Scope PCI cards clicks & pops - Windows 7 & Cubase 10
Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 11:01 pm
OK, so on the last ditch mission to resolve this....
Have read many threads here with interest - clearly a delicate area
Here's my setup:
Scope 5.1
3x PCI cards (12 DSP total, 2x Luna & 1x 6DSP Powersampler)
Windows 7
Machine:
CPU i7-4770 3.4GHZ
1150 board Gigabyte GA - Z87P-D3
Samsung 860 EVO SSD system Drive (250GIG)
16 GIG RAM (G Skill Ripjaws)
Asus EAH6450 Silent Graphics 1GIG
Audio & Samples data storage:
Seagate 1TB External USB drive
DAW / Audio software etc:
Cubase 10 Pro - USB eLicenser Dongle/Protection
Universal Audio Satellite Octo USB3
USB Pace iLok (Soundtoys PSP etc)
Waves (native, license now moved to system harddrive)
The computer has been tweaked for audio performance, windows, bios etc, & is essentially offline, Audio duties only
Cubase connects to Scope environment via multiple ASIO outs (32x), then to 2x A16 Ultras via Z-link & ADAT, into an outboard console
Only have 2 ASIO inputs set-up for recording/tracking
ULLI typically at 13ms or 7ms
In Cubase, running a typical session with no VSTi's, on playback with audio only, max 20 tracks so nothing heavy, but with various plugins inserted across outputs & tracks, ALWAYS gets intermittent crackles & pops. I'm suspecting some of it has been recorded at times. Unusable system, can't mix anything down. Have tried Audio Guard both on & off in Cubase, no difference either way but Audio Performance suggests that the computer is barely pushing or working hard
Latencymon tests OK with just Scope running, but no DAW/Cubase working. The issues start when I hit playback.
LatencyMon seems to be pointing to USB, Scope & Cubase for various issue:
Here's the IRQ situation, and from my understand I can't adjust this (easily, like in the (g)olden XP days) anyway even if I wanted to:
I tested disabling the Scope audio driver out of Cubase, but kept the midi, the Latencymon dropped right back into the green, so I figure it's the Scope ASIO factor specifically that's an issue.
The conclusion I've drawn is that unfortunately the 3 main things (Software/DAW, Scope PCI Hardware & USB requirements with my set-up of multi-outputs are either (a) a poor combination here or (b) one or two need to be addressed or swapped out with an alternative to get it working. Logically I'm thinking I'm flogging old technology in a modern system that's not built specifically for it (ie PCI bus bandwidth maximising)
So thinking my options (for this machine / motherboard) are:
1. Keep Cubase/DAW & plugins etc (I have 20 years of Cubase sessions!), change out Scope/audio management for an alternative sound card something like a RME pci-e that can I can simply hook outboard back into via ADAT (keep A16 ultras). Put the pci cards in a spare XP machine I have and use it as a 3rd separate Scope system
2. Try an internal SATA Audio drive - possibly would this deal with the USBPORT.SYS issue?? - Someone suggested I get a separate powered USB3 port to possibly address the USB issue
3.Try an alternative DAW, massive transition exercise of old projects, least preference and most disruptive creatively, & I'm suspecting I would find still the same issue using Scope ASIO, as other people using Ableton or Harrison report clicks/pops etc
I really can't see the point of trying a different PC build - from evidence on this forum it seems that it's a game of time consuming Russian roulette with various combos of motherboard/drivers/components etc...
Any thoughts or input would be most gratefully received.
Thanks in advance
PD
Have read many threads here with interest - clearly a delicate area
Here's my setup:
Scope 5.1
3x PCI cards (12 DSP total, 2x Luna & 1x 6DSP Powersampler)
Windows 7
Machine:
CPU i7-4770 3.4GHZ
1150 board Gigabyte GA - Z87P-D3
Samsung 860 EVO SSD system Drive (250GIG)
16 GIG RAM (G Skill Ripjaws)
Asus EAH6450 Silent Graphics 1GIG
Audio & Samples data storage:
Seagate 1TB External USB drive
DAW / Audio software etc:
Cubase 10 Pro - USB eLicenser Dongle/Protection
Universal Audio Satellite Octo USB3
USB Pace iLok (Soundtoys PSP etc)
Waves (native, license now moved to system harddrive)
The computer has been tweaked for audio performance, windows, bios etc, & is essentially offline, Audio duties only
Cubase connects to Scope environment via multiple ASIO outs (32x), then to 2x A16 Ultras via Z-link & ADAT, into an outboard console
Only have 2 ASIO inputs set-up for recording/tracking
ULLI typically at 13ms or 7ms
In Cubase, running a typical session with no VSTi's, on playback with audio only, max 20 tracks so nothing heavy, but with various plugins inserted across outputs & tracks, ALWAYS gets intermittent crackles & pops. I'm suspecting some of it has been recorded at times. Unusable system, can't mix anything down. Have tried Audio Guard both on & off in Cubase, no difference either way but Audio Performance suggests that the computer is barely pushing or working hard
Latencymon tests OK with just Scope running, but no DAW/Cubase working. The issues start when I hit playback.
LatencyMon seems to be pointing to USB, Scope & Cubase for various issue:
Here's the IRQ situation, and from my understand I can't adjust this (easily, like in the (g)olden XP days) anyway even if I wanted to:
I tested disabling the Scope audio driver out of Cubase, but kept the midi, the Latencymon dropped right back into the green, so I figure it's the Scope ASIO factor specifically that's an issue.
The conclusion I've drawn is that unfortunately the 3 main things (Software/DAW, Scope PCI Hardware & USB requirements with my set-up of multi-outputs are either (a) a poor combination here or (b) one or two need to be addressed or swapped out with an alternative to get it working. Logically I'm thinking I'm flogging old technology in a modern system that's not built specifically for it (ie PCI bus bandwidth maximising)
So thinking my options (for this machine / motherboard) are:
1. Keep Cubase/DAW & plugins etc (I have 20 years of Cubase sessions!), change out Scope/audio management for an alternative sound card something like a RME pci-e that can I can simply hook outboard back into via ADAT (keep A16 ultras). Put the pci cards in a spare XP machine I have and use it as a 3rd separate Scope system
2. Try an internal SATA Audio drive - possibly would this deal with the USBPORT.SYS issue?? - Someone suggested I get a separate powered USB3 port to possibly address the USB issue
3.Try an alternative DAW, massive transition exercise of old projects, least preference and most disruptive creatively, & I'm suspecting I would find still the same issue using Scope ASIO, as other people using Ableton or Harrison report clicks/pops etc
I really can't see the point of trying a different PC build - from evidence on this forum it seems that it's a game of time consuming Russian roulette with various combos of motherboard/drivers/components etc...
Any thoughts or input would be most gratefully received.
Thanks in advance
PD