riggidy Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 (edited) Whenever I'm working on a 32 or a 64 buffer size (for software monitoring when I'm recording audio) I hear this subtle but yet annoying hiss. It's hard to hear it on the monitors but on the headphones you can hear it well on high volumes. I'm working with my internal sound card on my new 2011 Macbook Pro (i7 Quad Core, 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, Logic Pro 9.1.5, Snow Leopard 10.6.8) I would like to know wether this is a problem with my macbook, can someone try it with a similar macbook as mine and tell me if it happens? thanks Edited October 23, 2011 by riggidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rone2him Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Think feedback ... cheak if the MBP speakers are enabled in System Pref/Sound module Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riggidy Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 what? what does it have to do with anything? It's an internal thing, you can hear it, and it happens only when you switch to 32 and 64 buffer size. Can someone please try doing what i described? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 The internal Mac Audio is of mediocre household computing quality, really. What you're hearing is probably interference noise induced by the Macs' processing, or quantization noise. At lower buffer settings the CPU gets stressed much more, that could result in this kind of hiss, although it is sheer impossible to hear what it sounds like and how loud it is just from a description. Solution: get a (decent) external Audio Interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 What are you recording? A MIDI keyboard on a software instrument? A mic? An instrument? What instrument and how are you recording it? Also it would help if you can give us more details regarding your system. Please add your Logic version and system info to your signature: Read Me Before Posting - Forum Guidelines (#5) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 It's a quantization error. Launch the Audio MIDI Setup application and change the output bit-rate to either: 24-bit integer or 32 bit float. I would go with the first one. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 It's a quantization error. Launch the Audio MIDI Setup application and change the output bit-rate to either: 24-bit integer or 32 bit float. I would go with the first one. Hey Eric, thanks for chiming in. Can you please elaborate on this? How do you know it's a quantization error, why is it only happening at certain I/O buffer sizes and what does changing that setting in AMS do? Curious mind wants to know more! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Hey Eric, thanks for chiming in. Can you please elaborate on this? How do you know it's a quantization error, why is it only happening at certain I/O buffer sizes and what does changing that setting in AMS do? Curious mind wants to know more! Thanks. I don't think it only happens in a buffer size of 32 or 64 samples. At least not here. In fact it has nothing to do with buffer size. The problem is that Logics engine is working in 32-bit floating with an output of 24 fixed but the internal sound card is set to 16-bit. It gets really ugly. Try it for your self. Play something on a synth or why not a nice reverberated piano. You will hear it right away. Change the bit rate in AMS to 24 or 32 and you will not encounter this artifacts. Hope that helps. PS: Maybe the OP is has encountered another error but I think it's worth a shot. 8) /Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riggidy Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 It's a quantization error. Launch the Audio MIDI Setup application and change the output bit-rate to either: 24-bit integer or 32 bit float. I would go with the first one. Good Luck! hi, actually, it's already set to 2ch-24bit in the Audio MIDI Setup application so it's not that :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 hi, actually, it's already set to 2ch-24bit in the Audio MIDI Setup application so it's not that :/ Then it's something else. How are you recording audio? Internal microphone? Line in and an external preamp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riggidy Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 What are you recording? A MIDI keyboard on a software instrument? A mic? An instrument? What instrument and how are you recording it? Also it would help if you can give us more details regarding your system. Please add your Logic version and system info to your signature: Read Me Before Posting - Forum Guidelines (#5) Hi, i added all the info in my signature so u can see it now. and i'm recording audio, whenever i switch to 32 or 64 buffer size the hiss appears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 i don't see why this isn't simply a result of using a buffer size that's too low for the sound card/system. After all, a low buffer size will cause dropouts. So if it's putting stress on the system it could cause a constant low hiss as well, since Riggidy is using Software Monitoring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 i don't see why this isn't simply a result of using a buffer size that's too low for the sound card/system. After all, a low buffer size will cause dropouts. So if it's putting stress on the system it could cause a constant low hiss as well, since Riggidy is using Software Monitoring. Could be the case. It could also be the internal microphone inside the mac that is not suited for this task. Let's hear how he is recording audio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riggidy Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 i don't see why this isn't simply a result of using a buffer size that's too low for the sound card/system. After all, a low buffer size will cause dropouts. So if it's putting stress on the system it could cause a constant low hiss as well, since Riggidy is using Software Monitoring. Could be the case. It could also be the internal microphone inside the mac that is not suited for this task. Let's hear how he is recording audio. I record through the line in disabling the internal mic. btw the hiss doesn't go into the recording, the recording itself is clean, it's just that the whole system works with this hiss sound when recording/mixing/doing whatever in 32/64, as long as i'm in Logic and in 32/64 buffer size, i get this hiss. I just wanted to know if it's something messed up in my macbook or anyone with this kind of setup will get this. Can someone who has a similar macbook as mine check if he gets that hiss in 32/64 buffer size? please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Do you have any 3rd party plug-ins active while recording? Does this happen in a completely blank arrangement without any plug-ins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riggidy Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 Do you have any 3rd party plug-ins active while recording? Does this happen in a completely blank arrangement without any plug-ins? nope, no plug-ins while recording, let me make this clear, it's not the recording process that starts the hiss, the hiss starts when i switch the buffer size to 32 or 64 immediately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6smith Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I just tried this on a client's 2011 MBP and I heard no hiss.... Not sure if this is useful or not but as you asked... I tried for you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riggidy Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 I just tried this on a client's 2011 MBP and I heard no hiss.... Not sure if this is useful or not but as you asked... I tried for you... Big thanks!! have u tried listening to in in the headphones with high volume? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6smith Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Big thanks!!have u tried listening to in in the headphones with high volume? Yes, I tried both my own headphones and via his Mackie speakers and while there was a tiny amount of hiss right in the background.. it was barely noticeable at full volume.. which to me is completely normal sort of stuff for a consumer grade headphone output like that built into Macs... and I will add it was only heard via my headphones.. One thought... Do you have a cordless phone (or any other form of broadcasting electronics) anywhere near your setup? I had an issue a few weeks ago with an annoying hiss which was caused by a new Dect 6.0 cordless phone I had just bough and I had left the base station situated near my MMS. Once I moved the Base station a few inches further away, the hiss vanished back to it's normal very low level as to be expected from the built in headphone port in a Mac... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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