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Crackling sound in playback all voices (choral scores)

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 12:33 am
by crickb88
With a new computer and the a Creative Sound Blaster Zxr, I don't have any problems with instrument playback, but when any choral voice is present, the playback crackles, like an old record. I've turned down the volume within the mixer, but that doesn't affect it. Any ideas?

Thanks
Rick

Re: Crackling sound in playback all voices (choral scores)

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 1:45 am
by bobp
If an exported wave file still crackles, it's probably not your sound card. Try other audio options, like Direct Sound (DS), anyway.

Re: Crackling sound in playback all voices (choral scores)

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 9:23 am
by andyg
Great card for gaming, but Creative cards are sometimes not so good for music production. And it is possible for choral and ensemble string sounds to give issues that don't occur with solo sounds. A solo sound is more or less static, an ensemble sound is constantly in 'motion' and that can cause problems for digital/analogue converters, resulting in distortion and crackles.

I'd start with checking that all drivers are up to date - get them from Creative and don't trust Windows if it says they're up to date! Then check if you have ASIO capability. If you do, use the ASIO drivers provided (mind you Creative's ASIO drivers were cr*p at one point, and I had to bin two expensive sound cards, so I hope they've improved) and check the buffer settings.

If you don't have ASIO, the try what Bob said, explore other options like DS, to see if that cures it.

If nothing cures it, then it's down to your soundcard, and the solution is to add one that's more suitable for music production. Hopefully, that won't be necessary!