Anyone who has used the AVB Ultralite, please read this post and let me know if you have any clues as to what's causing this.
 
I've been using the AVB Ultralite for 2.5 years with Platinum and I've always had the momentary audio glitch or pop, a few a week. If I'm recording an audio mix from my analog mixing console then I just back up a little and punch back in and it's fine.
 
The other audio problem I've had at times is I get some bad crackles or distortion on playback and it's constant. The fix is to open preferences and look at the audio settings and hit ok. That usually clears it up or sometimes I have to close and reopen Platinum. All of these are irritating, but not too hard to deal with.
 
But starting around 7/1/17 I started getting a far worse problem. I can record a vocalist and everything sounds fine while they're recording, but when I playback, the audio is full of crackles and it's permanently embedded in the wav file, totally ruining the whole performance.
 
 I've had input monitoring set up through the AVB mixer for 2.5 years, so what I hear on input gets routed to the output. So if something is distorting I can hear it while it's being recorded, except with this new crackle bug.
 
I've done lot's of testing is here's what I've found out. It only happens on the first recording after I opened the song. If it doesn't happen then, then it won't all of a sudden start having a crackle recording. 
 
Every time it's happened, it appears that all inputs record crackles while recording. The crackles are always permanently embedded in the wav files, if I open another song and record, there will be no crackles, I can then go back to the original song and it won't record with crackles, yet the first recording will still have crackles. Or I can just close the song and reopen it and it won’t record with crackles again. So it seems to be an intermittent faulty song initialization of some sort.
 
I'm beginning to wonder if this is all caused by lenses. I started using lenses in March. I first noticed the crackle recording in July, yet I may have had some and just thought it was an anomaly. Since July I've had it happen about 5 times and then starting about 2 weeks ago I started testing every day and it's happened about 4x in 2 weeks.
 
To me it seems this is caused by a faulty initialization of the audio when first opening a song. That's why I wonder if the lenses are interrupting the initialization. I’ve also started using a custom theme in Jan 2017 and finalized it April 2017. Could that be causing it. 
 
I’m still using 2017.04. I had some problems with 2017.05 and 2017.06   I know it’s possible the latest Platinum version may have this fixed, yet I keep thinking about going for 2 years with no crackle problem like this. So I’ve stuck with 2017.04 until I can get to the bottom of this.
 
I’ve not gotten any help from MOTU. It’s seems they’re pretty lame when it comes with PCs and Platinum. Yesterday I decided to turn the lens to None and see if that fixes the problem. If any one has any insight or ideas on what’s happening I’m all ears.

I went through 6 months of hell with a MOTU 828x with Sonar Platinum. I tried everything I could find info on to optimize my pc and Sonar and the MOTU in order to get a stable performance. I was getting similar problems as you. MOTU support was being very helpful and we were in discussion on a regular basis, but in the end I had to sell the MOTU and buy a RME Babyface Pro instead. Once I hooked up the RME, all my random problems (not related to 3rd party plugins) went away for good. Only after I told MOTU that I sold my unit, did they reply to me saying they don't really give that much attention to the pc world... just mac. All this being said, I think there are some Sonar users out there that are having success with their MOTU interface. I hope you can find stability.

By the way... I was having your crackle problem with the MOTU even before lenses, so I don't think that is your problem.

By the way... I was having your crackle problem with the MOTU even before lenses, so I don't think that is your problem.

ryecatchermark
By the way... I was having your crackle problem with the MOTU even before lenses, so I don't think that is your problem.

There's 2 crackle problems. One that you hear on playback and it's constant until you reboot or something.
 
The 2nd crackle problem is far worse. I can have a great singer in and have them record a great vocal, only to find it's ruined with crackles, that only show up on playback. During recording there were no crackles.
 
Can you verify that you experiences both types of crackle problems

Yes, I experienced both types of crackle problems... and other weird sounds which were totally random. There was never one single work-around that would fix the problem for me. If at all possible, try another audio interface. Even an old Roland ua25ex worked stable for me every time the MOTU was failing (I still use the ua25ex at my work office all the time). I highly recommend RME if you can afford it. The audio interface and its drivers are, at the very least, equally important as the computer itself and your DAW in my opinion.

Hum? I'm just wondering... I don't have this unit but sometimes things seem relevant.
Do you have your Clock set to internal?
If you have some type of Software like an internal mixer that goes with your interface check for clipping internally.
 
Are you using a power conditioner to power your gear?
 
Within the Windows/ control panel/ Device manager make sure that you have no other audio devices installed or just set to off.
Your "audio ins and outs" should only have your Audio device listed. Also look under Sound, video and game controller.
No other audio devices should be there except your device. Delete all others, otherwise windows will decide what to do for you. If your audio interface boots slow windows could be setting up crap drivers in the background. 
 
I wound uninstall all audio drivers then reboot the computer. go to device manager and make sure there are not Audio devices installed. The reinstall your device and reboot. after that go back to the device manager and make sure all other devices are gone.
 
Hope something here helps! :)
peace! 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks 11Dreams. In my case, I addressed all of the issues you listed (plus many others)... nothing cured the MOTU problem. The 828x hardware worked perfectly but it was confirmed that the problem existed because of MOTU's drivers not getting along with Windows 10 and Sonar. The same problems happened with Windows 7 as well. My MOTU 828x worked perfectly on an iMac with GarageBand, and not too bad with Harrison MixBus on the pc, but forget it with Sonar.

11Dreams
Hum? I'm just wondering... I don't have this unit but sometimes things seem relevant.
Do you have your Clock set to internal?
If you have some type of Software like an internal mixer that goes with your interface check for clipping internally.
 
Are you using a power conditioner to power your gear?
 
Within the Windows/ control panel/ Device manager make sure that you have no other audio devices installed or just set to off.
Your "audio ins and outs" should only have your Audio device listed. Also look under Sound, video and game controller.
No other audio devices should be there except your device. Delete all others, otherwise windows will decide what to do for you. If your audio interface boots slow windows could be setting up crap drivers in the background. 
 
I wound uninstall all audio drivers then reboot the computer. go to device manager and make sure there are not Audio devices installed. The reinstall your device and reboot. after that go back to the device manager and make sure all other devices are gone.
 
Hope something here helps! :)
peace! 
 
 
 
 
 

Clock is on Internal, the Ultralite does have an internal mixer. I have some pretty complicated routing set up with input monitoring, but no FX or real mixing. The mixer has been set up this way for years. I  have it set a certain way and do all the mixing in Sonar. I don’t use a power conditioner, just surge protectors.
 
In Control Panel Windows “Sounds”, I have it set so Win Media plays through the internal Realtec audio built into my motherboard. I have Realtec playing though “speakers”, which means I have a tiny little mini plug plugged into the back of my computer and it’s routed to my analog mixing console, coming up though an aux return.
 
This way when I play a wav file or mp3, WIn Media comes up and plays it and I control it’s volume on my analog mixer with an Aux Return knob. Otherwise the sound will come though my Ultralite and into my analog mixer. If I have EQ, pan, or FX on that channel then I have to change that to hear the mp3 accurately.
 
This is what I have set up under Control Panel / Sound / Playback:
 
Speakers – 2-MOTU Pro Audio – default communication device
Out 1-24 - 2-MOTU Pro Audio  - Ready
Speakers – Realtec high definition audio – Default device
Realtec digital output - Realtec high definition audio – ready
 
I’m not sure why there are 2 listings for speakers. The 3rd listing is the one that allows wav files to play through Realtec. Occasionally the default device has mysteriously changed back to MOTU and I’d see a check mark there and the wav files then play though MOTU.
 
Then I have to go to the 3rd listing and choose default device, then the wav files play again though the Realtec. When I choose default device for Realtec then MOTU changes to Default communication device with an icon of what looks like a phone on it.
 
 If I right click that,  I can choose disable. I just tried that and now there are only 3 listings not 4. The top one disappeared that had MOTU and communication device. I hit cancel thinking it would return back to 4 listings but it didn’t. So I’m not sure if this is good or bad. I’d never use a phone or other communication device with my DAW, so maybe this is ok – not sure. Now when I open “Sound” there are only 3 listings in Playback

With all the info going about I'm just taking another shot...if I go by what I'm reading above I think I see that the realtek is left active when you use the motu? That can cause issues with an on board audio active when outboard / AI is trying to be used with a DAW.
If I'm reading different than intended then ignore this 😊 and I'll go back to watching for the outcome..hang in there.