Old 09-13-2019, 08:49 AM   #1
edgeey
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Default Sound Cuts Out

I am a new user to Reaper. I have experience using film editing software like Final Cut and I was looking for something similar when looking for a DAW. Reaper seems to fit that bill, however, I am having some issues with Reaper and my sound Card.

When I am in Reaper sometimes the sound will stop. The levels will still be moving, the track still playing, but nothing out of the speakers. My monitor has built in speakers and i will switch to that to see if the sound is still working and it does come out of the monitor's speakers (but not all the time).

My sound card is:Sound BlasterX AE-5 I am working on a PC with windows 10s latest upgrade.
Under Audio Device Settings I have tried all the different options including currently WASAPI (windows7/8/10/Vista) Shared mode etc.

I'm beginning to think that you can't have anything else that uses the sound card at the same time. Sometimes I am doing multiple things and I may have a music player on, or streaming a movie while working in Reaper. If I let Reaper sit idle for a little bit then return to it, the problems start happening but it is inconsistent and hard to recreate this problem perfectly but the only consistent thing is that eventually the sound does cut out for sure. Restarting the pc, or sound card driver or even reinstalling Reaper will always fix the problem, but obviously I can't do that every time I want to use Reaper.

Along with the problem I noticed that Reaper will suddenly have a message just under the minimize/close buttons in the upper right corner that says "audio device closed". Seems like when it's working the message has some kind of audio description Like 48kHz....etc. Not sure if this message has something to do with the issue?

Another thing I noticed is that intermittently, I can't play my M4A files from windows explorer using the default windows player. I used to be able to do this but now it doesn't work and I will need to drag the file into Reaper to be able to hear it.

All of these symptoms seem to be pointing to a Reaper/sound card or driver issue? but I am not sure what else to do. Would be grateful for any help before I try switching to another DAW
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Old 09-13-2019, 09:40 AM   #2
toleolu
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Are you using any type of audio interface, or is everything going through your Sound Blaster?

Generally speaking, depending on how much horsepower your computer has, and what you're doing in Reaper, you'll want to limit other programs running while you work in Reaper. It's really more of a performance issue than anything else, but having other windows open will occasionally cause the "audio device closed" message in Reaper. Has something to do with which open window has focus. If you get that message, and then it clears when you click anywhere in the Reaper window, that means another program had control over your audio device.

If you're using an audio interface of some type along with your sound card, check your windows sound settings and make sure the sound card is set as your default windows playback device. Reaper wont care what the windows default is since it goes by what's set in Reaper Device preferences.
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Old 09-13-2019, 10:09 AM   #3
edgeey
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Thanks so much for the response! Everything is going through sound blaster for the moment. The PC is pretty robust I have attached the specs. No audio interface for now. I do plan on getting one.
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Old 09-13-2019, 10:12 AM   #4
edgeey
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PC config
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Old 09-13-2019, 11:19 AM   #5
toleolu
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For starters, since you're basically using just the sound card, try simplifying things by just running Reaper, close everything else, and see how that works.

Just curious, the speakers you mentioned that were built into your monitor (meaning your display, not monitor speakers) are those speakers connected to the sound card, or is your monitor connected via an HDMI cable? If your audio for the display speakers is coming in on the HDMI connection, you may want to check your windows sound settings and see which device Windows is using as the default audio playback device. I suspect you're going to want your Sound Blaster set as the default playback device.

You didn't mention what you were doing for recording, how are you connecting your input, the line in on the sound card, or a USB mic or something similar?
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Old 09-13-2019, 04:44 PM   #6
edgeey
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Thanks so much Toleolu.

I just restarted the PC, only opened Reaper and it worked for a few seconds of play back then it cut out again. I went to the options menu selected Direct Sound for my audio device and it is working right now.

The Monitor sound is coming through the HDMI.
Yes I have Sound blaster as the default but when the sound cuts out I toggle it over to the monitor and sometimes the sound works with that.

I am basically just using my phone to record an instrument (M4A files) and then using Reaper to cut together these rough recordings to make a rough sketch of a song.
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Old 09-13-2019, 04:50 PM   #7
edgeey
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The Sound just cut out again! I then went to preferences switched Audio/Device back to WASAPI Changed mode to exclusive mode and now it works again.
This is so frustrating!
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Old 09-13-2019, 06:41 PM   #8
toleolu
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When you record, is your phone acting more or less like a microphone?
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Old 09-13-2019, 09:44 PM   #9
edgeey
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yes again it's just rough recordings and I figure I can at the very least cut and paste together files that I can import with no issues? To be clear I am not using the phone to record into the software I am taking finished recorded files from the phone and pulling them into Reaper with no problem and trying to cut and paste the files together.

So I left to take care of some things for about 4 hours. Left reaper open. Didn't open any other programs including browsers and the sound is not working again. Changed the Preferences Audio Device Settings to ASIO ( just changing it to something different each time) Still didn't work.
Restarted the program and now it works.

Sounds like something buggy with the software no?

Last edited by edgeey; 09-13-2019 at 09:51 PM.
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Old 09-13-2019, 09:55 PM   #10
toleolu
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OK, so your phone is plugged into your computer, you're capturing audio from the phone directly to a track in Reaper, and everything with the recording part is ok. When you play the track, the audio drops out sometimes.

If that's correct, there may be something with the way your phone is encoding the audio. Just a guess off the top of my head.

As a test, if you have some audio from the phone on a track in Reaper that drops out, try rendering that track as a .wav audio file, then place that rendered file on a track in Reaper and see if it plays OK.
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Old 09-13-2019, 09:59 PM   #11
edgeey
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No Phone is not connected in any way. using it as a recording device. Pulling the files into Reaper.
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Old 09-13-2019, 10:01 PM   #12
edgeey
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The way reaper is just not playing the sound ( the play levels and cursor are all still moving, just cuts speakers out) and the fact that I can get it to work sometimes then it cuts out on its own and then works again tells me its, Reaper, or compatibility with sound card driver or sound card itself, right?
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Old 09-13-2019, 11:31 PM   #13
toleolu
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Yes, could be a driver issue, could also be something the way the phone is encoding the audio. I'm assuming your talking just audio, no video right.

If you render one of those files as a .wav or something, and that file plays ok, then it would seem the drivers are ok, there's just something about how your phone encodes the audio that Reaper is having trouble with.

Just a quick test to try to eliminate things. Sometimes eliminating things is the best way to find the source of the problem.
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Old 09-14-2019, 12:30 PM   #14
edgeey
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yes no video.
Ok thanks for all of the help!
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Old 09-14-2019, 01:05 PM   #15
toleolu
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Just a suggestion for now, but as you work through this problem, I would suggest making the Sound Blaster your default playback device in both Windows and Reaper for now, just to take one variable out of the mix.

I've got an older Sound Blaster card in my system left over from my gaming days, I don't use it for Reaper, but in my Reaper Preferences>>Devices I have ASIO as the Audio System, and under ASIO Driver, I have one called Creatvie SBC Series ASIO. That's the SoundBlaster ASIO driver.

Do you see anything like that in your Device Settings? If you see something under ASIO that references an ASIO driver for your Sound Blaster, you might give that a try.

Last edited by toleolu; 09-14-2019 at 01:14 PM.
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Old 09-14-2019, 01:53 PM   #16
OovooJaver
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too long didn't read.

Don't know if that has been answered already: If you crank up the volume on tracks Reaper stops playback if you exceed a certain limit to avoid possible hardware damage. You can see the exceeding Dezibel value above the Track volume bar in red.
It goes away when you click on the red numbers, but when it exceeds the loudness again, the playback stops again. You will have to adapt the setings so you don't exceed the 0 Dezibel mark and adjust the loudness on your hardware or windows mixer.
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Old 09-15-2019, 09:31 AM   #17
edgeey
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thank you OovooJaver!
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