Buzzing sound/clipping - how to avoid?

[Neutron]

Hi again.

I'm using Cubase 5 and am still just learning to use it, and in general I'm very new to all this. So far, everything has been going fine, but now I've run into a problem that I'm not sure how to solve.
Thing is, I was starting to get the hang of composing some tracks, but just when it was about to get real fun, a very abrupt loud, unpleasant buzz decided to put a stop to it. Now, I know that the red square is a sign of clipping and that the meters should not raise up till or above the yellow level, but how do I avoid this?

I've tried lowering the sound on all virtual instruments to at least under -6dB (actually much lower), and I've put the level control (overall sound in Cubase) down - all this helps, but then I have to turn up my own computer volume to its absolute maximum. Now, I really am not comfortable with this, as I am used to switching between Internet and Cubase, and if I ever forget turning down the volume... I think you can guess what would happen. I've already tried this two times, and it's really unpleasant and also directly dangerous to my ears. Also, I'm pretty sure that the buzz volume increases when I do this. I do NOT intend to even risk experiencing this noise ANY louder than I already have. Even if I have all the volume on the tracks very low, how can I not be sure that I won't reach the threshold again when adding more and more tracks?
Are there really no other way? I don't even understand why I have to put the volume that low in Cubase when I can just turn up the volume on my own computer, and then it's no problem?

Also, when I'm composing, I use the "instrument tracks". When do this, I notice that I can't just load one instance of the VST instrument and then change channels like with MIDI tracks, I actually have to load a new instance each time. Isn't this hard on the memory? At least, I almost always get a "physical memory is getting low" when I open the VST instruments, but so far I've just continued, and no problems have occurred.

To make it even more complicated, I sometimes register the buzzing sound even when there is no clipping (red square), and the meters barely reach yellow level.
The buzzing noise usually occurs when I have too many tracks (which isn't many tracks at all... I mean 4 tracks or even 2, which will not really suffice for what I want to compose), or when the velocity of the keys are high. Especially drums contribute to the overload (which I guess it is).

I've had a look on my CPU's and RAM's performance when this happens, but they seem to be just fine. I have an Intel i5 processor and 8 gigs of ram, wouldn't that be enough? Or may it be due to a bad sound card (which I know close to nothing about)?

 

[happyrat1]

I'd suggest asking this question over at

http://homerecording.com/bbs/

Those people have experience with handholding and explaining every aspect of home recording.

From what you've described I'm not certain if your problem is clipping from too high levels or hum from recording at too low levels.

Either way they'll help you sort this out over at Home Recording Forums.

Gary

 

[Neutron]

Ok, thanks!

 

[Neutron]

So I finally found out what I did wrong. I think I might post it here if other newbies someday will face the same problem. What I was doing wrong was this: I watched a couple of Cubase tutorials on the Internet where they used instrument tracks instead of MIDI tracks, and then I thought 'maybe I ought to do the same". So I did. Thing is, when using instrument tracks, a new instance of the VST had to be loaded (I couldn't just switch channels of one instance like with MIDI tracks). This is what caused the system to overload - not the number of tracks or their volume levels, but the instances of VST's that I had loaded. So I switched back to MIDI tracks, used instead only two VST's and then tried to overload the system again. This time, no noise.
Thank heavens, I can go on with my composing now.. never will I forget this lesson.