Crackling Noise & Delay While Recording

B

base851

Member
Hey All,

Everything seemed great with the latest software until I went to record. Now I get input delay (upwards of a second) as well as a horrible, static-y, crackling noise. I get this regardless of whether I go USB or through the mixing board. This didn't happen previously and I haven't changed any hardware.

Now here's the crazy part... everything sounds just peachy through the PA monitor. It only seems to pop up when I go to record.

Very strange and very frustrating because I basically am unable to record.
 
base851 said:
I get this regardless of whether I go USB or through the mixing board.
Click to expand...

so if you have your output cables from the axe go to your "PA monitor" there is no problem. but if you take those same output cables and go to the "mixing board" there are problems?

if so, the problem isn't the axe, as nothing has changed.
 
That is correct. Same cables going to my K12, no problem. Going to the mixing board (or USB), no problem UNTIL I hit record in Logic. Turn record off, no problem again.

I don't suspect the unit. The only thing that has changed in my setup is the recent upgrades to Axe Edit & firmware. I'd roll back to the previous drivers, etc. just to see if my theory is correct, but I can't seem to find a formal archive on the website.

Update: I tried recording in Garage Band as well, just to rule an issue with Logic in or out. The problem manifested itself in Garage Band as well.
 
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And just to update further, I pulled out my Mac Book that had the previous incarnation of drivers, etc. No problems.

So the Axe FX hardware & cables are definitely not the issue.
 
What's your CPU level at on the offending patches? I've noticed in some firmware upgrades that things process slightly differently, pushing an FX heavy patch over the edge, causing crackling in the output. Also, with my interfaces, if the buffer size and other related settings aren't right, the same problem arises. I had this problem quite a bit in ProTools 9 and 10, especially with my MBox. I'm currently using a Tascam, which rarely does it, and ProTools 11, which also seems to handle sessions better.
 
Poparad said:
What's your CPU level at on the offending patches? I've noticed in some firmware upgrades that things process slightly differently, pushing an FX heavy patch over the edge, causing crackling in the output. Also, with my interfaces, if the buffer size and other related settings aren't right, the same problem arises. I had this problem quite a bit in ProTools 9 and 10, especially with my MBox. I'm currently using a Tascam, which rarely does it, and ProTools 11, which also seems to handle sessions better.
Click to expand...

It's the CA + Clean preset. Runs at about 50%.

As far as the buffer sizes go, are you talking about setting it on the Axe or in Logic/Pro Tools? Either way, would I want to set the buffer size higher or lower?
 
crackling after upgrading firmware

base851 said:
Hey All,

Everything seemed great with the latest software until I went to record. Now I get input delay (upwards of a second) as well as a horrible, static-y, crackling noise. I get this regardless of whether I go USB or through the mixing board. This didn't happen previously and I haven't changed any hardware.

Now here's the crazy part... everything sounds just peachy through the PA monitor. It only seems to pop up when I go to record.

Very strange and very frustrating because I basically am unable to record.
Click to expand...

I have had a similar problem since upgrading firmware,I haven't tried recording but I get the crackling/static through my cabs and FOH.I don't have any clipping on the axe and cant figure it out.The crackling goes away after 20-30 minutes of playing and switching through patches.Initially the crackling is on all presets until I play for awhile.
 
base851 said:
Hey All,

Everything seemed great with the latest software until I went to record. Now I get input delay (upwards of a second) as well as a horrible, static-y, crackling noise. I get this regardless of whether I go USB or through the mixing board. This didn't happen previously and I haven't changed any hardware.

Now here's the crazy part... everything sounds just peachy through the PA monitor. It only seems to pop up when I go to record.

Very strange and very frustrating because I basically am unable to record.
Click to expand...

Very strange indeed. :shock The AXE should have no way of knowing if your DAW is in record or not.
Like... maybe you didn't get around to recording for 20 - 30 minutes (as per sgilsinger's comment).
Does the switch between crackling and not crackling occur immediately upon toggling recording on and off?
Are your ground references all OK - is the DAW hardware and the AXE on the same circuit? Are there any signals going from your DAW back to the AXE during record that could affect the AXE? Is the DAW producing electro-magnetic interference when you put it into record?
To find the issue, work the paradox - how does the AXE know when you have hit 'record' when it has no way of knowing?
Does the AXE start crackling the instant you hit 'record', and then stop the instant you hit 'stop' recording?
 
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BillyZeppa said:
Are your ground references all OK - is the DAW hardware and the AXE on the same circuit? Are there any signals going from your DAW back to the AXE during record that could affect the AXE? Is the DAW producing electro-magnetic interference when you put it into record?
To find the issue, work the paradox - how does the AXE know when you have hit 'record' when it has no way of knowing?
Does the AXE start crackling the instant you hit 'record', and then stop the instant you hit 'stop' recording?
Click to expand...

Remember, this same circuit worked prior to the recent Axe Edit version upgrade and still works when I use my laptop with the older drivers. So I'm a little skeptical of it being an interference kind of issue. Still worth looking into though.

But to answer your question... yes... this crackling starts, and stops, the instant you toggle record.
 
base851 said:
It's the CA + Clean preset. Runs at about 50%.

As far as the buffer sizes go, are you talking about setting it on the Axe or in Logic/Pro Tools? Either way, would I want to set the buffer size higher or lower?
Click to expand...

base851 said:
Remember, this same circuit worked prior to the recent Axe Edit version upgrade and still works when I use my laptop with the older drivers. So I'm a little skeptical of it being an interference kind of issue. Still worth looking into though.

But to answer your question... yes... this crackling starts, and stops, the instant you toggle record.
Click to expand...


This would be something you either set in the DAW, or on the AxeFX USB Audio control panel on the computer. When I upgraded to the newest driver, I had issues with ProTools where everything was very sluggish and I kept getting "CPU is maxed out" errors in ProTools. I had to adjust the buffer size and streaming mode in the control panel until it started working. I never had to do that with previous versions of the drivers, but once I found the settings that worked, everything has been back to normal.
 
Update:

Spoke too soon, the audio doesn't crackle in Audacity, but is is delayed by about a second.

At this stage of the game it looks like OSX Mavericks and USB digital audio are NOT playing nice together. My long shot theory is that it may have something weird to do with the hybrid Fusion drives on the newer Macs, but I have absolutely no proof of that being the case. I have checked the Mac forums to see if people are having problems like this with other software, looks as if they are.

So looks like I'll be using my laptop for recording until this all gets sorted out.
 
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Update

I don't know why I didn't think about trying this earlier... My Mac has a Windows partition set up in Boot Camp, so I logged into Windows, installed the latest of everything and recorded in Audacity. Clear audio and no delay.

So whatever the problem is, I'm certain now that it isn't hardware-related. It's a software issue, and it seems specific to OSX Mavericks.
 
I have a 2007 MacBook Pro and was recording bits and piece of original music ideas through the AXE USB into Garage Band when a similar situation occurred - static and choppy recording. Strange. Never had this issue before with Garage Band. I have not had time to trouble shoot this yet.
 
Looks like it is indeed Mavericks (and possibly the Fusion drive). There's a 34 page epic thread on it in the Apple support forum:

Massive Problem With Audio Interface

TLDNR: Known issue with Core Audio. A beta of an OS patch has been dropped to developers and seems to be fixing the problem.
 
Problem solved. I think...

I installed the OSX Mavericks 10.9.2 beta (13C62) and recorded some audio via direct USB to Logic. Crystal clear playback.
 
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