Axe-Fx 3 USB Driver - Problem - (Detailed Explanation)

[Argana]

Hello !

I own a Axe-Fx for about 2 years now. And everything works as it should, I have no complaints whatsoever .

But !
I'm someone who has been dealing with heavy loads of virtual orchestra's (Kontakt), VST drum kit's and all of that combined. Since I mostly click in the notes for my virtual instruments I've never needed a low sample rate. So I've always been running the FASUSB driver at 2048-samples in safe mode to keep as much load off my CPU as possible. I to be honest have no idea what safe mode does, but it seemed to work the best for me from the start when I got the Axe-Fx!

Ok sooo,
At one point I've had to re-install windows. I was running on the same Windows Update 20h2 before the re-install. But when I was done installing and done setting everything up, like drivers for everything, including the Axe-Fx. I noticed that every time I would put the driver to 2048-samples, it would freeze my PC as soon as i would play something as simple as any audio file.
I ran Latencymon to see what the problem was. Latencymon showed me that 'Wudfhost.exe' had by far the most 'Hard Pagefaults'. The driver with the highest execution was: 'USBPORT.SYS'. Which also contained by far the most ISR and DPC count. So to clarify, this became really apparent when I switched to 2048-samples. Also keep in mind this is all monitored from a clean windows with all the correct drivers and updates installed.

I haven't been able to fix this problem, and since I really relied on the 2048 samples.. Because with that setting I could barely run my DAW with my symphonic/orchestral-metal templates (CPU wise) I started to think that it might be a incompatibility issue of some sorts (between windows and my hardware or something).
And since I've been wanting to upgrade my PC forever. I thought this would be a good moment to do so.
I bought a new Motherboard: "MSI - MPG - X570 - Gaming Plus", CPU: "AMD Ryzen 9 - 3900x" and Ram: " HyperX - DDR4 - 64gb at 3600". I kept my old drives and emptied + formatted my C:/ drive and installed "Windows 10 Pro" again. My C:/ drive is a Samsung EVO 860 - 1tb. I don't think the other drives matter, so I won't mention them.
Anyway ! Since this hardware upgrade I've had a very very significant boost in performance. And I can now easily run my DAW Templates with 512-samples. I put it on 1024 anyway though to again preserve CPU power. But now when I load one of my songs, and play it with 1024-samples, everything is more than fine. But I would still prefer to keep as much load of my CPU by using 2048-samples. Which has always worked for me before. But when I do that and listen to my song in the DAW it starts to show audible dropouts and glitches, as if the sample rate was set too low.. This confuses me.

When I go into my Axe-Fx and go here: "Home > Setup (Button-E) >Utilities > USB", with my project file open in the DAW the Input is close to 0% and the Output is about 60%, and doesn't go far off even while playing the song (on 1024-samples in the audio driver). Now when I put it on 2048-samples not much happens except for: the Buffer Levels in the Axe show that Input jumps to about 50%. Now if I play the song in the DAW the output now fluctuates between 60% and 100%, it kind of jumps up and down. At that point I also get the audible glitches and dropouts. Now if I put my sample rate back to 1024 the Buffer Levels output are steady again. But now remain closer to 70/75%. Also it takes a while, a few minutes for the Input to go down to normal again. I also want to note, that this is all done with Safe Mode on and off. Same experience.

PS: My previous Hardware: Mobo: "Sabertooth Z77", CPU: "Intel i7 - 3770k", RAM: "Corsair - 16gb - 1886".


If later I forgot to mention or add something I will post my edits below, to keep things clear and less cluttered.


I thank everyone in advance that is willing to help me with this problem, as this problem is really important for me to understand and fix. Ask away !

 

[mr_fender]

There's two buffers that work together, one hardware on the Axe FX side and one software on the computer side. The driver settings control the software buffer. The hardware buffer is controlled in the I/O menu. Try adjusting that one as well to see if you can keep your USB meters in the Utilities menu more stable and in the middle.

The typical issue with audio drop outs is buffer overflow. That's where the receiving device is processing the samples too slowly (or the sending device is providing them too quickly) and the buffer fills up completely. The sending device is still sending data, so those samples get dropped and lost, causing the drop out in the audio stream. However there's a flip side to that as well, you can also have buffer underflow. That's when the receiving device is processing the samples too quickly (or the sending device is providing them too slowly) and the buffer runs empty. This too can cause dropouts since there's now a shortage of samples in the audio stream. You can sometimes run into issues on both ends of the spectrum.

 

[Argana]

There's two buffers that work together, one hardware on the Axe FX side and one software on the computer side. The driver settings control the software buffer. The hardware buffer is controlled in the I/O menu. Try adjusting that one as well to see if you can keep your USB meters in the Utilities menu more stable and in the middle.

The typical issue with audio drop outs is buffer overflow. That's where the receiving device is processing the samples too slowly (or the sending device is providing them too quickly) and the buffer fills up completely. The sending device is still sending data, so those samples get dropped and lost, causing the drop out in the audio stream. However there's a flip side to that as well, you can also have buffer underflow. That's when the receiving device is processing the samples too quickly (or the sending device is providing them too slowly) and the buffer runs empty. This too can cause dropouts since there's now a shortage of samples in the audio stream. You can sometimes run into issues on both ends of the spectrum.

Thank you for clearing things up a bit for me, and thank you for your time !

Within "Axe-Edit > Setup > Audio" I've always used 64-samples. I tried all of the different settings again just now. When I put the sample rate within the axe to max (256). It takes longer for it to reach a 100%. But it still goes there. Also just to be clear. I put the sample rate to 2048 in the FAS usb audio driver once again, for this test.

I'm just so confused as of why this is happening so suddenly. It never did this. Almost feels as if something inside of my axe stopped working properly, especially since I basically build a new PC, haha.

 

[GlennO]

I haven't been able to fix this problem, and since I really relied on the 2048 samples.. Because with that setting I could barely run my DAW with my symphonic/orchestral-metal templates (CPU wise) I started to think that it might be a incompatibility issue of some sorts (between windows and my hardware or something).

When you get up to large buffer sizes above 512 samples, you start getting diminished returns. You're not likely to see a significant benefit running at 2048 compared to 1024. I'm not clear on what you're saying your problem is, but if your system is running fine at 1024, then there's not much to be gained by changing to 2048.

 

[Argana]

When you get up to large buffer sizes above 512 samples, you start getting diminished returns. You're not likely to see a significant benefit running at 2048 compared to 1024. I'm not clear on what you're saying your problem is, but if your system is running fine at 1024, then there's not much to be gained by changing to 2048.

The main problem that I have right now is that I'm trying to understand what changed, what happened for it to suddenly be problematic. I want to know if something is malfunctioning, and why. And if everything is fine my question still remains, why did it work before if 2048 samples is such a problem?

 

[GlennO]

It sounds like when you upgraded your system, you installed something that assumes your audio buffer size will never be as large as 2048. It's not unusual for software to make an assumption like that . I wouldn't worry about it, you're not likely to gain much by going past 1024 anyway.

 

[Argana]

It sounds like when you upgraded your system, you installed something that assumes your audio buffer size will never be as large as 2048. It's not unusual for software to make an assumption like that . I wouldn't worry about it, you're not likely to gain much by going past 1024 anyway.

Interesting, ok !
I just remember with my old rig it really mattered. I had to take 2048 over 1024. Quite frustrating, I always want to know exactly why and how things work on my system hahaha.

Thank you for your time by the way!