Spurious Noise on Mixdown, 8.2.1 - ARGH

[newstylesound]

Config:

Macbook i7 2.66
4gb RAM
Live 8.2.1
Metric Halo 2882 2d, newest drivers/fw

Issue:

For the last week, I've had a problem where any Live set will play back without any discernable noise within Live (I've kept electrical noise to a minimum in my studio), but when mixed/exported, the resulting stereo file is FULL of noise. The noise varies in volume, and seems to ebb and flow around the dynamics of the track. It's super-annoying- it sounds like all my audio was recorded through 30 foot unbalanced cables I'd tied around a power strip, apart from that noise wouldn't stop and start of its own accord.

This is non-real-time mixing- just Live crunching the numbers at its own pace. One minute, the audio sounds wonderful in Live, the next, the master is full of noise and crud.

What do I do, Ableton/forum?

[MarcAaron]

I wonder if your sound card is being affected by recording settings that are configurable through software that came with the card, or general audio settings controlled by your operating system? Like, in Windows, where you bring up the generic Playback Control dialogue that lets you set volume levels for your audio devices, there are settings for recording. This is probably a total shot in the dark, but it might be worth having a look-see.

[Ableton_David]

What are your export options set to? Are you dithering?