MIDI parasites on Sonar

Parasites?  Need more info, as that is not a common term for a MIDI issue.
 
Are you recording MIDI or audio?
 

Preferences --> MIDI --> Playback and recording :
 
on Record, set the number of buffers to at least 128. Or try 256.
 
on Playback, set Prepare using : 256 milliseconds buffers.
 
Hope it helps.

As a test, increase the audio buffer size on your audio interface and see if that helps.  I heard static at regular intervals in your sample.
 
Also make sure that you are using the ASIO audio device type that your Babyface Pro supports.
 
You may also want to try Resplendence LatencyMon to check if a driver is causing excessive DPC latency that is interfering with real-time audio on your computer.  http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
 
Here are some other PC optimization guides you may want to review. https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/mac-pc-optimization/

MIDI Parasites?  Weren't they an industrial band in the 80s?

Hi,

Thank you all for your replies, but I am still completely l.o.s.t.
I updated the "firmware" & the driver of the Babyface Pro, changed the buffer parameters (feel like finding out combinations for a safe), checked the possible effects (hitting E, as said by Robert_e_bone), but nothing changed.

3 notes:
- My keyboard is USB plugged into the computer (as power supply), and not directly into the BabyFace Pro. Maybe that is the part of the problem. What do you think? I may get a power adaptater for my keyboard this week.
- I bounced a track some weeks ago (an only audio track without MIDI), and I got an unexpected parasite, looking like a static, I do not really know. So I guess the improper settings may not only concern MIDI.
- I got specific settings for the BabyFace Pro (notably Buffer size / latency of 1024 samples). Do I need to take them into account in order to set the DAW settings properly?

Thank you for your help.

abacab

Also make sure that you are using the ASIO audio device type that your Babyface Pro supports.

Do you know how I can check that?
Thanks.

Hi Wookiee,
 
-I updated the "Prepare Using ... Millisecond Buffers" field to 500, but I still got the same parasites.
-Just in case, I plugged directly the keyboard to the Babyface Pro with MIDI cables, but nothing changed.
-LatencyMon seems to have not detected any trouble.
-Bug not reproducible with Cakewalk Sonar LE + Ediroal UA-25 soundcard, on an old computer.
-Parasites seem to occur far more easily with Motu Ethno VST than with Cakewalk native ones (but I have to check again with other VST and sounds).
 
My system:
Intel Core i7-7700 CPU @
3.60GHz 3.60 GHz
RAM: 16,0 Go
64-bit

Please find there some of my parameters:
-Fireface USB settings: https://ibb.co/dxPCJ8
-Cakewalk Audio driver settings: https://ibb.co/h6z4y8
-Cakewalk File Audio settings: https://ibb.co/kiUbBT
-Cakewalk MIDI Playback and Running: https://ibb.co/hj055o
Let me know if you need more of them.


Thanks a lot.

Wookiee
Are these clicks and pops (parasites) with all VSTi's?

Do you have access to a second Hard Drive for Audio.  Using just one Disk is very stressful for audio.

Is this PC a Laptop or a Desktop?

Thank you for your message.
- The static sounds occur on some presets of the Motu Ethno Music VST. I somehow managed to reproduce the bug with a native VST in Sonar (TTS-1 synth) but that seems no longer the case (I may try again later).
- I only use a single drive, as I always have.
- It is a PC Desktop.
 
These past few weeks I finally completed one track using some presets of the Motu VST, avoiding those generating static sound.
I will work this way to complete my project and will update this topic if I got more clues with other significant VST.
 

Just looked at the specs for that MOTU Ethno plugin, and I would definitely move that 21GB sample library to a fast dedicated drive.  http://motu.com/products/software/ethno/specs.html
 
Ethno provides disk streaming per part, along with unlimited parts and unlimited polyphony.
 
"Disk streaming (per part) conserves RAM resources and quickens load times."

Thank you all for your replies.
These past months I handled the MIDI Ethno presets that work properly (an organ and a more aerial keyboard). I did not try again the other ones that cause parasites.
 
@Wookie & abacab: it is strange because this VST worked properly with my old computer, less effective, and including one single drive too. The issue occurs with my brand new environment. I guess I have to check more on Motu's side.
 
@JonD: it is parasites/artefacts (as you can hear here). It is not an event I can see in Piano roll or events list.
 
-----------
 
Nevertheless, I got recently a new issue, unfortunate and compromising my last work... It is audio only, not MIDI.
I can open a new thread if needed (cos the title of this one is now misleading).
 
You can hear the new parasite/artefact here: https://clyp.it/4xxiq0eg (there are other ones throughout the track...)
- The context is: I bounced guitar exported files (I plugged directly the guitar in the BabyFace Pro for the recording). I cannot hear any trouble. But once mixed/mastered by a professional sound engineer, I got parasites/artefacts.
- My question is: Did I forget/miss something in the settings? How is it possible to get these parasites although I did not hear any issue in the exported file? Maybe it is related to mp3 compression, but there is still an issue somewhere...
 
I have been working a lot on that song (and my sound engineer too), so it is really frustrating cos I do not know where it comes from. This issue is far more important than the MIDI one.
 
Thanks a lot for your help.
 

Hi - I would suggest you check any antivirus software that may be running when you are in a Sonar/Cakewalk session.  One of the normal defaults for many/most antivirus software programs is to check every file that gets opened, such as all of your sample files.  This adds to the work your computer has to do.
 
What I do, and a lot of folks do, is to go into the antivirus software settings, and look for whatever settings allow you to exclude certain file paths or even individual files, from getting scanned.  Since your sample libraries were all scanned when you downloaded or installed them, and they are static, you can safely exclude them from antiviral scanning.  The exclusion process is also called White Listing.
 
I suspect you have performance issues with your sample libraries - possibly caused or aggravated by the antivirus program, and/or also occurring due to disk location of the sample libraries.
 
If synth plugins, that are not sample-based, are not exhibiting these sound problems you call parasites, then it seems to me to be most likely to be something interfering with the streaming of those sample libraries. SO, what happens with NON sample-based plugins, such as Pentagon I, Z3TA+2, Triangle II, Square I, or any other such non sample-based plugin you may have?  (There are scads of freeware synth plugins out there - check for 64-bit versions).  If you do NOT experience these issues when playing a synth that doesn't rely on loading and streaming sample-based sounds, then clearly there is something interfering with processing your sampled sounds.
 
Also, please go into the Cakewalk settings, and look under the Audio section > Playback and Recording, and please list the Driver Mode, and also look under the Audio section> Devices, and list what specific Input Driver and Output Driver is checked.  I want to make sure you are using ASIO drivers for your actual audio interface, and not accidentally using something like ASIO4ALL.
 
I hope you see this and respond.
 
Bob Bone