A few years ago, I composed 12 songs using Mixcraft 7 Pro Studio, and its native VSTs. I have since replaced those VSTs with 3rd party ones, namely: IK Multimedia's Modo Bass and Hammond B-3X; Modartt's Pianoteq; acousticsamples' WoodBox (via UVI Workstation); and - for a couple of songs - Spectrasonics' Keyscape. Now my tracks sound incredible... at least, when played in Mixcraft.
HOWEVER, in 3 of those songs, a very strange thing happens during mixdown: in the resulting audio file, the Modo Bass line starts producing extra notes, that don't exist ANYWHERE in the original project. Stranger still, they are in the right key, and make sense rhythmically (but unfortunately, don't actually improve the piece). I feel it's possible that they match early experiments with the bassline. But what are they doing there?? More importantly, WHY CAN'T I GET RID OF THEM?!? It makes no sense, I've tried everything I can think of. I've rebuilt the bassline from the ground up, on a new track, using fresh note samples, and deleted the original; still happens. I've deleted every other track in the project, mixing down only the bass. It either still happens, or comes out clean but with the first few seconds muted. Selected different instruments in Modo Bass, still happens. Switched back to a Mixcraft bass, stops happening. So it's something to do with Modo Bass; but why aren't my other songs affected? The 3 affected songs are essentially no different in setup than the 9 unaffected songs.
And yes, I've downloaded the trial version of Mixcraft 9, and tried it on that. Guess what? Still happens!
Any clues, anyone?
Phantom bass notes
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Phantom bass notes
Hi,
You don't hear the extra notes before you mix down? Have you isolated which track is producing the extra notes? If you think you know which track has the extra notes, solo it and mix it down. Do you still hear the extra notes?
Try the suggestions in this post: https://forums.acoustica.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24566
Greg
You don't hear the extra notes before you mix down? Have you isolated which track is producing the extra notes? If you think you know which track has the extra notes, solo it and mix it down. Do you still hear the extra notes?
Try the suggestions in this post: https://forums.acoustica.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24566
Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
Re: Phantom bass notes
Hi Greg,
No, I don't hear or see the extra notes before mixdown. I have muted every other track in the project, and/or soloed the bass track, and it still happens upon mixdown. I have deleted each track separately, mixed down, and it still happens. There does appear to be some correlation between the events on the percussion track - which does have a child track (or whatever it's called) - and the phantom notes, but again, I've deleted the percussion track completely, mixed down, and it still happens. I've also soloed the percussion track, mixed down, and it doesn't produce the notes. As already mentioned, I have deleted every other track, except for the bass track; mixed down, and it either still happens, or mutes the first few seconds. I have also copied and pasted that track into a new project, then mixed down; the extra notes disappear, but again, the first few seconds are muted.
The post you linked to is unfortunately unhelpful; the bit rates already match, and the sound quality is fine.
It may be worth mentioning the way I build midi tracks: first, I record a long sustained note for each of the notes I expect to use in the track. I keep these as a pile of samples, then copy each one as I need it, paste it where I want it, and adjust its duration. It's very convenient, but I have often (even when using Mixcraft VSTs) had instances of a certain note becoming stunted upon playback, or sustaining past its cut-off point. These tend to happen on the same note every time, too. Usually, I can just replace them, and that solves it . And it generally (though not always) only affects the Mixcraft playback, not the mixdown audio. But it's never ADDED notes before.
I've also noticed, since using Modo Bass, that if I play back any section of the bass track, the first note will sustain past its cutoff point. Every time.
Food for thought.
Thanks, Greg 2
No, I don't hear or see the extra notes before mixdown. I have muted every other track in the project, and/or soloed the bass track, and it still happens upon mixdown. I have deleted each track separately, mixed down, and it still happens. There does appear to be some correlation between the events on the percussion track - which does have a child track (or whatever it's called) - and the phantom notes, but again, I've deleted the percussion track completely, mixed down, and it still happens. I've also soloed the percussion track, mixed down, and it doesn't produce the notes. As already mentioned, I have deleted every other track, except for the bass track; mixed down, and it either still happens, or mutes the first few seconds. I have also copied and pasted that track into a new project, then mixed down; the extra notes disappear, but again, the first few seconds are muted.
The post you linked to is unfortunately unhelpful; the bit rates already match, and the sound quality is fine.
It may be worth mentioning the way I build midi tracks: first, I record a long sustained note for each of the notes I expect to use in the track. I keep these as a pile of samples, then copy each one as I need it, paste it where I want it, and adjust its duration. It's very convenient, but I have often (even when using Mixcraft VSTs) had instances of a certain note becoming stunted upon playback, or sustaining past its cut-off point. These tend to happen on the same note every time, too. Usually, I can just replace them, and that solves it . And it generally (though not always) only affects the Mixcraft playback, not the mixdown audio. But it's never ADDED notes before.
I've also noticed, since using Modo Bass, that if I play back any section of the bass track, the first note will sustain past its cutoff point. Every time.
Food for thought.
Thanks, Greg 2
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tfranklinh
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:18 pm
Re: Phantom bass notes
Hey guys.
As a MODO Bass user, I have found one thing in particular that can cause that, and a few other things that may. I have no doubt that you have probably already looking into this, but since it was a big problem for me at first, I thought I might mention it.
I have to make sure that I don't have any bass notes that go below the actual E on 4 strings and B on 5 strings. I have had a few occasions where I had a note trigger one of the variation keys and cause a note to ring.
Another issue I have found with MODO specifically is sometimes when you have two notes trigger very quickly one after another, and one of those notes has a longer length (usually the second note). That one seems kind of like a bug tied directly to MODO. But I can often prevent it by adding a few ticks between notes and a couple of ticks off the offending note.
That being said... it doesn't always fix it. However, I have had this happen in Reaper as well. (I keep a copy of that for compatibility purposes with many of the other musicians I work with).
So it's my belief that this is a MODO Bass specific issue. IK offers a lot of "fixes" but I've had no more success with them than doing what I mentioned above. Usually it's the first thing though. I hope you have better luck than I. 
As a MODO Bass user, I have found one thing in particular that can cause that, and a few other things that may. I have no doubt that you have probably already looking into this, but since it was a big problem for me at first, I thought I might mention it.
I have to make sure that I don't have any bass notes that go below the actual E on 4 strings and B on 5 strings. I have had a few occasions where I had a note trigger one of the variation keys and cause a note to ring.
Another issue I have found with MODO specifically is sometimes when you have two notes trigger very quickly one after another, and one of those notes has a longer length (usually the second note). That one seems kind of like a bug tied directly to MODO. But I can often prevent it by adding a few ticks between notes and a couple of ticks off the offending note.
That being said... it doesn't always fix it. However, I have had this happen in Reaper as well. (I keep a copy of that for compatibility purposes with many of the other musicians I work with).
So it's my belief that this is a MODO Bass specific issue. IK offers a lot of "fixes" but I've had no more success with them than doing what I mentioned above. Usually it's the first thing though. I hope you have better luck than I.