Crackly VSTs

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OverneathTheSkyBridg
Posts: 377
Joined: 15 Jan 2016

03 Jun 2017

So I've been having some fun with VSTs in Reason now that it's added, however I've noticed they're quick to start crackling. I've played with the buffer size to mitigate the problem but it doesn't help regardless of settings. For context, I've also used these same plugins in Renoise and they've never crackled once so I'm pretty sure it's a Reason thing. Anyone else have these issues?

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Lizard
Posts: 464
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

03 Jun 2017

Are these 64 bit plugins or are they bridged 32 bit plugins? I've had similar experiences where I've had popping but it was using jBridge.

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CephaloPod
Posts: 268
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

03 Jun 2017

It's pretty standard procedure when asking for help troubleshooting to include:

OS/version
computer specs including sound card
which specific VSTs are giving you trouble
2011 iMac i7; 24 GB RAM; OSX Sierra; Nektar LX 49; MOTU Microbook
Reason/Logic

Gulale
Posts: 485
Joined: 22 Feb 2015

03 Jun 2017

I have reported on beta I guess PH couldn't found a solution until the release date. Nomad Factory the whole essential suite does that on Mac Sierra. First the problem was every parameter moving by themselves and PH improved and eliminated that then this crackling thing happened when I move the parameters. Hopefully they will solve this one too.
Gulale aka Bereket

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AttenuationHz
Posts: 2048
Joined: 20 Mar 2015
Location: Back of the Rack-1

03 Jun 2017

OverneathTheSkyBridg wrote:So I've been having some fun with VSTs in Reason now that it's added, however I've noticed they're quick to start crackling. I've played with the buffer size to mitigate the problem but it doesn't help regardless of settings. For context, I've also used these same plugins in Renoise and they've never crackled once so I'm pretty sure it's a Reason thing. Anyone else have these issues?
Have heard the odd crackling when switching plug-in windows but its literally shorter than a mouse click noise not enough to even put you off.

You don't say what OS you're on or your interface or any system specs. It would help you to include that info, If someone with the same specs is having he same issue or not having it at all. Is this happening on new projects or old projects we need more info to help you out. Is there audio clips on the sequencer how many mix channles are in the project(s)
Last edited by AttenuationHz on 03 Jun 2017, edited 2 times in total.
It is not too much of an ask for people or things to be the best version of itself!

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ljekio
Posts: 962
Joined: 21 Jan 2015

03 Jun 2017

Interesting looper VST but not work in Reason (why?)
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=2096
At the Reaper it works well.

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AttenuationHz
Posts: 2048
Joined: 20 Mar 2015
Location: Back of the Rack-1

03 Jun 2017

ljekio wrote:Interesting looper VST but not work in Reason (why?)
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=2096
At the Reaper it works well.
Because all the plug-ins on that site are 32bit!
It is not too much of an ask for people or things to be the best version of itself!

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ljekio
Posts: 962
Joined: 21 Jan 2015

03 Jun 2017

AttenuationHz wrote:
ljekio wrote:Interesting looper VST but not work in Reason (why?)
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=2096
At the Reaper it works well.
Because all the plug-ins on that site are 32bit!
Image

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AttenuationHz
Posts: 2048
Joined: 20 Mar 2015
Location: Back of the Rack-1

03 Jun 2017

ljekio wrote:
AttenuationHz wrote:
ljekio wrote:Interesting looper VST but not work in Reason (why?)
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=2096
At the Reaper it works well.
Because all the plug-ins on that site are 32bit!
Image
If you're looking to disprove me you need to be taking screenshots of all the plug-ins on that site! Besides the point they are free plug-ins their code is most likely the problem and you don't say if its VST 3 or what.
It is not too much of an ask for people or things to be the best version of itself!

chk071
Posts: 522
Joined: 12 Jul 2015
Location: Germany

03 Jun 2017

VST4Free is a sh** site, no offense. They offer magware, and stuff which was discontinued, and not offered anymore. Really, if you want to browse for VST plugins, don't use that site. Use the KVR Audio search. If they don't have it, it's not worth mentioning.
:reason: :rebirth:

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ljekio
Posts: 962
Joined: 21 Jan 2015

03 Jun 2017

I dont need all plugin from that site, I want only one.
And if it was 32 bit then Reason cant recognized it.
And I say it again - in other DAW that plugin works well.

p.s. developer site give broken dropbox link and plugin remained only there.

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AttenuationHz
Posts: 2048
Joined: 20 Mar 2015
Location: Back of the Rack-1

03 Jun 2017

ljekio wrote:I dont need all plugin from that site, I want only one.
And if it was 32 bit then Reason cant recognized it.
And I say it again - in other DAW that plugin works well.

p.s. developer site give broken dropbox link and plugin remained only there.
Well start a thread about it!
It is not too much of an ask for people or things to be the best version of itself!

OverneathTheSkyBridg
Posts: 377
Joined: 15 Jan 2016

04 Jun 2017

CephaloPod wrote:It's pretty standard procedure when asking for help troubleshooting to include:

OS/version
computer specs including sound card
which specific VSTs are giving you trouble
My bad. I'm running Reason 9.5 on OSX 10.7.5 with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM. The VSTs I'm using are the Arturia V Collection ones, specifically the Piano and Organ ones that are probably pretty sample heavy. These work great in standalone mode and VST mode under Renoise and Reaper, but don't take long to get static riddled in Reason. They get worse the more I play them until they're unusable. All other audio like stock devices and Rack Extensions work fine.

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CephaloPod
Posts: 268
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

05 Jun 2017

OverneathTheSkyBridg wrote:
CephaloPod wrote:It's pretty standard procedure when asking for help troubleshooting to include:

OS/version
computer specs including sound card
which specific VSTs are giving you trouble
My bad. I'm running Reason 9.5 on OSX 10.7.5 with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM. The VSTs I'm using are the Arturia V Collection ones, specifically the Piano and Organ ones that are probably pretty sample heavy. These work great in standalone mode and VST mode under Renoise and Reaper, but don't take long to get static riddled in Reason. They get worse the more I play them until they're unusable. All other audio like stock devices and Rack Extensions work fine.
That helps, especially since I'm a Mac guy and own Arturia Analogue Lab, a similar product!

A Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM won't get you far in music production these days. And the Arturia stuff can be a CPU killer on my machine which is an i7 Quad Core with lots of RAM. Typically, you can expect lower results running a plug-in version vs standalone version because the host software requires resources too. I haven't used Renoise or Reaper, so don't know if they use fewer resources or perform better with the V Collection than Reason. You can try running Activity Monitor and monitor the CPU usage across the three hosts and see exactly how much the CPU is being taxed. It might not be as big a difference as you think.

In short, I'm not surprised at all that you aren't getting good results with the setup/software you've described. I don't know why there is an apparent difference between Reason and Renoise/Reaper.
2011 iMac i7; 24 GB RAM; OSX Sierra; Nektar LX 49; MOTU Microbook
Reason/Logic

samtrino
Posts: 9
Joined: 07 Jun 2016

05 Jun 2017

I'm running Reason 9.5 on a Mac Pro 5.1 12-core 3.46GHz CPUs, with 64GB RAM, SSD, connected to an RME babyface Pro.

I'm also experiencing crackling with VSTs in Reason, even after increasing the buffer size to 256 (no problem with REs even at 128 buffer). The same VSTs (Arturia and others) run smoothly without any problem in Logic and Live at 128 buffer... i hope they get to the bottom of it and get it fixed in a future update.

OverneathTheSkyBridg
Posts: 377
Joined: 15 Jan 2016

05 Jun 2017

CephaloPod wrote:
OverneathTheSkyBridg wrote:
CephaloPod wrote:It's pretty standard procedure when asking for help troubleshooting to include:

OS/version
computer specs including sound card
which specific VSTs are giving you trouble
My bad. I'm running Reason 9.5 on OSX 10.7.5 with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM. The VSTs I'm using are the Arturia V Collection ones, specifically the Piano and Organ ones that are probably pretty sample heavy. These work great in standalone mode and VST mode under Renoise and Reaper, but don't take long to get static riddled in Reason. They get worse the more I play them until they're unusable. All other audio like stock devices and Rack Extensions work fine.
That helps, especially since I'm a Mac guy and own Arturia Analogue Lab, a similar product!

A Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM won't get you far in music production these days. And the Arturia stuff can be a CPU killer on my machine which is an i7 Quad Core with lots of RAM. Typically, you can expect lower results running a plug-in version vs standalone version because the host software requires resources too. I haven't used Renoise or Reaper, so don't know if they use fewer resources or perform better with the V Collection than Reason. You can try running Activity Monitor and monitor the CPU usage across the three hosts and see exactly how much the CPU is being taxed. It might not be as big a difference as you think.

In short, I'm not surprised at all that you aren't getting good results with the setup/software you've described. I don't know why there is an apparent difference between Reason and Renoise/Reaper.
I don't think it's my system resources that is the problem. The Reason DSP meter doesn't exceed 2 out of 6. I tried the activity monitor in Reason and the Arturia Piano VST used 60%, so I'm assuming that may have been pushing the envelope. Before Reason supported VSTs, I used an IAC MIDI Loopback (which Mac does natively) with the EMI device in Reason, and then routed the Arturia VST audio (in standalone mode) through my Saffire Pro 40's separate outputs and back in through a set of inputs as a hardware audio loop. Just tried doing this now and it only uses about 40% AND there's no crackling. It's clear to me this is definitely a Reason issue. I'll contact Props with this info and see where that takes me.

OverneathTheSkyBridg
Posts: 377
Joined: 15 Jan 2016

05 Jun 2017

samtrino wrote:I'm running Reason 9.5 on a Mac Pro 5.1 12-core 3.46GHz CPUs, with 64GB RAM, SSD, connected to an RME babyface Pro.

I'm also experiencing crackling with VSTs in Reason, even after increasing the buffer size to 256 (no problem with REs even at 128 buffer). The same VSTs (Arturia and others) run smoothly without any problem in Logic and Live at 128 buffer... i hope they get to the bottom of it and get it fixed in a future update.
Me too, I've tried screwing around with the buffers and everything else. I have a work around which I detailed in my last reply, so if I have to continue using it then so be it. Part of why I upgraded was the ability to use these great plugins directly in Reason without having to fuck with MIDI and Audio Loopbacks, but alas it looks like I'll still have to for the time being.

samtrino
Posts: 9
Joined: 07 Jun 2016

10 Jun 2017

A follow up in case it helps someone - I found a way to fix the crackling:

If you're on a Mac with 4K+ display and experiencing audio crackling with Reason, try to open it in low resolution mode (cmd+I on Reason app). The UI doesn't look as sharp but this fixed the audio for me!

I had similar a issue with Logic so it could be a macOS thing. Hope it'll be fixed in High Sierra...

OverneathTheSkyBridg
Posts: 377
Joined: 15 Jan 2016

11 Jun 2017

CephaloPod wrote:
OverneathTheSkyBridg wrote:
CephaloPod wrote:It's pretty standard procedure when asking for help troubleshooting to include:

OS/version
computer specs including sound card
which specific VSTs are giving you trouble
My bad. I'm running Reason 9.5 on OSX 10.7.5 with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM. The VSTs I'm using are the Arturia V Collection ones, specifically the Piano and Organ ones that are probably pretty sample heavy. These work great in standalone mode and VST mode under Renoise and Reaper, but don't take long to get static riddled in Reason. They get worse the more I play them until they're unusable. All other audio like stock devices and Rack Extensions work fine.
That helps, especially since I'm a Mac guy and own Arturia Analogue Lab, a similar product!

A Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of RAM won't get you far in music production these days. And the Arturia stuff can be a CPU killer on my machine which is an i7 Quad Core with lots of RAM. Typically, you can expect lower results running a plug-in version vs standalone version because the host software requires resources too. I haven't used Renoise or Reaper, so don't know if they use fewer resources or perform better with the V Collection than Reason. You can try running Activity Monitor and monitor the CPU usage across the three hosts and see exactly how much the CPU is being taxed. It might not be as big a difference as you think.

In short, I'm not surprised at all that you aren't getting good results with the setup/software you've described. I don't know why there is an apparent difference between Reason and Renoise/Reaper.
Actually, I gave your response further thought and decided to max out the RAM on my iMac to 16GB. I think it will make a huge difference in how well Reason runs. Do you think the RAM is the main factor in my difficulties?

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CephaloPod
Posts: 268
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

11 Jun 2017

I think that Core2Duo is likely the main culprit. Soft synths like Arturia V require a lot of processing power.
2011 iMac i7; 24 GB RAM; OSX Sierra; Nektar LX 49; MOTU Microbook
Reason/Logic

OverneathTheSkyBridg
Posts: 377
Joined: 15 Jan 2016

21 Jun 2017

CephaloPod wrote:I think that Core2Duo is likely the main culprit. Soft synths like Arturia V require a lot of processing power.
Yeah I think you're partially right. I just received the 16GB I ordered and installed it. Fire up Reason and started tossing Arturia all over my rack lol. It didn't take long to get crackly. The upgraded RAM has noticeably sped things up though so it was still worth it.

However, I can run the Arturias in standalone mode and use the EMI with a MIDI loopback to activate them from Reason and they work flawlessly without the crackles. It's a workaround I was using in 8.3 so I'll continuing will work for now.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk


OverneathTheSkyBridg
Posts: 377
Joined: 15 Jan 2016

11 Jul 2017

Thought I'd update my success in fixing this problem which was super simple. I turned off multicore audio rendering and hyperthreading and all my crackly problems went away. I knew it had to be something with Reason cause my plugins worked fine in Reaper and Renoise, and turning these options off seems to work for my older computer. Anyways that is all!

midijl
Posts: 9
Joined: 23 Jun 2015

13 Jul 2017

Same for me, I'm running 9.5 on an I3 with W7, and had horrible sounds with VST bridged, since I disabled the multicore option everything is fine and able to manage my projects as before, this despite what people are saying here ...

So the rule is to disable the multicore option on a Dual core system .

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Ahornberg
Posts: 1904
Joined: 15 Jan 2016
Location: Vienna, Austria
Contact:

13 Jul 2017

midijl wrote:
13 Jul 2017
Same for me, I'm running 9.5 on an I3 with W7, and had horrible sounds with VST bridged, since I disabled the multicore option everything is fine and able to manage my projects as before, this despite what people are saying here ...

So the rule is to disable the multicore option on a Dual core system .
me too ... sometimes disabling multicore helps :thumbs_up:

CaptTLC
Posts: 1
Joined: 07 Feb 2018

07 Feb 2018

I have Arturia analog lab3 and get a crackling/popping sound that I see on my mixer as well. I've tried a bunch of things but still pops. All my other VST's work fine and as a stand alone works great. I'm going to try turning off multi-core because I know its on.

Also when I record AL3 in Reason I see it recording but on play back no sound. I can see the midi notes playing but no sound. All my other VST's record but not Arturia AL3.

Reason 10, i7 8g and win10

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