Digital distortion workaround

Anyone know of a way to get around digital distortion in logic. I know that it shouldn't be done in the first place but sometimes it can be out of my control.
I have mild digital distortion happening in quite a few places in a recording, i know i can use the pencil tool to flatten them but there is 100's of these and it would take ages. just wondered was there a compressor that can smooth out above the threshold, or if logic has a feature built in much like adobe audition has.

Digital Distortion mostly occur when hitting over 0db or over compressing
is this audio file recorded like that?
there is not much you can do, just next time when you record stay safe, like around 3db and less on digital or to a computer
because hitting 0db on hardware/Analog is not the same as computer/digital
avoid over compressing or clipping before you record
get a compressor between your source and the logic so it controllers the dynamics
stash

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Digital distortion on external firewire audio Edirol FA-101 and 10.4.11

Hi
Not sure if this is the right forum but I have an Edirol FA-101 external firewire audio unit and it seems like prior to installing 10.4.11 update for Tiger the audio was perfect. Now however I get a constant level of what sounds like digital distortion even without any audio sources playing out of my FA-101.. I saw the forum/support notes regarding audio problem with 10.4.10.. just wondered if anyone has similar experiences..the audio device does not have it's own drivers but uses the mac built in firewire audio support.
Thanks

that's what outputs 3 and 4 are there for. You can't control one stereo output to do two different things at the same time... it says in the edirol manual that the headphone jack outputs the same as output 1 and 2 from the back.
Therefore if you want a separate stereo output pair to connect your speakers to, you must use outputs 3 and 4.
Edirol didn't make the unit for the pc - actually the hardware was designed for the mac (hence it's core audio compatibility out of the box).
Edirol's fa-101 and fa-66 (which I own) are mac product which just happen to work on the pc thanks to the driver they had to write after the fact to support windows xp. Plug the unit into a pc without the driver and nothing happens. plug it into a mac running osx and it's automagically configured for low latency, highest performance, midi and audio in and out.
Have fun owning the best interface you can get for the mac for the money!

Ghastly digital distortion while recording

I ran into a really bad problem tonight when trying to record and could use some sage advice.
I'm getting a lot of digital distortion when recording any audio on any audio track using either of the mic inputs on my Presonus Firebox interface. There's no noticeable distortion when monitoring the recording using hardware monitoring through the Firebox, but it's very noticeable on playback.
I've confirmed that this is not a gain-staging problem (the Firebox clipping indicator does not come on and the levels going into Logic were all well below -6dBFS), it's not a problem specific to a mic or to any mic, and it's not a mic cable problem either: it happens with DI'd guitars, vocals, you name it. It does not happen when recording an audio instrument, nor does it happen when playing back previously recorded tracks, nor does it happen when playing streaming music. I don't have an easy way of checking the line-level inputs on the Firebox, but if need be I can look into that tomorrow as well. I recorded with the setup successfully this morning, so the problem would have developed this afternoon or evening when I fired everything back up. And, FWIW, since running into the problem tonight I've successfully moved files to and from the Firewire hard drive I record to. If it's significant, I typically hot-plug the Firebox when shutting it down for the evening since it doesn't have a power switch .
I obviously have a nice long wait on hold with Presonus and / or Apple tech support to look forward to tomorrow, but for the meantime I'd love it if any of you could help me determine whether the problem is with my Macbook or with the Firebox. And if you are in possession of The Answer, please share it with me.
Thanks,
Trent

I've had a problem with going from GarageBand to Logic. Total distortion of audio in playback (didn't record anything new, just played existing audio). The simple fix is to open Audio Hardware and Drivers preferences and uncheck/recheck core audio. The handshake seems to take care of it. Not sure if this applies to you or not. I've a 002 rack for an interface.
Another topic: The Seatle Logic user group is meeting tomorrow night 8 pm at the University Village Apple Store. Drop in if you can and commiserate with fellow Logicians.
G5 2x2 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 6.5 gig RAM
Doug

Digital Distortion

My ipod has been encountering quite a few problems recently. It started to work quite slowly and skip tracks, and then when i turned it on once it was playing but no sound was coming out. I have checked the headphones and they are fine, and the volume was fairly high. So I reset the ipod only to find that i got the folder with the exclamation mark coming up. So i plugged it into my pc, only to find that it crashed my pc every time. So i updated itunes just to make sure that it wasnt that which was doing it. Finally i have been able to access my ipod, but now when i play a song all i get is digital distortion.
Does anyone know why this is or know how i can rectify this problem?

Okay:
a) What the heck is "digital distortion"? You say that like it has any meaning to the rest of us...
b) Your iPod is probably busted in a big way. Replace it, is my advice.

Album Art Causing Digital Distortion

When I have ripped my personal CD's into iTunes and then added artwork, I have never had a problem. Yesterday, when I ripped some CD's and added the artwork, I started to get some very severe digital distortion when I played the tracks back. If I delete the tracks and re-rip the CD's without adding the artwork, they play fine. The only thing that has changed recently in my setup is that I have added a external RAID array. I've been using it for about three weeks with no problem. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to what to do? Thank you.

Upon further investigation, I have discovered that the problem exists without the album art. I have tried the audio error correction but that doesn't help at all. I will try a CD lens cleaner but that will have to wait a day or two. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you.
Message was edited by: Gregory Shadley

Print to video - getting digital distortion on tape

Everything went fine when I printed my time line to video. No drop frames, everything worked smoothly. Then when I watched the material caught on tape (using my sony Z1U as recording device & firewire connection) it was completely covered with pixel mosaic and digital mess.
Does somebody know where the problem could lie?
I printed on a brand new tape, and even recorded bars, so that there would be a signal underneath, which even shouldnt´t be necessary.

I got it to work AFTER I exported my whole timeline as an Quick Time Movie. And the dropped the QT movie in a new sequence and then printed the QT movie on tape. But will I lose quality when I export my timeline to an QT movie??? < </div>
No, it's a clone, more or less. You might try exporting as a reference movie. Should work.
Strange that to get FCP to work, first I had to make a Mixdown of my audiotracks and then export everything as an QT movie. Otherwise I got drop frames during playback and distortion in the picture when printed on tape. < </div>
It's not strange at all now that you've provided some more information. Your experience with your Z1 will help others who have the same machine. Keep posting your war stories.
bogiesan

Adobe Digital Editions workaround for iPad

Hi all. There are numerous posts regarding this but I thought I'd throw out another. After searching for a couple days on how to read an eBook that I purchased through Kobo that required adobe digital editions, I found this website explaining how to read the URLLink.acsm file on my iPad.
Go to this site and follow the directions. Took all of 5 mins to set things up and now I can read the books on my iPad. It was pretty easy.
http://libraryfit.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/books-downloaded-to-adobe-digital-editions-can- be-transferred-to-ipad-iphone-ipod-touch-as-well-as-android-devices/
Hope this helps.
Enjoy!

To clarify, you're not reading any URLlink.ascm file. That file is just a
pointer to the ebook/epublication, and contains some additional information
about the epub file it points to. Other ereader software can handle them as
well as ADE, and some of those, such as the ones Jim Lester mentions, work
with the Android OS, while ADE does not....
=============

Digital distortion without clipping in Logic 7.0.1

this just started to happen.. i rebooted Logic and my machine to no avail... ***? anybody else have this problem? do i need to reinstall? this totaly blows, cause im in india and now i cant record.... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

let me further describe the situation... im monitoring on headphones via the built-in audio interface, and the problem occurs only when higher frequencies are passed to the interface.
really really strange.

Distortion workaround: can chip swap using line out jack for rear out ja

I am using a SB Audigy EAX. My headphones sound like a blown speaker mostly out of left ear. I tryed everything including reinstalling xp on my dell and nothing worked [yes I tried other headphones to no avail]. Finally I played around with the balance and realised that the left and right channels were leaking together slightly so I think there is a physical problem on the card. As a temp solution I have set my card to use four speakers and plugged my headphones into the rear out which is a different jack on the card. It sounds fine from the rear out jack but I wish there was a way to have the card use the rear out jack for line out output. In other words is there a program or driver that can tell the chip to swap line out jack for rear out jack? My card is no longer under warranty and I only ever use heaphones. The problem with my temp solution is that some winamp plugins and games don't function properly.

smokie wrote:
On my sound blaster ex, when connecting through the analogue 6 channel output, Line Out 3 is a 4 pole mini jack. My sound system is only 5. and doesn't need the centre rear speaker. Does any one know if in this case I can just use a standard 3 pole stereo jack for subwoofer and front center?
For analog 5. it should work. See the user's guide.
jutapa

Analog distortion and digital's lack thereof

Djokes wrote:
"analog is distorting - without a doubt - tape decks were like compressors in a way and that is what being simulated by e.g. mcdsp or crane song... However, using no eq or tape deck - the distortion is minimal.... but analog is distorting what is actually there - digital is not - cuz it aint "Seeing" it all....so the distortion will be false...And we dont need to start a discussion about that we like the distortion that analog brings - do we now?"
Let's start one though shall we.
First I fail to see how digital isn't seeing it all. Unless you're talking about inaudible frequency ranges which I will admit may be more important than not. Digital lays it all on the table. No compensation, no analogesque minimal distortion. So this would be a true picture of the audio right.
I mean if you're talking about the nuances of environment then digital still captures that stuff as it's mic'd. The thing digital doesn't capture is the distortion signature of the analog device. Now if you've been trained over decades to appreciate that distortion, hearing digital which lacks that of course would lead one to say it sounds cold.
The question is whether that distortion is the signature of quality music, or whether a talented producer/mixing engineer, can create a signature digital distortion which is either as good or better than analog. I'm a firm believer in the latter though I will admit we haven't surpassed analog yet. But I also believe the answer isn't in trying to emulate analog, but rather using the digital for its own strengths to create something all together new.

then we'd have to start a new topic called what is accurate:-))) Anyway, listening to a guy playing an acoustic guitar live would by many be considered a true source of audio.... So if we have a mic that can actually capture the movements the gas molecules in air makes and translate those correctly into currents - then we can assume that at least the mic is giving us the true source...If the mic "Which it cant" could translate the audio one 100 percent accurately into current the mixing board would only "see" current actually VOLTS and treat those as such...if we were to apply no eqs and no effect at all - the next step of inaccuracy would be your speakers which would have to translate the currents and make the membranes vibrate - which would then again compress and rare-fact the gas molecules in the air - thus making u able to hear it....
The mixing board is treating the current coming from the mic more or less constantly the way it came from the mic - the digital converters are only treating what comes from the mic 44100 times per second - this is why analog is called analog and is seen as treating the signal the way we hear it....
What do we hear - and what is there and what is our brain doing.....
the air that is being put in motion by a source being a true source or speakers is hitting our ears with the speed of sound - our ears are like a mic we a picking up differences in the molecules and our brain is translating it into what we call sound... Digital audio is actually exploiting our imperfections this is why we only need to sample 22050 times per second (Hearing Threshold) - the actually reason for sampling at twice the freq of hearing is because of the problem that causes the low pass filters to be there in the first place...(why the lowpass filters are needed would be too long to desribe)
The reason for 44100 is the hearing threshold of 22050 Hz - I dont really no anyone above thirty that can hear above 18000 Hz and make use of what he is hearing - so why not sample at 16000HZ - or 32000 Hz - the reason is mirroring cuz of imperfect sinuses - and facts of a physical law : There can be no 90° Low pass filter....
An EQ works with phase displacement - what actually happens when u cut 4 KZ by 4 db. is that the original signal is being phase displaced at the freq. u enter - what happens is that those freq.'s are being less amplified - There are physical laws about waveforms e.g. when two waves layer each other at the same maxima you will gain 6 db aka doubling the amplitude...when two waves hit each other where one has maxima and the other minimum you'll achieve complete cancelation...
what really happens when u talk analog dist. is that the sinus(Wavesform) is being distorted so it looks more like a triangular waves form.... This gives us a feeling of loudness and warmth...
If u want your digital mix to sound loud - take the "beautiful" sinus and turn it into a triangle by changing the gain - after that you will see the wave form being cut at the top and bottom but it aint sounding bad - only louder - Unless u overdo it:-))))
There's a lot more to it than what I just described - and it is quite interesting - If u go to amazon.com there are two kind a books about his stuff...1) The book describing it fragmental like I just did and Books that really describing it according to physics....Latter mentioned are VERY dry but if u take the time and have the interest you will find them real helpful and it will also change the way you "Look" at audio and mixing and recording
This is a huge topic consuming man since the day of recording audio...
analog |ˈanlˌôg; -ˌäg| (also analogue) noun a person or thing seen as comparable to another : the idea that the fertilized egg contains a miniature analog of every adult structure. • Chemistry a compound with a molecular structure closely similar to that of another.
G5 Dual 2.3 GHZ Mac OS X (10.4.5) PT HD3 / 4x ApoGee Rosetta 800 / 8GB RAM / 1TB HD
G5 Dual 2.3 GHZ Mac OS X (10.4.5) PT HD3 / 4x ApoGee Rosetta 800 / 8GB RAM / 1TB HD
G5 Dual 2.3 GHZ Mac OS X (10.4.5) PT HD3 / 4x ApoGee Rosetta 800 / 8GB RAM / 1TB HD
G5 Dual 2.3 GHZ Mac OS X (10.4.5) PT HD3 / 4x ApoGee Rosetta 800 / 8GB RAM / 1TB HD

Do your MP3s play back with digital clicks and distortion on new iPad?

I have thousands of MP3s encoded to 192 in my iTunes library that have played flawlessly on my iPods, iPhone, first-gen iPad and Macs with no problems. All the MP3s played back on my third-gen iPad (ATT 4G) randomly have clicks and digital distortion through them. These clicks and distortions don't always happen in the same place and not always with the same file. This points to a problem with the iPad. Anyone else having this problem?

Thought I may as well post some additional photos consisting of my iPad compared to my sisters iPad 4;
Mine is the top iPad, sisters is the bottom iPad.
Close-up of my sisters iPad, same side;
The camera doesn't capture the full glory of the back-light bleeding, you can just imagine how much worse and more apparent it would be to the human eye!
(With these images, I have enchanced the brightness so it's more apparent)

Green screen filter and scaling down distorts image?

I captured footage from Digital Video Camcorder NTSC ZR30 MC (standard definition camera 2001?) through firewire connection. Footage was recorded in 12 bit rate. Captured in equivalent DV NTSC 32 kHz. Edited the footage using green screen, scaled down to about a quarter of the frame and used oval shape video generator.
Using FCP 0.6. After rendering all edited footage, it plays back digitally distorted (digital lines constructing the image are out of sync). When exported through Quick Time Movie the image remains distorted.
What can be the cause of that?
Please help,
Hazel

When you slow down footage you are creating frames where there were none before. I'd suggest you do this in a two step process:
1. Slow down your footage and render it. export selfcontained movie, do not recompress all frames.
2. re-import the slowed down footage and apply green screen filter.

Distortion while using live instruments

I bought my macbook about 4 months ago. I recently got an ART usb interface to hook up to my mac. After a few minutes of recording a guitar I began to get what I would best describe as digital distortion. I closed GB, reopened it, and the sound was fine for about a minute before it started to distort again. I closed GB again, reopened it, and the same thing happened again. I could be wrong but I think the problem is in GB. Does anybody have any suggestions? Any advice would be much appreciated.

I am having the same problem, but with a Yamaha USB mixing studio MW10c.
Any live instruments is ok for the first one or two takes. After that, even in the middle
of the recording, the sound gets distorted. I have to quit GB and reopen it, then it behaves
ok for one or two takes.... very disapointed. Does anybody know if this could be a problem
with the MW10c? any help is welcome.

At what point will gaining an audio file introduce noise or distortion?

I know that in the mastering process an entire stereo mix file will be gained by at least 6 db or so. My question is: At what point will gaining the signal become problematic.
I'm talking specifically about gaining an *audio file*, I'm not referring to gaining a software instrument track.
Thanks!

eMagnus wrote:
I know that in the mastering process an entire stereo mix file will be gained by at least 6 db or so. My question is: At what point will gaining the signal become problematic.
It's the man of a thousand questions...
There's no rule(s) regarding mastering as it varies according the genre and can even vary from track to track. Mastering doesn't necessarily have anything to to do with gain unless it's to balance tracks so the album/CD/DVD has cohesiveness.
Regarding digital distortion:
The simple answer is, don't go over 0 <zero> DB, although peak levels with short durations can be tolerated.
There's two main avenues regarding distortion... peak level and RMS level.
The lower (moving towards 0db) the RMS level, the less dynamics you will have and the more overall gain the file will have.. when I produce commercials I generally keep the RMS level at around -15db, this gives a fairly constant level with just enough peaks and valleys that I can stand listening to it. Some rock/dance producers master down to -12 or -10db.
To show how insane the loudness wars are I've seen tracks mastered at -8db and have heard of tracks being mastered at -6db or less. At this point there are virtually no dynamics every bit of the audio spectrum is used, it's a wall of sound. Even if the peak level never goes over 0db the RMS power can cause less than quality audio systems to distort as the preamps break up from input gain.
Something to think about, you might want to do some research on your own, people giving you answers IS NOT learning.
Also... learn a little about the history of mastering, how it was originally conceived as opposed to how it is used today.
pancenter-

Headphones sound distorted

I bought a "monster" adaptor at the apple store made for the iphone so I could plug in a more comfortable pair of headphones. (My earbuds that came with the phone work perfectly fine)
The problem is, when i listen to my iphone's ipod....the sound is distored. You can make out the songs but only hear part of the words.
How can I fix this?

I am also (just today) having iPhone distortion problems, and it is a hardware problem, regrettably.
My headphones popped out as I was reaching into my pocket, but upon re-entering the pin into the iPhone jack, lo, the sound had mysteriously become awful. If you need a qualification -- digitally distorted. I instantly recognized this was NOT going to have a quick solution.
My headphones, and the adapter, are not the problem. The problem is a) the files have been corrupted/altered due to a hard-drive problem (really hard to believe), or b) the connecting cable running from the headphone jack to the main board has loosened.
Though I believe it is the latter, I can't explain why I can hear something at all, nor why the resulting music sounds like a heavily (e.g. 32kbps) compressed mp3 file. All I know is that I really want to be wrong on this. If I have to get another fff device from this company **shaking fist** Very tired of rapidly depreciating technology purchases. Very, very tired.
Anyway, I'm going to do a fac reset just for kicks, place a file on the device, listen to it, and upon hearing awful distortion, I will dry my eyes and call Apple...Email Apple..or Check back here.

Digital distortion workaround

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