baudze
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Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
Here's some free advice, in case anyone else ever experiences the same issue I just had. After spending several months tuning X2 on my custom-built DAW, I ran stable for a while, but suddenly started experiencing audio dropouts about a month ago. CPU was not stressed (i7 3.0 Ghz) running at about 15% under load, RAM was plenty (12 GB) at 60% free even with 5 instances of Kontakt 8, Windows 8 OS with nothing but DAW software running, save for NOD32 which has a very light footprint. I tried everything under the sun to try and resolve the issue - nothing. I finally concluded that I needed to swap out my 7400RPM audio drive and, though I intended to purchase a 10000RPM Raptor, I went and bought an SSD instead. While driving back, I noticed an audio dropout thread on a Cubase forum (of all places!) in which someone - after almost a year of debugging - realized that his USB-powered controller was the cause of his dropouts when the machine was over a given threshold of activity. I ran home to check and, sure enough, my Roland PCR800 power adapter was unplugged, which means the controller was sucking USB power instead. As soon as I plugged the power back in, dropouts were gone! Note to the wise out there: Do NOT run USB-powered external gear on your DAW. You could get very unexpected results - including inexplicable audio dropouts!
post edited by baudze - 2013/06/19 00:16:14
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bitflipper
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Re: Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
2013/06/19 00:22:15
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Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Did your source offer any explanation as to why this is so?
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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baudze
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Re: Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
2013/06/19 00:35:19
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No. He was just as puzzled as I am. I do suspect, however, that it may be a power consumption issue. I have a 700W PSU, but I also have 3 hard drives, a 2GB video card, a blu-ray drive and a few other components that can easily compete for juice should anything else tax the PSU...
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bitflipper
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Re: Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
2013/06/19 10:33:40
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It probably has nothing to do with your PSU, since USB ports are self-limiting (100ma max, IIRC) and unlikely to put a significant load on the main power supply. It's possible for the port to not be able to supply enough current for a high-power device though (my wife has an external DVD on her netbook that requires using two USB ports for that reason).
My guess is that the interface is malfunctioning when the voltage drops too low, which is entirely possible. I'd expect analog clipping to be the first symptom in that case, but if the voltage drops too low internally you could get all sorts of wacky behavior from the digital circuits.
All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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DaveT
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Re: Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
2013/06/19 13:13:57
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This is good to know. FWIW, I run P/S on all my USB stuff so this has never been an issue for me.
Thanks for sharing this!!
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TheBadger
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Re: Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
2013/06/19 13:49:34
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Good Tip!
Been having this issue until recently myself. Went and bought a new system because of it.
After reading your thread, I went back to my old system that had been giving me headaches, and sure enough that was the problem. Removed all the usb powered stuff of my rails, and no problem. Runs as fast as the day I set it up.
Go figure! LOL. At least others will be able to solve this problem now.
Thanks,
TheBadger
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Studious
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Re: Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
2013/06/19 14:48:00
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baudze
Note to the wise out there: Do NOT run USB-powered external gear on your DAW. You could get very unexpected results - including inexplicable audio dropouts!
Thanks for taking the time to share this! I would not have expected a keyboard to cause such havoc, just from powering via USB. This could help a lot of users, as it's such a simple, unexpected resolution to a big problem. But this might be missed by a lot of users since it's posted in " SONAR Producer and Studio" (the old Sonar forum...not sure how to move a post). Actually, this should be in Sonar documentation, or at least highlighted in the read-me file.
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baudze
Max Output Level: -90 dBFS
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Re: Audio Dropouts - Unlikely Cause
2013/06/25 16:55:16
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Good point, Studious. I'll repost over there, just in case... :-)
Cakewalk by BandLab, Komplete 10 Ultimate Windows 10 x64, Intel i7 28GB, 1TB HDD OS eSATA, 500GB SSD (VSTi), 500GB SSD (audio) UAD-2 Duo, Slate Digital, Waves, McDSP Roland Edirol PCR-800 Focusrite Saffire PRO40 Alesis MasterControl (controller) Alesis Monitor One Mk2 Event Studio Precision 8
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