Buggy. Introduces noise into good audio

Vinayak-Raghuvamshi wrote on 4/30/2023, 6:56 PM

I am a podcaster with two decades of experience with audio processing software, including sound forge. I have tried a dozen times with multiple audio tracks now. SFP 16 is introducing noise into my audio whenever I do 'any' processing, mostly crackling noise. Exact same audio file when processed using Adobe audition works well and sounds clean.

SFP 11 also seems to do a fine job. There is some ugly bug in SFP 16 which the dev doesn't seem to know how to fix.

If they fix it in SFP 17, I hope they have the ethics and courtesy to send a free upgrade to paid SFP 16 users like myself. I paid and upgraded to SFP 16 but haven't been able to use it for my production at all.... In spite of having all required updates. Windows -> Update shows me there are no more updates. Although when it starts, SFP now pops up an advertisement asking me to purchase SFP 17!

Comments

rraud wrote on 5/1/2023, 10:16 AM

Hi @Vinayak-Raghuvamshi, if the extraneous noise is occurring with lossy type files (MP3, AAC, ect). try enabling "Always proxy compressed formats" in the "Options> Preferences> General" menu.
Otherwise always save and edit files in the uncompressed PCM <.wav> format, which retains high quality though multiple edits and saves. When all editing and processing is complete, encode the preferred format end-user file type from the PCM master.

Vinayak-Raghuvamshi wrote on 5/1/2023, 10:48 AM

I have already tried that. You recommended this a couple of months ago. Besides taking up a lot of additional disk file, it doesn't really solve the problem. Besides, we never had to do this with SFP before. What exactly broke with SFP 16 and why is it not getting fixed?

rraud wrote on 5/1/2023, 11:24 AM

Regardless of the larger file size, does the noise also occur with PCM files?
Do you also have a version of SF Audio Studio installed? There was a Magix Low Latency 2016 driver problem that caused system wide noise.. The low latency driver is not installed with SFP though

What exactly broke with SFP 16 and why is it not getting fixed?

I do not know, email Magix ( infoservice@magix.net ).

john_barr wrote on 5/1/2023, 12:05 PM

Sound Forge started going bad after it was acquired by Sony and it's still bad now with Magix. It seems that the developers are unable to resolve the issues. It's unfortunate to see software that's been around for 30 years getting worse and worse. If this continues, many people will give up on Sound Forge.

Vinayak-Raghuvamshi wrote on 5/1/2023, 1:07 PM

Regardless of the larger file size, does the noise also occur with PCM files?
Do you also have a version of SF Audio Studio installed? There was a Magix Low Latency 2016 driver problem that caused system wide noise.. The low latency driver is not installed with SFP though

What exactly broke with SFP 16 and why is it not getting fixed?

I do not know, email Magix ( infoservice@magix.net ).

I am not sure if anybody does recording in PCM. The closest is m4a that I use. Again, SFP 11 works fine. Adobe audition works fine. It is just SFP 16 that is messing things up. I already shifted most of my workflows to Adobe Audition. It's a pity, I really used to love SFP and so used to the keyboard layout.... I may still stick around if I can get an upgrade license for SFP 17 and it works better without introducing noise. Everything else is negotiable, not noise. An audio editing software just should not introduce any noise. Do the magix folks even look at these forums? I am not sure why the magix site directs us to the forum if they don't look at these....

rraud wrote on 5/1/2023, 2:24 PM

I am not sure if anybody does recording in PCM

PCM (Wave) is the de'facto standard digital recording and editing format. MP3, AAC and other lossy formats are for end-user files / streaming.

For a single person voice recording, I recommend using single-channel mono PCM wave files. A mono PCM file is half the size of a 2-channel stereo. When all editing and such is complete, encode the lossy format for the end-user file(s). The PCM master can be be deleted at that point if drive space is a concern.

You can try out the SFP-17 demo free for 30 days, but I do not think it will make any difference. Aside from enabling the proxy setting (which usually resolves the noise problems), I do recall any other extraneous noise complaints with SF-16 and 17. Assuming you also tried a full reset/clear cache and/or uninstall/reinstall I you my want to contact Magix about your issue.

Vinayak-Raghuvamshi wrote on 5/1/2023, 2:37 PM

Yes. What I meant was storing the recording. Nobody should have to store. Wav PCMs. I wrote one of the industry's early PCM file management library in C++ over 2 decades ago. You can find the code on codeguru.

I totally appreciate the time you are spending on trying to help me, however these are Band-Aids (use proxy, save in PCM, uninstall other versions, etc).

The noise is not because of the compression. Other tools do a great job. Something is specifically broken with SFP 16. And just FYI I even reimage my machine to be absolutely sure that no bad drivers are causing the problem...

xman_charl wrote on 5/1/2023, 5:11 PM

been using SF Pro 17, numerous crash when using izotope advanced 10 and other presets...

went back to 16 presets work fine...

john_barr wrote on 5/2/2023, 6:34 AM

Version 17 has the same problems as version 16. Nothing was fixed.