Kontakt Crackles

[JeffMarshMusic]

I'm experiencing extensive crackle on 2 of my PCs.
P4/3.4ghz/2gigs ram

My template is not that large. I have 2 gigs ram and good machines. I've tried changing DFD setting, poor performance/ vs. Good performance. No success. I'm running Kontakt 2, but earlier I installed EWQLSO so there is a DFD of ver.1.2.9 on the drive. I don't know if K2 is using a different DFD, and I don't know how to adjust the expert settings. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Jeff4h]

is it happening when you are using two machines, sounds like a sync problem if you are, make sure the sample rate if the same on both mahines and see if you have them set up to use the same thing as your master

[JeffMarshMusic]

No, it's not a sync problem. The machines are clocking fine to my Aardsync word clock generator. I think it might be buffer settings, and NI sent an email suggesting latency, and that I should set my RME card to 512 buffer size. It seemed to work better yesterday. Kontakt is supposed to let you set individual buffer sizes for each instrument, but even though I save the muli and the instrument it is still set to 60 each time I open the multi.

Thanks,
jm

[Jeff4h]

I have a similar problem, I have a machine didicated to giga and kontakt, sometimes or most of the time when I open like for instance a piano in kontakt the first few notes I hit crackle and pop then it stops, starange, I have the rme card two I may try changing to 512 and see if that helps


Jeff

[Digital AudionetworX]

I have a similar problem, I have a machine didicated to giga and kontakt, sometimes or most of the time when I open like for instance a piano in kontakt the first few notes I hit crackle and pop then it stops, starange, I have the rme card two I may try changing to 512 and see if that helps



if you dont had crackles before (the the reason is probablyy a bad motherboard)
then its kontakt2. k2 has somehow a latency problem. when gigastudio can playback at 95% and 1.5ms (with a good mobo) cracklefree you can raise the rme latence to 12ms or even more.

[Andrew Aversa]

Buffer settings sound like the culprit. I keep my sound card buffer at about 2048 samples (49ms) because I don't record MIDI. I only get crackling when I'm using in the neighborhood of 100-125 VSTs playing simultaneously in realtime (effects, instruments). I much prefer that, then crackles at 3ms latency with 2 VSTs.

[Rich Pell]

I have on average 7 -8 VSTi`s runing on both host and dedicated VSTi and giga machine at 256 (6 ms) . I ve only experienced slight crackling with huge polyphony counts and maxing out my 2 gb ram.

Ive had 0 problems runing Kontakt with 1.5 or 3 ms of latency fully loaded !
So the problem can`t be just Kontakt itself..since its working fine on some systems (and these forums would be flooded with such complaints !)
Your problem could also be the PCI buss latency between you soundcard and video card.
On some boards you can adjust that in the BIOS and in others you can DL a PCI buss latency tool that lets you balance you timings...checkout these sites..

http://mark-knutson.com/t3
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=951
http://www.myhome.no/tobben/samp/PCI_Latency_Tool_v2.5.zip

The last link , has the best tool. But be careful and read up before you change any settings..
Basically your SC should dominate and have the highest settings and your Video card settings should not be higher that your SC or you get crackles etc... Best, Rich

[JeffMarshMusic]

HI Rich, Thanks for the advice.

I downloaded the PCI Latency Tool you recommended. My RME card shows a Latency value of 255. The IEEE 1394 Controller shows 32, and everything else shows "0" zero. According to your previous post, it doesn't look like I should change anything in the Latency Tool app. My setup seemed to run better yesterday after setting my RME to 2048 (46ms), although this seems high considering what your settings are, and considering my giga machine which is only 3ghz is fine running at 128 (3ms).

Thanks again for your help everyone.
Jeff

[Rich Pell]

HI Rich, Thanks for the advice.

I downloaded the PCI Latency Tool you recommended. My RME card shows a Latency value of 255. The IEEE 1394 Controller shows 32, and everything else shows "0" zero. According to your previous post, it doesn't look like I should change anything in the Latency Tool app. My setup seemed to run better yesterday after setting my RME to 2048 (46ms), although this seems high considering what your settings are, and considering my giga machine which is only 3ghz is fine running at 128 (3ms).

Thanks again for your help everyone.
Jeff
yea your Buss latency seems to be o.k .i wouldnt change a thing. Your RME buffers settings a pretty high though.. Ive never even set them that high...
What are your DFD , Voice limit and reserved voice settings Jeff?
rich

[JeffMarshMusic]

Wow... 2048 makes my instruments speak a 16th note later than my non PC (exs) instruments. I have since changed them back to 512 (12ms).

My DFD setting is 246 voices (with the slider closer to "Poor Performance") and Expert Mode set to 192.00KB. I read here that you can set the individual instuments to an individual buffer size, but mine seem to default back to 60KB when I re boot. This is under Kontakt's Instument Option tab, where it is defined as "DFD Preload Buffer Size"

Thanks again. I know there is a great insrument in here somewhere.

Jeff

[Rich Pell]

Jeff, theres also a max voice limit on inividual inst. After you load and inst.,

Right on top of memory thers voice (tells you how many St.voices you playing)
and Max... you can set that to 64 or 128 if you playin big stuff and your getting dropouts etc... you shouldnt have to drop your RME buffers lower than 12 ms.. i keep them a 6 ms all the time... 3 ms if I`m playing or practicing piano...Best, Rich

[Andrew Aversa]

Wow... 2048 makes my instruments speak a 16th note later than my non PC (exs) instruments. I have since changed them back to 512 (12ms).

It all depends on your needs. I do everything on one rig, so my buffers can be enormous.

[David Ferris]

you shouldnt have to drop your RME buffers lower than 12 ms.. i keep them a 6 ms all the time... 3 ms if I`m playing or practicing piano...Best, Rich

Rich,

I use RME's 9632 and just want to be sure about latency, before buying the Virtual Grand: Are you able to get 3ms when playing large piano libraries?

DavidH

[Rich Pell]

Rich,

I use RME's 9632 and just want to be sure about latency, before buying the Virtual Grand: Are you able to get 3ms when playing large piano libraries?

DavidH
Yes, with the Digiface.. 3 ms or 1.5 ms if id want , but thats over kill.. i dont think its humanly possible to tell the diff.. even between 3 and 6 ms is hard to tell. I can tell between 3 and 12 ms though..:) Theres latency between your speaker or a real piano and you ears..so...Rich

[David Ferris]

Rich,

All right!

Now I just have to resolve what, to my ears, is a problem with the treble. All the demos I've heard have a harshness that's not a characteristic of B's. Here's a link to the comparison I'm making: http://www.purgatorycreek.com/documents/26_10.html . B's have a slight "twang" in the area where songs would be sung, but there's always a singing quality to the notes. So far, the demos I've heard just don't have that quality.

Any thoughts?

DavidH

[Rich Pell]

Well for each preset setting theres 2 diff. types of EQ on the GUI as well as width and compression..im not sure what you hearing in the demos (havent had time to listen..) but to my ears, theres nothing harsh about this piano.
Plus you can always add EQ to any piano..so...
Its definately the most versaitile sampled piano that i`ve tried.. go with you gut.. dont listen to anyone here..:) Rich