u-he Diva crackling

[amaranth_aegis]

I must admit I'd never heard of DPC latency before so I've done a bit of reading about it.

It is possible it's something other than the sound card driver (although I'd still punt that it's the problem) - however there is another Latency Monitor program I stumbled across that might the OP help identify the actual problem drivers.

It's on this page: <a href="http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/art ... ncy-issues" class="skimlinks-unlinked" data-skimwords-word="http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sweetwater.com%2Fsweetcare%2Farticles%2Fsolving-dpc-latency-issues" data-skim-creative="500005" title="">http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/art ... -issues</a>/

Be worth giving that a try.

Edit: Just in case you can't see the link as I've got less than 5 posts - if you search for "solving dpc latency issues" and "sweetwater" the page should come up.

Do creative provides good ASIO drivers? Maybe you can try ASIO4ALL.

Also, if you're using Win 10, I don't think the report of DPC Latency Checker is accurate on that OS.

Well, I tried the application on Sweetwater's website and it gave me results that seemed probably a little more accurate. The highest latency level was a little under 200 microseconds.

I decided the higher latency was kind of annoying, so I've been playing around with Diva and Sonar (after I uninstalled some of Creative's software) and I got the latency down to 4 ms before it started to make the crackling any more frequent than at 40 ms or whatever it was. It surprised me that I couldn't notice any difference until I reached 4 ms.

If this is an issue with my sound card, then I'd happily sell it and grab a proper audio interface, but I did some research and I have heard a lot of bad things about most of the other options, so now I am not sure what to do.

[amaranth_aegis]

I'm not sure it's your CPU. By chance I have the same CPU and whilst I don't own Diva, I do own Bazille and I've never run into any issues with crackling, even if I jack up the polyphony and voices to max on a patch and turn on HQ (with or without Multicore).

I think if you swapped out your sound card your problems would go away. I don't know much about the particular card you've got, but Creative are better known for gaming cards than music oriented cards. Do you have any friends with an external USB interface you could borrow?

This is true, but misleading. It is still a CPU issue if the sound card is causing problems with ASIO but not the various windows sound systems. Given that turning up the latencey fixed the problem It is related to DPC latency, driver quality, or other processes impacting DPC latency.

So, yes, a new sound card might fix the problem, indirectly by providing a different driver, but it might not. If the problem is related to the sound card's ASIO driver then you should see an improvement. You could try ASIO4ALL as well. If, on the other hand, the problem is some other driver impacting DPC latency, then you might not see an improvement.

I did some more research today and decided I would like to get a proper audio interface, but I've been reading some not so good things about many of the popular low to mid-range audio interfaces. I wouldn't mind spending a bigger chunk of money on one, but I would really like to get something that will actually work for me (and Diva). I don't need much for inputs or outputs, just something to play high-end synths like Diva at a low latency without any hiccups.

[xx JPRacer xx]

If you were able to go down to 4ms without crackling then stay with that card. You won't get much better than that.

[bcm70]

I agree - 4ms is fine if it's not crackling at all.

[amaranth_aegis]

If you were able to go down to 4ms without crackling then stay with that card. You won't get much better than that.

Oh, no, it's still crackling. I meant that I guess I just found it interesting that it doesn't crackle noticeably more at 4 ms than it does at 40 or 50 ms (where it was set before ghettosynth suggested I increase the value to 80 ms). It's still pretty gosh darn annoying, considering the new hardware on this computer. I would happily spring for a nice audio interface, but I'm not sure I can get what I want. I really just want something to play my soft synths at a very low latency without any side effects. I don't need all of the connections or anything, I really just want something that will allow me to play around with Diva (with a high number of voices and whatnot) at a reasonably low latency without problems, you know? Maybe someone can suggest a place I look? (If only u-he offered an audio interface specifically for high-end soft synths like Diva!)

[bcm70]

I happen to have the same CPU as you running on Windows 10. I use a Focusrite 2i4 which is a fairly cheap interface with only a few inputs/outputs. It cost me about $AUD250. I've never run into any crackling issues at all, including running Bazille. I can't speak about Diva as I've only demoed it, so if there were crackles happening from a technical issue it would be difficult to tell that from the demo protection.

Just one option. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

[ghettosynth]

I really can't give good advice for a low cost interface, I don't have any low cost interfaces that are also new, i.e., currently available. I will say that I'm fairly happy with MOTU and I've thought about selling my current interfaces an picking up a pair of ultralites (the new one) because of the audio networking capability.

[amaranth_aegis]

I happen to have the same CPU as you running on Windows 10. I use a Focusrite 2i4 which is a fairly cheap interface with only a few inputs/outputs. It cost me about $AUD250. I've never run into any crackling issues at all, including running Bazille. I can't speak about Diva as I've only demoed it, so if there were crackles happening from a technical issue it would be difficult to tell that from the demo protection.

Just one option. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

One of the models I almost ordered was a FR 2i2. I heard the drivers weren't stellar, though, so I looked around. I found some information on benchmarks for a number of audio interfaces from this website: http://www.dawbench.com/audio-int-lowlatency3.htm. RME seemed to get generally very good ratings on their devices, and I've heard good things about their drivers. So, I decided today to just plunk down a bit of cash for a Babyface Pro! Heheh, not cheap , but I am hoping it will be worth it for the low latency. Plus, the place where I ordered it has a really great return policy, so I will return it if it doesn't solve my issues. We'll see how it works. Will update when I get it and try it out! :crosses fingers:

[ghettosynth]

I happen to have the same CPU as you running on Windows 10. I use a Focusrite 2i4 which is a fairly cheap interface with only a few inputs/outputs. It cost me about $AUD250. I've never run into any crackling issues at all, including running Bazille. I can't speak about Diva as I've only demoed it, so if there were crackles happening from a technical issue it would be difficult to tell that from the demo protection.

Just one option. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

One of the models I almost ordered was a FR 2i2. I heard the drivers weren't stellar, though, so I looked around. I found some information on benchmarks for a number of audio interfaces from this website: http://www.dawbench.com/audio-int-lowlatency3.htm. RME seemed to get generally very good ratings on their devices, and I've heard good things about their drivers. So, I decided today to just plunk down a bit of cash for a Babyface Pro! Heheh, not cheap , but I am hoping it will be worth it for the low latency. Plus, the place where I ordered it has a really great return policy, so I will return it if it doesn't solve my issues. We'll see how it works. Will update when I get it and try it out! :crosses fingers:

If that doesn't work for you, it's almost certainly not the interface and/or drivers.

[amaranth_aegis]

I happen to have the same CPU as you running on Windows 10. I use a Focusrite 2i4 which is a fairly cheap interface with only a few inputs/outputs. It cost me about $AUD250. I've never run into any crackling issues at all, including running Bazille. I can't speak about Diva as I've only demoed it, so if there were crackles happening from a technical issue it would be difficult to tell that from the demo protection.

Just one option. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

One of the models I almost ordered was a FR 2i2. I heard the drivers weren't stellar, though, so I looked around. I found some information on benchmarks for a number of audio interfaces from this website: http://www.dawbench.com/audio-int-lowlatency3.htm. RME seemed to get generally very good ratings on their devices, and I've heard good things about their drivers. So, I decided today to just plunk down a bit of cash for a Babyface Pro! Heheh, not cheap , but I am hoping it will be worth it for the low latency. Plus, the place where I ordered it has a really great return policy, so I will return it if it doesn't solve my issues. We'll see how it works. Will update when I get it and try it out! :crosses fingers:

If that doesn't work for you, it's almost certainly not the interface and/or drivers.

After reading so many negative reviews about the low to mid-range interfaces, I just decided to upgrade my budget a bit and grab something that might work better for me. The Babyface might be a good fit, we'll see! Thank you so much for the information, ghettosynth! I'm new to this and I appreciate the help. And I will probably check back in for an update once I get the interface.

[xx JPRacer xx]

If you can get your hand on a m-audio 2496 pci card for cheap, then get this card. That's what I use and can get to 3.8 ms (128 samples) with Diva without problem. If the mix is busy, then I put it a 6 ms (256 samples).

I don't think you can get the card new now, but if you can get one used, for like $40-$50, this is the best and cheapest way to get good performance.

edit: Don't get a Focusrite, I've heard their Windows drivers suck. Get a Steinberg ur22 instead, supposedly the best ASIO drivers (after RME, which is much more expensive).

[bcm70]

As I mentioned above I've not had a problem with my 2i4.

Everyone's mileage may vary of course, but I'd happily buy another if this one blew up.

[telecode]

FWIW. I am demoing Diva and also ran into the crackling from the demo. May I just state, this is a really silly feature. I was scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell is failing in my audio setup for the last two days.

[Urs]

FWIW. I am demoing Diva and also ran into the crackling from the demo. May I just state, this is a really silly feature. I was scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell is failing in my audio setup for the last two days.

We're contemplating ocean waves in the future. But maybe then it's so pleasing, people won't see a need to ever buy the stuff.

[telecode]

FWIW. I am demoing Diva and also ran into the crackling from the demo. May I just state, this is a really silly feature. I was scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell is failing in my audio setup for the last two days.

We're contemplating ocean waves in the future. But maybe then it's so pleasing, people won't see a need to ever buy the stuff.

That might entice a new generation to become sound artists as opposed to EDM artists which might be a good thing for art in general.