Crackling / Fortin Cali Suite Trial / Top spec laptop...?

Community General
#1

Hey all

After a deluge of Neural DSPs ads on Facebook I decided to finally try an amp sim and downloaded the trial of Fortin Suite. Clearly the sound is amazing, however, I have a critical issue with crackling that makes this not viable for me…

Machine: razer blade stealth laptop - brand new bought this week (Core i7).
Interface: M-Audio M-Track 2x2M C-series

When playing in the standalone app, I get significant crackling - even when increasing buffer size.
When playing in a DAW (Studio one), it’s the same problem.

I’ve searched these forums and hence already tried, Latencymon - which gives me a clean bill of health. Checked buffer sizes match between m-audio control panel and the app/daw, and am using ASIO drivers.

I’ve also tried using wireless guitar setup (Boss wl-20) as well as a lead directly into the m-track - and two guitars (one with active and one with passive pickups) just in case!

Any ideas?

#2

Update: Randomly it now has no crackle, inside the DAW and outside.

I have no idea what is causing this random behaviour. For reference, i was not doing anything else on the laptop both times - and the processor was not heavily utilised at all.

If this works consistently, i’m definitely a new customer - but I just wish there was a way to confidently make this work. Are there recommended audio interfaces? I thought mine was more than good enough but perhaps that is the issue for the inconsistency

#3

Hi @phuedz. Be sure to check which process/driver is giving the highest readings on LatencyMon. You may get the “Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio…” message, but it’s a better idea to aim for <100 on the first column and <200 on the last column. Verify that the total hard pagefault count is no that high as well.

Windows laptops tend to have issues with real-time audio applications due to their design, which makes optimization a must. We also still have to work on optimizing the Cali a bit more, so check if you experience the same issues with the other plugins first (we offer 14-day trials for each one of them).

#4

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Thanks Gonzalo! By column, did you mean “row” - in which case I seem to have terrible numbers. If you’re referring to the Processes and Drivers tab columns (ISR, DPC count) I do have some processes over those recommended numbers… but they appear to be windows system processes.

Not sure if it’s relevant to the scoring, but I have studio one open with lots of tracks using the Cali plugin while running this.

Could I ask what is your “most optimised” plugin for Windows and I will give that a go.

Edit: Have also noticed Razer Laptops have a performance gaming mode… I’ll try that also and see if it helps.

Edit 2: Latency Mon numbers are MUCH better with the gaming mode activated, both sub 100 - but still experiencing crackle in the standalone app

#5

Yes, I meant rows! Take a look at the optimization guide and then check this article about DPC latency: https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/solving-dpc-latency-issues/

Both the Omega Granophyre and the current version of Archetype Nolly (2.0.0) should be quite optimized. Try with those.

#6

The Nolly definitely better… no crackling in the standalone app at least!

Hopefully you guys will optimize Cali though as something about the sound i really like!

Thanks for your help

1 Like
#7

I had a problem with hissing or crackling and d’oh, it turned out to be the demo period was over. I bought whichever one I was trying, no hiss, crackle or farting noises!

#8

Hi @melruddy1. Are you sure about that? Demo and full versions use the same software, there are no performance differences between both. And when the trial runs out, you’re not able to open it anymore (unless you activate the full version or a trial extension).

#9

I’m within 48 hours of installing the demo so I think the issue is just having a windows machine…

#10

I didn’t say Neural but have sought this out for me because nobody but 1 person knew what it was. Every 10 secs it would hiss like a snake. So, if you do run into this issue in the future you’ll know where to look.
Cheers and good luck!
Mel