From the beginning to the end. From my desktop I use BIAB 2022 now for making my backing tracks Drums Bass and Keys. I convert it to wma and copy it to a sd card that I put into my laptop ( used for live shows) open Power Tracks 2020. Load the wma and save it as an seq file. Everything normal done this for years on older versions of both. Here is where it gets funky. In most of the songs that I have done this way has started doing this strange thing. It will play a minute or two them it sounds like plugging a cable in a guitar while the amp is on for a second or two. It will do this several times in the song if I let it play. It is random. I finally opened the audio window and I can see the spikes in the left channel. The songs will play fine for a few times then suddenly the spikes appear. Doesn't do this with midi files or any mp3 files just the seq files that have been converted. Any ideas?????

Are you trying to read the file (while playing) from the SD card?
Does it still happen if you 'copy' the file to the internal drive as a test?
Sounds like you may be having issues with how well that SD card reader can keep up (or run without getting interrupted)


may want to contact PG support .. this part sounds really strange.
Have you done any editing to the file being used before it happens?

One step I forgot to mention. After opening up a file from the SD card I play it then save it to the hard drive. The files play fine the first time but the spike will appear maybe the second third or fourth time it is played. I am wondering if BIAB 64 bit converted to wma and PT is 32 bit would have something to do with it. I contacted PG support with a email some time back but received no answer.

silly q' maybe but if you have bb 2022 why arent you
useing realband 2022 ? instead of ptw 2020 ?
run a test on the laptop with bb AND RB 2022 installed.
more info on your laptop set up/procedures/sound device needed.
ps...if were me i would run a test with the pg ultrapak hard drive (assuming you have ultrapak 2022) attached over usb to the laptop and see if it works and no spikes etc. you can run straight from the ultrapak hd without installing to laptop and test.

best
om

One more thing, have you looked at the waveform in the Audio Edit window to see if those spikes exist before ever hitting play?
PT doesn't write anything when you simply hit play, so are you absolutely sure the spikes occur only after playing and not there on import and it just takes a few plays before they reveal themselves?

that is possible rharv. I will check that out from beginning to end. But I have figured away around it for now. I record the audio from one computer to the other, it's the long way but it works.


One thing came to mind to check. BIAB is 64 bit PT is 32 bit. Files save in BIAB as MP3 are 320 KBPS, files saved as WAV are 1411 KBPS.

Before I upgrade PT to 2022, it's suppose to be 64 bit now but I'm going to wait until Coyote is also 64 bit. Otherwise useless to upgrade.

Which Coyote?
Coyote Forte or Coyote WT?
If the file is all Audio it wouldn't matter anyway.. these synths only affect MIDI tracks

Like oldMuso asked; have you tried the same thing in Realband?
It is basically PT with BiaB features, so since you own BiaB (and thus also own RB) it would be worth trying ..
I don't think I'd upgrade PT if I already have a current Realband available, being in your shoes
Try RB first

Hello!

How old is the SD card in question that you're using? If you instead do not put the song on the SD card but save simply to the desktop or another folder on the computer's internal harddrive a couple times as a test (perhaps in a music folder on the C drive?), does the sound issue continue? If it does, then it's worth digging into your audio settings more in depth.

It's worth noting that SD cards have limited read-write cycles. In short, the SD card is always degrading gradually. Thus, its lifespan is finite and as it reaches the end of its cycle it can start to cause strange behaviours, increase the chance of file corruption (although typically this results in the files not being able to open), etc. So if we cut out the SD card, just as a test, I am wondering if the behaviour continues.

So when these spikes happen, is is playing from the SD card or the hard drive?

I do save the files to the hard drive first. Then transfer to the SD card for the laptop, then to the laptop's hard drive. I play the file in all 3 storage spaces and they work fine, then boom the glitch appears. There is nothing wrong with the SD card or hard drive. As I said before, it only happens to songs originally created on BIAB. I have recently upgraded to PTW 2022 on the Windows 7 laptop. It takes sometimes 2 to 5 times to load, I keep getting error message about a text that it can't write to. Then when it finally decides to load I can only use the Coyote synth, because I can't install Cakewalk, because it requires Windows 8. I go back to PTW 2020 and it has lost the Coyote synth but I can still use the TTS-1 synth 32 bit. I guess this will have to do. I just installed PTW 2022 on my Desktop (Windows 10), the Coyote and TTS-1 are there. So the upgrade wasn't a total waste. No I won't ever upgrade the laptop, don't even say it. It runs as smooth as my 68 thinline Telecaster plays.

On the Desktop, do those original spikes still occur?

For the "can't write to file" error, try running it as Administrator.
Right click the shortcut or executable and choose Run as Administrator.

There are also ways to make it always run as Administrator but that write issue sounds like a Permissions issue (the current user doesn't have permission, needs to be an Admin user)

Hutch.
Re win 7 laptop. You said ptw takes 2 to 5 to load. what do you mean by this ?
Some q’s.
1, From cold how long does the laptop take to boot into win ?
2. Exactly how long does ptw take to load in secs ?
3. Does the laptop have ssd or older hard drive ?
What sound device is used with laptop ? a proper usb pro interface ? Or on board sound.
4. Outside of pg products do win and other sounds play fine ?
5. does the laptop go on the net ? if it does have you ever run a checker like latency monitor ?...
which can be usefull for spotting devices that interfere with audio playback.
6. what are the transfer speed specs of the sd card ?
i only use high performance sd cards with high transfer speeds cos now cheap.

Fyi my daw laptop boots in a few seconds into win desktop from cold.
And boots into realband 2022 (with more features than ptw ) and biab and reaper In a few seconds. I get no spikes.
my laptop for music production never goes on the net.

Best
om