Little_b Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 I am able to get audio when playing a show, but it is crackly. The audio is fine through SE and any other audio out the Laptop, just when playing a show it is all Crackly. Anyone had or know how to fix this? Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 Try lowering the volume to about 60 to 70 percent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 try turning down the volume to your FM transmitter. Mute everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted November 30, 2019 Author Share Posted November 30, 2019 I went in and reset some of the settings as suggested and everything is set to 32. It helped a little, but the crackle shows up only when playing a show and not anywhere else. The crackle comes through on the laptop by itself and as well as the FM transmitter, and/or headphones, whatever is plugged in. Either I didn't notice or it's just showing up now, but I don't remember having this issue with my Halloween shows. Could it be the larger files I have for Christmas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 No not related to file size. If you are hearing a crackle on headphones I would think its the audio output jack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted November 30, 2019 Author Share Posted November 30, 2019 Doesn't matter if anything is plugged in the audio jack or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 2 hours ago, Little_b said: Doesn't matter if anything is plugged in the audio jack or not. If your internal speakers are crackly, that's usually a sign of bad speakers or going bad, but if the audio jack is also doing it, it could be the onboard sound section going bad. Sadly electronics do go bad at times. If it only did it on the audio jack, then I'd have thought that would be the issue and the audio output jack would need to be replaced. Only other thing, it could be picking up stray electrical signals causing this. is the laptop on the same circuit as your controllers, all plugged into the same electrical circuit breaker? If so, try moving the laptop and plugging it into a different outlet on a different circuit breaker, and with a little luck, this may clear up the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted December 1, 2019 Author Share Posted December 1, 2019 The laptop is inside the house not on the same circuit. The thing is, is it only crackles when playing through the Scheduler/Show Editor. Any other audio it's just fine. I can play the same sequences through the SE and not get any crackling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted December 1, 2019 Author Share Posted December 1, 2019 Here's another issue I found tonight. Each audio track gets out of sync about half way through the song, lights get behind. I've run each one through Audacity at 128 kbps and 44100hz and converted as MP3 or Wav. Is there a new setting that should be used for S5? Some of these songs I've used the same file for years without issue. When I play each one through SE I don't get any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 Are you SURE there isn't a volume slider that is scrolled off the mixer page, out of sight. Lormonitor is the show player, SE may have a different output, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Blatt Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 I don't believe you actually stated if this was the case, but is this happening only for loud sections? A possibility is that with the advent of digital audio, peaking of the files (if you were looking at an audio meter) sounds terrible when played back. When you converted your files in Audacity to a constant rate MP3, are you sure you didn't accidentally bump the volume or add an effect that would push things into the red? Newer songs are mastered with so little head-room that just "sweetening" something with a touch of reverb could push you too high. If the file is peaking, it won't matter how soft you have volume settings, it'll still sound bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 10 minutes ago, Little_b said: Here's another issue I found tonight. Each audio track gets out of sync about half way through the song, lights get behind. I've run each one through Audacity at 128 kbps and 44100hz and converted as MP3 or Wav. Is there a new setting that should be used for S5? Some of these songs I've used the same file for years without issue. When I play each one through SE I don't get any problems. Are you sure when you converted them you didn't accidentally save them as VBR? All music should be in CBR format, especially when used in a show. When the show is running and the song/music is in VBR, the out of sync issue you're having can and usually will occur. If you have a program called MP3Tag it can show you whether the MP3 file is in VBR or CBR, as well as bit rate and other info. Sometimes a VBR will work in the SE, but in a show, it gets the lights out of sync. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted December 1, 2019 Author Share Posted December 1, 2019 Sorry guys, now I think I high jacked my own thread with 2 problems. The crackling happens randomly whether the audio is loud or soft. I expanded the volume mixer to make sure I didn't miss anything. 8 minutes ago, Orville said: Are you sure when you converted them you didn't accidentally save them as VBR? All music should be in CBR format, especially when used in a show. When the show is running and the song/music is in VBR, the out of sync issue you're having can and usually will occur. Am I 100 percent sure they are in CBR format, no. So I'm thinking of running them again to see if that solves it. But using the same files I've used in years past that didn't have issues is what is throwing me off. I learned about this years ago when I first starting using LOR and so I make sure to do it for each new song I do and haven't changed any settings, that I know of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 16 minutes ago, Little_b said: Sorry guys, now I think I high jacked my own thread with 2 problems. The crackling happens randomly whether the audio is loud or soft. I expanded the volume mixer to make sure I didn't miss anything. Am I 100 percent sure they are in CBR format, no. So I'm thinking of running them again to see if that solves it. But using the same files I've used in years past that didn't have issues is what is throwing me off. I learned about this years ago when I first starting using LOR and so I make sure to do it for each new song I do and haven't changed any settings, that I know of. The software I use is a commercial version, on the final update {it's an old program but still works} it changed some of my settings, so I was saving my MP3's in VBR, I always had that option unchecked, but after the last update I got for it, it turned it on as a default. Sometimes we don't think to re-check our preferred settings when we do an update, then something like this happens and it drives you crazy trying to figure out why it's not working now. So now anytime a program gets updated, I automatically go in immediately after the update and check my settings, just so this doesn't happen again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted December 1, 2019 Author Share Posted December 1, 2019 So I just went out to watch again and 2 hours after my show started everything is in sync and not crackling. I'm glad it's working, but I hate how I don't know why and what caused it in the first place. Makes it difficult to troubleshoot and prevent again in the future. I'll have to watch for these issues again tomorrow. Maybe I just need to start the show when it's still light out. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions everyone has made. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 Update after a couple nights. It takes my show 3-5 times through before the music gets on sync, even after converting all my audio once again and this time all in .wav. For some reason I lost something and Audacity won't let me go to MP3 anymore. .Lame files are missing, I'll have to re-download it another day. The crackling seems to go away for the most part after that 3-5 times through as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 45 minutes ago, Little_b said: Update after a couple nights. It takes my show 3-5 times through before the music gets on sync, even after converting all my audio once again and this time all in .wav. For some reason I lost something and Audacity won't let me go to MP3 anymore. .Lame files are missing, I'll have to re-download it another day. The crackling seems to go away for the most part after that 3-5 times through as well. You no longer need to download LAME for the newest version of Audacity as the software patent has expired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 17 hours ago, Little_b said: Update after a couple nights. It takes my show 3-5 times through before the music gets on sync, even after converting all my audio once again and this time all in .wav. For some reason I lost something and Audacity won't let me go to MP3 anymore. .Lame files are missing, I'll have to re-download it another day. The crackling seems to go away for the most part after that 3-5 times through as well. Depending on how many MP3 files you need reconverted from WAV, I might be able to help with that if you want them back as MP3's. Just PM me and we can discuss this further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted December 3, 2019 Author Share Posted December 3, 2019 6 hours ago, Orville said: Depending on how many MP3 files you need reconverted from WAV, I might be able to help with that if you want them back as MP3's. Just PM me and we can discuss this further. Thanks Orville I appreciate the offer, I should be alright getting them converted. They all started as MP3, but I gave .wav a shot to see if that would solve the problem. It didn't, still takes at least 3 times through to get the music back in sync. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 7 hours ago, Little_b said: Thanks Orville I appreciate the offer, I should be alright getting them converted. They all started as MP3, but I gave .wav a shot to see if that would solve the problem. It didn't, still takes at least 3 times through to get the music back in sync. Feel free to contact me if you ever need help with song conversions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts