14: Crackling when recording or playing with backing tracks

FractalAudio said:
I can't reproduce this using a variety of computers and OS's. My guess is that it is simply clipping. If you run 0 dB from the computer audio source you're pushing the Axe-Fx internal signal value close to clipping. Then when you play over this the signal addition will push you into clipping. You should turn down the signal level from the computer. I always run around -10 dB from the computer to avoid this. If you are using something like iTunes or Windows Medial Player just turn the volume slider to about halfway.
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I can assure you that I am definitely not clipping. I record at -8Db to give me plenty of headroom for compression and mastering etc. I don't have CPU inducing presets and I don't have Axe Edit, Fractal Bot or Cab Lab open. It was my understanding that Mavericks fixed the audio USB buffer issues?
 
Fabio KTG said:
I can assure you that I am definitely not clipping. I record at -8Db to give me plenty of headroom for compression and mastering etc. I don't have CPU inducing presets and I don't have Axe Edit, Fractal Bot or Cab Lab open. It was my understanding that Mavericks fixed the audio USB buffer issues?
Click to expand...

Mavericks supposedly fixed the USB issues. It did on my Macbook Pro here. I can't say whether it did on all Mac hardware.
 
FractalAudio said:
I can't reproduce this using a variety of computers and OS's. My guess is that it is simply clipping. If you run 0 dB from the computer audio source you're pushing the Axe-Fx internal signal value close to clipping. Then when you play over this the signal addition will push you into clipping. You should turn down the signal level from the computer. I always run around -10 dB from the computer to avoid this. If you are using something like iTunes or Windows Medial Player just turn the volume slider to about halfway.
Click to expand...
Hey Cliff, i tried it just, i am on OSX mavericks, there are no issues at my system playing backing tracks and record with the Axe FX II! One thing happens to me sometimes, perhaps you didn't edited your Wave Cliptracks with fades at the start and ends, makes poppy noises then, or look up and check your Playback engine Host engine settings when your on Pro Tools again, i don't know, only my thoughts about that.

My Utility also while recording with backing track / USB Level is like fixed to 50%
/ CPU 46-48 %
 
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Definitely not clips/pops in the audio. I volume fade and snap to zero crossing everywhere I need it to avoid such newbie errors. This was definitely a vinyl record artefact, but it's intermittent and goes after a power cycle. I'm almost certain that it's the old USB buffer issue. I haven't tried to increase the buffer on the Axe yet. Does increasing the buffer size increase latency? I only use it for reamping dry tracks anyway, so it's not big deal for me.
 
You can monitor the buffer on the Status page. If the bar graph reaches the bottom or top then the buffer is over/under-flowing and needs to be increased.
 
FractalAudio said:
Mavericks supposedly fixed the USB issues. It did on my Macbook Pro here. I can't say whether it did on all Mac hardware.
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I was one of the first people to raise the issue of the Axe-FX II and USB issues with Macs.... Ever since I got the Axe-FX II not long after launch.

I can confirm Mavericks seems to have sorted the issue finally on the 3 Mac's in the house. 2012 Mac Mini, 2013 13" Mack Book Pro and 2010 Mac Book Pro.
 
I am on a mac non mavericks wont upgrade too that nightmare... two days ago the axe was frying eggs out of left speaker this has happened before
It was so bad I just gave up on playing I noted the furman power supply stated 121 last night I fired it back up and no frying eggs sound
the furman stated 119 no crackling.. I have no idea what causes it but its maddening one day its there one day its not.
I am using jbl eons I unplugged the power and the xlr cable and blew it out thinking it could be dust.. I also only find it comes out of the left side not the right at all.
anyone else hear it from one side or are you guys hearing it out of both speakers ?

I played till 4 am last night and no crackling or frying egg sound. I wonder if its dirty electricity ?
 
Windows 7 here, same problem, CPU is at 78 %. I only noticed the problem yesterday when I quickly wanted to record something, it was the first time I recorded after upgrading to 14.2, the patch worked without any problems before. I will check if adjusting the buffer will help, didn't have time to check this yesterday.

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tested it again, also with 64 USB buffer size (iam actually let it by default 1024) on Mavericks, no Issue here. Increasing helped me off this cracklings where i was on Mountain Lion!
 
Are any of you running Pro Tools? I set my rig up and solved my distortion issues with my WC config, but also ran into several "-6101 errors" on my PT10 setup. I'm still Sherlocking that, but have run into several articles about OS X 10.8, 10.9 creating incompatibility with PT10 and PT11. You'd think that would be debugged prior to release, but hey, I'm just talking to myself here!
 
I am on Pro Tools 11, but I am running a Windows system. Never had any issues with Pro Tools and the Axe-FX prior to this one now

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I just want to chime in on this to say that I'm having the same issues.
I'm using 14.02 and the latest version of Mavericks and Logic X.

What happens with me is that about every 90 seconds there is a single pop coming over the USB audio stream.
Other than that it seems fine.
I use the lowest buffer sizes in both Logic and the Axe for the lowest latency.
Increasing these buffer sizes doesn't seem to help with the popping issue anyway.

If I use a S/PDIF connection there are no pops.

While my CPU usage appears to be higher with the new firmware than I remember it being prior to updating it, I also get these singular pops with presets that have much lower CPU usage as well.

As I recall, the USB audio was working pretty well prior to the latest firmware update.

In Logic's audio prefs I use the Axe for In and my RME Babyface for Out.
The same problem happens whether I use an Aggregate Device or not.

I don't mind working with S/PDIF instead but USB is just so much more convenient.
I hope this gets fixed soon.
And the extra CPU usage is a bit troubling.
My 10 main presets are not all that involved IMO even though they use 2 mono Hi Res Cab Blocks plus an FXLoop Block and they're showing well above 90% now.
They used to be more like 87%.
[My presets are laid out this way because I mostly use the Axe with a stereo power amp/guitar cab rig.
Of course if I used a single Cab Block, pre time-based effects, I could get my CPU way down, but then I can't use those presets with my poweramp/guitar cab rig as well.]

If my issues are not the same as the issues generally being reported in this thread then any info/tips about how I can get rid of these 90 second pops will be appreciated.
 
I also get a "reduce cpu load" and crackling when playing audio and use a 90% cpu patch, on mac.

Without extra audio, work fine.
 
joegold said:
I just want to chime in on this to say that I'm having the same issues.

While my CPU usage appears to be higher with the new firmware than I remember it being prior to updating it

And the extra CPU usage is a bit troubling.
My 10 main presets are not all that involved IMO even though they use 2 mono Hi Res Cab Blocks plus an FXLoop Block and they're showing well above 90% now.
They used to be more like 87%.
Click to expand...

If your presets are above 90 now they will crackle.

While I love all the new features and improvements with each new firmware update, the ever increasing CPU climb is a problem. You get your presets just how you like them and then you have to delete a block because of CPU creep. As firmware CPU creep has steadily increased over time, I've had to steadily cut out blocks from my effects chain that I would have really liked to keep.

I started out using stereo cabs, then had to cut back to a single lo res mono cab. (I had to forget about using Hi Res or two high res cabs.)
Next CPU creep I had to delete the enhancer block from my presets.
Next one I deleted the Chorus from my presets.
Next one I deleted the Compressor from my presets.
If it increases again I guess I'll delete the reverb block.

While a CPU increase for a new firmware update might only be 2 CPU, that is often enough to totally screw up those of us who have created all original presets using the available CPU right up close to the limit. All my presets were crackling after this last update. I deleted the compressor block from all my presets to compensate.

I have also noticed that even when the preset is under the CPU limit that using certain combinations of effects will put it over and make it crackle. Reverbs, Flanger, Chorus, some delays, etc. So you need to test out all your scenes to make sure none of them are crapping out.

It would be great if with each new firmware update we could be informed before hand how much the CPU increase was going to be for that new firmware.
 
trancegodz said:
If your presets are above 90 now they will crackle.

While I love all the new features and improvements with each new firmware update, the ever increasing CPU climb is a problem. You get your presets just how you like them and then you have to delete a block because of CPU creep. As firmware CPU creep has steadily increased over time, I've had to steadily cut out blocks from my effects chain that I would have really liked to keep.

I started out using stereo cabs, then had to cut back to a single lo res mono cab. (I had to forget about using Hi Res or two high res cabs.)
Next CPU creep I had to delete the enhancer block from my presets.
Next one I deleted the Chorus from my presets.
Next one I deleted the Compressor from my presets.
If it increases again I guess I'll delete the reverb block.

While a CPU increase for a new firmware update might only be 2 CPU, that is often enough to totally screw up those of us who have created all original presets using the available CPU right up close to the limit. All my presets were crackling after this last update. I deleted the compressor block from all my presets to compensate.

I have also noticed that even when the preset is under the CPU limit that using certain combinations of effects will put it over and make it crackle. Reverbs, Flanger, Chorus, some delays, etc. So you need to test out all your scenes to make sure none of them are crapping out.

It would be great if with each new firmware update we could be informed before hand how much the CPU increase was going to be for that new firmware.
Click to expand...

As I said earlier, even my presets with lower CPU usage (e.g. 75%) get this intermittent pop I described.
I'm not really getting "crackling".
Just an audible pop every few minutes.
Increasing buffer sizes doesn't help either.
Whether or not Axe Edit is open doesn't seem to matter either.

I've been playing for a few hours today trying to troubleshoot this and I'm stymied.
For about an hour I also had this weird issue where my preset would descend by 1 (e.g. Preset 41 changed to Preset 40) all by itself out of nowhere.
This happened 3 or 4 times and then stopped happening.
I've checked all my MIDI I/O settings on the Axe and in Logic and I can't see anything that would be causing this.
The time interval between these incidents was similar to the time interval I get between pops.
It's probably related to some sort of a clock issue somewhere somehow but I don't know where.
I've disconnected my S/PDIF connections and my Babyface is using its internal clock @48000hz.

The CPU creep is definitely an issue but I don't think it's THE issue with what I'm experiencing.

(With S/PDIF reconnected) S/PDIF In from the Axe to the Babyface and then into Logic and back out to my monitors via the Babyface has no problems whatsoever even if the Axe is still connected via USB and Axe Edit is running while using a Preset with CPU usage above 90%.

My only conclusion is that USB audio on the Mac is still just not there yet.
But I'd love to be proven wrong by somebody telling me what I'm doing wrong.
 
joegold said:
As I said earlier, even my presets with lower CPU usage (e.g. 75%) get this intermittent pop I described.
I'm not really getting "crackling".
Just an audible pop every few minutes.
Increasing buffer sizes doesn't help either.
Whether or not Axe Edit is open doesn't seem to matter either.

I've been playing for a few hours today trying to troubleshoot this and I'm stymied.
For about an hour I also had this weird issue where my preset would descend by 1 (e.g. Preset 41 changed to Preset 40) all by itself out of nowhere.
This happened 3 or 4 times and then stopped happening.
I've checked all my MIDI I/O settings on the Axe and in Logic and I can't see anything that would be causing this.
The time interval between these incidents was similar to the time interval I get between pops.
It's probably related to some sort of a clock issue somewhere somehow but I don't know where.
I've disconnected my S/PDIF connections and my Babyface is using its internal clock @48000hz.

The CPU creep is definitely an issue but I don't think it's THE issue with what I'm experiencing.

(With S/PDIF reconnected) S/PDIF In from the Axe to the Babyface and then into Logic and back out to my monitors via the Babyface has no problems whatsoever even if the Axe is still connected via USB and Axe Edit is running while using a Preset with CPU usage above 90%.

My only conclusion is that USB audio on the Mac is still just not there yet.
But I'd love to be proven wrong by somebody telling me what I'm doing wrong.
Click to expand...

Not sure this applies when using Axe USB as interface, but when clocking is not fully 'locked' and 'synced' when using RME interface (connected to Axe via S/PDIF), you get a similar periodic click at evenly spaced intervals, as the data slowly drifts in and out of phase - caused as one clock gets ahead or behind the other clock by one sample per 'period'. Sometimes this can be as slow as one click per minute or two.
 
BillyZeppa said:
Not sure this applies when using Axe USB as interface, but when clocking is not fully 'locked' and 'synced' when using RME interface (connected to Axe via S/PDIF), you get a similar periodic click at evenly spaced intervals, as the data slowly drifts in and out of phase - caused as one clock gets ahead or behind the other clock by one sample per 'period'. Sometimes this can be as slow as one click per minute or two.
Click to expand...

If I have the Axe S/PDIF Out connected to the RME's S/PDIF in and I forget to slave the RME's clock to the Axe's clock then every minute or so there is a burst of white noise.
Sometimes the audio gets delayed too.
When the RME's clock is slaved to the Axe's clock there is no white noise, delayed audio or intermittent audible pops (as described earlier).
I.e. S/PDIF works fine as long as the Axe is the master clock.
 
joegold said:
If I have the Axe S/PDIF Out connected to the RME's S/PDIF in and I forget to slave the RME's clock to the Axe's clock then every minute or so there is a burst of white noise.
Sometimes the audio gets delayed too.
When the RME's clock is slaved to the Axe's clock there is no white noise, delayed audio or intermittent audible pops (as described earlier).
I.e. S/PDIF works fine as long as the Axe is the master clock.
Click to expand...

Well now I just don't know what to think.
I've been using USB for several hours today, same exact settings as before, same hi-CPU presets, even with Axe Edit running and I've heard none of these pops.
 
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