Hi, I have a GP instance with 2 rack spaces and several variations under each rack space. When I switch between variations I hear a popping sound. This only happens of my guitar is playing a note that sustains through the change. There is no pop if there is no audio playing. This happens in song mode, or just switching manually through the variations. It’s a single pop, similar to when you turn on a mixer or something like that.
To troubleshoot, I replicated the variations as individual rack spaces. There is no popping in this case even with sustained audio during the switch. However, because I use a high number of variations, having them all as individual rack spaces isn’t practical.
I also tried using a single variation and activating/deactivating plugins via midi instead of by switching variations. Popping is audible in this case, as well.
My usual strategy is to bypass a plugin if I’m not using to to save CPU. It seems the popping may be the result of bypassing/un-bypassing a plugin. I configured several variations where all plugins all are active all the time, and i used internal effects switches to turn on/off effects. In this case there is no popping between variations. The problem with this approach is that host automation is not available for every option I need. So in some cases I am unable to do what I want without a full plugin bypass. Also, CPU utilization is higher, which is not ideal.
My perfect solution would be to solve the popping when switching variations, using full bypass during the switch. I’m hoping there is a fix for this. It seems strange to me that switching variations causes a pop, but switching rack spaces with does not. Even if the configurations are identical.
Alternatively, maybe there is another way to go about this I"m not aware of.
Well, that’s because using different rackspaces allows GigPerformer to handle the switching. If you just use variations, then you are at the mercy of how the plugins themselves handle change.
I’m using 2 families of plugins. Neural DSP for amps and cabs. Fabfilter for effects. The popping is most pronounced when the amps are involved in the switching - meaning the amp plugins are going in and out of bypass. There are pops with the fabfilter plugins too (delay & reverb) but those pops are much more quiet. I ise a filter plugin (volcano) by fabfilter too. That one pops more.
I get the comment that GP handles the change between rack spaces vs. the plugin handles it between variations.
Maybe it’s something I just have to be aware of. I’ve been working with my configurations. When I switch a popping plugin to one with a host-automation bypass function (instead of bypassing the entire plugin) there is no pop and with the right plugins, the CPU utilization is the same or very close. So I’m working with that for now to see how far it will get me.
I’d strongly consider re-evaluating your setup and seeing if you really, really need one rackspace and multiple variations or just different rackspaces.
If you are creating a completely different sound, not a variation on a sound - I’d consider rackspaces which is the normal way of separating sounds in GP. There are several topics about this kind of setup within the forums.
As a follow up, I was able to resolve the issue by doing the following.
1- Adding more rack spaces where the sounds were different enough to take advantage of that setup.
2 - Discontinuing my practice of completely bypassing plugins when not in use. Rather, now the plugin is active, but the effect within the plugin is active/inactive.
This new approach eliminated all popping during variation switching without using too much additional CPU. Hardly any, actually.
Also this approach allows the efficiency provided by variations. Both memory efficiency and workflow efficiency within songs.