Dropouts ?? Try This

I want to start this post as a place dedicated for users suggestions for people experiencing dropouts without focusing a per say setup.
Firstly let me say Platinum is a very "Accurate" Tool for troubleshooting purposes.
Secondly let me say LatencyMon is a very "Accurate" tool for troubleshooting purposes.
 
Here is my Suggestions:
A) LatencyMon:
You should start your computer and wait 5 minutes for windows to finish indexing etc etc.
Then run LatencyMon for 1 hour without Platinum running, try not to use your computer in this time just leave it alone.
If in 1 hour you have anything above 1000us in any of the fields (or less than that hour then stop LatencyMon), then there are issues you need to solve regarding drivers, windows optimization, or hardware configuration.
Regardless you need LatencyMon to run for a hour "All in the Green" before proceeding.
If LatencyMon goes above 1000us lets say in the first half hour, then stop LatencyMon and apply a Real Time Windows optimization, put it in a notepad so you know and can recall every tweek you make then run LatencyMon again, if the problem is not solved then you will get the same reading in LatencyMon sure enough. Keep doing this until LatencyMon can run for 1 hour in the green. You Will Get There!
https://www.cakewalk.com/...ows-Optimization-Guide
1) Drivers: check all your drivers are updated: use your memory to recall if any drivers you previously installed gave you problems during installation, maybe reinstall them.
2) Windows Optimization : This is vital for your PC to become ready for real-time audio processing, turn off indexing, disable all network cards, disable firewall, disable Intel throttling in Bios, disable all Memory enhancements in Bios, keep doing this and "REMEMBER" note down everything you change and run LatencyMon to check if LatencyMon now runs in the Green after those changes. Here is a Brilliant set of optimizations that will help a lot.
http://forum.cakewalk.com/DAW-and-SSD-optimization-m2944111.aspx
Once LatencyMon and the PC alone runs for 1 hour in the green then its time to fire up the biggest Platinum Project you have and loop playback a section and then run LatencyMon for another hour and make sure that LatencyMon with Platinum playing back stays under 1000us in the green. Again if LatencyMon goes in the red or above 1000us then stop LatencyMon and know that you can trust that you need to make additional tweaks to get LatencyMon to run in the Green.
I cant give you the magic driver or optimization but i will say its there waiting for you to find.
Once you have Platinum Playing loopback and LatencyMon in the green for 1 hour, you now know that you can eliminate your PC as a suspect and move forward.
 
B) Troubleshooting Suspects:
Eliminating what you think is the cause and knowing what is not the cause saves valuable time.
Example : Eliminate Plugins > Disable Global FX then check playback in platinum to see if the drop out problem your experiencing has dissapeared? If so then you know where to keep looking, then you could try disabling certain FX plugins by there name/group to try narrow it down further. If you have let's say FabFilter "Whatever" then disbale them only and then Re Enable Global FX then test playback again for results.
This method is great for homing in on the area and then narrowing it to the source, it is great for identifying what is and what is not the cause and what is not the cause is just as valuable because you know not to waste your time with what you know has not solved the problem .
Use this method with other areas to try and locate the area of the problems your expiereincing.
 
C) Buffers : The Most important related to Dropouts
 
On your Audio Interface make sure you have set enough of a buffer size to handle you Platinum Project
you can change this buffer setting inside platinum for most audio interfaces :
Edit > Preferences >Audio > Driver Settings > Mixing Latency > ASIO Panel > Click it and just increase to 2048 so "YOU KNOW" if it solves the dropout problem your experiencing or not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If it does then you can reopen it and lower it until you find the magic number. If it doesn't then you know this is not your dropout problem.
 
Inside Platinum there are a lot of settings related to buffer sizes, some are in Edit >Preferences and others are in the AUD.ini
There is no magic number that applies to each of these settings as they are different for every setup->DO NOT CHANGE ANY SETTINGS YOU DO NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND -> ask in the forum first or read it over and over again until it sinks in.
When changing a setting it is recommended to do it in Small Increments and monitor your needs.
Read the Cakewalk Documentation supplied with platinum before hand so you understand what these affect.
These are 2 of the most important Buffers to make adjustments to first :
-Playback I/O + Record I/O Buffer Size > Located at Edit  > Preferences >Audio > Sync and Caching > file system.
-Midi Playback Buffers  > Located at Edit  > Preferences >Midi > Playback and Recording > Playback.
 
Keep in mid sometimes it takes a few combined tweaks to also fix a problem that's why starting at the top and working down should help narrow the problem which is always the fastest and easiest way, instead of constantly swimming in the same waters over and over again.
 
Please Post any additional information that you believe can help Platinum users with dropouts.
 
 

bitflipper
Good summary. But we should mention one point of potential confusion...LatencyMon measures a specific type of latency: the overhead incurred by servicing interrupts. This is wholly unrelated to latency caused by plugins, which is all about data buffering within the plugin. And neither of those are directly related to added latency necessitated by raising the audio driver's buffers to mitigate high overhead from DPCs or intensive CPU usage from plugins or other Windows processes.
 
Sorry to be a nit-picker. Carry on.

Absolutely correct and thanks for that bitflipper.
I forgot to elaborate about the hardware when i mentioned above:
regarding drivers, windows optimization, or hardware configuration.
 
Let me add that in now.
a) LatencyMon : Continued
Hardware Interrupts:
Making sure all your hardware uses separate interrupts .
Open Windows Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager > View > Resources By Type . There you will find Interrupt Request (IRQ).
Expand Interrupt request (IRQ): Just visually make sure no Hardware is using the same IRQ Numbers, like your nvidia cards. 
 
In this example i will show you how to separate and know your "PC USB IRQ Numbers".
USB  share IRQ's and why its important to know that you could plug a USB device into a different slot and fix a problem.But knowing why this fixes a problem is what i will show you.
3) USB Devices are all plugged into separate IRQ's, How ? Like This:
 
Example : I have a elicencer USB dongle + wireless USB Microsoft keyboard and Mouse + USB RME Baby face.
 
I am using a z800 with 3 x USB 2.0  ports on the front and 6 x USB 2.0 ports at the rear PC Panel.
The front USB Ports and the Rear Upper 2 x USB Ports all use IRQ 22, the rear middle 2 x USB ports use IRQ20 and finally the Rear Lower 2 x USB Ports on my z800 use IRQ 21.
So i have plugged my RME Babyface into IRQ 22 Front USB Ports , then i have plugged my wireless keyboard and mouse into IRQ 20 Rear middle USB Ports , and finally i have plugged my elicencer into "IRQ 21" rear lower usb ports.
Now none of my usb devices "NOW" share a IRQ Number, this is very important and is also something you should know when troubleshooting and eliminating LatencyMon suspects.
The way to find out what IRQ is connected to which USB Port is in 2 locations:
1) Device Manager
2) Interrupt Request (IRQ)
 
Firstly you open device manager and scroll down to Universal Serial Bus Controllers.
Expand that and go to USB Root Hub/s
Double click each USB Root Hub and click on the power tab.
This will display what is currently connected to this USB port, so say you have a wireless keyboard plugged into this USB Root Hub, you can now associate the Hardware USB location with this particular USB Root Hub.
So Wireless keyboard is plugged into USB Hardware rear middle port and its showing on this particular USB Root HUB in the power tab as the wireless keyboard and mouse.
Ok so the final connection to make is what IRQ is this USB Root Hub Using ?
Still in the same USB Root Hub properties window click back to the General Tab, take note of the "location":
It should have a ID similar to : ( 3A36 in this example ) or 3A37 etc etc.
Then when you have this ID go back into Interrupt Request (IRQ) window, and there you can see which IRQ 3A36 is using .
Now you have knowledge of what IRQ each USB port is using on your PC, you can now separate the USB devices you have plugged in so they use separate IRQ's.
 
 

Sanderxpander
I also object to the idea of disabling all network cards and especially the casually mentioned disabling of firewalls. Many (most?) of us use the internet commonly on our production systems. I've never had a problem. But I would strongly advise against disabling your firewall if you do.

I agree that if your network card is enabled then you want firewall enabled to.
I also agree that enabling your network card is not a problem but rather i have made suggestions to help troubleshoot
LatencyMon issues that affect real time audio processing.
If you run latencyMon and enable your network cards you will see what impact it has on real time audio processing.
 
 

Only when I need to completely focus on something will i disable networks. I need a new dsp interface for my universal audio stuff and better soundcard. Another couple of ssd drives. I work a lot by layering effects..

Recent ones are more intensive like the waves analogue emulations and well my computer is old in terms of technology.

If there are problems, you're right, it is a good place to look. But the idea that you will always have problems when internet/network is enabled is simply erroneous.

Thorough testing is a good idea and I applaud your efforts to share your experiences and provide a guideline. It just seemed a little too much like an authorative line "you must turn off network and firewall to get reliable low latency". That hasn't been my experience in any of my systems, though I know wifi especially is a common cause for dropouts and popping.

It's no problem at all, I just misinterpreted your tone and wanted to make it a more balanced message. Please keep doing what you're doing.

I have to agree with Johnny, I believe it is system dependent (on the kind of network card).
I've had some set ups where it made no difference at all, yet others that have reeked havoc with pops, clicks and drop outs.
 

fret_man
Shouldn't the realtek HD audio driver issue be mentioned here? I seem to remember an issue it had in NVidia systems, or was it AMD? See an example here.

Nice !
I use 2 nvidia cards which also come with HD audio drivers in exactly the same location as Anderton pointed out in his thread. I have them disabled in device manger and then double check PC Sound Properties to confirm they actually are.
I also do this for any microphones at the Sound Properties Window also, so basically everything but my Audio Interface and it's inputs and outputs gets disabled.

Disabling inputs and outputs in your bios that you don't use is also advisable. I have system Audio disabled in my bios along with sas, ieee. Internal USB, UN used sata ports etc etc all disabled.
Keep in mind though that you will still need to disable the HD Audio driver even with system audio disabled in bios, or at least with z800.


Great advice thank you for adding it in !