Bug? Lockup+high-pitched whining sound on AF3mkII

utkanos

utkanos

Inspired
Hey folks,

I've seen two other folks mention this, but no movement on a fix or remedy here thus far sadly.

eg: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-output-is-freezing.201125/
and https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-iii-firmware-24-05-release.201538/post-2541186

The video in the first thread is exactly what I am running into as well.

I can reproduce this on 24 and the new 25 betas, but so far not on 22.xx... so I wonder if there was a change in that time period that was causing it.

This happens when I am running my bass guitar directly into input 1 (sometimes I use a pedal compressor in front), but it will go days and days without happening and then randomly will cause the entire unit to lock up and emit an awful sound. Rebooting the unit fixes things, so it feels like some kind of software bug here, but an immensely frustrating one to reproduce reliably.

All input seems dead, I can't see any levels change on the tuner or input 1 block when it happens. Output is dead as well, except for the whine.

I've attached the preset, but it's extremely boring and I don't think the cause of this.

I've emailed support about this directly at this point because I fear having this happen live to me. I will probably just roll back to the 22 firmware for now, but I really want to help get to the bottom of this problem. If there's any kind of like, log/crash dump I can gather on the system somehow the next time this happens please let me know. I've followed the suggestions on using a looper block to try to trigger it, but I've played it for hours and not run into the bug, then days will go by with heavy usage and no bug, and then randomly, BANG.
 

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Same happened to me today while unit was connected to computer doing backup. The backup was successful but a unit reboot was needed to fix the whining sound. Firmware 24.04.
 
Better change the title of the thread. It's not the sound but the lockup.
 
yek said:
Better change the title of the thread. It's not the sound but the lockup.
Click to expand...

Yeah fair point, I will amend thank you for the suggestion!

As an update, I reached out to support, who provided an RMA for me in the event that the new 25 build does not sort it.
 
I’ll be surprised if anyone can duplicate it with my preset without playing for many hours, if ever. Again it’s only happened twice. But when it happens nothing I’ve tried works other than shutting down the unit.
 
blastbeatdown said:
I’ll be surprised if anyone can duplicate it with my preset without playing for many hours, if ever. Again it’s only happened twice. But when it happens nothing I’ve tried works other than shutting down the unit.
Click to expand...

This is the frustrating hell I've been in too, it's impossible to recreate on command, but it seems to happen when I least expect it.

It is encouraging though that I'm not the only one, this is the 4th person now to confirm this, so I feel less like this is a hardware problem and more a firmware problem now. I've recreated it on 24.x and 25 betas but luckily not the 25 official release yet. This never happened in hundreds of hours of usage on 22.x, so that's where I would probably start looking

It's definitely not the presets.. it's something else, I wish someone could tell me how to enable logging or some debugging features here like a crash dump.
 
blastbeatdown said:
Yup…. This has only happened to me twice but it just happened again, this time on the newest firmware.

Click to expand...

This exact thing has happened to me. Maybe 8 or 9 times? It's happened on earlier firmwares and has been difficult to catch. I notice it happens only when I'm using the Axe Fx to play backing tracks. So it makes me wonder if it has something to do with sample rate conversion considering most music is 44.1k. I don't recall it ever happening when I wasn't using a backing track.
 
I've had the same issue on various firmwares, and very incrementally as everyone has noted.

Here is my thread on it. https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/infrequent-lockup-of-the-axe-fx.201457/#post-2517343

I worked with support and sent off presets, etc.. No conclusions as of now. It hasn't happened since I started the thread.

Some folks have suggested it's firmware related. I am guessing its actually hardware related, but that's just a guess. It's been pretty much impossible to pin down.
 
fetishfrog said:
I've had the same issue on various firmwares, and very incrementally as everyone has noted.

Here is my thread on it. https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/infrequent-lockup-of-the-axe-fx.201457/#post-2517343

I worked with support and sent off presets, etc.. No conclusions as of now. It hasn't happened since I started the thread.

Some folks have suggested it's firmware related. I am guessing its actually hardware related, but that's just a guess. It's been pretty much impossible to pin down.
Click to expand...
I have it documented as early as 2020. But it may have happened before that.
 
hensh!n_vfs said:
This exact thing has happened to me. Maybe 8 or 9 times? It's happened on earlier firmwares and has been difficult to catch. I notice it happens only when I'm using the Axe Fx to play backing tracks. So it makes me wonder if it has something to do with sample rate conversion considering most music is 44.1k. I don't recall it ever happening when I wasn't using a backing track.
Click to expand...

I had this exact thought too, since all of my lockups have been when I am streaming audio through it to jam along to, but a user here has had it happen to them without this, so I gave up on that idea.

@hensh!n_vfs out of curiosity, have you ever had audio stop actually playing through the AF3 until you reboot your PC, unrelated to this glitch? I've had that happen a few times where it will just stop playing audio from the PC and the only remedy has been to reboot the PC itself. I had always assumed this was an OS problem on the PC, but now I am wondering if instead of "no audio" coming through, we're now getting a hard lock instead?
 
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utkanos said:
@hensh!n_vfs out of curiosity, have you ever had audio stop actually playing through the AF3 until you reboot your PC, unrelated to this glitch? I've had that happen a few times where it will just stop playing audio from the PC and the only remedy has been to reboot the PC itself. I had always assumed this was an OS problem on the PC, but now I am wondering if instead of "no audio" coming through, we're now getting a hard lock instead?
Click to expand...

Not that I can recall. However, I do use a Mac so I wonder if it may be different behaviors with different platforms. Every time it has happened, I was also connected to my Mac via USB. Not sure if that is also related.
 
hensh!n_vfs said:
Not that I can recall. However, I do use a Mac so I wonder if it may be different behaviors with different platforms. Every time it has happened, I was also connected to my Mac via USB. Not sure if that is also related.
Click to expand...

I also use MacOS and am always connected via USB when it's in my house. I think unless we can get some insight from FAS or a build that allows me to dump logs/crashes then anything is just a random guess sadly :\
 
@utkanos like you I’ve seen the few reports with varying contexts so I’m less inclined now to suspect it has to do with what I’m running through.. but for what it’s worth, this never happened to me in the 3+ years I’ve had the unit until I started running through SPDIF and setting my interface clock source to the Axe Fx. I’m always playing at home connected via usb for axe edit, I’m also on Mac. Fingers crossed that this can be fixed with a firmware update.
 
utkanos said:
I also use MacOS and am always connected via USB when it's in my house. I think unless we can get some insight from FAS or a build that allows me to dump logs/crashes then anything is just a random guess sadly :\
Click to expand...
Maybe the monitor in the Mac can catch something?
 
Just to add another data point, the same thing happened to me yesterday. Also plugged into a Mac, though that's nothing new. Firmware 25.

It started the moment I unmuted a cabined in the cab block (using Axe Edit). Exactly the same high pitched squeal through the outputs. It has never happened prior to this. I was recording into Logic.
 
Corinthian said:
Just to add another data point, the same thing happened to me yesterday. Also plugged into a Mac, though that's nothing new. Firmware 25.

It started the moment I unmuted a cabined in the cab block (using Axe Edit). Exactly the same high pitched squeal through the outputs. It has never happened prior to this. I was recording into Logic.
Click to expand...
Probably irrelevant but I’ve recently been alternating between two IRs in the same cab block a lot by muting/unmuting.
 
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