Hi, I've installed Native Instruments Noire, and it doesn't seem to be working properly. The sound is extremely quiet and the particle engine isn't working like it should, like instead of all partciles sparkling together I only see one or two occasional ones sparkling and the animation seems to be lagging (I'm attaching a video here showing the problem).
I've seen countless videos of Noire and the sound is extremely rich and detailed and mine sounds really dull and quiet and I can't seem to understand whether it's a problem of the CPU, the plugin, the monitors I'm using or what. I tried tweaking the master editor volume knob but it just starts clipping when I increase the volume to a decent amount. Any ideas? Thank you so much in advance.
For reference, I'm using Kontakt 7, my daw is FL Studio 20.8.4.
I'm using a Dell Inspiron 16 7610 with Windows 11, 11th gen intel core i7-11800H @ 2.30 ghz, 2304 mhz, 8 core, 16 gb of RAM.

 

The quiet sound isn't unusual in Kontakt patches but looking at your video, it seems like you've found a few weird settings.
Try to load original, unedited factory presets.

 

First of all thank you for your answer. I'm using original factory presets, what weird settings are you referring to?

 

Why post in IT section, if your thread is in English?

 

I've found Noire is just generally very very quiet in comparison to other piano VSTs, i frequently keep a Utility module in Ableton on the same rack to help boost the volume, the more particle fx you add the quieter it gets. Try tweaking some parameters like turning Dynamics down, thats usually one of the first things i do to help get it to be a bit louder.

 

judging from the name, bro is Italian. maybe he thought Italian people should only post here ?

 

Well, that's not the case. If he had posted in software section, he may have received more answers.

 

It does not help that there are so many aspects of the question; where he does not trust the plugin, his monitors, or his CPU.

I think I would rule the CPU out using the Test Console from the Virus DSP56300 emulator and see what MIPS it shows. I think this is possibly quite an old PC with these specs; it's about the same as my 5.1 Mac. I see where in his video, the CPU spiked to 100% only once but most of the other numbers seem reasonable to me. It's also only one channel in his session. But he could give us a MIPS result and have some idea what this 2.3 ghz machine will do against a known point of reference. I would try ruling out the monitors using the phone app+loudness meter trick to listen to a reference song I know well.

I looked on Google to find the System Requirements of these NI products, and it looks like he squeaks by with just enough computer. 16GB ram is still rather low to fool around with massive libraries, as well. Can this be a problem for Kontakt's performance, loading less samples and stretching them more across the octaves?

Another thing to remember, that @fiction was getting to; is that many of the videos which have "different results" could just be byproduct of someones workflow making the video; almost like it is being mixed/mastered and at full volume. I bet these people improve the audio before they upload their videos which he is comparing to.

 

Last edited: Mar 17, 2023

I didn't realize I was posting in IT section, my bad.

 

Thank you so much, by tweaking dynamics and master volume knob it gets to an accettable volume level. Maybe the sound I get is not as rich and detailed as the one I see in the demonstrations but that's most probably due to the fact I'm using shitty monitors, so that's the best I can get with them I think. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't a problem with the plugin itself, so I think that's it. The particles engine animation still displays fewer "bubbles" and it looks like they're lagging but that's maybe just a visual bug. Thank you!

 

What's the test console you're referring to? I tried googling it, but it didn'tshow any relevant result.
I honestly don't know whether it's more of a CPU-related problem or a RAM one, but generally all the plugins load pretty fast and they run smoothly, as long as I don't have too many instances of them. I should also have I have located my Kontakt libraries on an external 1 TB SSD so to free some space up on my pc.

 

I can move your thread to any section, if you wish.

 

Sorry about that. https://dsp56300.wordpress.com/downloads/. it's just a small program they were using to evaluate speed, because the plugin was highly cpu intensive (while they were developing). Due to code improvements, now the emulator runs very much like any other synthesizer plugin.

I would not suggest using it's importance for more than something like you would an internet connection speed test. I do not know of any cpu testing utilities for pc, and definitely not as easy and free. But a MIPS score to just gauge it a little against others would give a point of reference. From what I could see in your Kontakt CPU meter, it only spiked shortly once.

Sometimes you just have to try a few things until you stumble in the right direction. With your concerns, I would try to reasonably knock each one down as a possible suspect. . I really doubt it is the actual "library" or the plugin, because this one was commented about frequently.

Ruling out your monitors is pretty simple. you put an app on your phone which is a sound level meter. You want to have your audio from 80-85 dB. A great reference recording you know well and consider "perfect" will let you know if your monitors are not performing, and also give you a basis for your overall gain staging knowing they are set correctly.

The last possibility, which is you are comparing the plugin on your computer to the Audio from a video, that is just going to happen. You haven't gain structured anything to compare it to inside the session. Instead of distorting and clipping the plugins output, put a gain plugin after it instead.

hth