FL Studio crackling noise!!!!!!!!!!!!

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fendernez

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HELP! I have a crackling/popping noise when playing tracks (or even individual notes) in FL Studio. A Google search reveals this is a very common problem and a load of Youtube tutorials show you how to solve it by increasing the buffer length, which everyone seems to agree has sorted out their problem. Not me. It hasn't made the slightest difference. With my limited computer knowledge I thought the information FL was asking the CPU to process might be overloading it, but looking at the CPU and RAM performance using task manager shows it's not pushing it too hard - rarely going above 30 or 40% capacity. I also thought maybe the sound card I'm using isn't good enough, as I'm using a pretty inexpensive audio interface - the Focusrite Scarlett Solo. But then I thought, what the hell is the point in any audio interface if it can't handle a few single notes in FL Studio?!?? Any ideas at all at this stage would be greatly appreciated
 
What CPU and how much RAM do you have. Also, what buffer lengths have you tried? What ASIO drivers are you using (ASIO4ALL, FL ASIO, Foscurite's ASIO driver for the interface, etc)?
 
My guess is that you have a very crappy hard drive and anytime data gets read from the disk, it crackles because the disk is just too slow. It could also be a driver problem.

Try plugging the audio interface into a different USB port if it's a USB device. If you're plugged into USB3, plug into USB2, and vice versa. You can also update your chipset drivers and see if that helps.
 
Adrian-MarQ said:
What CPU and how much RAM do you have. Also, what buffer lengths have you tried? What ASIO drivers are you using (ASIO4ALL, FL ASIO, Foscurite's ASIO driver for the interface, etc)?
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I have 4gb RAM, 3.2Ghz quad core processor, hard drive is 120gb SSD + 500gb. I am using Focusrite's ASIO interface driver, but have tried the other available drivers and it makes no difference. I have tried all buffer lengths - I think from memory the longest is 4096 - and this makes no difference either
 
Does this happen with every project or does it start when you exceed a certain plugin load? You can also try to narrow it down to a certain plugin.
 
krushing said:
Does this happen with every project or does it start when you exceed a certain plugin load? You can also try to narrow it down to a certain plugin.
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It's everything. It's more noticeable on a synth line than a drum pattern just because of the relative sounds, but it's always there. It's there on mp3s too when I do a mixdown and export.
 
Its most likely the clipping sound you are getting due to CPU overdrive. That means your CPU is not meant to carry over the capacity amount. More Ram should help. I just got me more Ram on my laptop and runs great. That shouldn't be all, if you notice that clipping sound can be build on any computer regardless of speed. So its not just a faster computer you need but also careful on leveling the sounds. Some sounds are more powerful than others.
 
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SolidShark said:
Its most likely the clipping sound you are getting due to CPU overdrive. That means your CPU is not meant to carry over the capacity amount. More Ram should help. I just got me more Ram on my laptop and runs great. That shouldn't be all, if you notice that clipping sound can be build on any computer regardless of speed. So its not just a faster computer you need but also careful on leveling the sounds. Some sounds are more powerful than others.
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Sorry, I don't really understand what you mean by levelling of the sounds. Do you mean volume?
 
If it's on exported files well...then it's not about the computer unable to handle it or the interface, as exporting is an offline process - the interface isn't involved and the computer can take its sweet time to do things right, without crackling. Clipping, as suggested, may be an issue...
 
krushing said:
If it's on exported files well...then it's not about the computer unable to handle it or the interface, as exporting is an offline process - the interface isn't involved and the computer can take its sweet time to do things right, without crackling. Clipping, as suggested, may be an issue...
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OK. Apologies for my ignorance but I've only ever heard the term "clipping" used before in a volume/mastering context. Clipping here seems to mean too much info for the CPU to process? In which case would it be more likely that I need more RAM or a new hard drive? Thanks
 
Also, could the fact that my hard drive is almost completely full be contributing to the problem?
 
You could try cleaning up the hard drive a bit by deleting or moving files that aren't essential elsewhere. I don't know much about how that will affect anything. Also, is this only inside FL Studio?

To be honest, the computer specs were much better than the last laptop I had. I only had similar issues when pushing the CPU and RAM limits.
 
Adrian-MarQ said:
You could try cleaning up the hard drive a bit by deleting or moving files that aren't essential elsewhere. I don't know much about how that will affect anything. Also, is this only inside FL Studio?

To be honest, the computer specs were much better than the last laptop I had. I only had similar issues when pushing the CPU and RAM limits.
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I only really use this PC for FL Studio and a bit of internet browsing. But when opening up programs and loading web pages it seems like it's working pretty quickly. Regarding what you say about the CPU & RAM limits, according to my task manager I'm not really getting anywhere near the limits. I think all I can try is to delete a load of stuff from my hard drive and see if that helps.
 
fendernez said:
OK. Apologies for my ignorance but I've only ever heard the term "clipping" used before in a volume/mastering context. Clipping here seems to mean too much info for the CPU to process? In which case would it be more likely that I need more RAM or a new hard drive? Thanks
Click to expand...

No ignorance, that's what it means - too high channel levels, either individual ones or the master. But of course I don't know how it sounds; I was just guessing, because - at least in theory - CPU & RAM shouldn't really be an issue when rendering (it would just take longer with a slower CPU). But yeah...4Gbs of RAM is a bit on the low side for music production. That may cause problems.
 
Addendum... I was wrong to say the crackling appeared on the mp3. When I played the mp3 on my phone, there was no crackling - so the crackling heard on the mp3 was caused by the computer (or interface sound card) trying to play it. However, when I watched a DVD on the computer, also using the interface sound card, there was no issue! This is very weird.
It's also worth mentioning that when I first bought the computer about 4 months ago, I was playing many-layered FL files with no crackling (also through the interface). The only thing I can think which has changed since then is that the used hard drive space went from about 10% to 90%. However, last night I deleted lots of things to get it down to about 65%, and the crackling remains. It seems strange that I would have to virtually wipe my hard drive of information to get the files to work properly again, but could this be the case? Thanks
 
Try disconnecting the interface and see if the issue remains. That should tell you if the issue is from the computer or the interface.
 
I have to ask: Are you using a pirate copy of FLStudio? You may have viruses (Viri?) A near capacity HDD would F things up in terms of audio processing, but I run Cubase 5 on a machine with WAY lower specs (Windows XP home, 2GB RAM, 2 core CPU) with no issues. If you cleaned up the drive a defrag might help, but seeing as how you have an SSD it SHOULDN'T make a difference. What about when you listen to audio files from your PC's audio card? Still have popping? If not, then it might the drivers from the Focusright, and an update might help. Even the very cheapest of ASIO's can hold their own in terms of latency, but only if they have the right drivers
 
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