KVR Audio

steffeeH · Post by **steffeeH** » Fri Jan 29, 2016 5:28 pm

Fastboot is disabled, all drivers are up to date, not sure how to change the buffer setting of my AI outside my DAW (inside my DAW I have the maximum buffer setting)

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 2:53 am

Most of the time it's one of two things:

Your power settings are not to "high performance" or you have a wifi card with poopy drivers. The later is difficult to check. My TPlink card was awful, my ASUS card (no longer made) is about 98% perfect (it acts up sometimes after an update temporarily) My linksys is great, but it's a USB stick and I'd rather not have that sticking out of my computer (it's kinda big)

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 3:25 am

I was going to suggest you look at the passively cooled geforces Check if the card is giving you crackles. disable it's 'hardware acceleration' in windows to test. If so, it has to do with the card's extra molex fan power connections bleeding through a kind of interfecrence.

steffeeH · Post by **steffeeH** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 8:21 pm

hmm I do in fact have a TP-Link wireless internet card

PapaLazarou · Post by **PapaLazarou** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 4:19 am

steffeeH wrote:Fastboot is disabled, all drivers are up to date, not sure how to change the buffer setting of my AI outside my DAW (inside my DAW I have the maximum buffer setting)

Normally through the ASIO control panel. It should appear as an option in any ASIO aware software if you are using the ASIO driver (and you should be). Some drivers also have a configuration program which you can often access through the system tray. I don't know Focusrite drivers, specifically.

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 4:26 am

I once built a new DAW and realized that it had a crackle every 5 - 10 minutes. I used Microsoft RATT and tested for the source of DPC latency spikes. It turned out that my secondary hard drive controller had a bug when enabled and the drivers loaded where it would send a latency spike every few minutes. It was far too anoying, so I had to disable the SATA/IDE for that motherboard in it's BIOS ever since.

steffeeH · Post by **steffeeH** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:56 am

I've discovered the spikes come from the either the audio interface, or from the computer via the USB-cable. I tried plugging my earbuds into the headphone jack in the computer, and I couldn't hear any crackles or spikes. But as soon as I use my speakers via the AI, or plug my earbuds into the AI I hear the spikes every now and then.
I've already tried switching USB output on the computer but that made no difference.

So I need to check the following:
- my TP-Link wireless card
- my Geforce GPU fans
- my SSHD

How do I check these?

I found the control panel for my Focusrite driver, but it's already set to the maximum buffer length.

EDIT: I don't think it's the AI not keeping up with the system, I tried running Spotify and YouTube and did gaming at the same time to squeeze the AI a little bit, but there were no increase in the crackles/spikes.
What's interesting is that there are only audio spikes when there's some sound going on, like a video, music, or games. When there's silence, there are no spikes.

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 11:51 am

Largest buffer size? I would lower that down to 128/256/512. 1024 or 2048 or 4096 could actually cause stutters I think while trying to work in real-time.
Microsoft has a free tool called RATT which can detect the DPC latency spikes as well as trace them to the software module that they are related to. That is how I knew that my crackles were from the hd controller and not something else on that old Asus. It would show you all of the DPC entries and one or two would be over 100-200-300 with the name of the corresponding related software.

steffeeH · Post by **steffeeH** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 6:36 pm

The current buffer length is 11 ms / 442 samples @44.1 KHz. Not sure if it's too much though.
The thing is though that I don't get any stuttering, but more like real spikes. You know the popping sound some AI's make when they're turned on/off or plugged in/out? A bit like that, but less dramatic, but still annoying and makes you worry about your speakers.

I'll check out the tool you mentioned and get back once I've tried it.

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:42 pm

Do you notice if it happens corresponding to something? Like mouse movement, clicking controls/windows, maximizing, etc (video card). Or more like HD activity, loading samples, plugins, etc. Tried reinstalling the Focusrite driver?

steffeeH · Post by **steffeeH** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:45 pm

Not really, it just happens within a specific interval or so whenever there is audio coming out from the AI.

I haven't tried reinstalling the driver, might look into it tomorrow.

theEmbark · Post by **theEmbark** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:53 pm

If this was a sound that was playing all the time thru both speakers and headphones I would suspect a hardware issue.

However sounds more like a software issue. If it's only playing thru your speakers and not headphones.

How exactly are your speakers routed? Are they monitors connected to your AI or are they connected to your PC? Can you post a screenshot of the settings panel of your fast track? Maybe it's something with the way you have your audio routed.

Run the above testing and rule out hardware but it just doesn't sound hardware related.

Best regards,
Kevin

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 11:00 pm

He was talking about the motherboard built-in audio vs. the pro interface.

Have you checked the Focusrite documentation about compatibility? Are you doing Windows 10? Is there official support for 10?

Here is a thought - you could make a Linux boot disk and test the audio in there for a bit. If this happens in Windows with ASIO and DirectX style audio it may not happen in Linux at all or if it does then it would show a hardware level issue for sure.

On the hardware side - have you tried moving the Focusrite to a different USB controller? Not just the port, but a port on a different side of the mobo?

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 11:04 pm

Try disabling the USB selective suspend setting under power options

theEmbark · Post by **theEmbark** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 11:12 pm

Does the Scarlett use mix control? I have a saffire pro 40 that did this once when I had the loop back settings all messed up.

Edit: (after looking) ^ it does not

Building a custom power PC - processor question