Old 03-01-2012, 08:50 PM   #1
crazedmetzfan
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Default ASIO Crackling/Popping

I attached a text document that ASIO4ALL created for me detailing some of my hardware specs in addition to all of the information below.

I have installed, uninstalled and re-installed ASIO out of concern that maybe it was simply a mis-instillation but that doesn't seem to be the case. I am recording into a PreSonus Firestudio Project (http://www.presonus.com/products/det...x?productid=43) which is going via firewire into my HP Pavilion a6560t with 3.0GB of RAM and an Intel Core2 Duo 2.6GHz processor. I am using Reaper as a DAW. (http://www.reaper.fm/)

The problem I am encountering is the following, I have set reaper up to run audio playback through the ASIO Driver under the Audio Device options of Reaper. While recording I occasionally experienced "hiccups" in recording, i.e. a crackle or a sudden lag and then it would speed back up and catch up with itself. I discovered that when I disabled all of the plugins that were running it would recording with no crackling sounds at any time during the recording. However now I am trying to edit. I have 16 tracks open, 4 of these tracks are running Guitar Rig 4 as a plug-in. 8 of the tracks are drum tracks running basic plug-ins (EQ, Compressor, Reverb, Trigger).

Every time I start to playback the song my CPU usage spikes to 95-100% and hovers above 95% until I hit stop and then it drops to around 50% with the program still open but not playing anything back. My computer doesn't not usually suffer from high CPU usage issues. The RAM used is around 2.1GB of my 3.0GB of RAM and it usually hovers around 2.1GB when running this program and it too also doesn't drop.

There is also no icon in my system tray for the ASIO Driver. I tried attempting to go into ASIO through the audio device menu in Reaper and when I hit the ASIO Configuration button nothing opens up.

I also tried running it just without ASIO on but going through the Firestudio interface and it runs fine with all the plug-ins active. As soon as I turn on ASIO as my audio device in Reaper rather than selecting WaveOut the problems begin. It becomes bogged down, junky, and the playback takes around 2 seconds to play through a full second in the song and it sounds almost similar to if you listened to a low bit rate song, like 50kbs or lower and then put some crackles in there and slow it down. Not very enjoyable! Haha.

Please offer any advice you can and feel free to ask as many questions as needed!
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Old 03-02-2012, 09:54 AM   #2
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why are you not using the firestudio ASIO driver?

Forgot to say also that it sounds like you have your audio buffer set too low for your system.

In reaper go to options preferences audio device and click on ASIO config. Set your buffers up around 512 and although you will have a lot more latency (lag between playing a note and it returning through your monitors) you should lose the rice crispies.

If you really cannot get decent performance from the supplied ASIO drivers of your interface, don't waste your time with ASIO4ALL, try the alternative WASAPI drivers in the aforementioned options/preferences/audio/device setting.
The dropdown menu that initially shows ASIO will include something like WASAPI (experimental) but even though it is experimental it works great for me on my mobile rig - Win7 32bit 2gb ram dual core 1.6 with a saffire6 usb interface will run at 64 buffer on reasonably sized projects.

Last edited by ivansc; 03-02-2012 at 10:01 AM.
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Old 03-03-2012, 03:52 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by ivansc View Post
why are you not using the firestudio ASIO driver?
What would I select from the dropdown menu to use the Firestudio ASIO driver? I though ASIO4ALL was just to eliminate latency? Would my Firestudio interface do that if I used it's ASIO driver?
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Old 03-03-2012, 04:08 PM   #4
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Yup, you have a real asio card, asio4all is junk.

Go into conrol panel and switch processes to background services, by doing that I can run my card at the lowest setting, it was a big difference.
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Old 03-04-2012, 07:14 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RunBeerRun View Post
asio4all is junk.
No, it's not...

Some native asio drivers are junk though, and then asio4all can make a whole lot of difference. I get significantly better performance for my Lexicon Lambda interface with asio4all, than I do with the native asio drivers.

But then... always try the native drivers first, and if they work fine, just use them. If they don't, then try asio4all.
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Old 03-04-2012, 08:53 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by RunBeerRun View Post
Go into control panel and switch processes to background services, by doing that I can run my card at the lowest setting, it was a big difference.
And where in the control panel do I find this option? Is it under
Control Panel<Performance<Advanced<Adjust Appearence and Performance<Advanced ???
I attached an image of the screen I arrived at.
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Old 03-04-2012, 09:27 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fabian View Post
No, it's not...

Some native asio drivers are junk though, and then asio4all can make a whole lot of difference. I get significantly better performance for my Lexicon Lambda interface with asio4all, than I do with the native asio drivers.

But then... always try the native drivers first, and if they work fine, just use them. If they don't, then try asio4all.
(grin) So sorry you have the Lambda. My brother gave up on ever getting his to run right.

I am 100% in agreement with both of you on ASIO4ALL.
If your existing drivers work it is worth a try but do bear in mind that it was written as a wrapper to fool the DAW into thinking the native (naff) windoze drivers are ASIO.
But in the vast majority of cases modern equipment, which your lambda is not, will work better with its own drivers.

Frankly he would do equally well and more reliably with the WASAPI drivers IF his interface's ASIO is not working well.
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Old 03-04-2012, 09:37 AM   #8
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After reading this thread, I am getting the idea that it is possible that the OP never installed the proper asio driver for his interface. Maybe look into downloading and installing the most current driver.
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Old 08-31-2014, 11:52 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RunBeerRun View Post
Yup, you have a real asio card, asio4all is junk.

Go into conrol panel and switch processes to background services, by doing that I can run my card at the lowest setting, it was a big difference.
You said to switch processes to background services...How exactly does one do that?
Thanks
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Old 08-31-2014, 01:15 PM   #10
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Default Giving up on Reaper

I also get the annoying snap crackles and pops. I tried everything from ASIO all in one, Audiobox ASIO, WASAPPI, and all others. Never have this problem with Sonar X1...but very sound bad with Reaper. I can run without pops, but the latency is so great, It's unplayable...I am using Windows 8 with intel i7. I mean, sheeze!!! What's the use of having a great sound card (Audiobox 22VSL) and Komplete 9, when I cannot even create a layered sound without so much lag and popping and crackling?

What can I do?

I have also tried changing background performance and everything, but nothing helps.

I think I'll just go back to using Sonar X1.

Anyone?
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Old 03-11-2021, 07:07 PM   #11
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Default Crackling noise

1) The crackling noise is a "Trend"
2) Reaper hasnt posted a comment FROM THEM... saying that, a) "this is the symptom" and b) "these are the possible fixes

Reaper is a pain in the butt (almost) .... EVERY .... TIME ... I try to use it.

Tonight ... ZERO RESPONSE FROM ANY EFFECTS ..... NONE...

I'm using a template studio that I re-open every time.
But tonight..... fishing expedition 457

The ONLY reason that I cant bitch is that the price is cheap.... but the product and the support are cheap too.

u...n......r...e...l...i...a...b...l...e......

first I got not signal response...
the fix?..... close the program... open it again.... and all good
and now no FX
I cant afford a REAL ... DAW..... as in a REAL "Tool".... you know ..like a truck that always starts... or a saw that always cuts....

I will continue to struggle with this unreliable pos.... and save up for a program that I can expect / require works

If reaper made airplanes... we'd all be dead
troll all you want
junk is junk

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Old 03-11-2021, 10:59 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DrummerJim View Post
1) The crackling noise is a "Trend"
2) Reaper hasnt posted a comment FROM THEM... saying that, a) "this is the symptom" and b) "these are the possible fixes
That's because there are multiple possible causes and therefore multiple fixes, and they're not all Reaper's fault. I know it's frustrating when you just want to make some music and instead you have problems, but venting won't fix anything either.

Post your setup - computer specs and interface - and it'll be possible to attempt troubleshooting.
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Old 03-12-2021, 01:58 AM   #13
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DrummerJim: Just in case you arent simply doing this stuff to wind people up, may I suggest you try the FREE DAW from Bandcamp? Cakewalk is a fully mature DAW that has been around for literally decades & in general works fine.

Logically, since you don`t seem to be able to work with Reaper, it would be far more useful for you to switch to another, more conventional software - like Cakewalk.

To everyone else: Just in case he really IS trolling, let`s resist the temptation to respond.
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Old 03-12-2021, 04:33 AM   #14
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Things like this are usually driver related, and by that I mean any driver, could be wifi, graphics etc.

What happens is that a driver creates a call for resource and then hogs the thread waiting for a response, this may only take a millisecond, but as smooth audio requires at least 44100 samples to be played per second, a ms of latency can be a big problem.

Normal users and even gamers will generally not notice this.

This is why PC is a minefield for audio, and I say this as a PC user.
Mac has an advantage in that the OS knows exactly what components will be in the system, and they can vet all the drivers themselves. Microsoft can't do this, because it's an open ecosystem.
I've had to replace graphics cards and even motherboards to solve this. Unfortunately this also means that some laptop models are inherently compromised, and can never be fixed.

So, as for solutions. Go to device manager and disable things like wifi adapters, and see if you see any improvement. It could be as a result of a dodgy usb peripheral, such as a webcam, so try unplugging everything and see if it improves.

Plugins can also be an issue, so make sure to look in the performance window in reaper, and keep an eye on the RT CPU value. This will tell you if you are near to a dropout, and if you add a pluigin and this suddenly increases, you have found a problem.
I recently had a big issue with Console 1, where an update caused it to add 20% to the RT CPU value, which made some projects unplayable. They have since fixed this issue, and it's performing nicely.

Another thing to keep in mind is record arming tracks with plugins either on them, or inside them.
When you reccord arm a track, reaper puts more resource into it, to reduce the latency of that track in particular. This is so that you can play a keyboard into it with much lower latency than the rest of the track.
If you're not playing a keyboard live into a track and it has plugins on it, you're wasting RT CPU resource, and this can mean the difference between a project playing fine or crackling.
For example, I ran into performance issues because I had a track armed inside my drum folder. This meant that reaper was putting the whole folder into low latency mode, and as the drum folder contained lots of high latency high cost FX, like limiters, the project struggled to play. Disarming the track allowed the project to play with no issues.
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Old 03-12-2021, 05:45 AM   #15
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Before I put this old thread to sleep:

Dropouts/crackling/other audio artifacts amd stability issues are the most ubiquitous complaints about absolutely every DAW software there is and what they all have in common is that a number of people hitting the forums with such a problem...

- ask how they can fix that problem but fail to provide even the most basic information needed to help them

- don't ask why they have the problem and blame the host software and say "fix your DAW" right away, often they...

- blame the host software because "the other software I use doesn't have that problem".

But like I said, this pattern is can be found in any support forum of any (not only) DAW software existing. This is because the actual problem is in 99.9% of all cases not the host software per se but a constellation of causes and contributing factors to be identified. The conclusion that DAW B must be broken/crap because DAW A runs fine is understandable but almost always a logical fallacy that takes you as far away from a solution as it gets.

The number of possible actual causes for this kind of problems is huge because it can be just about everything between the mains plug of the computer and the user's chair. Troubleshooting this requires a very deep understanding of all of these components (except chairs maybe) but if you have at least enough of that knowledge to try and rule out a few things, if you have some Google-Fu, all leading to you asking some of the right questions, chances are good that you find the culprit on your own or in a short exchange with support or the forum experts.

If you're not that tech-savvy kind of person - troubleshooting this is often incredibly tedious for everyone involved because it requires a lot of information from the affected users who often don't know what kind of information is required and helpers have to pull every bit of information out of the affected users noses. This is not a problem if people actually ask questions, read the replies they're given and provide the requested information or at least ask how they can get it, and if have a generally friendly and open attitude and say thanks to the volunteers trying to go through that kind of trouble for/with them.

If you're easily frustrated, if you're more into venting that frustration than finding a solution, if you're the "that doesn't work, someone fix that NOW or else" kind of person or if you can't accept that the problem is very, complex and very, very likely not what you think it is - your chances of solving the problem with the help of volunteering forum members or a support channel are rather dim. Your best bets might be either using DAW A that worked, trying to find a tech-savvy friend/relative/person in the neighborhood who could do some hands-on troubleshooting for you on your computer (despite your attitude with these things), or consider a hardware recorder.
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