Cracks/Popping on Intel Alder Lake (Gen 12 CPU) E-Cores
A system-wide equalizer for Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11
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jthedering
I am running APO 1.2.1.
Today I noticed that Equalizer APO produces cracks and hisses when using an Intel Gen 12 CPU namely 12700k. It seems that when it's being scheduled for the E-Cores by windows some cracks appear now and then when using a FIR .wav file. It happens rarely when using 44,1 sample rate FIR files but increases gradually when using FIR files of higher sample rate.
I disabled the E-Cores for now in my BIOS and so far it works perfectly again. Not sure if can be named a bug or it's just a quirky power saving setting.
Let me know if you need additional info. Thank you!
Just out of curiosity. Are you using GraphicEQ or convolution?
Convolution. More precisely those FIR .wav files you can export from REW.
Great solution. I guess that's why convolution is a feature in Equalizer APO. Unfortunately, users have reported that GraphicEQ (which also uses convolution) sometime has the same cracks and pops. That's why the Peace equalizer interface uses peak filters (biquad iir) as default setting.
Anyway, it might be that the processing of the convolution file (loaded in memory) with the input sound (samples) are spread over more threads (by either Equalizer APO or Windows itself). Hence your (nice) solution to disable E-Cores may not do this spreading. Obviously I'm guessing as I'm not the programmer.
Also, if the FIR.wav file is loaded a few times per second (as a command that might change real time) then delays will be created causing sound distortions. But I don't think that the case.