Old 07-02-2021, 06:13 AM   #1
bobeschism
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Default Crackles with Record Monitoring

Howdy, I need some help please. I've been happily using Reaper with a Presonus Studio 24c but realising I needed more ins/outs, bought a Presonus Studio 1810c which arrived today.

When I arm a track to record guitar I get audible digital crackles even with the meters barely hitting -18db. This occurs no matter which input on the interface that I use. If I disconnect the 1810 and reconnect my 24c, which uses the same drivers there are no issues.

Video of the issue here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17t3...dOlQoPHiC/view

I've tried reinstalling the drivers, upping the buffer/block size to 1024, 512, 256, changing the sample rates between 44.1, 48 and 96kHz, even trying different cables but the problem persists.
In Reaper I've tried going into Audio preferences and ticking/unticking "Pre-zero output buffers" and "Ignore ASIO reset measures".

The 1810 uses an additional Surface Control mixer app for the ins and outs. If I try just using that without Reaper, there are no crackles. If I disable monitoring in Reaper and just have the Surface Control, there are NO crackles, but that means I can't record with effects on the track, which is what I want to do. If I record directly into my audio editor there are no crackles, so there must be something that I'm missing in Reaper?

Can anyone help please?

Last edited by bobeschism; 07-02-2021 at 06:32 AM.
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Old 07-02-2021, 07:35 AM   #2
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Did you enable anticipative fx processing and live fx multiprocessing in prefs/buffer?

Raise the latter value by one and start playback until you notice a difference or you can arm and disarm tracks without a significant increase.

You can use the performance meter (right click to enable RTCPU) to measure the change.
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Old 07-02-2021, 08:02 AM   #3
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They were already ticked. I tried unticking them with the same result, and ticking and changing the numbers. No change unfortunately.

This is with an empty song with cpu at 0.2% by the way - I was having no issues with the 24c on a song with 8+ vsts, multiple fx and multiple audio tracks.

Appreciate the suggestion, many thanks.

I've also discovered that even if I record with monitor input disabled, the resulting recording still has the digital crackles.
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Old 07-02-2021, 10:06 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobeschism View Post
Howdy, I need some help please. I've been happily using Reaper with a Presonus Studio 24c but realising I needed more ins/outs, bought a Presonus Studio 1810c which arrived today.

When I arm a track to record guitar I get audible digital crackles even with the meters barely hitting -18db. This occurs no matter which input on the interface that I use. If I disconnect the 1810 and reconnect my 24c, which uses the same drivers there are no issues.

Video of the issue here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17t3...dOlQoPHiC/view

I've tried reinstalling the drivers, upping the buffer/block size to 1024, 512, 256, changing the sample rates between 44.1, 48 and 96kHz, even trying different cables but the problem persists.
In Reaper I've tried going into Audio preferences and ticking/unticking "Pre-zero output buffers" and "Ignore ASIO reset measures".

The 1810 uses an additional Surface Control mixer app for the ins and outs. If I try just using that without Reaper, there are no crackles. If I disable monitoring in Reaper and just have the Surface Control, there are NO crackles, but that means I can't record with effects on the track, which is what I want to do. If I record directly into my audio editor there are no crackles, so there must be something that I'm missing in Reaper?

Can anyone help please?
How do you have sample rate clock sync connected and selected?
I don't think those interfaces have word clock, so one of the digital connections? You need to choose one as master clock and slave the other to it. That means selecting the digital input for clock source on the slave interface.

Then how are you connecting to the system in Reaper? Did you make an aggregate device with your OS audio utility, add the two interfaces, then select the aggregate device in Reaper?

That's the basic SOP. Sync sample rate clocks to one device. Make an aggregate device of multiple audio interfaces with your OS audio utility and then select the aggregate device in Reaper instead of one of the single interfaces.
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Old 07-02-2021, 10:25 AM   #5
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No no, they don't have to sync - the intention isn't to have 2 audio interfaces. The 1810 is meant to be a replacement. I only disconnected the 1810c and reconnected the 24c to ensure that the problem wasn't elsewhere in the system (cables/leads etc) and I used the exact same settings in Reaper. The 24c had not a single crackle.
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Old 07-02-2021, 11:08 AM   #6
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Oh OK!

The new interface really seems like a DOA but then it suddenly works with it's own control panel app?

Reaper has some alternate control options just for this kind of scenario.
First choice is to control your connected audio interface(s) from the Reaper control panel on the Preferences/Audio/Device page.

To disable control from Reaper and allow something else to take over, untick the boxes next to sample rate and block size. Now go to the 3rd party control panel and make those settings there.

Further option:
You can select <default system devices> from the device menu (Audio/Device page) instead of your interface directly. Then go to your OS audio control panel and run the system settings from there.
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Old 07-02-2021, 11:55 AM   #7
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I've already tried your suggestions, but thanks anyway. Running out of options here!
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Old 07-02-2021, 12:10 PM   #8
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Just looked at their web page...

They state that the supported OS can be no older than 10.13 for OSX and can only be Windows 10 64 bit for Windows.

Got one of those?

Did you in fact try control from Reaper first? (Tick the boxes for both sample rate and block size and enter the values.)
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Old 07-02-2021, 06:30 PM   #9
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Well this is of course the place to start if you haven't covered all the basics yet: https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/
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Old 07-02-2021, 07:48 PM   #10
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He said his older interface still works well.
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Old 07-02-2021, 09:44 PM   #11
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Thinking it over in pretty "Bonehead..." terms -

Seems like you are hearing what is coming out of the L/R "Main..." outputs. Is that assumption correct?

If so, the two "Headphone..." outs on the unit. Same exact sound? Compromised sound that is similar but not exactly the same?

If you set up a physical output send(seems like there are four additional "Line" outputs...), do you hear the same noise if you run those outputs into the monitors?
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Old 07-02-2021, 09:49 PM   #12
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One other "Bonehead..." thought -

This "Guitar" signal that is running into the Presonus. Guitar cable plugged right in? Direct box running to the microphone inputs?
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Old 07-03-2021, 12:27 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
Just looked at their web page...

They state that the supported OS can be no older than 10.13 for OSX and can only be Windows 10 64 bit for Windows.

Got one of those?

Did you in fact try control from Reaper first? (Tick the boxes for both sample rate and block size and enter the values.)
Win 10 64. Yes tried controlling from Reaper. Tried every permutation of ticked and unticked sample rate and block size.
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Old 07-03-2021, 12:28 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by numberthirty View Post
Thinking it over in pretty "Bonehead..." terms -

Seems like you are hearing what is coming out of the L/R "Main..." outputs. Is that assumption correct?

If so, the two "Headphone..." outs on the unit. Same exact sound? Compromised sound that is similar but not exactly the same?

If you set up a physical output send(seems like there are four additional "Line" outputs...), do you hear the same noise if you run those outputs into the monitors?
Getting the same from both headphone outs. Yes, using L/R Main, and I've tried outs from the other two line outs. Same crackling.
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Old 07-03-2021, 12:31 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by numberthirty View Post
One other "Bonehead..." thought -

This "Guitar" signal that is running into the Presonus. Guitar cable plugged right in? Direct box running to the microphone inputs?
Guitar cable plugged directly in. Also tried via a pre-amp>compressor (my usual tracking chain). Crackles.
Tried a mic in as well. Same crackles (through headphones).

I'm welcoming any suggestions of things I might have missed, bonehead or not, so thanks for this!

Last edited by bobeschism; 07-03-2021 at 12:38 AM.
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Old 07-03-2021, 12:44 AM   #16
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One other thing that did come to mind...

It seems like there is an older version of the "Universal Control..." software.

If it was me?

I would probably try everything all over with that software just to see if I could duplicate the exact issue.

Past that -

Is the power supply from the 1810c in play? I would almost wonder if it might not be that. Probably no, but you never can tell.
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Old 07-03-2021, 03:12 AM   #17
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Is the power supply from the 1810c in play? I would almost wonder if it might not be that. Probably no, but you never can tell.
SOLUTION!!

Tried swapping mains power but that wasn't it.
But it got me thinking on the right track, as the 24C is bus-powered, but the 1810 is mains.
I was using the USB C to USB C input on my laptop (which worked fine with the 24c). I tried using the alternate supplied USB C to USB A cable on a different port and....no crackles!! I then tried a second 2nd USB C to USB C cable back in the original port and...no crackles! Holy crap.

Tested and retested to make sure it was that. (And retested the dodgy cable with my 24C and still wasn't getting any crackles, so go figure!)

Thank you so much to everyone who offered suggestions. Apologies that it wasn't a Reaper issue after all.
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Old 07-03-2021, 07:47 AM   #18
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Congratulations on finding the issue!

Did I read that the same cable worked on the older interface but fails with the new one?

I've seen USB cable failures before that had an intermittent quality or a reduced bandwidth quality. I imagine it's a noise issue. Perhaps the shielding or some other defect or damage.

Anyone know of cable testers that would identify this kind of thing with digital signal cables? This is probably going to come up a lot more often with that shit USB-C connector that's trying to be popular right now.

Troubleshooting this kind of stuff gets into weird telltales! I had a bad USB cable once that resulted in a 22 channel USB interface not passing signal on only the last 10 channels. Everything else was there and there was stable audio. (At least for the moments it was running like that and I was standing there saying WTF.)

This is why cables are always first on the troubleshooting tree.
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Old 07-03-2021, 11:19 AM   #19
bobeschism
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Yessir, and because it was working fine with the old interface, I'd omitted it from the "things to try replacing" list. Lesson learned: "Assume nothing, check EVERYTHING"!

Thanks again for giving your time to help me to sort this out.
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Old 07-03-2021, 03:32 PM   #20
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Good to hear that this one worked itself out.
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Old 08-14-2021, 11:35 AM   #21
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Please mark this thread as solved
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