When using Acon Digital’s Convolve VST (bundled with Acoustica) I get cracks and pops at relatively low CPU usage, even less than 5%. This doesn’t happen with other VSTs, where I can go a lot higher before any crackling occurs.
Steps to reproduce:
make a track with a sample that produces sounds
insert a few (3+) instances of Convolve on it with the first preset (“Classic Ambience Long”)
It can be a send too.
It happens with both VST2 and VST3 versions, although I mostly tried with the latter.
EDIT: I tried this in Acoustica and it doesn’t happen there. Didn’t try in any other DAW.
Sure, increasing the soundcard latency (either with ASIO or directsound) helps. But I don’t have to do this with other plugins, not even with the ones from the same AD bundle that use much more CPU. That’s why it seems to me that something isn’t right.
I tried checking the “Use static processing buffers”, but it didn’t help.
I also noticed that these crackles are much more frequent with certain sound sources, like kick drum or snare drum. Less so with hi-hats. But I’m pretty sure it’s related to frequency, rather than amplitude. Boosting the hi-hats by lots of dB still doesn’t make it as crackly.