Old 12-04-2018, 03:51 PM   #1
BrianM1991
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Default Audio issues

Ok everything had worked before I had moved and now my mics are getting a white noise sound. When I try to record the waveform is basically a straight line. I thought it might be my focusrite interface so I tried a mic with phantom power and one the didn’t need it. Since both of those had the same issues I tried my Samson usb mic and still had these issues. Stuff even like my akai mpk sometimes will have a horrible distorted sound. I know it’s not the outlet because I unplugged the laptop. I’m at a loss at what this could possibly be. Any help would be appreciated.
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Old 12-04-2018, 06:50 PM   #2
drumphil
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Can you post pictures of your reaper audio preferences with the focusrite, and with the USB mic?

Do you know how to configure the audio preferences and switch from the focusrite to the USB mic and vice versa?
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Old 12-04-2018, 08:08 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drumphil View Post
Can you post pictures of your reaper audio preferences with the focusrite, and with the USB mic?

Do you know how to configure the audio preferences and switch from the focusrite to the USB mic and vice versa?




yeah I know how to switch them
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Old 12-04-2018, 11:46 PM   #4
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Definitely a bit odd. If it was the audio interface, you'd think the problem would go away when switching to the USB mic.

Can you think of anything else that might have changed, or anything you've changed about the way you are doing things that could possibly be related?

Have you had a look in the windows task manager to check if something else is chewing up large amounts of CPU time?

Also, get the resplendence DPC latency monitor utility which should tell you if the drivers for something are taking too long to respond interrupting the audio system long enough to cause glitches.

Last edited by drumphil; 12-05-2018 at 02:14 AM.
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Old 12-05-2018, 02:57 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianM1991 View Post
Stuff even like my akai mpk sometimes will have a horrible distorted sound...
Have you checked Windows' audio settings?

If levels change, I suppose Windows is trying to auto-adjust between mic and line level. Throw in some noise reduction and you have very strange behaviour.

And sometimes that kicks in because you have disconnected everything from your computer and Windows decides to rearrange.
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Old 12-05-2018, 03:06 AM   #6
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Check what you are actually recording - should be something like
Record: input (Audio or MIDI)
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Old 12-05-2018, 11:37 AM   #7
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Ok well the line and xlr input have white noise. My mpk hasn’t had issues today. I had distorted audio coming from headphones until I plugged directly into the computer. I tried to reinstall driver for focusrite and it didn’t help. Still not sure why the audio recording is almost a straight line and no waves and I can still hear the audio with the the white noise sound behind it. The distorted sound isn’t always there but the white noise sound is. The midi keyboard distorted once and has been clean sounding since.
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Old 12-05-2018, 06:54 PM   #8
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Do you have access to another computer? Testing on another system would be a good way to verify that nothing is broken inside the focusrite.

Quote:
My mpk hasn’t had issues today.
Was that using the focusrite or the on board sound as the audio output? The akai is just a midi controller. It doesn't actually do any of the sound generation or playback.

What asio buffer size are you using with the focusrite? Could it be that your computer can't keep up with a really small buffer size?

Have you looked at cpu load in task manager? Have you used the resplendence DPC latency monitor utility? What are your computers specs? Which focusrite interface do you have?

Try and be as methodical as possible in describing exactly what you are trying. What synth plugin are you using with the akai? How does cpu usage look when playing it?

Last edited by drumphil; 12-05-2018 at 07:06 PM.
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Old 12-19-2018, 04:22 PM   #9
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Still haven’t found a resolution. If it was the audio interface I should be able to use my usb mic. The software plugins work but the tuner on them don’t pick up the mics like they used to. The straight line when recording has never been a problem before. I can still hear the recording but it’s not making the waves forms if I yell into it it will make a very small wave. I almost wonder if it’s a computer issue than a gear issue.
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Old 12-19-2018, 07:14 PM   #10
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You might have a USB power issue. Try unplugging any nonessential USB devices. If the problem gets better it's likely that your PCs USB power is overloaded.

If that helps, consider getting a powered USB3 hub to plug all the other stuff into (mice, keyboard, wifi stick, etc.). Note that many audio interfaces don't work well on a hub; keep those pkugged direct.
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Old 12-20-2018, 03:39 AM   #11
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Well, I can't offer any more help until you've answered my questions and checked the things I listed.

Test everything that can be tested. Don't avoid testing anything that can be easily tested because you think it shouldn't be the problem.

Don't hold back information because you can't immediately see how it could be relevant.

This could take a long time if you only post every couple of weeks with a tiny bit more information each time.

Last edited by drumphil; 12-20-2018 at 03:48 AM.
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