Ok, I’ve been trying to find the cause for this problem many hours and spent
hours reading this board and hoping I would find a solution but I have found nothing in the past few weeks.
I was pretty happy using n- track version 5.0.3 but recently I decided to try
the n- track studio 6 BUT all my mixes now sound like there is a compressor in the master channel
causing pumping especially when i turn up the volume slider in the master channel mixer(F3)! I have not changed any settings after I started using this version and the
pumping is not there when I’m using ver 5.0.3. I have tried and tried to come up with a solution but I just can’t find the answer anywhere.
It seems like there is a invisible master limiter/compressor in my master channel but I can’t find it. This is annoying as hell and I’d like someone to tell me how to get rid of the pumping! I’d like to be the one in charge when it comes mastering. There is nothing in the settings that I can identify as the reason for this annoying problem.
I’m using ASIO drivers and when I try the WDM drivers the pumping is still there so I don’t think this has anything to do with my drivers or hardware. It has to be some setting in n- track which I can’t figure out or a bug.
It makes no difference that the master channel is clean of all effects and plugins. The pumping is not caused by anything I have added in the master channel. I usely don’t have any compressor in the master channel anyway when I’m doing track mixing.
Sounds like it could be soft clipping given you a slight decrease in volume as in adjusts itself, this could sound like your having slight increases/decrease in volume which would sound like it’s pumping I guess. The new V6 uses the k-system of metering you’ll need to set that up. Depending on what type of music your doing, if it’s rock you might want to use 90db range, with 14db/k settings which it what I use, you might want to also disable soft clipping. Right click on the Playback VU meters to access these options.
Hope this helps
PACO
Thank you for replying.
Yes, that seemed to take care of that problem but now I have a new one: I noticed when I “draw volume envelopes” to put nodes on a wave track to adjust the volume in some palces it doesn’t do anything! The volume doesn’t change. I tried to listen to this song I have been mixing with the version of n- track I was using berfore and I had no problems with volume envelopes until now! What happened? 
And even with the last version I had this annoying problem when I solo or mute a track or vice versa there is a noticable delay for a few seconds. How can there be major problems like this in n- track?
This could easily be one of the best home recording softwares in the market 'cuz it’s so easy to use but n- track has caused me serious stress in the past and it’s causing me a nervous break down soon, it’s so unstable and needs to have a stable version out to clear some problems. I can’t keep on wasting time just trying to get this thing to operate normally.
I can't keep on wasting time just trying to get this thing to operate normally.
Sorry you're having problems man. However they appear to be user specific in this case. Take some time to get your system gelled with it and you will be a happy tracker. The delay sounds like a latency/buffering issue. Check those settings and let us know how we can get you smilin' again.
As for drawing envelopes - right click on a node and check out the new drawing/node options in ver 6.
I never found out what caused the delay. I can live with it and have in the past but there seems to be nothing to make it go away. I tried switching between ASIO and WDM drivers but the delay stays. I tried adjusting the buffering countless times but nothing seems to work.
But this thing with the volume envelopes not working is putting a halt to my projects.
Let me check envelope drawing real quick - which version you using?
Just ran a quick test in build 2431 - nodes and envelope drawing is fine on n’s side.
Anyone else have any ideas ?
Today’s shopping day with the grandkids. Someone help Pumpingman?
My version is 6.0 build 2397 It’s not the latest one.
I right clicked on a node but didn’t really see much options there. What am I supposed to see? Anyway, to problem is still there.
Well, at least update, and try a reinstall. That often clears up mysterious problems like this, that no one else has.
These are just guesses as the envelope is working for me. I have the new version 2431 loaded (it is a beta) and it is working for me, but I do not recall envelope problems with version 6.
Although this is for vision, not sensativity - See if this helps: open Settings>Appearance and click on the Wolume envelope/ranges. Here you can adjust the range of the envelopes and the size of the node with the Envelope node box size - it defaults to 3 - i use 5 to make it easier to grab. This may not have anything to do with not being able to grab the envelope, but it makes it easiers to see, and I usually increase the range also.
You might want to try a different mouse. I know different mouse have different resolution settings - I had one mouse that just did not want to regester left-clicks everytime. Althogh, it seems to me that the over all response to the mose has been increased in version 6 over past versions.
If none of this helps. You might run an experiement, Load a wav file and see if you have the same problem when you create a new sng file. If that doesn’t work, you might try to delete the .npk file for your project (n-Track rebuilds them when iot opens - actually, should not make a difference but that is the file created to display the wave form on the screen and it it was “messed up” somehow (maybe not reset when you changed versions) then maybe it could cause a problem.
Let us know if anythig works.
Bax
Build 2397 you’re using, new build 2431, you need to update, I think you’ll find a lot has been fixed and improved.
I know the delay issue is resovled for me on a Vista 64 machine, So update!
I just ran another stab at it - only thing I can think other than you need the latest update of n, is to make sure you actually have the green envelope line drawing and not another one. I’m not assuming anything but stranger things have happened - the green envelope is volume; or you have not drawn it to -inf and still hear it. But since you say a draw down has 0 effect - I’m at a loss. I’ve never seen that.
As for the pumping, that is a sign you are actually hitting the soft limiter pretty hard. I would suggest backing down all levels until it goes away with the limiter enabled. It can be a sign of unbalanced overall EQ as well, such as when there is too much low end overall. The accentuated lows go over the threshold of the limiter first and the limiting brings down the whole mix. Depending on the musical content this may be correct, or it could mean the lows need to be rolled off some. Find that spot just below where there is little to no difference between the sound when the soft limiter is enabled and when it is off. Mix at that level. Keep it enabled. There is a good chance you will have clipping if everything was left as-as and the limiter was simply disabled.
Thank you all for replying.
I will see about some of the hints that you gave and possible will download the new build and see how it works. I usually tolerate some amount of clipping in my mixes so it doesn’t bother me that much and I’m just glad now I know how to get rid of the pumping
I know what the problem is with your node drawing problem. I was having the same issue until I realized it came down to position of the node. It’s difficult to describe but I will try.
In this example I’m trying to explain that when nodes are vertical they are hard to move into position so I will set you up to see what I’m talking about. Place 4 nodes 1/2 inch apart.
We will call them 1,2,3,4
Like this: 1…2…3…4
Now when you up node 2, if it goes vertical, in a straight line above node 1, it will become difficult to move, pull node 2 to the right of one and then you can adjust it freely up. When ever a node is directly above/lower vertically a node it’s difficult to move. You need to pull it in/out so you can move it.
See pic
As a side note if you up the volume only 1 or 2db you might not here much difference, but going 4 or 5db you will, so it does work. Same thing applies to panning envelopes.
Hope his helps,
PACO
By design, node 2 will not left move past node 1 located to its left. Or node 3 move to the right father than node 4 located to its right.
I tried to record a track with the latest version and then draw couple nodes but still no effect at all. I have no idea except I think I need to roll back the version I was using before! I will see about what Paco wrote but i’m not sure if I udnerstand how that would make a difference.
Ok, I also tried drawing some pan envelopes but no effect on the track! Is it somehow possible I have disabled the envelopes in some setting?
Do the pan and volume sliders in the track mixer affect panning and volume during playback?