(Partially solved: Clone error still lingers)
While working on a mastering session I noticed I was no longer getting bit for bit transparency. I tracked the problem down to the track mute & clone function. Long story short the mute buttons & cloning tracks can break bit transparency.
To demonstrate the plugin clone issue. Clone a single track with the LP64 multi-band & try to phase cancel with the original.
Clone it twice & the two clones will 100% cancel, but not with the original.
Update:
I’ve figured out the root of the mute issue.
Sonar generates DC or noise bits on silence/lack of content by default. And well mute creates silence.
This INI variable can have the following values:
0 – Fill silent buffers with zeroes, i.e., no denormal prevention.
1 – Fill silent buffers with positive valued low-gain DC
2 – Fill silent buffers with alternating positive and negative valued low-gain DC. The value flips sign on each audio streaming buffer.
3 – Fill silent buffers with alternating positive and negative valued low-gain DC. The value flips sign on each sample.
4 – Fill silent buffers with low-gain noise.
The gain in options 1-4 is determined by ZeroFillDB. We chose 2 as the default because in our testing it reduced denormal problems with the largest number of plugins.
Workaround/Fix
Sending a 64 bit silent dummy clip to all created buses will clear the stuck bit errors. Loop this provided clip across the duration of your project.
