Why is my sample not looping cleanly?

Freak MicroFreak
#1

I have a violin sample that should be looping cleanly, but when I import it to the microfreak there is an audible pop every time it loops.

Here is my sample: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10vFgvKXWxZtDOAXlkzlR43bvzuieT2Dp/view?usp=sharing

Here is what I expect it to sound like: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16fIznE57UlGAKgObhZJNyr219S2iuK3q/view?usp=sharing

Here is what it sounds like from the Microfreak, using the basic sample engine with start set to 0, Length set to 100, and Loop set to 0: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mTp5pKAfcLT6L7UojkSdhc9RnxKjyMVB/view?usp=sharing

This happens both if I export it from 24bit 44.1KHz and the native 16bit 32KHz. I have tried multiple similar samples that should all loop cleanly, and the same thing happens. The peak level is -1dB. What am I doing wrong?

Edit: Fixed broken link

#2

Hi @zeknife ,

Hi

As far as i can hear in your examples, then there is a click in both the what you expect example and in the MicroFreak example.

I don’t have a MicroFreak.

#3

Let’s make the problem even more obvious then. Here is a perfectly aligned 440Hz test tone I generated using Audacity: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H5bDZ0Vr6thI2IjpIg1e7bi24Zm8wPiB/view?usp=sharing

Start of the sample:
image

End of the sample:
image

This is what the loop point looks like in reaper (It loops perfectly):
image

And yet this is what it sounds like looping in the microfreak: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kG-Xlkyy1Di7IpSZ91s8GfA25ihdqC2E/view?usp=sharing

What gives?

Edit: Incidentally, the Microfreak seems to reproduce the sample tone at 440.3Hz instead of the original 440. Lining the recording up with the original tone, it seems to drift out of phase and then snaps back at the loop point. Similarly, the loop length on the microfreak is 0.995 seconds instead of the 1 second I imported.

Obviously, it isn’t important that the speed/pitch are perfectly maintained. But I at least expect the microfreak to cycle through the original 32k sample points without obvious discontinuities. Given the transparency of this test, I can only conclude that this is an issue with the firmware.

#4

I can only tell what i hear. I hear a click in your Reference sample in your first post too.

In the MicrFreak manual i can read this:
"Loop: Once you’ve set your Start point and your End point (using Length), Loop point acts as a crossfade between the Start and End positions.

With Loop at100, the part of the sample being looped is the very end of it, and the loop is very short."

So it look like a crossfade should be used.

Have you tried to edit the Sample Length in MicroFreak?

I can’t test this.
I can suggest you ask Arturia support through your account.
Perhaps a MicroFreak user respond here in this forum.

#5

Yeah perhaps! For now I’m content with using the cloud grains oscillator for this type of sound, it works rather well for sustained sounds and avoids the clicking issue.