How to fix the drone bug

There are three ways to deal with the drone issue.

The first one is to run into a building and then out again. Obviously, this solution is useless if you are in the middle of a gig, and with no buildings to go to.

The second method is to log off and then back on; no need to exit the client. This method is a lot better, because a backup alt can take over someone who has the drone issue temporarily till they return. Again though, it is not ideal to log off in the middle of a gig, but it does work and it’s one people often use.

The third method takes a bit of practice, but once you have tested it a few times, it works fast.

Press ALT+R to open the Filter Panel.

Choose the bottom of the three tabs, which is the Sound Filter.

Press Record at the bottom and in a second press Stop. Don’t record for too long – 1 second is more than enough! Essentially, press Record and then almost immediately press Stop.

Go through the output in the Recently Played column and find any sound that begins with pm_bp  and drag it to the Filtered column.

Repeat dragging sounds beginning with pm_bp into the filtered column until the drone stops. Note: once the drone stops, you don’t need to keep searching for more pm_bp sounds to remove.

Then, close the panel and return to your gig as normal.

Later, when you have time (read: not in the middle of a gig), go back to the Sound Filter in the Filter Panel (control+R) and drag back all filtered pm_bp sounds from the Filtered column into the Recently played column, so you get access to these sounds in the game again. However, during the show it’s best if you keep them filtered, as in almost every case I have encountered the culprit is a sound file beginning with pm_bp.

pm_bp_* are the bag pipe sounds. This is often, but not always the annoying one. So watch out for other candidates. pm_ are all instrument sounds (Player Music).

But you will notice it immediately - just drag someting into the filter section. If you got the right one, the sound will stop. You can drag it back again - you do want to hear the music, do you? :)

Oh and other sounds that tend to stay are for example background/ambient sounds. Those are named e.g. dread_* - those i keep filtered all time once i identify them.