Old 08-04-2019, 06:20 PM   #1
Sonorityscape
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Default Pops and Crackles only with ASIO drivers

I've been having this issue of popping and crackling across multiple computers and even different audio interfaces where ASIO drivers seem to have worse off performance compared to all other audio systems (WaveOut, DirectSound, etc.). Less so with ASIO4ALL, but still worse - the ASIO drivers for the audio interfaces seem to be the worst.

As a comparison, if I have a number of tracks armed for recording, a low buffer size and limiter on the master, it will crackle like crazy with the ASIO drivers but be fine with any other.

I've also looked at LatencyMon, however the results don't ever seem to be consistent.

I recently started a new job with a new machine which is more than capable, but still doesn't seem to be the explanation as I've been testing on multiple, in different locations and on different versions of Reaper (even with a default install).

My next thing to try is my home computer which is currently being stored as I recently moved. I don't remember experiencing problems on this machine.

Would anyone be able to recommend what to try next OR is this normal behaviour that I just have not realized?
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Old 08-05-2019, 04:36 AM   #2
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and what are your buffer sizes when you try the various options, are you comparing like with like?
My guess is that you are using smaller buffers when using asio.
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Old 08-05-2019, 06:18 AM   #3
Sonorityscape
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I've compared at both small and large sizes. Even when ASIO buffer sizes are higher, it's still a lot worse. In certain situations, when the ASIO buffer size is around 2k samples and a lot of tracks are armed for recording, there will still be crackling. Again, the same situation with another audio device will not produce the same results.
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Old 08-05-2019, 06:32 AM   #4
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you haven't mentioned what the interface is, maybe it's a low-end one or it has poor drivers?
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Old 08-05-2019, 06:37 AM   #5
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and you say you have multiple tracks armed for recording & a limiter on the master? it'd be good to check the performance meter in reaper (ctrl+al+tP), right click it and display the RT cpu usage. what's it saying?
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Old 08-05-2019, 06:39 AM   #6
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I have tried recently a UR22 mkii and Onyx Artist 1.2
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Old 08-05-2019, 06:39 AM   #7
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incidentally, record arming can affect the computers utilisation of multiple processing threads, i believe. and a limiter can add extra latency
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Old 08-05-2019, 06:41 AM   #8
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I'm not at my work computer and no audio audio interfaces where I am right now, so I'll have to report back later.
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Old 08-06-2019, 07:28 AM   #9
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Yamaha Steinberg USB ASIO - Buffer Size: 128 samples

No Plugins

RT CPU: 7.3% - not playing; no tracks armed
RT CPU: 7.6% - playing; no tracks armed
RT CPU: 7.5% - not playing; 6 tracks armed (included one parent folder)
RT CPU: 8.5% - playing; 6 tracks armed (included one parent folder)

Plugins


RT CPU: 30.3% - not playing; no tracks armed
RT CPU: 30.7% - playing; no tracks armed
RT CPU: 70.0% - not playing; 6 tracks armed (included one parent folder)
RT CPU: ~75.0% -playing; 6 tracks armed (included one parent folder)
Attached Images
File Type: png capture.png (53.4 KB, 105 views)

Last edited by Sonorityscape; 08-06-2019 at 08:38 AM.
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Old 08-06-2019, 08:31 AM   #10
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it looks like you are almost at the limits of the machine, with plugins & rec arming etc.
were you saying originally that you aren't hitting these limits when you use a comparable buffer size (4 x 32) when you use waveout etc.?

Last edited by domzy; 08-06-2019 at 08:43 AM.
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Old 08-06-2019, 08:59 AM   #11
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it's all about getting the balance right between audio quality, computer power & latency.
Your not getting the audio quality so you have to sacrifice one (or both) of the other two.
Unfortunately that means either increase your buffer size, use less (intensive) plugins or upgrade / tweak your hardware.
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Old 08-06-2019, 09:40 AM   #12
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It looks like I wasn't comparing the drivers properly and after all it seems like ASIO is more efficient.

It still seems odd to me that arming the tracks causes so much popping and crackling. It shouldn't have anything to do with the hardware as the PC I'm on right now is a beast.

I'll have to wait until September 1st and then will test on my other PC which I don't remember having the same issues on.
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Old 08-06-2019, 10:07 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonorityscape View Post
It still seems odd to me that arming the tracks causes so much popping and crackling. It shouldn't have anything to do with the hardware as the PC I'm on right now is a beast.
yeah, i'm at the limits of my knowledge here, but i think it's basically something to do with computers not being able to efficiently use all the processing resources (multi-threading etc.) when dealing with real time audio, as they don't have the opportunity to know what's happening next etc. which they do when playing back. (hopefully someone can correct this if it's wrong).
i would advise cutting down on the plugins while recording, if you can.
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Old 08-06-2019, 10:17 AM   #14
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Maybe you're already aware, but this is a great video for CPU vs real-time performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsLLEkswzE
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Old 08-06-2019, 10:51 AM   #15
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not seen it, good link, cheers!
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Old 08-06-2019, 11:13 AM   #16
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Some of those plugins are going to hit the CPU hard especially if on the master bus. Any time someone says they're having crackles/pops "with only a few plugins" it seems Izotope are among those plugins.

If you haven't set your power profile to "high performance" (to stop the CPU from throttling, USB going to sleep, etc.) you should do that.

Turn off record arm for tracks you're not recording. Also if you don't need to monitor the input through Reaper, then don't. The UR22 can monitor direct through its hardware and it's zero latency, so that's preferable anyway. And if any of those plugins has latency (which will show PDC at the bottom left of the fx browser), they shouldn't be left enabled when live monitoring the tracks. That'll screw things up, expecting plugin delay compensation for something you're monitoring live.

UR22 doesn't work well with some wifi adapters; it's pretty picky about that. Removing the wifi adapter and/or disabling wifi (if you have it in your system) is a good troubleshooting step. On a couple systems, once I did that the UR22 was much more stable, no dropouts even under higher CPU load.
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Old 08-10-2019, 02:56 PM   #17
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Take the limiter off the master as a first step.
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