Help with super odd distortion? Please?

[Freakquency]

Hey so I'll start by saying I have read many posts and even experienced in my own use, this problem being fixed with adjustments to both sample and buffer rates. I have a new PC that I built, and also an audio interface that had some cold coffee spilled on it -- maybe about 150-200ml.



I don't know how to upload my file for you to hear it, but there are some other factors I hope you find interesting or helpful.


-My Samsung smart TV also experiences distortion
(Only when I rout my sound through it, not on it's own.)

-My Asio4all and experiences it

-My Interface headphone out also does


-The highs and mids seem to be clear

(For instance, if we sweep a super saw with a lowpass filter, you
only hear the distortion during the low to low-mid range, maybe 300 and slightly above. I could probably render THAT out and upload it.)

Specs are listed below:

I cannot remember the motherboard model but it's a later gen

AKG Headphones (cheap pair)
M-Audio interface 2x2
AMD Ryzen 1600
Kingston Hyper Fury X 8GB DDR4
128 GB SSD
1TB External HDD

So..

It could be a few things, but I used the interface and a laptop to make the music on my soundcloud which doesn't have the distortion. When I listen to my soundcloud on another PC other than the new system I just built -- it plays fine... I have three new tracks under construction right now on this new distorted set up and it is killing me. https://soundcloud.com/digitaldennis

[Freakquency]

Can someone please help with this or tell me a better way of posting this?

[Ollie]

Make sure your recording format, Preferences settings, File->Project Settings and your audio driver are set to the same sample rate to avoid resampling and/or a sample rate mismatch. Also some interfaces have a "native" sample rate (usually 44.1 or 48kHz) and apply cheap on-chip resampling when they are operated with a different sample rate than that, this may sound like distortion in the treble range.

Since your interface likely has its own native ASIO driver, you should avoid ASIO4ALL unless there are problems with the native ASIO driver.

[serr]

Originally Posted by Freakquency

Can someone please help with this or tell me a better way of posting this?

OK, so you can render a mix and it is distortion free. You proved that with this: "When I listen to my soundcloud on another PC other than the new system I just built -- it plays fine"

That leaves only your monitors (speakers) or something with the outputs on your audio interface to point to.

You didn't mention if the old computer setup still works error free. If it does - I'll suggest you have software issue with drivers affecting your interface. The audio interface isn't involved in rendering so this could be a valid scenario. Did you also change OS version or platform with your new machine? Did you clone or migrate from the old system or clean install from the ground up? If you did a fresh install of a different OS, you may just have some compatibility issues to go through.

If you can listen to playback with other media players on your new system and only have distortion when using Reaper - then it could be a 'maxing out the new machine' scenario. Was the new system an upgrade or a cost saving downgrade? Look at the performance meter in Reaper and your system Activity Monitor for clues there. It could still be fallout from an audio interface driver issue too.