Axefx III USB Audio Noise - Need Help

K

kobestory

Member
I recently got my AxeFX unit used. It sounds great thru the guitar, but I have been having issues with its USB audio using my primary PC.

When used as the interface, there is a static-like clipping noise accompanied with every sound coming out. It's silent when I don't play anything. But playing music is unbearable and I have been trying to resolve this ever since it arrived. I have tried several things as listed below, but no matter what I get the same static noise.

  • Sample rate is set at 48kHz
  • Buffer size didn't make difference
  • USB firmware of unit is 1.15
  • Tried different USB cables
  • Tried different USB slots, 2.0 and 3.0
  • Tried latest driver, as well as driver from 2 yrs ago
  • Removing some audio-related apps didn't help
  • Reinstalling windows twice did not help (all apps removed)
  • Other sound outputs connected to the PC (like my Onkyo AV receiver with Bose speakers) works fine
  • When connecting to a different PC (laptop), the audio from the unit actually worked like it should
  • There was no noise with a FM3 using this PC, just one week before I got the Axe.

I don't think the AxeFX is really at fault, since with my laptop the sound was fine with no noise. Also the guy I got the unit from said he has never had this issue.

I would really like to use and control this unit with my primary PC, not my laptop. Reinstalling windows was my last resort, and now that it didn't resolve it, I'm bummed out and out of ideas. Also my PC is currently in safemode with all apps removed, which sucks.

I'm hoping you guys can help me out here...

Thanks in advance.
 
Are the preset(s) in question, when you have this issue, at or above 80% on the AF3? I’ve run into odd sounds/behaviors when a preset was using too much of the resources. Best of luck!
Lee
 
kobestory said:
I'm hoping you guys can help me out here...
Click to expand...

It looks like you have taken the right steps to triangulate the problem so far. These seem to me to be the most suspect areas:
kobestory said:
  • Other sound outputs connected to the PC (like my Onkyo AV receiver with Bose speakers) works fine
  • When connecting to a different PC (laptop), the audio from the unit actually worked like it should
  • There was no noise with a FM3 using this PC, just one week before I got the Axe.
Click to expand...

Is the PC and modeler on the same power circuit and/or power strip? That it sounded like it should when connected to the laptop hints at a power problem because the laptop has a battery helping filter the power and it’s probably running on a DC power brick which would remove a ground loop.

Do you hear the noise when listening to headphones plugged into the back of the modeler? If so, does it go away when the USB and all other cables are disconnected from the modeler except the guitar’s? With multiple powered devices connected together it’s possible to have ground loops. Disconnecting everything from the modeler except headphones and the guitar is the first test to ensure that the modeler is creating the sound correctly. From there add the computer and its essential peripherals to your modeler via USB and test again. If those test out then add the stereo receiver back to the computer and check again.

Years ago I had to tear apart my computer, drives and modeler connections because they were unstable and the modelers dropped multiple times daily. I ended up with my modelers directly connected, all my drives were connected with a high quality USB hub, and anything that wanted power was connected to a separate powered hub. The modelers are extremely stable now, but it definitely was a frustrating experience and time.

While we try to help, support@fractalaudio.com or https://www.fractalaudio.com/getting-help/ are direct pipelines to tech support, unlike the forum. Keep us updated.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Firmware is 23.05

The noise are through the monitors and headphones. It doesn't matter which preset I'm using. The noise is not with the guitar - just with USB audio (like mp3 soundfile playback for instance).

The PC and AxeFX are plugged into a Furman SS-6B surge protector. I have tried separating them this morning (one with/one without Furman), it didn't make a difference.

I did record a clip of the noise using my phone. Its just few seconds of windows system sound, and you can hear the noise with the bleep. The link is here:
Noise from AxeFx

I have not tried a factory reset of the unit. Is this the Reset tab under setup? Should I just "Reset System Parameters", or also clear presets and erase user cabs?
 
kobestory said:
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Firmware is 23.05

The noise are through the monitors and headphones. It doesn't matter which preset I'm using. The noise is not with the guitar - just with USB audio (like mp3 soundfile playback for instance).

The PC and AxeFX are plugged into a Furman SS-6B surge protector. I have tried separating them this morning (one with/one without Furman), it didn't make a difference.
Click to expand...
The Furman is a good choice, and having the modeler, computer and all peripherals, including the stereo amplifier on the strip is good as long as you don’t exceed the circuit’s capacity.

kobestory said:
I did record a clip of the noise using my phone. Its just few seconds of windows system sound, and you can hear the noise with the bleep. The link is here:
Noise from AxeFx
Click to expand...
It sounds like a distorted or clipped delay to me. The delay repeats could be the result of some sort of feedback loop with latency, not a dedicated or deliberate delay. Such a loop could occur when multiple in and out audio paths exist between the model, computer and/or the stereo amplifier.

I’d remove all the audio devices and cables from the modeler and use a simple preset like In 1 > Amp 1 > Cab 1 > Out 1, with the guitar into IN 1 and the headphones only. There should be no repeats or clipping, only a basic guitar sound coming from the modeler at that point.

If your pickups are active they could be over-driving the A/D converter causing clipping, leading to the distortion. Resetting the system parameters will clear that current setting but will not automatically adjust it to your pickups so it will need to be recalibrated for them again.

kobestory said:
I have not tried a factory reset of the unit. Is this the Reset tab under setup? Should I just "Reset System Parameters", or also clear presets and erase user cabs?
Click to expand...
Yes, under the Reset tab.

It’s not essential to clear presets or cabs to diagnose the problem, but it is always a good idea to return the unit to factory settings when you get a used modeler or computer. See “How to reset Axe-Fx III, FM9, or FM3 to a "factory fresh" condition” for how.

This will reset the global USB audio in and out settings too, and that might be where the distortion is coming from also. You will need to make sure that your modeler’s USB isn’t over-driving the computer’s USB in and vice-versa. It shouldn’t, but it is worth checking too.

Check https://support.fractalaudio.com/en-US/articles for additional articles from support and apply any that seem useful or could be related.
 
Last edited:
Just tried factory reset, and also restarted the PC again after windows updates. And what do you know, all sound from the unit sounds normal!!

Super excited that we seem to have found the solution. Now I need to install the AxeFx factory presets - since its all just cleared out now. Also need to install my apps in windows. It will take me a while but hopefully the noise won’t come back. Keeping my fingers crossed…

Thanks guys, for helping me out!!
 
The problem came back.

All I did was switch back the PC power back to Furman, switch the USB port of the Axe, and the noise came right back.

I tried reverting back to when the sound was working well, but now the noise still persists even after a second factory reset.

I don’t know what to think guys, this is just crazy. Want to pull my hair out although I have none.
 
Buffer size was adjusted using the AxeFx control panel on the PC. Buffer size high or low, it doesn't make any difference in noise. The latency readings do change, but I don't notice it as much. I don't use any DAW at the moment.

For what its worth, the default buffer size selected is 512 with about 14ms latency. This is the same on the laptop, which has perfect audio when I connect it to the Axe.
 
kobestory said:
Buffer size was adjusted using the AxeFx control panel on the PC. Buffer size high or low, it doesn't make any difference in noise. The latency readings do change, but I don't notice it as much. I don't use any DAW at the moment.

For what its worth, the default buffer size selected is 512 with about 14ms latency. This is the same on the laptop, which has perfect audio when I connect it to the Axe.
Click to expand...
Buffer size only refers to the ASIO driver though, windows uses other types of drivers when playing sounds, try to mess with windows audio settings and also try if playing from a DAW via ASIO drivers causes the same crackling

PS: if you use foobar2000 to play music it lets you select different kind of drivers (including asio) in the settings
 
So here is an update.

I noticed today that sometimes I get less noise, sometimes more. But even with less noise, its still noticeable and not acceptable. As I use the computer, more noise seems to comes back. I'm thinking this may be an indication that the issue is related to latency.

I installed ASIO4ALL, and also Reaper. In Reaper I inserted a mp3 file, which played cleanly with no noise at 44.1kHz with the Axe as the audio interface. Then, normal mp3 playback in windows (in 48khz, I think) also sounded almost perfect.

There was still a hint of noise here and there, which I wanted to improve. So I opened LatencyMon and identified that Directx Graphics Kernel was the biggest factor of latency. I googled this and it seems like others have issue with DirectX Graphics Kernel affecting latency as well.

So I tried this software called TCP optimizer which was recommended in a website, in attempt to completely eliminate the issue. As a result unfortunately, this made the noise worse than ever. Now playing a song in Reaper sounds totally messed up, too.

I guess I shouldn't have done that. It’s a bummer, but now I’m convinced that the noise issue has a lot to do with latency.

If anything above gives you a hint on what I should do next, please let me know. Since I seem to have messed up a lot of settings using the TCP optimizer, my gut feeling is to do another reinstall of windows.

I have contacted Fractal Support, and they are helping me on this as well.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like we’re getting deep into the unholy innards of the windows operating system here.

A fresh install was always my go-to solution. With so many programs that can overwrite registry settings or system dll’s, it’s almost impossible to know what’s gone wrong sometimes.

(This sort of thing is why I moved to apple, btw.)
 
I am having exactly this issue with my Mac, running my AxeFX III into Logic Pro X. Everything is up to date. I'm getting a horrible fizzy sound with any AxeFX signal into Logic Pro X. It sounds like a sample rate error or clipping, but (1) both the AxeFX and Logic Pro are set to 48 kHz (2) it occurs no matter which preset I'm using on the AxeFX (including ones that I've used previously to record direct into this very computer) (3) I have tried multiple USB cables. I suppose I could perform a factory reset on the AxeFX just for kicks. Did we ever figure out the cause of this symptom for the OP here? I know they are using a PC rather than a Mac, but with the same issue arising, I'm wondering if there is a common cause.
 
I would suggest you to do a clean install of Windows and then install the drivers from your motherboard’s, GPU’s manufacturer website.

Newer Windows builds do download the “latest” driver from Windows Update, but quite often, these drivers are outdated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom