Sound Cutting Out

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Inst1nctive
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2019

20 Jan 2019

So I recently switched over from mac to PC. I'm trying to mix/master this project I'm working on, and my audio keeps cutting in and out, very messily. It's not a clean cut, it's clearly getting crushed in quality before cutting out, which leads me to believe it's a performance issue. However, I have an i7, and most of my tracks have been bounced to audio files. My cpu usage is at 40% at MOST.

I'm not sure what to do. I'm using a focusrite scarlett 2i2 audio interface, and i installed the driver online. And in reason, i've tried all my different audio drivers. (My scarlett is my AIO, but i've also tried dx, mme, on all options. I'm not sure what to do. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

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Loque
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20 Jan 2019

What means cutting out? Crackles and complete drop? Typical performance problems or more an audio issue/sound?

You checked power settings of Windows and set it to high performance? You can try to enable multi thread support.
Reason12, Win10

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Heigen5
Posts: 1505
Joined: 25 Sep 2018
Location: Finland / Suomi

21 Jan 2019

Is this the case with all your Reason-saves? I had few projects, that had a cutout problem, but in these cases I found out it was a ReQ131 Rack Extension that did this. I reported it and they told they'll look into it. So far they have not got back to me. So I deleted them from my device-chain.

Inst1nctive
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2019

22 Jan 2019

I tried messing with the power settings, and yes, it's happening on multiple songs. I also got rid of rpeq in both songs and it is still happening.

It crackles and then drops for a second and a half or so. Like my bitrate is screwed up or something. But i've messed with the slider in the past and it hasn't helped. Maybe something with my audio driver or something? Although it never cuts out when watching videos or playing games.

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Loque
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22 Jan 2019

Maybe just a performance problem. But the last times I heard crackles in Reason too with maybe just 30% DSP usage. Often happens when i switch a window. The performance on my 5ghz multi core seems to be too slow too. Would be bad on a live performance...

You can try to lower your bit rate.
Reason12, Win10

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MannequinRaces
Posts: 1543
Joined: 18 Jan 2015

22 Jan 2019

What’s your audio buffer set on in Reason?

Inst1nctive
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2019

22 Jan 2019

Update:

- I started a new project and messed with the slider. I started at 320 buffer size (which is the default when i select my ASIO Focusrite Driver) and started adding new tracks (Instances of Serum).

-I started to hear crackles and pops lightly as i added more and more tracks. i only got to about 3 when i got an error and Serum crashed.

-I put the slider up to about 550 buffer size, and tried the same thing. The crackles and pops were much less noticeable, but i only got to 2 instances of serum before it crashed.

Also, when i change my driver to any of the options that i screenshotted, the buffer size is VASTLY different.

ASIO Focusrite has a range of about 0-1000 buffer size.
DX Focusrite USB, DX Primary Sound Driver, & DX2460g4 all have a range of about 0-8000 buffer size
MME Focusrite USB & MME 2460g4 both have a range of about 0-16000 buffer size


Image

I would be very dissapointed if this was a performance issue. I have a 1050 and an i7. It seems like an issue with my audio driver or something.

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Loque
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22 Jan 2019

Its a performance problem. A fix is on the way that may help with VSTs. Stick with ASIO driver with 64 or 128 samples.

Still dunno your sample rate.
Reason12, Win10

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ScuzzyEye
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22 Jan 2019

Always keep the buffer using powers of 2: 64, 128, 256, 512, etc. Other values will result in un-aligned memory access, and hurt performance more than even now. (And it should really improve things when the VST performance update arrives).

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MannequinRaces
Posts: 1543
Joined: 18 Jan 2015

22 Jan 2019

If you are done with the recording phase and working on mixing and mastering crank that buffer up! More latency but it won’t matter because you’re done recording.

Inst1nctive
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2019

22 Jan 2019

So on this new one i started, i put my bitrate all the way up to 1024. (Yeah there's some latency with the keyboard but it's not much)

My audio isn't completely cutting out, but it's getting all crushed and distorted every couple seconds. I have to believe it's something with the audio interface, because on my mac, i was just using my built in soundcard, and never had a problem with this. I had an i5 processor. On the new PC, I have an i7, and i have multicore rendering and hyper threading enabled. Now, on my mac, I didn't have the option to use hyper threading. I assume that is just something that would help performance, right? or would that hinder it?

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ScuzzyEye
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22 Jan 2019

Inst1nctive wrote:
22 Jan 2019
On the new PC, I have an i7, and i have multicore rendering and hyper threading enabled. Now, on my mac, I didn't have the option to use hyper threading. I assume that is just something that would help performance, right? or would that hinder it?
I find with my i7 that disabling Hyperthreading actually reduces the level of the DSP meter most of the time. I think it depends on the project though, and what devices you are using.

Inst1nctive
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Jan 2019

22 Jan 2019

I think what might be happening, is that something is bottlenecking my data. My processor is spitting a lot of data into this one chip or bottleneck where it just can't handle all the data that's going through it at once. I think it has to do with the USB ports being used on the back of my computer. I think i'm going to try getting a PCIE usb 3.0 hub and see if that helps distribute the data that the processor is spitting into my audio interface. I'll post back on here when i try that. In the meantime, thanks everyone for your suggestions. Let me know if you have any others!

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childofsaturn
Posts: 68
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

25 Jan 2019

Double check your driver for the Scarlet interface. If I recall, there was an updated hardware version of the same model and it required a different driver, though the drivers seem similar.

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