FL Studio 21 & Ableton Live - Pops/Clicks - Can someone help me?

[Schnickschnack]

Okay, I am getting nuts. Hey people, I hope someone here can help me.
I got FL studio a few weeks ago. Since then I struggle with performance issues and Image Line support has no clue yet.

I get pops/clicks when I disable/enable effects, switch mixer tracks, timestretch, sometimes even when I move around audio clips in the playlist while playing back... I have created a video so you can exactly see what is happening:

please note: at 01:15 there will be a bigger volume increasment due to preset switching, so please turn your volume down!! Sorry for that.

As you can see it all happens only when I play back.

This video was recorded on my desktop computer (Windows 10, intel i5-9400F 2.90 GHz, 16GB ram, okay Nvidia graphic card) using FL studio Asio with a Behringer UCA222 usb audio interface at buffer size 512, sample rate 44100. Asio4all gives the same results. Same behaviour of FL on my lenovo thinkpad with onboard soundcard. FL reports no cpu underruns.

I went through the performance optimization guide and tried out different buffer sizes, sample rates and windows settings (high performance mode, sample rate). Did not help. I created a diagnostics log - could not find any problems.

Then... today I connected a Focusrite Scarlette Solo 3rd Gen to see, if my interface may be the problem. No change, except I get no pops/clicks anymore when I change presets of an instrument. Already tried different buffer sizes and sample rates here too.

(BTW: My headphones sound 10x better with the new interface, so I will keep it. Even though several people adviced me that an interface change would not have a hearable effect to the sound quality.)

Now every time I start FL though, I get this message: "the needed sample rate could not be set" ... I have FL studio in 44100, just as I have in my windows audio settings 44100 (32bit). tried to change to 16bit, but no change.

Then, I downloaded Ableton Live lite to try it there and I get the exact same behaviour when timestretching audio in real time. When i enable/disable effects in Serum, it clicks.

I thought my computer specs are totally fine, but I really dont know what to do anymore. And the weirdest thing: I tried out Ableton not long ago, and I did not have any of these problems on the exact same computer with the exact same setup. What the hell?

Does anyone have any idea what is happening here? I would love so much to finally explore FL, but like that it is just uncomfortable, especially when using headphones.

[osiris]

Adjust your buffer size

[Schnickschnack]

Adjust your buffer size

I went through the performance optimization guide and tried out different buffer sizes, sample rates and windows settings (high performance mode, sample rate). Did not help. I created a diagnostics log - could not find any problems.

[mrcleats]

Try downloading and running latencymon and see what it says...https://www.resplendence.com/downloads

Could be a bad driver, graphics drivers in particular are often the culprit.

[GHOST19]

Now every time I start FL though, I get this message: "the needed sample rate could not be set" ... I have FL studio in 44100, just as I have in my windows audio settings 44100 (32bit). tried to change to 16bit, but no change.

This can happen when another program using your ASIO driver is already open.

Otherwise not everything sounds normal but I don't know why you would expect to sweep a signal through mixer channels transparently.

[Schnickschnack]

Try downloading and running latencymon and see what it says...https://www.resplendence.com/downloads

Could be a bad driver, graphics drivers in particular are often the culprit.

Okay, I will try that. And yea, I was suspecting lately, that it could be the graphic card, I will investigate about that, thank you!

This can happen when another program using your ASIO driver is already open.

Okay, I will look into that. Thanks!
edit: figured it out, you were right!

Otherwise not everything sounds normal but I don't know why you would expect to sweep a signal through mixer channels transparently.

I am not sure if I understand you correctly (English is not my native), but you wonder why I scroll that fast through all the mixer tracks, right? Imagine I have already 15 mixer tracks routed to different channels. To route an unrouted new one to mixer track 16, I would just click and drag like I do on the video from [--] (meaning unrouted) to [16]. In this case I would have to fastly scroll through 1-15.

Or when I have different effect chains on mixer tracks and I want to scroll through them a bit to listen how it affects my channel differently. It's a pretty normal workflow thing in FL studio, I guess and it's not acceptable for me that it pops/clicks, when I go through the mixer channels. It's f**king with my ears when I use headphones and kills the vibe for more quiet / ambient processings for sure.

I was already thinking about ways to work around that, but I cant simply accept, that I bought the DAW for good money and it has hickups already in simple basic task with stock plugins only. For my situation, I had to wait and needed time to save money for that computer, interface, speakers, and the software - so I want to use it properly - flawlessly.

I am almost sure, that all these things have one cause.

[maanga]

Did you try turning off Windows Sounds?
Did you set windows audio out to your DAW sound card? Try sending to built default audio card.
Regards.

[FakeNatty]

change windows power plan to high performance?

[Schnickschnack]

change windows power plan to high performance?

I did that, as you can read in the start post. :p Thanks though !

Did you try turning off Windows Sounds?
Did you set windows audio out to your DAW sound card? Try sending to built default audio card.
Regards.

All Windows Sounds are always off here. First thing I do when setting up a computer.
I just tried to set windows audio to the defaul audio card - did'nt help. But thanks!


---
Just updated the grafic card driver (nvidia gtx 1650) and chose the studio drivers that are optimized for working in creative applications, not for games. No change.

Latencymon is analyzing at the moment. Let's see what it has to tell.

[FakeNatty]

sorry, i didnt pay attention that you already tried high performance plan.

Have you tried to do any firmware reinstall, updates, reset, etc. on the audio interface? Is there another platform you can test the audio interface on?

I had an audient evo 4 before that was clicking and crackling, but later found out it was just the firmware on the evo 4 that caused this. No settings would change it no matter what because it wasn't related to any settings.

[Schnickschnack]

sorry, i didnt pay attention that you already tried high performance plan.

Have you tried to do any firmware reinstall, updates, reset, etc. on the audio interface? Is there another platform you can test the audio interface on?

I had an audient evo 4 before that was clicking and crackling, but later found out it was just the firmware on the evo 4 that caused this. No settings would change it no matter what because it wasn't related to any settings.

I bought the audio interface today and followed the "how to get started" - instructions, nothing more. So it must be up to date. And about a firmware reinstall - I don't even know what that is. I will research for that.

I have a lenovo notebook, where I have the exact same problems using the on board soundcard. I will try the Focusrite Scarlett there tomorrow.

Good night KVR, your help is really appreciated.



edit:

one last thing:

"Your system seems to be having difficulty handling real-time audio and other tasks. You may experience drop outs, clicks or pops due to buffer underruns. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates. LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 1:54:48 (h:mm:ss) on all processors."

As someone who doesnt know much about these things, I have to say this tool is impressive, if that really is what is causing the problem. Will try to make progress there tomorrow!

Whole stats, if someone is interested:

Code: Select all

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system seems to be having difficulty handling real-time audio and other tasks. You may experience drop outs, clicks or pops due to buffer underruns. 
One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power 
management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates. 
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  1:54:48  (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        DESKTOP-9V4PUJ7
OS version:                                           Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 19044 (x64)
Hardware:                                             System Product Name, System manufacturer
BIOS:                                                 2808
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400F CPU @ 2.90GHz
Logical processors:                                   6
Processor groups:                                     1
Processor group size:                                 6
RAM:                                                  16294 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed (WMI):                             2904 MHz
Reported CPU speed (registry):                        2904 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N 
Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the 
interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a 
usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   517,30
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   2,986707

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       487,40
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       0,937463


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              379,913912
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0,009268
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0,011143

ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   139004
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs):               12
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted 
until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              1217,621556
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       ACPI.sys - ACPI-Treiber für NT, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0,002381
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         rspLLL64.sys - Resplendence Latency Monitoring and Auxiliary Kernel Library, Resplendence Software 
Projects Sp.

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0,010951

DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   2169721
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs):              12
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              1
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The 
process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in 
dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count:                 msmpeng.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults                       49764
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          29244
Number of processes hit:                              35


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       48,547471
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs):                379,913912
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s):                   4,605362
CPU 0 ISR count:                                      138985
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs):                1217,621556
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s):                   2,913114
CPU 0 DPC count:                                      1517992
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       33,707410
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs):                144,631887
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,000409
CPU 1 ISR count:                                      31
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs):                189,153581
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,532066
CPU 1 DPC count:                                      204486
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       61,509933
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 2 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs):                179,300620
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,381725
CPU 2 DPC count:                                      171435
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       36,267644
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 3 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs):                168,706956
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,442021
CPU 3 DPC count:                                      186253
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       21,711203
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 4 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs):                164,456267
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,138423
CPU 4 DPC count:                                      49203
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       19,610304
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 5 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs):                172,814738
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,118935
CPU 5 DPC count:                                      40365
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[osiris]

Latency program is great. Thanks for that tip. Maybe, is your microphone input on? Seems I had a similar problem with Audacity then I discovered my mic was on & picking up my mouse clicks . Other than that it does seem like a graphics card issue. Maybe fool around with FL Refresh/Display settings? Good luck.

[GHOST19]

Try downloading and running latencymon and see what it says...https://www.resplendence.com/downloads

Could be a bad driver, graphics drivers in particular are often the culprit.

Okay, I will try that. And yea, I was suspecting lately, that it could be the graphic card, I will investigate about that, thank you!

This can happen when another program using your ASIO driver is already open.

Okay, I will look into that. Thanks!
edit: figured it out, you were right!

Otherwise not everything sounds normal but I don't know why you would expect to sweep a signal through mixer channels transparently.

I am not sure if I understand you correctly (English is not my native), but you wonder why I scroll that fast through all the mixer tracks, right? Imagine I have already 15 mixer tracks routed to different channels. To route an unrouted new one to mixer track 16, I would just click and drag like I do on the video from [--] (meaning unrouted) to [16]. In this case I would have to fastly scroll through 1-15.

Or when I have different effect chains on mixer tracks and I want to scroll through them a bit to listen how it affects my channel differently. It's a pretty normal workflow thing in FL studio, I guess and it's not acceptable for me that it pops/clicks, when I go through the mixer channels. It's f**king with my ears when I use headphones and kills the vibe for more quiet / ambient processings for sure.

I was already thinking about ways to work around that, but I cant simply accept, that I bought the DAW for good money and it has hickups already in simple basic task with stock plugins only. For my situation, I had to wait and needed time to save money for that computer, interface, speakers, and the software - so I want to use it properly - flawlessly.

I am almost sure, that all these things have one cause.

Some things aren't supposed to be done during playback and will mess with the signal. I get small pops too when switching audio channels live. Soloing the channels is my preferred workflow.

[Schnickschnack]

Latency program is great. Thanks for that tip. Maybe, is your microphone input on? Seems I had a similar problem with Audacity then I discovered my mic was on & picking up my mouse clicks . Other than that it does seem like a graphics card issue. Maybe fool around with FL Refresh/Display settings? Good luck.

Microphone input is always off here. I will look into graphic card settings.

Some things aren't supposed to be done during playback and will mess with the signal. I get small pops too when switching audio channels live. Soloing the channels is my preferred workflow.

Yea, okay thats true - I found a shortcut to auto-route a channel to the next free mixer track, which is the easier way to do that anyways. Timestretchin in sampler is something that is not needed to work in realtime too, so that is bearable too.

But when enabling / disabling effects and changing presets of effects I would love to get rid of these pops and think, it's something that should definitely work with my setup.

---
what I did so far:
- updated all my drivers
- updated bios to the newest version
- disabled cpu throttling in bios (disabling cpu turbo modus)
- set graphical animations in fl studio setting to the lowest option

I still have these pops, but at 1024 buffer size it has the best performance so far. I would say, now I can work with it, but it is still not ideal.

So I will now after these changes run latencymon again to see what it says. Tomorrow the Image Line support will be there again and I am looking forward to see if they have some other ideas after all these new setups.

[Schnickschnack]

I am just wondering, since disabling cpu throttling didn't seem to have a perceivable effect for me, should I back to enable it or is it adviced for music production tasks to have it disabled anyway?