Autosampling Virtual Instruments - Pops On Initial Transient

All of a sudden I am getting a pop at the beginning of each note. Is this happening to anyone?

I was autosampling drums from a few VIs. When I 1st started, I was getting what sounded more like distortion despite not even hitting -6 dbfs. Turning down the output from the VI seemed to solve that and everything went well over the weekend. Then, after completing a kit and moving on to the next, I started getting the pop. It sounds almost like the default MPC metronome. I turned off the metronome in case that was making it's way into the recording, but of course that wasn't it.

To test for distortion again, I turned the outputs up and it's still just that pop, so maybe I'm misremembering the sound I was hearing when I 1st started. I tried a few other VIs, including non-drums, and it doesn't seem to be exclusive to a particular developer, sampler/player or instrument type. I can't autosample any VIs currently.

Are you making sure the recordings are starting a 0 cross point? I've found the autosampler doesn't always do a great job of this for stereo samples. Might just need a smear of fade in at the start of the sample?

Lampdog wrote:I was thinking envelope adjustment after sampling.

Yeah, could be worth nudging attack to the right I bit and see what happens.

NearTao/Lampdog, I can hear the pop during the sampling process and it's recorded in the sample. And I'm recording in mono. The pop is as long as some of the samples. I don't think I can fade it out or remove it with an envelope adjustment.

Edit: Envelope helps but changes the character of some of the samples. Not bad for some kit pieces but not good for others.

But this seems like a bigger issue. I could understand a few samples here and there. But this is happening in every single sample. I'd like to address what's causing this. The effort to work around this would be enormous.

Bezo wrote:NearTao/Lampdog, I can hear the pop during the sampling process and it's recorded in the sample. And I'm recording in mono. The pop is as long as some of the samples. I don't think I can fade it out or remove it with an envelope adjustment.

That absolutely sounds weird. So you don't have a momentary click, but a sustained popping sound?

Are you recording in stand alone or controller mode? I might suggest switching to the other and see if you can replicate the problem or help narrow it down.

NearTao wrote:

Bezo wrote:NearTao/Lampdog, I can hear the pop during the sampling process and it's recorded in the sample. And I'm recording in mono. The pop is as long as some of the samples. I don't think I can fade it out or remove it with an envelope adjustment.

That absolutely sounds weird. So you don't have a momentary click, but a sustained popping sound?

Are you recording in stand alone or controller mode? I might suggest switching to the other and see if you can replicate the problem or help narrow it down.

I made an edit above after you posted.

But yes, very weird. I wouldn't call it a sustained pop, but for a short/tight kick, the pop is almost as long as the sample.

Controller mode. But I can't do this in standalone as I'm autosampling virtual instruments, from Kontakt for example.

Later I will try autosampling one of my hard synths in standalone to see if it happens there.

You on OS X or Windows? Curious what version...

Are you sampling from audio output to audio input, or is this (presumably) a completely digital signal path?

NearTao wrote:You on OS X or Windows? Curious what version...

Are you sampling from audio output to audio input, or is this (presumably) a completely digital signal path?

OS X, Mojave 10.14.6.

Completely digital.

A couple things to try...

Under preferences change your Audio Buffer Size, Sample Rate, and/or Latency Adjust... just to see what that does

Try recording from audio inputs... from phone or whatever... just curious.

Have you tried recording different virtual instrument sources? Tried using VST vs AU etc...?

You said if the volume is lower it goes away... have you tried normalizing and seeing if this noise comes back?

NearTao wrote:A couple things to try...

Under preferences change your Audio Buffer Size, Sample Rate, and/or Latency Adjust... just to see what that does

Try recording from audio inputs... from phone or whatever... just curious.

Have you tried recording different virtual instrument sources? Tried using VST vs AU etc...?

You said if the volume is lower it goes away... have you tried normalizing and seeing if this noise comes back?

I'll try a higher rate but I'd be shocked if that's it. Computer is pretty decent, it's only one VI, and I'm not hearing any pops when playing busy patterns.

Yeah, I'm going to try autosampling one of my synths via audio input.

I did try several instruments but always VST. I'll try AU.

Lowering the output helped when I 1st started, but I remember hearing something more like distortion. But increasing the level is only making the pop louder, no distortion. I'm either misremembering or having a different issue. Either way, lowering the output even more is not removing the pop now.

This issue is not new, it has something to do with how theses MPC's are recording. Been happening since the MPC REN and Touch. However it has improved, but it's still there.

That was easy. I went to try an AU version and the pop was gone. Out of curiosity I reinserted the VST and still no pop. Apparently the insert just needed a reset.

One of the 1st things I tried was rebooting the software, then the computer. Never thought to "reboot" the plugin.

Thanks! Not sure when I would've gotten around to that.

Unfortunately it seems to returns. The MPC ASIO driver are not good. Even sampling into these MPC's it has a pop. That's why adjusting the envelope has to be done. MPC 4000 Spoiled me I guess.

CharlesRandolph wrote:Unfortunately it seems to returns. The MPC ASIO driver are not good. Even sampling into these MPC's it has a pop. That's why adjusting the envelope has to be done. MPC 4000 Spoiled me I guess.

Yup, and now swapping out the plugin isn't fixing it. I should've tried to finish my drum session while it was working.

I'll hope this is a bug fix in 2.8/3.0, but I haven't seen this talked about much. Can't imagine it's a priority.