What am I missing? Meters below red, but still snap crackle pop.

[jdogg]

There’s a part in the song with only 2 guitars, nothing else. Neither are clipping. They sound nice and smooth. But when I engage EZmix on the master track and select any Mastering present, I get those infamous audio clicks on transients. The in and out meters in EXmix aren’t hitting red either. And this goes for any settings on the 2 shape controls.

Another weird thing is I’m using v2.0.9 but in “My Products” it says an update is still available, and it’s 2.0.9.

(Reaper 4.77, OSX 10.9.5)

Topic

[Henrik Ekblom]

Do you have any effects after (or before) EZmix 2 that clips? It sounds like an effect after EZmix 2 peaks after EZmix 2 has done its wonders

Henrik Ekblom - User Experience Designer
Toontrack

[jdogg]

@Henrik said:

Do you have any effects after (or before) EZmix 2 that clips? It sounds like an effect after EZmix 2 peaks after EZmix 2 has done its wonders

I actually had 2 instances of an effect without realizing it (1 on the track, again on a bus). HOWEVER, even after removing the duplicate effect from the track, there’s no clipping on the individual tracks, bus or master, nor is the input or output meters in EZmix hitting red, but I’m getting clipping. I have to dial down the EZmix input to -3.6dB for it to go away.

[John]

What sample rate? How big is your Buffer size?

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[jdogg]

@John said:

What sample rate? How big is your Buffer size?

44k/24bit

Here’s a screenshot of the buffer info:

http://s4.postimg.org/b1h2uq7z1/buffer.jpg

(Can’t embed images?)

[Henrik Ekblom]

As John is implying – this problem can be either because of audio clipping, because your sound card can’t handle the small buffer sizes, or because your computer get CPU peaks (there can be other causes too, like a slow hard drive, but that should’t be the case in your scenario). Can you get a CPU meter to reveal what’s happening during your playing session?

Henrik Ekblom - User Experience Designer
Toontrack

[John]

@jdogg said:
44k/24bit

Here’s a screenshot of the buffer info:

http://s4.postimg.org/b1h2uq7z1/buffer.jpg

(Can’t embed images?)

IIRC, there is a ‘Device’ tab under ‘Audio’ where you can set the Buffer size

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[jdogg]

Increasing buffer size didn’t help. Maybe I’m just misunderstanding how this stuff works in general.

(Still in Reaper)

Without engaging EZmix Mastering on the master track, the master fader meters kiss the red clipping zone here and there. Not full on red, and there’s no audible clipping. Level-wise, it’s actually on par with pro recordings, maybe just a couple dB lower, at least perceived. When I turn on EZmix Mastering, it sounds WAY louder, there’s audible clipping, and EZmix’s input meter hits red. So I lower the input gain about 1-2dB till the EZmix clipping indicator is gone, but there’s still audible clipping. It also still sounds way louder than the mix without EZmix Mastering on. I have to lower its input gain another 4-5dB to eliminate all audible clipping. So overall, I have to lower the input gain in EZmix Mastering by 5-6dB to avoid clipping, even with the 2 adjustment knobs all the way down.

On one hand, it makes sense that if the raw mix is already teetering on clipping, that a significant jump in level would make it clip. But why is EZmix Mastering jacking up the volume so much that it audibly clips even when EZmix’s input and output meters show no clipping and even when EZmix’s knobs are at 0?

[Author]

Replies