Two with USB3, one without.. Only the one without usb3 worked without issue. My newest PC.. a brand new i7 4770K 16gb ram, SSD, 4TB raid0, watercooled monster, even had this issue. UNTIL I disabled the intel usb3 controller via the chipset options in the BIOS. Then.. no problems. BTW.. as far as the comment of "maschine has no pops n clicks" .. I challenge you to use the MPC ASIO driver and Rens interface(especially with USB3) and see how you fare.

On the other hand, some of you are describing the zero crossing issue. And despite a few of you saying its not that.. and that you actually turn off "snap to zero" and manually 1x in on the zero crossing of a sample.. we still need audio samples that you claim you have DONE THAT ON.. for other users to test.

This is NO different than fades in a full fledged DAW. Even the slightest fade at the start and end of a sample or audio region cant prevent these little pops you are referring to.

I'm betting on bearhed and kipperi's issues being the usb3 issue aswell. I just recently purchased a windows laptop. The specs are better than the macbook pro 13 inch.. And i get severe latency lag and then popping when the buffer settings are at 64 samples in the asio driver. IT's strange. Starting the driver or mpc software gives me the expected result until about 5 to 10 minutes in when it starts to drag and pop. I haven't yet tried to mess around with bios settings disabling the usb3 mode. I'm running win 8.1 as well. gone through and offloaded as much bloat as i can.
I also have a rme uc which doesn't have any issues at all(rme drivers well developed).. So i'm guessing it's a driver issue with usb3 ports. i need more time with it to really say for sure.
Also make sure you dont have any antivirus/anitmalware programs running.. they are the worst culplrit for audio problems.

funkycoldmedina wrote: But again, this kind of popping happens randomly and inconsistency within a sequence and doesn't necessarily attach itself to specific sounds.

It would if you dont consciously chop at zero or use your ears to do so. Some samples would be worse than others because it would depend on the freq and dynamic value of the wave form you are chopping at.. ie on a drumloop on the very first kick the pop would be more audible if it was chopped right at a most plus or negative dynamic wave point..(the very top or very bottom of a wave form) I normally chop samples rough to see how it sounds, then go in on each chop to fix the start and the end to make sure i dont get those pops and clicks

The only other explanation would be a bug in the software not doing the sample cut properly when another sample is playing in the same mute group. mute group cuts would have a default crossfade and maybe this isn't working properly for some people..

dazastah wrote:I'm betting on bearhed and kipperi's issues being the usb3 issue aswell. I just recently purchased a windows laptop. The specs are better than the macbook pro 13 inch.. And i get severe latency lag and then popping when the buffer settings are at 64 samples in the asio driver. IT's strange. Starting the driver or mpc software gives me the expected result until about 5 to 10 minutes in when it starts to drag and pop. I haven't yet tried to mess around with bios settings disabling the usb3 mode.

Yes. when I have had the issue I get either the latency(about a half second from the time you hit a pad or press play from the time anything sounds) OR the crackle.
Have NOT had both at the same time.. Its one or the other, and happens intermittently. Very strange. The 3rd party ploytec driver that Akai used for the Rens interface appears to have problems on computers using USB3 controllers at any level. In my case I was specifically using USB2 ports, NOT the USB3 ports.
Just having the controller enabled in the BIOS caused the issue.

Dazastah.. PLEASE test this by entering your BIOS and temporarily disabling the USB3 controller. And report back. Thanks

I have a macbook pro and i have these issues too, so it's not just you windows cats.

Snap, crackle, pop...mpc ren.