Horrible Playback Quaility On Reaper (Distorted Sound)
!!! I found an interesting solution:
I installed the program in portable version and everything works smooth now. !!!
I used to be able to use Reaper with no problems. But one day, I started to get a very distorted sound when I'm playing my recordings on Reaper.
Fact 1: Reaper renders my projects as its supposed to be (not distorted)
Fact 2: I can use Audacity with no problem
Fact 3: I can use EZmix (which I also use with ASIO drivers) with no problem.
*I tried to play with buffer size, but It didn't affect anything.
Do you have any idea? I can upload the screenshots of the Audio-Device-Setup settings if needed.
Sound samples (simple clean chord recorded as dry guitar sound):
1. What Reaper renders
2. What I hear during playback
Screenshots of the settings:
1. Rendering
2. Playback
3. Buffering
4. Audio Device
Thank you very much for all your help,
(3)3 Comments
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That sounds very much like the type of distortion that is wanted by guitarists, not a problem with sound card. It's really quite a nice warm distortion.
So, this indicates one of two things:
soft clipping in a gain stage somewhere. It's certainly not a hard clip. And it can't be on input stage, as you have a clean recording there.
Or more likely - a distortion plugin is used...somewhere.
How did you play back your clean track, and what is different between that and playing back your rendered track?
Can you check your audio path for a distortion effect.
I think the most likely cause is the audio settings -- have you tried using going to the Reaper preferences under "Audio Device" and setting a different device? I'd recommend trying both WaveOut and ASIO. I'm not sure if you have to restart Reaper after changing the setting or not...
You should see the answer to this question. Referring to that, guitar tracks sound different upon implementing different recording techniques. For the best results, you should monitor the sound the audio interface receives through headphones plugged into it. If you are connecting the 6.1mm wire from your distortion pedal/processor/amp line-out to the audio interface's input, it would definitely sound different than how it will be if you record it using an instrument microphone to record the rich tone coming out of your amp. You must also check for combinations of different settings on your pedal board (which include selecting the patch as well as effects like delay, echo, reverb, wah; adjusting gain and volume, etc.).
NOT THE BEST SOUND YET? USE PLUGINS IN REAPER!
However, you won't necessarily get the best results out of what settings you have with you. Softwares like Reaper let you use plugins to overlap with the sound of your guitar track. This is similar to using VST plugins to record tracks using a midi keyboard. Watch this video: Using VST plugins in reaper to create and automate guitar rig. This shows how to get best results using plugins as well as overviews some of the ideal settings and I'm sure this could be of some help to you.
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