Pops/Clicks — CPU Issues?

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

related thread

hey —

i’m experiencing pops and clicks very similar to when i’m working in ableton and i’m taxing my processor (buffer is too low). i did read through the above thread and discerned that the pops and clicks are not a transient from a quick moving filter. it’s very possible i’m creating some situation like the above thread just with the way i’m using the LFO.

i’ll try to get a recording. BUT i’m spending so much time with the DN (and DT) on my couch, in coffee shops. outside in the cold. it’s great. such a great box. so portable.

question: is it possible i’m over taxing the DN cpu and getting pops/clicks like i can with software?

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#2

The whole point of a hardware synth , restricted functionality of synth , fx , sequencer , ui is that there aren’t are ‘cpu’ issues unless it’s driven by a crazy amount of midi info (or that’s the only time I’ve ever had weirdness on an elektron synth , but I was going a bit crazy with tempo/data)

I saw another thread regarding weird clicks (not related to envelopes triggering )…

I suggest search a little more for the other thread as it had examples …
Or film something on your phone and send a ticket to elektron .

There are a few synths that are open about different configs / situations that eat into cpu (blofeld and deluge ) … but not ussually elektron gear.

#3

Has it been proven that it’s not the onboard processor maxing out?

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#4

I have no idea but if it’s the case I suspect it’s not designed for that , it’s a hardware issue and he should fill in a support ticket .

I’m sure more people can suggest things … I’d start by unplugging everything and just using it on its own

  • try the test mode ( search the forum for more info )

Play built in tunes and listen for anything unexpected
Install latest os
The usual things.
Ultimately elektron gear are quite controlled machines in terms of functionality and maxing out cpu’s Which should avoid glitches etc (unless it’s an intentional effect)

#5

i’m not a real synthesis-sound designer. i get some general ideas, but, i’m more a knob fiddling hacker. i like sounds. i noticed the crackle today after fiddling extensively. fiddling with things i don’t really understand. particularly LFO’s on the fm synthesis.

here is what i got:

  • if i play each track alone T1, T2, T3 there is no pop/crack. i’m not using T4.
  • i have solo’d each track, and tried stacking them each different ways and T3 seems to be the culprit.
  • but alone, T3 won’t pop/crack.
  • this leads me to think it’s either an audio clip, or
  • the crack isn’t on T3, but it provides a pad background to hear the popping on one of the other tracks.
  • to test it out, i used the default sound on T4 and tried to get pops and clicks from the other tracks. no success. this test is not part of the recording.

the pops and clicks come in about :38 — when i finally introduce T3.

#6

Some audio would help to figure out whats wrong. Seen a lot of posts about pops/clicks recently but I have yet to hear an example.

#7

Did you check the voice allocation menu - maybe you are out of voices which would result in popping.

#8

Same here … if your pops and clicks are the same as in my case, I could have a cure :wink:

I tried to get a pad sound going on and on and every time the notes seemed to be too dense, which was, when the release of the preceeding note overlapped the succeeding note, I got a decent click … every time and absolutely reproduceble.

After an hour of checking on all envelopes, the LFO, the triggering and having no success, I remembered that there was a “phase-trigger” selection on SYN2-2 encoder D, manual page 42, which I hadn’t considered. That did the job. For my pad I had to switch this to “off” and the click was gone.

An initial sound patch has this switch set to “ALL”.

If this switch does, what I suppose it does, then it’s logical that we hear a click. If the phase of an oscillator is always retriggered if the note is triggered, we will always have a big change in amplitude of the oscillator. Since FM-synthesis is very sensitive w.r.t. frequency relation and modulation intensity, it’s not surprising that a big jump in the amplitude of the modulator creates an effect.

For hard percussive sounds the re-triggering of the phase is an excellent feature, because it makes the transients very sharp. For long evolving pads it’s the contrary.

4 Likes
#9

You get a click when turning off the distortion circuit ( going from anywhere above 0 to 0 ). No cure for this one.

#10

Yes this is true.

#11

The DN seems notorious for clicking due to voice stealing and envelope retriggering. It’s kind of something that you just need to accept. On the other hand, if you’re getting clicks playing one note or monophonic stuff and it’s happening randomly WHILE a note is playing, then you may have a hardware or firmware issue. Maybe try resetting the machine?

#12

I´ve only noticed sonic disturbances with my Elektrons when i have used Overbridge, that´s toxic to sound imo.

#13

There is audio. ^^^ :grinning:
You’ll hear it start about :38.

#14

Thats pretty bad

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#15

Have you hit the unison button to see how many voices are actually being used at one time during this pattern? I’m hearing a few subtle clicks but nothing insane. Here are some things to remember.

  1. If you play more than 8 notes at a time (including sounds that have a long release) you’ll hear clicking from voice stealing.

  2. If you have two of the same note overlapping on the same track (even if you’ve soundlocked a different sound) you will hear the envelopes restart and get clicking, even if you have envelope retrig turned off everywhere. It’s one of my many beefs with the DN.

#16

No, that is not possible. The system is designed to always prioritize audio, if the CPU is slowing down the GUI will start to slow down long before the audio is affected. But in any case, we have overhead of course.

It’s likely that the voice stealing or similar is causing clicks. Send a SysEx of your Project to our suppoert team and we’ll help you out.

Wild guess: filter types changing from one sound to other, or amp/osc reset changing.
There are many ways to get around this, but you’ll need to know what is going on in your sounds. I’m thinking of writing a little guide why clicks occur and how to circumvent that, but hard to find the time.

19 Likes
#17

Forgot to write that most of these issues can easily be solved by just limiting a track to a certain amount of voices.

Clicking occurs if there is a drastic change in signal, and mostly this comes from parameter or sound locks - or voice stealing. (Aside from the oscillator reset/amp reset settings)

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#18

i’m fairly certain that i’m not overloading the voices. there are a few arps happening simultaneously so, there are a few moments where there is a run of lights, but all 8 don’t appear to be illuminated simultaneously.

simon – will a sysex of the pattern work? where do i send? just support@elektron.se ?

#20

Couple questions…

What is the difference between turning one of the level knobs to 0 and mute?

Does the mute function like a mixer mute — the audio still exists, but it’s not being passed through? It seems the mute doesn’t stop audio from being heard it stops the trigger from HAPPENING.

Does this make sense?

#21

^^^ this is something.

If I use track mutes, to effectively solo a track, no clicking occurs. The clicking only occurs when multiple voices are happening.

If I use the level parameter (knob E) to the click will occur with a single voice.