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Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

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damuehlbauer

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Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostSun Mar 18, 2018 3:53 pm

I just recently purchased and installed Hauptwerk Basic and Paramount 320. I am getting a distortion, which I best describe as a rapid 'stuttering', usually with fuller registrations and chords (although sometimes on single notes). I didn't notice this on the free edition or 310.

My computer is pretty basic Dell, with 4GB ram and Windows 10. I am running output through Reaper and ASIO4ALL. Audio is through computer sound card and headphones or Bose computer speakers.
David Muehlbauer
Mesa, Arizona USA
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mdyde

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Re: Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostMon Mar 19, 2018 5:08 am

Hello damuehlbauer,

Please try:

- Make certain that you have only a single instance of the Hauptwerk plug-in loaded within your host's project, since it wouldn't normally make sense to have multiple independent pipe organs within a single project, and Hauptwerk doesn't allow multiple simultaneous plug-in instances. (The Hauptwerk user guide covers that in more detail on page 191 in the current v4.2.1 version, including how to use multiple tracks on different MIDI channels for different divisions if desired, whilst sharing a single plug-in instance in Cubase and Logic, as examples.)

- For now, make sure that the ASIO buffer size in Reaper is set to 1024, which is a 'safe' value that shouldn't stress your PC too much, and thus should allow you to squeeze as much polyphony as possible out of it.

- Make sure that the project's sample rate is set to 48 kHz in Reaper (being the value needed for the Paramount 320).

- Temporarily remove any other plug-ins (e.g. reverb/convolution plug-ins) from your Reaper project, except for Hauptwerk, to try to determine whether any other plug-ins were resulting in the PC being over-stressed overall. (Convolution plug-ins in particular can be very CPU-intensive, for example.)

- Check that the following utility reports that your PC is performing properly for real-time low-latency audio: http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon . Leave it running (but without Task Manager being open) for half an hour or so whilst Hauptwerk is running with an organ loaded. LatencyMon needs to report that the PC is performing well enough for real-time audio before the PC will be able to work reliably for Hauptwerk (or any other real-time audio applications) at low latencies.

Does that solve it? If not, please use 'Help | Create a diagnostic file' and send the resulting file to us ( http://www.hauptwerk.com/forms/support/ ) which will allow us to see the exact specification of your PC, and whether your Hauptwerk logs and settings give any clues.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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Re: Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostTue Mar 20, 2018 7:21 am

Hello damuehlbauer,

Thanks for the diagnostic file and additional information:

damuehlbauer wrote:I am continuing to have the audio issues. Seem to get significantly worse after I setup my new Behringer Touch Control.


For our reference: I see that your PC's CPU is a dual-core 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium G2030T with 3 MB of cache, and that the PC has 4 GB of RAM, and that the Paramount 320 is using a little over 1.6 GB at which point Windows is reporting that about 1 GB remains 'free', and that you're getting lots of audio glitches.

Could you confirm that:

1. You tried running LatencyMon for at least half an hour, and that it definitely reported that the PC was performing well enough to handle real-time audio reliably?

... and that:

2. You definitely have the buffer size set to 1024 in Reaper, and with an ASIO driver selected?

3. You have the sample rate set to 48 kHz in your Reaper project?

4. You have only instance of the Hauptwerk VST plug-in loaded in your Reaper project, and with no other plug-ins at all loaded (reverb/convolution, etc.) for now?

5. You have no other software currently running apart from Hauptwerk and Reaper?

6. With all of 1-5 you still then get the audio glitches?

Also:

7. If you then temporarily exit Reaper (still with no software apart from Hauptwerk running), and on Hauptwerk's 'General settings | Audio outputs' screen you change the audio device setting to be your ASIO4All output, and the buffer size to be 1024, do you then still get the audio glitches?
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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damuehlbauer

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Re: Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostTue Mar 20, 2018 12:52 pm

I have checked #1 through #7 on your list.

The latency monitor definitely shows that my computer has issues. I tried the suggestions from that utility to disable CPU throttling (both in power management and in BIOS). The computer is still having issues, but Hauptwerk is currently playable (with some occasional distortion).

I plan to purchase a dedicated computer in about 6 months when we move, but for now the organ is sharing my regular computer. I turn off email and other functions when using Hauptwerk. In the meantime:

Are there any other tweaks I can make to the computer, Reaper or Hauptwerk to minimize distortion?

Would an external USB audio interface (e.g., Focusrite or similar) improve my situation (and be something I can continue to use with the replacement computer)?

Thanks!
David Muehlbauer
Mesa, Arizona USA
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damuehlbauer

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Re: Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostTue Mar 20, 2018 12:56 pm

Additional information ... the most recent Windows Cumulative Update has failed to install multiple times and I see from some Internet sites that this is a common occurrence. Not sure that has anything to do with my issues, but I will continue to monitor this.
David Muehlbauer
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Re: Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostTue Mar 20, 2018 1:21 pm

Thanks for the update.

damuehlbauer wrote:The latency monitor definitely shows that my computer has issues. I tried the suggestions from that utility to disable CPU throttling (both in power management and in BIOS). The computer is still having issues, but Hauptwerk is currently playable (with some occasional distortion).

I plan to purchase a dedicated computer in about 6 months when we move, but for now the organ is sharing my regular computer. I turn off email and other functions when using Hauptwerk. In the meantime:

Are there any other tweaks I can make to the computer, Reaper or Hauptwerk to minimize distortion?


This topic has some suggestions and links to documents to try to get a PC to perform reliably for audio: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16674&p=125702#p125702

If more detailed help is needed then Francois Ratte in Canada can provide detailed one-to-one remote diagnostic assistance for general PC/hardware/driver/MIDI/performance/etc. issues on a consultancy basis: http://www.hauptwerkconsultant.com/ . He's very helpful and knowledgeable, and his fees are very reasonable.

damuehlbauer wrote:Would an external USB audio interface (e.g., Focusrite or similar) improve my situation (and be something I can continue to use with the replacement computer)?


It may well help, at least to some extent, and a good-quality model would almost certainly be preferable to using ASIO4All with the PC's built-in output. If you get a USB model then you should certainly be able to use it a future computer too.

(However, until the underlying audio performance issue that LatencyMon is reporting is resolved, you will never get 100% reliable real-time audio.)
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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damuehlbauer

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Re: Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostWed Mar 21, 2018 6:11 pm

So it appears the culprit was Carbonite Backup, which is nice to have for a computer you use for everyday work, but not so much for Hauptwerk. Until I can acquire a dedicated computer for the organ, I've scheduled Carbonite backup for overnight.

Thanks for all the advice. It did help greatly.
David Muehlbauer
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mdyde

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Re: Distortion in Hauptwerk Basic and P320

PostThu Mar 22, 2018 4:00 am

Thanks. Excellent -- glad to hear you've resolved it.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.

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