Steinway 1.04: Crackle & Stutter under W7/Vista: Need computer specs

[easternsounds]

A few customers have experienced crackles and stutters with Steinway 1.04 which contains the latest ARIA Engine 1.092. Problem was flagged on Vista and W7 systems with a low amount of RAM. Problem occurred when returning to the application after it was left on idle for a while.

For those who have Steinway 1.04 installed and are able to reproduce the problem, please give us details on your computer setup.

Thank you,

[Xangoxum]

I've been having the same problem. Thought maybe it was the screen saver, but it's just not consistent. Sometimes it will work for several hours of my coming and going; other times it will start crackling and stuttering several times within an hour. The only way I can figure out how to solve the problem, is to quit and reload the application. Fortunately, the Basic version is very small, so it doesn't take long.

I have a 2nd generation Mac mini with 2 GB RAM, running under Snow Leopard (10.6.3). Using Steinway Basic (vers 1.04) in standalone mode. Running other audio apps definitely causes a problem, even iTunes.

[Jeff Hurchalla]

One thing that may help is for you to minimize or simply dismiss (in the case of VSTi or AU plugins) the user interface of the Steinway Basic. The interface does take some CPU resources to keep updating, and by dismissing it, sometimes crackles/pops disappear.

And of course, the typical software audio considerations still apply. By increasing buffer size (in Preferences menu item for Steinway stand-alone, and in your application-specific audio preferences for any host sequencer/notation program) you can often get rid of any crackling. And also to avoid crackles and run with low latency, you will want to use ASIO for your audio device API on Windows, which means you ideally need an audio device (internal or USB or firewire) that supports ASIO.

[Xangoxum]

Thanks, Jeff. I've tried all your suggestions and everything else that I can think of, but the problem persists. Somedays I'm more patient with it than others, but some days (like today), it really gets annoying. I used to have the same problem with the Galaxy II pianos using Kontakt 2. But, with Kontakt 4, the problem has been eliminated. So, I suspect it's a problem with the ARIA player (not my computer system, etc). When I get exasperated with the Garritan Steinway, I just switch to Galaxy's Vintage D Steinway (my other favorite piano) under Kontakt 4, because it is very stable and I can play most of the day without any crackles or stuttering.

BTW, it would be great if you would add a metronome with volume control to Aria, like Kontakt has. I use these pianos mostly for practice, which is why I wanted the Garritan, because of the recording feature. But, why not also a metronome? And, it would also be very handy to be able to save one's playing as a MIDI file in addition to AIFF. (Actually, MP3 would be nicer than AIFF, to conserve disk space.)

[Jeff Hurchalla]

I missed that you're on mac, since I was looking at the thread title. For the most part the recommendations are pretty similar. Though on mac, instead of ASIO, it's CoreAudio that you want to be using.

Another thing that sometimes helps is to turn off all wireless networking. The wireless drivers can sometimes screw up real time audio by hogging CPU in short bursts.

Both metronome and record to MIDI are features I hope to add going forward with future releases. Thanks for the request.

[Curt]

Both metronome and record to MIDI are features I hope to add going forward with future releases.

Shuh-WING!!!

[suboceanic]

i have the same problem crakles alll the time! running snow leopard 2.33 ghz intel core 2 duo macbook pro 2 ghz ram. i tried everything you suggested but still the same noises
what can i do?????
please help-

[Jeff Hurchalla]

The first thing to try is to increase the buffer size. Using the standalone Steinway (not as a plugin within a sequencer) you go to the Tools menu Preferences, that's where you change the buffer size.
Also the internals of each macbook change for most every model release, so even though I have done fine with a 2007 standard macbook, it's possible that today's macbook pro is quite different in hardware. So you may want to look at using a dedicated audio interface rather than the built-in audio of the macbook. I've done very well with RME but they are pricey. For what it's worth the built in audio of my older macbook worked fine, but not at extremely low latency (like 32 samples, which the RME could do).

[jdsnyderii]

I have found this problem (at least I think). I have run it on my Compaq desktop with the EDIROL FA66 and on my laptop. The common thing I have found is that I can get the crackles (maybe it is clipping) if I move the DRY setting higher than the defaults.

So, I don't think this is related to the specific hardware. But as I said, this may be different that what you are talking about in this thread. I can provide detailed computer specs if this helps.

[David (plogue)]

I have found this problem (at least I think). I have run it on my Compaq desktop with the EDIROL FA66 and on my laptop. The common thing I have found is that I can get the crackles (maybe it is clipping) if I move the DRY setting higher than the defaults.

Yes that is most probably digital clipping