Scarlett Audio Interface crackling on playback

[Gomox]

Hey guys When using my Scarlett 18i8 audio interface I hear lots of crackling. Everything was working fine on my previous setup. Now I switched my motherboard to an ASRock Z170 Extreme4 and reinstalled Windows 10. The crackling/distortion increases when my computer gets busy, for example by opening my browser or the explorer.
I've tried different (usb) drivers (scarlett-mixcontrol-1.8, Scarlett MixControl-1.9b4). I've been in contact with the support but unfortunately they've gone quiet for 2 weeks now. I tried all available USB ports on my computer. Also when I try to switch to the Focusrite driver in Cubase I get a BSOD "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" by UAC2Audio.sys

Does anybody have any tips on tricks on how to deal with this?

You can find all relevant information like my settings, setup, latency tests etc. here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

EDIT1: Minidump of the bluescreen that occurs whenever I change to the Focusrite driver in Cubase 8: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19faT ... sp=sharing

EDIT2: I tested it via the USB 2.0 header -> no improvements unfortunately.

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i7 6700K
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 16GB DDR4-3000
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme4
Graphics Card: 8192MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 390 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)
Storage: 465GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (SSD), 465GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 (SATA), 1863GB Western Digital WDC WD20EZRZ-00Z5HB0 (SATA)
CPU Fan: Scythe Mugen 4
Power Unit: bequiet! Straight Power 10 600 Watt
Case: Cooltek Skiron
Bitdefender

[RichieWitch]

I had the same problem with the Scarlett 18i6. Focusrite Support eventually helped me get it fixed by making these two changes:

1) Disconnect every USB device you can live without for a moment. Open computer properties and plug in the Scarlett. You'll see the USB connections change on the properties screen as you plug the interface in. Although you'll have lots of USB ports, you'll only have a few "root" hubs. By plugging and unplugging the interface into different USB ports, you should be able to figure out which physical USB ports connect to which root hub. When you get that all mapped out, plug the Scarlett into a port where it will not share the USB root hub with any other device. The high I/O count of these interfaces can overwhelm the data capacity of the USB hub if there are any other devices sharing that root.

2) Download and install the ASIO4ALL drivers. Yes, this sounds counter-intuitive, but I got this advice from Focusrite directly and it worked perfectly.

[Gomox]

Thanks, I'll definitely try step 1! Already downloaded and installed the ASIO4ALL driver yesterday

[Kaine]

Does it still fall over if you drop the sample rate to 44.1 or 48kHz?

[PurpleSunray]

Clouple of things to try that usually help for me if my Focusrite starts crackling again..

1) Use 44.1kHz sampling rate. 48kHz causes random crackles and blue-screens for me too..
2) Check the USB port - if it is USB3, change it to USB2 port. Try differnt ports.
4) Try attaching a USB (2.0!!) Hub in between the PC and the interface.
3) Check if there is chipset driver and/or BIOS update available for you system

[Gomox]

Thank you for you reply

1) I'll try that.
2) I fear that my Z170 Extreme4 doesn't have any USB2 ports. I've tried all of them.
-> http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170%20E ... ifications
4) I'll see if I can find one.
3) I seem to have the newest driver, but I'll maybe just install the ones from the website again.

[RichieWitch]

2) I fear that my Z170 Extreme4 doesn't have any USB2 ports.

Oooohhh, that could be bad. My 18i6 wouldn't work on a USB3 port.

[PurpleSunray]

Thank you for you reply
2) I fear that my Z170 Extreme4 doesn't have any USB2 ports. I've tried all of them.
-> http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170%20E ... ifications

It has, but on the mainboard only

ftp://europe.asrock.com/Manual/Z170%20Extreme4.pdf
20 USB 2.0 Header (USB_3_4)
21 USB 2.0 Header (USB_1_2)

Also try Mouse/Keayboard USB ports, maybe they are on a USB2 port.

[kb420]

I just got a 2nd gen 18i8 today. I'm actually hooked up to a hub. I'm on a Windows 10 64 bit pc, and I'm not experiencing any pops or clicks. Actually, I was experimenting in Cubase with a demo song that has 40+ tracks, and I did get some pops and clicks when I set the buffer to 128 samples.

{Edit. I went back and reopened that same demo project after I shut down Chrome which had 8 tabs open, and I also shut down Windows media player. Now I can run the same demo at 64 samples with no pops or clicks at all.}

[Gomox]

As PurpleSunray already said I don't have any USB 2.0 ports unfortunately. I tried using an USB 2.0 hub but the interface did not get recognized while being plugged into that hub. I updated my chipset drivers once again. Also tried changing the sampling rate.

When I select the Focusrite driver instead of the asio4all driver in cubase, it crashes immediately into a blue screen. I uploaded the minidump. I hope anybody can still help me out!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19faT ... sp=sharing

EDIT1: Small update: Now I only get sound playback when choosing a 96kHz sample rate, NO playback at all on any of the other sample rates. Sound is still distorted/crackling though..

[PurpleSunray]

When I select the Focusrite driver instead of the asio4all driver in cubase, it crashes immediately into a blue screen. I uploaded the minidump. I hope anybody can still help me out!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19faT ... sp=sharing

EDIT1: Small update: Now I only get sound playback when choosing a 96kHz sample rate, NO playback at all on any of the other sample rates. Sound is still distorted/crackling though..

Only Focusrite will be able to do something usefull with that minidump (we don't have the source code of their drivers ).

Unfortunately this is also my experince with Focusrite...
Their hardware is really nice, but their software sucks balls.
Have a Saffire6, but can't use it anymore since upgrade to Win10. Hardware works fine (still works in Win7), but I cannot get the driver working properly on Win10. Bluescreens all the time. Also had a Scarlett for some time (sent it back), but same "crackling" issue like you have, on anything else than 44.1kHz.

[Gomox]

When I select the Focusrite driver instead of the asio4all driver in cubase, it crashes immediately into a blue screen. I uploaded the minidump. I hope anybody can still help me out!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19faT ... sp=sharing

EDIT1: Small update: Now I only get sound playback when choosing a 96kHz sample rate, NO playback at all on any of the other sample rates. Sound is still distorted/crackling though..

Only Focusrite will be able to do something usefull with that minidump (we don't have the source code of their drivers ).

Unfortunately this is also my experince with Focusrite...
Their hardware is really nice, but their software sucks balls.
Have a Saffire6, but can't use it anymore since upgrade to Win10. Hardware works fine (still works in Win7), but I cannot get the driver working properly on Win10. Bluescreens all the time. Also had a Scarlett for some time (sent it back), but same "crackling" issue like you have, on anything else than 44.1kHz.

That's really unfortunate =/ I love the hardware as well but the software has been giving me problems EVERY TIME I reinstalled windows on my machine.

[Gomox]

Tried using a 2.0 USB hub, didn't help unfortunately.

[Kaine]

The Focusrite (well a lot of brands still) can be picky on USB 3 and USB 2 hub plugged into a USB 3 port will be far worse.

If you can test a USB2 header off the board somehow, it might solve it.

[Gomox]

The Focusrite (well a lot of brands still) can be picky on USB 3 and USB 2 hub plugged into a USB 3 port will be far worse.

If you can test a USB2 header off the board somehow, it might solve it.

I have a usb header on my motherboard - what would be away to test it using that?