Export Playback Clicking

[bw_jackson]

Clicks during playback of export when scrubbing the play bar in any media player and starting and stopping the audio.. My set up is very simple. I am just running LABS soft piano with essentially no effects other than a bit EQ to drop the low end. Here is what I have tried

Different file formats
Different media players
Different devices
Dithering off and on
Low end Filter to "DC offset"
Increased ASIO buffer size to 1024
Played around with all ASIO settings
Used onboard drivers for exporting, as opposed to ASIO
Normalisation on and off
Checked for clipping in DAW (none)

Nothing works. I have about 4 instances of soft piano playing at once for layering. Experimental project. But, it does it with one or two anyway. I have a lenovo i5, 8gb, SSD. Everything runs fine in DAW as its a low intensity project. Could run ten soft pianos if I wanted. But, no matter what I try play back clicking on the export will not go away. To clarify it does not click during playback, only when you move the bar or start and stop playback. Even ChatGPT is about to give up on me. I'm wondering, as it only happens when you move or stop the play bar in a media player, could it be an issue with the frquencies in the soft piano. It will click anywhere in the track if you hit stop. So far clicking has happned on windows media player, linux media player, android media player and in tiktok player. The file is broke.

[nednerb]

Can you share a section of the file?

[bw_jackson]

Sure. Ive uploaded it to soundcloud. private link below. I would download it and turn the volume up. Its a pre master. Fairly quiet.

Update. I have tested rendering on different OS, different DAWS and playing through any media play I can think of. The crackling still remains when you stop the audio export or move the play bar. This must mean its an issue with my computer. Im currently going through multiple potentials to see if something in the software is interfering with the export process. I'm going through all sorts of esoteric power management settings. No luck. I am now looking into a virtual audio cable to live capture the audio.

https://soundcloud.com/metanost/piano-a ... al_sharing

[nednerb]

I can see vertical lines all over the place (there are more possible clicks than visible lines). I hear the clicking. I've heard this before.

I was able to reduce the artifacts with this file by using "phase" related processors as well as de-click processing. It does not go away, and there are other examples of music out there that do this, but if it's extreme it would be a jolt to the ears. Most people just play music, and it's totally expected that sudden jumps in or out of a digital stream can cause clicks, for louder or for quieter.

However, at first, zooming deeply into the file, I can note that the L + R channels are indeed out of phase in fairly significant ways.

My suspicions go two or three fold: eliminate the low end EQ filter. In the file shared, the low end is the predominant, most massive element. Mellow those frequencies another way in the Soft Piano, is my advice, as the digital math could be messing things up as the main content is in that range. Second, try to layer in a distinctly different manner, as there seems to be some wonky wave cancellations in many places. When I try clicking and playing in random spots, I get louder clicks in L, R, or more in the centre. Third, in each of those 4 layers, are you using "stereo-ization" or "width" parameters? Try tightening up the field a lot.

Another thing is, at least with my settings for the screenshot, the vertical spectral lines are audio content - it's like there is a strange repetitive ticking across the whole spectrum.

[bw_jackson]

Thanks so much. This is extremely helpful.

I used one instance of Soft Piano, mono'ed the bass, and applied a low end cut off. Removed all processing and stereo enhancements. Just the raw VST and the problem still persists with no dithering.

I have noticed though, that in the DAW, playback is quiet and smooth, but the rendered file is significantly louder and almost sounds compressed. There is no compression going on anywhere in the DAW.

To make things stranger, I'm also noticing the same click when turning on and off the test tone button in audio preferences. Not sure what this tells you. ChatGPT seems to think it indicates something called "buffer release artefacts"