Clipping in Cubase for no reason... WTF

[NickL]

Hey guys long time no see. Been busy doing nothing.

I've got an issue and can't seem to find anybody else having the same problem. Whenever my mixes get too loud I'm getting some serious clipping on the whole mix... Sounds normal, right? Only problem is that I have a limiter on the master bus set to -.2 the clip indicator on the fader isn't even going off. I changed the meters to read pre-fader, post-fader, post-panner, but I've got no clipping going on anywhere. It's the damnedest thing. If anybody's got any ideas I'd appreciate it.

 

[smy1]

Soundcard drivers might be fucked ... try reinstalling those and see what happens!

Good luck

 

[Torniojaws]

Be sure to check that there's no plugin that has set itself to some strange values (I have a few plugins that do random things when you reopen a project). See that there's no plugin in the master chain with some strange reset settings like EQ boosting +15 dB at < 40 Hz for the entire mix or things like that. My favourite is the Sonitus R3 Reverb that gives a LLLLOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUD! ka-tschhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sound in a few projects. And the decay time is something like 20 seconds, even though the settings aren't even near that. Probably a bug.

 

[Black neon bob]

Soundcard drivers might be fucked ... try reinstalling those and see what happens!

Good luck

That is exactly what i was thinking.. start with the source first, the soundcard... then check your speakers, try headphones and see if you get the same clipping noise.

 

[Omega_Void]

The limiter plug-in may be at fault. Mixdown and zoom in on the peaks (in WaveLab or similar). You may have simply flatlined at -0.2 instead of 0dBfs, some limiter/maximizer plugs will do this.
AFAIK the clipping indicator only lights if you exceed 0dB, it doesn't check for consecutive samples of the same value. Pedantically speaking it's a "you're out of headroom" indicator rather than a detector of clipping.

 

[denizdurdag]

If you are using Cubase 4, your main outputs and monitor outputs may have been routed to same outputs of your soundcard. Sometimes happens to me.

 

[MetalJonesy]

sound card/clock? im having clipping issues at the moment whilst using my sblive soundcard, as my motu interface is getting replaced. it mainly occurs if i sawp programs, especially say media player then it sorta fooks the sound up in nuendo. So im deffo gnna say soundcard issues if its the same clipping i get

 

[ahjteam]

My first suggestion is to try to change the limiter plug (or just turn down the master fader a lot and turn up the speakers) or the buffersize. It also might be a buffer problem, try to increase the latency up 1-2 steps (eg. from 64 to 256 or from 256 to 512). Also if you have high cpu use, it might cause clipping that is audible via playback, but not if you bounce the track. Some limiters like Buzroom BuzMaxi3 can cause clipping if they are forced too much, from personal experience the BuzMaxi3 on agressive mode usually starts the audible clipping after ~9dB of gain reduction with 44k samplerate.