SOLVED: USB Driver, or some other conflict keeps screwing with Win 10 sound.

pauly

Fractal Fanatic
Hi All,

I'm at a bit of a loss here, but will explain the situation and my observations with the hope that someone has some clue.

I use an X32 as a sound card via firewire and it's been working great for years - except - Once I fire up the Axe FX (with USB plugged in), I experience 'glitches' in my audio.
For example.. I may be listening to something on YouTube (from the PC, to the X32 via firewire) and I switch on my AXE FX 3.... When the AXE FX 3 boots (IE, it's been through the screens at the front and the UI presents it 'self), the YouTube sound will glitch... go all scratchy, stop for a few seconds, then come back on. Another situation I just noticed, is I'll be using fractal bot to backup all my presets on the AXE FX 3 (while listening to music) , and when it gets to the end of the backup and Fractal Bot displays it's 'All done' dialog, the same glitch will happen... Again the music stops for a few seconds, then starts again all good.

I've attempted adjusting the Stream, ASIO, and WDM buffer depth in the X32 driver with little (id any) effect.

Is there any AXE FX 3 associated driver parameters I can adjust to see if it helps?

Thanks
Pauly
 
Pauly

I have had nothing but issues when using 2 soundcards with there native drivers. I gather you have replaced the cables? I have found, and this could just be chipset based on my old motherboard, that USB2 (soundcard) into a USB3 port (pc) was more stable.

It may be the system dealing with two soundcards as you are booting one up whilst audio is playing. Would there not be an option to run the AXE through the X32 rather than as a seperate interface (or the X32 through the Axe)

Also if you have replacing cables, have you tried ASIO4All which is designed for multi card setups in Windows. I have had great luck with that software but it was over 10 years ago. You will get a little more latency but it is, as far as I am aware, the only solution for Windows.

Mike
 
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HI @ShatteredVitreous

Yes the cables have all been replaced at some time or another. The PC is a fan-less beast that has been rock solid so I'm hesitant to blame it. This sort of really started around the Win 10 upgrade so my assumption is something in Windows is possibly contributing.

Once I turn off the AXE FX 3 though, the glitched stop - as an example, i had some glitches not long ago, and started a 25 song song list, and turned off the axe fx 3....I'm up to song 20 right now, and no problems at all. If the AXE FX 3 was on, I would have had at least a few cut-outs by now.

I'm not keen on trying ASIO4ALL as my initial tests (admittedly 10 years ago) proved you get what you pay for!

thanks
Pauly

Pauly

I have had nothing but issues when using 2 soundcards with there native drivers. I gather you have replaced the cables? I have also found, this could just be chipset based on my old motherboard, that USB2 into a USB3 port was more stable.

Also if you have tried replacing cables, have you tried to use ASIO4All which is designed for multi card setups in Windows. I have had great luck with that software but it was over 10 years ago.

Mike
 
Pauly

Chipsets on boards can sometimes be fussy with certain devices. It can be rock solid until you introduce something that it struggles to handle. I have found all versions of Windows struggles with multi soundcard setups.

The other thing that can cause dropouts are power states in the BIOS, outdated BIOS firmware and having things like WiFi/Bluetooth switched on.

Maybe this link will help with some basic DAW related configurations: you may have already done this so apologies in advance if this seems patronising

https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/...and-optimize-a-Digital-Audio-Workstation-DAW-

Yes ASIO4ALL can be a fully beast, it was great for Windows XP but then again the OS was not as bloated and wasn't trying to do a million things at once. I used to game, listen to music, stream files and record at the same time.....that was the best OS they released.

Mike
 
XP? wow you're as old as me :p

I should add - I'm not using the AXE FX 3 USB for sound - just control. I'm using the analogue outputs to the X32 for audio. ... But as soon as I turn it on, I know I'll get glitches. Like the AXE FX 3 USB is somehow messing with the audio drivers even though I'm (theoretically) not passing Audio via USB.

Thanks
Pauly


Pauly

Chipsets on boards can sometimes be fussy with certain devices. It can be rock solid until you introduce something that it struggles to handle. I have found all versions of Windows struggles with multi soundcard setups.

The other thing that can cause dropouts are power states in the BIOS, outdated BIOS firmware and having things like WiFi/Bluetooth switched on.

Maybe this link will help with some basic DAW related configurations: you may have already done this so apologies in advance if this seems patronising

https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/...and-optimize-a-Digital-Audio-Workstation-DAW-

Yes ASIO4ALL can be a fully beast, it was great for Windows XP but then again the OS was not as bloated and wasn't trying to do a million things at once. I used to game, listen to music, stream files and record at the same time.....that was the best OS they released.

Mike
 
Oh bud my first OS was Windows 98 SE....I could be older lol.

Even though it's not used as a soundcard the system will still see it as one and as such when you plug it in, it will start to add all the soundcard options.

Out of interest is your X32 and AXE going direct or via a hub?

Mike
 
Welcome to windows sound. To be fair macos has similar issues when booting up the axe, youtube in chrome will change sample rate and other weirdness can happen. A quick refresh of the tab fixes so it's a bit of a non-issue for me, I have a feeling this is an OS/application issue rather than device.

If you're not using it as a soundcard have you tried disabling it in the sound recording/playback menu?
 
I really liked Windows 2000 too. Simple and very stable. XP was a bit more of a memory hog in comparison, but was better for gaming.
 
I really liked Windows 2000 too. Simple and very stable. XP was a bit more of a memory hog in comparison, but was better for gaming.
Windows 2000 was a lot like a server edition in terms of its stability. Very stable.
 
Hey Folks,

I go back to Windows just after the DOS days, as well as NT Server etc. I am still working on virtualized versions of many of the Windows OS's on a large scale. We do a few things to every Windows machine to improve stability. As many have said here, disable UAC.

I have a similar setup - with a Presonus mixer that connects via firewire to my Win10 PC at home. Its a FrankenPC, but that won't make a difference. I have exactly the same droputs you are describing. In fact I lose audio completely sometimes if I open more than one or two audio apps at the same time. I have to bounce audio services to get it back.

I get browser audio dropouts, whether it is Youtube or CNN or some other website. Doesn't matter. Most of the time they are quick, but still really annoying. I have tried turning off/on exclusive access to the audio card for many of my apps - no difference. I have just accepted that it happens and learned to live with it. If you come up with a more reliable fix, I will be glad to try, but I dont think you will. Its just the nature of the beast.

Sorry

joe
 
Hi All,

I'm at a bit of a loss here, but will explain the situation and my observations with the hope that someone has some clue.

I use an X32 as a sound card via firewire and it's been working great for years - except - Once I fire up the Axe FX (with USB plugged in), I experience 'glitches' in my audio.
For example.. I may be listening to something on YouTube (from the PC, to the X32 via firewire) and I switch on my AXE FX 3.... When the AXE FX 3 boots (IE, it's been through the screens at the front and the UI presents it 'self), the YouTube sound will glitch... go all scratchy, stop for a few seconds, then come back on. Another situation I just noticed, is I'll be using fractal bot to backup all my presets on the AXE FX 3 (while listening to music) , and when it gets to the end of the backup and Fractal Bot displays it's 'All done' dialog, the same glitch will happen... Again the music stops for a few seconds, then starts again all good.

I've attempted adjusting the Stream, ASIO, and WDM buffer depth in the X32 driver with little (id any) effect.

Is there any AXE FX 3 associated driver parameters I can adjust to see if it helps?

Thanks
Pauly
Could it be that both devices are set to different sample rates, the FX3 runs at 48KHz.
And one of the two X32 or FX3 must be the master clock, to which the computer and other devices adhere.

Since the X32 is there earlier and the FX3 is added, the X32 should be the master and switch the FX3 to slave.
 
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