I've had vdl2 for awhile now and it seems the last few weeks, whenever an instrument plays, I'll get this crackling sound.  I don't even have to have vdl2 setup using midiyoke or anything, if I just click on the notes I get it.  I need to make recording for the kids and this is driving me nuts.

Here is a link to a sound file with the problem for an example.
[url]http://www.davepeters.name/crackling.mp3[/url]


My Computer...
2.8 P4 Ghz processor
Win XP Pro SP2
1.5 Gigs of Ram
Finale 2005b
Soundblaster Audigy 2 soundcard
MidiYoke


VDL2 Settings...
Interface ASIO
Sample Rate 48000
Output device Creative ASIO
Latency 50ms


Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

Dave Peters

Dave - Thanks very much for taking the time to give a thorough listing of your harware/software specs, as well as supplying a recording to demonstrate what you're hearing. It's weird, and I can see why that would drive you crazy! If I'm reading your post correctly, this behavior has only surfaced in the past couple weeks, and it was sounding fine before?

If possible, I'd recommend adjusting your sample rate to 44100. The Creative Audigy drivers may not offer you that option however...this is dependent on the output device and audio interface selections. You may try tinkering with some of these settings to see if you can find some improvement. Try lowering the latency to 40ms as well, and see if that helps.

Try turning DFD off and see if that makes a difference. You can do this by clicking the VDL2 ";Options"; button and click the DFD ";active"; button so that it's not highlighted. Depending on how many instruments you need to load, it's very possible that with 1.5GB of RAM you'll be fine just bypassing DFD altogether.

Let us know if any of these suggestions give you better results.

Is it possible that your audio levels are just too high?  If you have the VDL2 player volume turned up, you might be peaking. 

Update:

Thanks both of you for your help.��

I've had this problem for the last few weeks, but if I can remember a little earlier than that, I would get a crackle every once in a great while.

After I posted, I noticed that it even got worse.�� With checking all the levels, muting, cables, checking for irq conflicts, disabling non-essential devices, everything but the kitchen sink, nothing works.�� I read up at creative's website for an answer and did what it said.�� It is still worse than ever and audio is not even readable anymore with harsh sizzle and crackle now.

I'm just assuming now that my soundcard has gone dead.�� I've pretty much done everything I could with yours and their suggestions.�� I put the card in a different slot and that didn't work.�� I even installed the card in my other computer with the same results.

Sad to say I must bite a bullet on an expensive card like that, but it looks like a purchase tomorrow of a new card.

I'll let you know if that works.

If it doesn't, I'll need one of those signs that says ";bang head here";.�� :-)

Dave Peters

Dave - sorry to hear of your ongoing audio troubles. If you are indeed considering purchasing a new soundcard, for what it's worth, I don't think Soundblasters are typically the first choice for pro audio. I think they're bread and butter is in the gaming market. You might consider looking into M-Audio's Delta series, or even the Audiophile 2496 typically gets pretty good marks from what I've heard. I'd imagine you could get a decent deal at somewhere like Guitar Center or Sam Ash. Or online, Sweetwater or audiomidi.com typically offer great prices.

Jim,

Thanks for your advice, I do appreciate it.  I bought a new soundcard and everything works fine.  Problem solved.  Thanks for such speedy replies also; you guys are great!

Dave