FabFilter User Forum
Pro-Q 3 & 4 bug in Live and Bitwig (but not REAPER) — click when ringing and input signal goes silent
macOS 12.7.5
M1 Pro
Ableton Live 12.0.5 and Bitwig 5.2.5 (bug is there)
REAPER 7.19 (bug is not there)
Pro-Q 4 4.00 and Pro-Q 3 3.21
VST3
In Live and Bitwig, if Pro-Q 4 or 3 has a band with a steep curve and Q (tested allpass, notch, and bell) that produces a long ringing, and the phase mode is set to zero latency or natural phase, and the filter is currently ringing, and the input audio goes completely silent while the filter is still ringing, there will be a clicking noise and the ringing will be cut off abruptly.
1. In Live or Bitwig,
2. Make a filter band with a really steep curve that will ring for a while.
3. Play a saw wave (or whatever) into it briefly, then have the sound generator go completely silent.
4. The EQ band will ring for a moment, then click and go completely silent before the ringing should have finished.
If there is any input audio to Pro-Q that continues, even very quiet audio, then the click won't happen.
My guess as to what's happening is that Pro-Q or the DAW is detecting it should go into idle/inactive mode because its input is silent, but the filter band ringing isn't accounted for.
I tested it in Live, Bitwig, and REAPER. It happens in Live and Bitwig, but not REAPER. I'm not familiar with how VST3 handles idle/inactive.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the report, we'll investigate! I think this is caused because we report a fixed "tail" for Pro-Q since it isn't very likely to ring. Some hosts do their own tail detecting and this is most likely why you don't get this problem in Reaper.
Cheers,
Thanks! I went years without noticing this in Pro-Q 3. I noticed it in Pro-Q 4 within a couple of hours, while playing around with extreme settings with an allpass band.