No sound - just distortion

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louparte
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No sound - just distortion

Post by louparte » Sun Nov 25, 2012 7:50 am

Hi. I've recorded w/Auria before, but not since ios6.

I had to re-download Auria again after installing Ios6. It wouldn't open.

That's been fixed. Now I can't record. All I get is noise.
Terrible noise.

I hear the signal fine though headphones in my ioDock.

Setup:

IPad2 64 gig

iOS 6

Alesis ioDock w-firmware update..

I hope someone can help.
.

Rim
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by Rim » Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:11 am

Are you trying to monitor the audio using the headphone jack in the iPad while recording? If so, that may be the source of your distortion, as that's not supported. Please tell me more about the distortion. Does it sound like an overloaded signal? Is it always present, or only when there's a signal?

Rim

drock
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by drock » Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:54 pm

Without hearing it, it's tough to ultimately say but I did have a crazy noise issue just the other day. Granted, I'm using a PreSonus interface with a powered USB hub. I couldn't get ANY signal and the funny thing was that I had just recorded earlier that day with no problems. It might have had something to do with flipping a breaker to work on a house fan. Needless to say, I FLIPPED out...come to find out it was a bad (or blown from the breaker switching on/off) USB port on my no name USB hub. I changed to another port on the hub and it seems to be back to normal. Don't know if this helps as I'm not familiar with the ioDock at all but I'm just sharing my recent experience.

louparte
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by louparte » Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:21 pm

Rim wrote:Are you trying to monitor the audio using the headphone jack in the iPad while recording? If so, that may be the source of your distortion, as that's not supported.

Please tell me more about the distortion. Does it sound like an overloaded signal? Is it always present, or only when there's a signal?

Rim
Hi. No I'm not monitoring on the iPad. I'm monitoring off the ioDock.

The sound records, but it is surrounded & overwhelmed by distortion. The wave image itself, looks normal.
----
drock wrote:Without hearing it, it's tough to ultimately say but I did have a crazy noise issue just the other day. Granted, I'm using a PreSonus interface with a powered USB hub. I couldn't get ANY signal and the funny thing was that I had just recorded earlier that day with no problems. It might have had something to do with flipping a breaker to work on a house fan. Needless to say, I FLIPPED out...come to find out it was a bad (or blown from the breaker switching on/off) USB port on my no name USB hub. I changed to another port on the hub and it seems to be back to normal. Don't know if this helps as I'm not familiar with the ioDock at all but I'm just sharing my recent experience.
I'm not using any USB. I'm running straight from a JoeMeek pre-amp not my ioDock & from the ioDock into Auria.
Beautiful sound going in. Normal-looking wave. But overwhelming distortion coming out.

Rim
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by Rim » Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:25 am

OK, please try this: Unplug the iPad from your iODock, and try to play the audio you just recorded. Is it distorted? This will help to tell me whether the distortion is coming from.

Rim

louparte
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by louparte » Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:12 pm

Rim wrote:OK, please try this: Unplug the iPad from your iODock, and try to play the audio you just recorded. Is it distorted? This will help to tell me whether the distortion is coming from.

Rim
I'll try that tonight. Yesterday I could record nothing. The signal went in fine - but low volume.
On playback it was nothing but noise. No signal at all.

louparte
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by louparte » Fri Nov 30, 2012 5:23 am

Yes. The distorted tracks were still distorted.

A way around this has been for me to just move to a different track.
Fortunately, this problem doesn't recur on every track.

I finished the recording. I 'll let you know if it comes back.
I am going to swap out all my cables too.

Rim
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by Rim » Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:48 am

It sounds like it could be something related to the ioDock. Another thing to try is to experiment with the "USB Soft Start" setting in Auria's settings page.

Rim

louparte
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by louparte » Fri Nov 30, 2012 11:33 pm

The problem returned. It's the oddest thing. It only happens on some tracks.
So I move to a different track -- no problem. I record on that track.

Then I go back to the track that was giving me problems. And it's fine.

Same source. Same ioDock. Same cabling.

WTF :?:

Fortunately, whatever this is -- it isn't serious. I can work around it.

Great software BTW. But I need to know how to edit better.

Rim
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by Rim » Sat Dec 01, 2012 6:11 am

I'm actually not too surprised by this. I've read others having distortion issues with the iODock (not Auria related). Do a google search, and you'll see reports of this. Alesis claimed to have fixed the issue in firmware, but some reported that the problems are still here. It seems very intermittent in nature.

As a possible solution, please try this: set your record latency to 4096. Then, try turning off USB soft start mode.

Rim

louparte
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by louparte » Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:18 am

Rim wrote:I'm actually not too surprised by this. I've read others having distortion issues with the iODock (not Auria related). Do a google search, and you'll see reports of this. Alesis claimed to have fixed the issue in firmware, but some reported that the problems are still here. It seems very intermittent in nature.

As a possible solution, please try this: set your record latency to 4096. Then, try turning off USB soft start mode.

Rim
Where do I do that?

Today, I experienced a CPU overload message that told me to set my latency. But it did't tell me where to do that.
I worked around it by just muting some tracks while I was recording.

I'm not a tech-head. I like your software though because I'm able to find work-arounds or every problem thus far.

Rim
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by Rim » Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:43 am

No problem, it's in Auria's settings page. You can get to the settings page by clicking on the Menu, then go to Settings. There's a section on the settings page for Record Latency. Set this to 4096, then also, set USB Soft Start to Off.

Rim

BoomTap
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by BoomTap » Sat Dec 08, 2012 6:20 pm

I'm having the same issue. I have an Alesis io dock but I also have an Apogee Jam. It is the same issue with both of them. Some channels are unusable and others are fine. Seems like it really gets bad when using inserts. I have an iPad 2. I have all other apps shut down when using. Disappointing because I really want to use this. Looks like a great app. Please help.

Rim
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by Rim » Sun Dec 09, 2012 8:30 am

Distortion is usually caused by having the levels too high somewhere in the chain. For example, the input knob on the side of the Apogee Jam, or settings on the channelstrip (try bypassing it). Also, the record level control inside Auria (tap and hold for a few seconds on the record selector at the top of the track until the menu pops up, then select Record level. All these things if improperly adjusted can cause bad distortion.

Rim

Phil999
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Re: No sound - just distortion

Post by Phil999 » Sun Dec 09, 2012 11:28 am

exactly. Since there seem to be surprisingly many people having clipping problems with Auria, let me tell you or remind you of the most important thing in audio engineering: it's all about levels. Learn to use your gear, always have an eye on the meters, and repeat a recording if the signals are clipping. The digital realm does not forgive the slightest mistake. In the analog world it was important as well, but sometimes sounded not that bad; maybe even better. Tape saturation and distortion are sought-after effects today, but we have no tapes or analog consoles anymore. Well, most of us, the average iMusician™. :D

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