Crackle Issue

[dmsctt]

Hello everyone!

I've been having a bit of an odd issue, bear with me on this one.

I record a podcast. I do this with some friends over Zoom, with Mixcraft running to record just my audio. Until recently I was running Mixcraft 9 Pro. Every so often, my co-hosts would hear my voice start to crackle and pop. It would continue for an extended amount of time, and start randomly. Sometimes 10 minutes into recording, sometimes 2 hours into recording, with no obvious cause. This could be fixed by resetting my connection with the Zoom meeting, or unplugging my Scarlett interface and plugging it back in.

The crackle never appeared on any of my recordings.

That is, until I recently upgraded from 9 Pro to 10 Pro. I was recording with someone else, who didn't let me know the crackle had occurred their end, and this time it's on the recording. This has never happened before with 9 Pro.

Can anybody think of any settings that might be different on a fresh install of the software, that would cause my recording to suddenly pick up what the other guys could hear the whole time? The only thing that has changed is the Mixcraft software version. The interface, laptop, Zoom settings are all the same.

Thanks in advance!

[TrevsAudio]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Normally, the first rule of crackle is buffer size. Try increasing that.

Buffer.png (200.01 KiB) Viewed 420 times

[dmsctt]

Hi! Thank you!

I have indeed tried that, but because the crackle is intermittent and starts randomly, the best I can ascertain is that it has had no effect. I don't change the buffer size midway through recording, and I can't recreate the issue until I'm sat with the others on Zoom and it occurs without warning.

The thing I'm trying to solve isn't even necessarily the crackle, to be honest. I'm happy for them to hear the crackle, haha! It's only just started showing up on the recording, where previously it didn't whilst I used Mixcraft 9 Pro.

[dmsctt]

This might be a useful detail!

I can't hear the crackle my end. It's not present in the monitor audio whilst recording, and until i used Mixcraft 10 it wasn't present on the recordings. So this is the first time I've ever heard it.

[edjex]

I had crackles when I had the windows screensaver enabled (though not active!) and moved the mouse. Disabled screensaver and crackles are gone during movement mouse.

[dmsctt]

I had crackles when I had the windows screensaver enabled (though not active!) and moved the mouse. Disabled screensaver and crackles are gone during movement mouse.

Screensaver already disabled, but thank you!

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

If it's only in mixed-down audio, then check out this pinned post: https://forums.acoustica.com/viewtopic.php?t=24566

Greg

[dmsctt]

Hi,

If it's only in mixed-down audio, then check out this pinned post: https://forums.acoustica.com/viewtopic.php?t=24566

Greg

Hey Greg!

It isn't only in mixed-down audio.

[TrevsAudio]

Check the usb cable?

My Focusrite 2i2 was crackling and I eventually bought another interface. Only to find that the usb cable was defective. Changed that and now I have 2 interfaces.

[Acoustica Greg]

...and there was the guy who figured out that his crackling came from his dog walking over the USB cable.

[dmsctt]

Thanks for the suggestions! I have a couple of interfaces, a few cables, and a couple of different ports, so have tried a few over the years in various combinations, and I still get the crackle, apparently. Also, if it were to be a cable or port issue, wouldn't I hear it in the monitor?

It's only in playback, or other people receiving my audio. And that former issue is new.

Also, I've just checked my whole house and I don't appear to have a dog.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

What's the audio chain for the people hearing the crackle? What hardware and plugins is the audio passing through? How is it internally routed in Mixcraft?

Greg