Popping/crackling in certain measures| MS 4.2
I started getting crackling in MS a few weeks back similar to how it used to back when MS4 was first released. The strange thing is it's only in certain measures and not in measures that you would expect it to be in. I've tried all of the normal suggestions > raise the buffer rate, change the device sample rate, and unticked the sound device "exclusive control" box. I also reinstalled MS and downloaded driver/computer updates to no avail.
I'll share a file that I have the crackling in (although it happens in pretty much every score); in the score, it's very prevalent in the low brass at measure 21.
I will share a YouTube link of what plays back on my end: https://youtu.be/86OQ9Yc79lY Also note the mixer levels barely reach 50%, which is another thing to rule out (that being said, decreasing the mixer levels does solve the problem, but to completely get rid of the crackling requires that I turn the level down so low that I can barely hear the audio through my headphones).
My PC specs also shouldn't have any bearing on this issue as nothing reaches over 10% with MS, but here they are anyway: Windows 11, 13th Gen Intel i5, 64 GB DDR5, MS runs on an SSD as well.
If anyone knows what the problem is and how to fix it, I would be much obliged as it sounds terrible at some points. I can provide more info if needed as well, thanks.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| The Lord Of The Rings - Fellowship Of The Ring - 11a. Sign of the Prancing Pony, Part 2.mscz | 115.88 KB |
Comments
Interestingly enough, I don't hear any crackling. In your score or YouTube. What range is the crackling in? I.E. high frequency crackle?
In reply to Interestingly enough, I don… by bobjp
I can barely hear the crackling in the YouTube video in one measure (start of low brass entrance), but the upload may have lost some quality from the originally source, not sure. When I play back the same video on my PC, it's much worse, but it definitely requires headphones to hear it properly, not sure if you're playing it through speakers or what, but here's a google drive link to the video and I can hear what I've been hearing in my scores in this video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s7ePuBZliBav35dBGap1pMTeZDeDiFy6/view?…
As for it not crackling for you when you open the score, I figured as much, which is why this is so frustrating, since it didn't used to do this for me.
In reply to I can barely hear the… by mirablue5
That's why I asked for what you mean by crackling. Is it high or low? Clipping or distortion? All I hear is the rumble of instruments at the low part of their register. Which brings up something else. Recorded sounds don't mix the same way real sounds do.
As an experiment, you might mute one instrument at a time to see if the noise goes away.
In reply to That's why I asked for what… by bobjp
It's high frequency and sounds like it's caused by clipping, but if I decreased the levels in the mixer for it to go away, it requires very low mixer levels (nearly inaudible). Muting instruments 1 at a time, it definitely decreases the magnitude of the cracking, but it's still there even with just one instrument. This score is a transcription of some LOTR stuff, which Howard Shore likes those low rumble chords.
I have noticed this exact thing when using an old windows pc with muse sounds. Whenever the orchestration got relatively heavy, it would crackle and lag. Recently, it crashed with a power outage and reset. Upon reopening it and redownloading musescore and muse sounds/FX It performed much better. But don’t try that lol I didn’t WANT to lose all the files. At least I had nothing important on there…
So basically it could be your computer causing this issue. With export it is always fine. On the other hand, playing these high quality samples and applying all the effects used to make them realistic live does not work. That’s why the YouTube video played ok. It would not if you screen-recorded the live playback at that time. That also explains the absence of crackling to @bobjp.