Clicks and pops when changing presets in Cubase - ASIO bug?

[CreamWare4Ever]

Hi,

I'm not sure what is causing this, but in short terms I want to check if this is somehow related to ASIO 5.1 audio driver.

In short, at low latencies (3ms, 7ms) changing a plugin preset in Cubase 6 returns Asio overload (spike), glitches and pops in audio signal. It seems that graphical changes somehow disturbs audio flow at that point.

Even when there is no audio signal present, sequencer has been stopped, changing presets returns Asio spikes and red red overload light blink.

Maybe it is and graphic card issue? I'm usign Gigabyte GV-N84S-512I Nvidia GeForce 8400GS.

Maybe I need to change some frequency setting in BIOS to give more space to PCI sound card OR PCIe graphic card. I have latest drivers for my graphic card.

Any help will be highly appreciated!

Cheers.

[garyb]

that might be normal for some plugins, but that's a strange thing. actually, it's not that strange that there might be dropouts during playback.

is that with all plugins? or just certain ones that you use often? if it's certain ones, which ones?

you shouldn't need to do crazy things in the settings. the best performance optimization you could do would be to turn off all that windows bs. go to system properties\advanced\performance\settings\ and choose "adjust for best performance". yes, it will make your os look like win 98, but it'll have twice the resources for all the apps you actually want to run, rather than just using horsepower to show you cute gimmicks.

[CreamWare4Ever]

that might be normal for some plugins, but that's a strange thing. actually, it's not that strange that there might be dropouts during playback.

is that with all plugins? or just certain ones that you use often? if it's certain ones, which ones?

you shouldn't need to do crazy things in the settings. the best performance optimization you could do would be to turn off all that windows bs. go to system properties\advanced\performance\settings\ and choose "adjust for best performance". yes, it will make your os look like win 98, but it'll have twice the resources for all the apps you actually want to run, rather than just using horsepower to show you cute gimmicks.

Yes, I know that's odd. No, it is not happening with all plugs, but unfortunately those that I use often:

Waves Q-Eq serie, Arturia Laboratory, Jupiter and maybe some more that I'm not using so often. I'm not getting classical drop outs, except when I load plugins. Then all audio stops for couple of seconds.
Yes I have done that performance optimization and overall system works rock solid. Except of described problem. Do you think this is a graphic card related problem?

Cheers.

[ChrisWerner]

When nothing plays, are there great CPU performance fluctuations with these plugins loaded only , too?

[CreamWare4Ever]

When nothing plays, are there great CPU performance fluctuations with these plugins loaded only , too?

That's the funny thing, no, they behave as they should. I have checked with DSP latency checker, nothing unusual with them when they 'play'.

[Neutron]

Cubase + Xite 1 was causing tons of clicks and pops for me, i was using 48k, when i changed it to 41 then they went away. havent tried higher because i have a couple of low end ADAT boxes connected as well as the A16U

[tgstgs]

it is DPC latencychecker not DSP right?!
it tells you the delay of the dpclat.exe;
guessing that if the dpclat.exe is delayed more than 2ms you have probl.
even the win task-manager is better for analysing_

good vibes

[CreamWare4Ever]

it is DPC latencychecker not DSP right?!
it tells you the delay of the dpclat.exe;
guessing that if the dpclat.exe is delayed more than 2ms you have probl.
even the win task-manager is better for analysing_

good vibes

Yes, the one that can be found at http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

I didn't catch your point. Please explain.

[tgstgs]

how cpus handle processes/threads vs dsp would be an interesting disc. for its own;
in most of case clicks are course of delayed threads not being able to process in time;
whatever the reason may be;
the weak point of nativ stuff;
you will not 'see' what the probl. is or in most case if thers a probl at all;
at least not with these tools;
the use of the right tool to check what is also an disc. of its own able to fill server_
check if you may reduce the probl to one 'device' or one application/dll by changing parts;
different grafix/different ram/mainboard . . . . .
dlls appl. by running them at same contidion on different systems . . .

but in short:
if you whant to perform without clicks what you perform with clicks
buy a faster system_

sorry vibes

[CreamWare4Ever]

but in short:
if you whant to perform without clicks what you perform with clicks
buy a faster system_

sorry vibes

Well in that case I will need to wait a couple of years as I already have very powerful machine assembled 2 months ago
Thanks.

[tgstgs]

changing preset means discaccess (in most case)
at 3ms latency the timeframe for performing all algos + discinteraction is not very much even if we are talking about microsec.
if you have no probl. at higher latency takeit_
a new build system does not automatically mean its good fast_
specialy HDs have hugh differences in access;

good vibes

[jksuperstar]

I know I've said it before, but try using Alacrity (or the older version, fsautostart).
http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/

I've never seen a case where shutting down unnecessary programs, processes, drivers, TSRs, and what not hasn't improved performance. This program allows you to shut things down based on the task you want to perform. Going to run audio? Turn off your internet, your USB video cam, your media sharing center, the special button monitoring software that lets you press one button to open a browser...kill all of it. Afterward, when you close the audio program, this program will start up all those drivers and processes that you shut down.

Also, always shut down any hardware you don't use (ie - Disable it, and also disable it in BIOS if possible). Even if you unload a driver, when an IRQ happens, the OS still has to go through the list of hardware available, to make sure that some such a device doesn't have a higher priority, or even just looking to be discovered, like "found new hardware". So disable everything you can, and they are no longer part of that process. It's here where you really save on latency times. And don't think of blaming windows or mac on that -- I worked with a specialty embedded OS that had no drivers for anything on a PC other than what I wrote. Just by shutting down unused hardware (ethernet, SATA ports, floppy controllers, USB, etc) I was able to get IRQ rates down from several milliseconds to 33.3 microseconds. I KNOW there was no other software or drivers running. That was just a hardware tweak.

[CreamWare4Ever]

I know I've said it before, but try using Alacrity (or the older version, fsautostart).
http://alacritypc.kensalter.com/

I've never seen a case where shutting down unnecessary programs, processes, drivers, TSRs, and what not hasn't improved performance. This program allows you to shut things down based on the task you want to perform. Going to run audio? Turn off your internet, your USB video cam, your media sharing center, the special button monitoring software that lets you press one button to open a browser...kill all of it. Afterward, when you close the audio program, this program will start up all those drivers and processes that you shut down.

Also, always shut down any hardware you don't use (ie - Disable it, and also disable it in BIOS if possible). Even if you unload a driver, when an IRQ happens, the OS still has to go through the list of hardware available, to make sure that some such a device doesn't have a higher priority, or even just looking to be discovered, like "found new hardware". So disable everything you can, and they are no longer part of that process. It's here where you really save on latency times. And don't think of blaming windows or mac on that -- I worked with a specialty embedded OS that had no drivers for anything on a PC other than what I wrote. Just by shutting down unused hardware (ethernet, SATA ports, floppy controllers, USB, etc) I was able to get IRQ rates down from several milliseconds to 33.3 microseconds. I KNOW there was no other software or drivers running. That was just a hardware tweak.

Very useful tip for alacritypc, thanks. Did you manage to get this running with Win 7 (64bit)?