Focusrite 18i20 Audio Dropout & Glitching

[WhiskeyJack]

I got this here snazzy new interface. I am navigating my way through getting it working. Seems as though it has a bit a bit of troubles with playback. It's glitching and it'll drop every few moments. Haven't bothered trying to record anything with it yet becasue of said dropouts.

I feel like i should really know the remedy to this but i have been over everything and i can't seem to pin it down. It had a default buffer size of 245 and i dropped it down to 128 and it is still doing it.

Where do i start looking for what the error could be?

Here are some particulars.

[WhiskeyJack]

I just realized i am on service pack 1. I suspect that could be part of it. I better start there.

[WhiskeyJack]

Ok i am tapping out for the night. Did windows updates. Still having dropouts and now my main monitors screen resolution is stuck on grandmother mode and everything is huge and dumb looking. I can not find a way to chnage it back normal eyes mode.



Also this error comes up like every other time i restart. Nights like these piss me off to no end.



All i wanted to do tonight was listen to my old songs in my new space and jam. Nothing is ever simple.

[JD01]

Frustrating. Only tadpui can help you now.

[WhiskeyJack]

Frustrating. Only tadpui can help you now.

Thinking about it on my way to work this morning i suspect that something happened to my video card drivers somewhere along the line either with the windows updates or one of those optional windows updates. I do see there was something updated speficifally pointed at that Dell monitor.

I may just uninstall the AMD radeon stuff and reinstall it and see what happens.

[Tadpui]

Yeah, I'd go to AMD's website and download appropriate drivers from there and see if those remedy the issues. That should at least take care of your display issues and crashing AMD utility.

As for the dropouts, I can't imagine that your machine is too underpowered to simply run audio drivers. Definitely see how it does once it's got all of the most current updates. I'm sure there'll be another dollop of them to apply after SP2 settles in. Maybe see if Focusrite's older drivers work for you since you're on Win7.

Do you know if your 18i20 is 1st gen or 2nd gen? You'll need the appropriate set of drivers depending on the vintage of your interface.

[WhiskeyJack]

Yeah, I'd go to AMD's website and download appropriate drivers from there and see if those remedy the issues. That should at least take care of your display issues and crashing AMD utility.

As for the dropouts, I can't imagine that your machine is too underpowered to simply run audio drivers. Definitely see how it does once it's got all of the most current updates. I'm sure there'll be another dollop of them to apply after SP2 settles in. Maybe see if Focusrite's older drivers work for you since you're on Win7.

Do you know if your 18i20 is 1st gen or 2nd gen? You'll need the appropriate set of drivers depending on the vintage of your interface.

Found it.

Sample rate and Buffer sizes were differnt in 3 different spots and i guess that doesn't make for a wonderful listening experience. Reaper was 44.1-256, The 18i20 was 48-512 and amplitube was 44.1-128 so throw all that together on a playback and you are having a bad time. Fingers crossed this get's it sorted.

As for my monitor apparently it is way to old and there was never a windows 7 64bit driver for it. On Win2000/XP. I called bullshit on that right away as i had the resolution set to something much more pleasant before windows updates did it's thing last weekend. I guess i may retire it. The computer place across from my work get's more HP monitor refurbs in than they know what to do with and blow them out for around 80 to 100 bucks. I'll just grab one next payday.

Thanks for the help all.

[WhiskeyJack]

Naw, spoke to soon. Drop outs are less frequent but still there. Getting closer i suppose.

Back to troubleshooting.

[WhiskeyJack]

All signs are pointing at Amplitube 4. I have been able to do playback from numerous sources on line, within the forum and within reaper any song i have that doesn't have an active instance of AT4 running all seem to function properly. If i have another project tab open that has an active instance of AT4 in it it will also affect playback of some of the other projects that do not have an instance. The dropouts aren't as often as in the projects with the AT4 plugs in it but it does happen.

Close those projects and restart reaper all sky's are blue again in the projects that are sans AT4

Introduce Amplitube and that's when things go sideways. I may have to tweet at both IK and Focusrite and see if anyone else has complained about it. I came across this and some of the posts are fairly suspicious and some keywords seem to highlight points that further my case of Focusrite 2nd Gen / Amplitube not jiving there but doesn't seem to be any kind of resolve to it? I may look at the Ik page if i can remember my password and see if there are any updates.

We must go deeper.

Can't help but wonder if some of these settings are to blame. I may have to start turning them off and on and see what happens.


Also kind of considering maybe possibly upgrading to Windows 10? Maybe. I am reluctant.

[WhiskeyJack]

I wonder if reducing my buffer size down smaller may help with AT4? hmm. probably not i suspect. I think it is something greater than that.

[WhiskeyJack]

Looks like My AT4 / Orange power Duo is on Version 4.2.0 and the latest release is 4.8.1. Start there i guess.

[musicturtle]

"Also kind of considering maybe possibly upgrading to Windows 10? Maybe. I am reluctant."

I would if I were you. Windows 10 is nothing like 8. I have had very few(if any) problems with it. You probably will have to do it someday, and this a obvious fresh start in a lot of ways for you. I don't know how old your PC is but you may be able to still upgrade for free.

But then again I am the type that upgrades Cubase for $25 every time they come up with a new version so I would definitely ask for more opinions on this for the final decision.

[WhiskeyJack]

"Also kind of considering maybe possibly upgrading to Windows 10? Maybe. I am reluctant."

I would if I were you. Windows 10 is nothing like 8. I have had very few(if any) problems with it. You probably will have to do it someday, and this a obvious fresh start in a lot of ways for you. I don't know how old your PC is but you may be able to still upgrade for free.

But then again I am the type that upgrades Cubase for $25 every time they come up with a new version so I would definitely ask for more opinions on this for the final decision.

I am going to look more into it. It looks like windows says that as of whatever date 2016 they no longer support the free upgrade. However, the Internets have told me that it is still possible to do a free upgrade as of Nov 2018. Might be something to look into in the coming weeks. Thanks MT. All signs are pointing to a W10 upgrade. Just a matter of when.

[Tadpui]

I am going to look more into it. It looks like windows says that as of whatever date 2016 they no longer support the free upgrade. However, the Internets have told me that it is still possible to do a free upgrade as of Nov 2018. Might be something to look into in the coming weeks. Thanks MT. All signs are pointing to a W10 upgrade. Just a matter of when.

So is the interface still giving you fits?

We could even Skype and try to get to the bottom of it, if that's a thing you're willing to try.

Your new room is too cool to have a misbehaving interface in it!

[musicturtle]

"Also kind of considering maybe possibly upgrading to Windows 10? Maybe. I am reluctant."

I would if I were you. Windows 10 is nothing like 8. I have had very few(if any) problems with it. You probably will have to do it someday, and this a obvious fresh start in a lot of ways for you. I don't know how old your PC is but you may be able to still upgrade for free.

But then again I am the type that upgrades Cubase for $25 every time they come up with a new version so I would definitely ask for more opinions on this for the final decision.

I am going to look more into it. It looks like windows says that as of whatever date 2016 they no longer support the free upgrade. However, the Internets have told me that it is still possible to do a free upgrade as of Nov 2018. Might be something to look into in the coming weeks. Thanks MT. All signs are pointing to a W10 upgrade. Just a matter of when.

Yeah I did mine last summer and it worked for free...I had the original Windows 8 that came with machine. Good luck whatever decide.

[WhiskeyJack]

Your new room is too cool to have a misbehaving interface in it!

Right?!

So is the interface still giving you fits?

We could even Skype and try to get to the bottom of it, if that's a thing you're willing to try.

I Skype at work all the time man i'd be up for it for sure i'd just need to install it on my machine at home. You'd be welcome to screen shot it all if was of any benefit for your youtube series as well?

As for the issue, I have to say "I don't know" ??

I posted late last night when i was 99.9% sure i had it all licked. I did the update to AT4 as i noted, (and a handful of other VST's) After Install, it reset all the defaults within the IK software /audio settings and i noticed a different sound driver option that wasn't there before and after some tinkering it seemed and sounded like all was put to rights so after about 25 mins of listening and playing along in AT4 i felt convinced this was cured. I checked off the list and went onto problem number 2 trying to get direct monitoring thing sorted. I opened Focusrite control and after about 5 mins i was certain i was starting to hear those dropouts again.

I came back to delete my "SUCCESS!" post as i didn't want to mislead. So, while it was in fact pretty functional after much trial and error and there were no dropouts, i am pretty positive that when i was in Focusrite Control to look around i was sure i heard some dropouts. So i want to look into a little bit more. Maybe it is cured and i was just tired and hearing things? But i don't want to say definitively that this is sorted. I am going to tackle it one more time to be sure. I am really considering Windows 10 to see if maybe that could be a thing as well.

Yeah I did mine last summer and it worked for free...I had the original Windows 8 that came with machine. Good luck whatever decide.

My machine was an HP that i had gotten a great deal on locally second hand and i had to wipe it clean. The IT guy at work advised me not to use The HP disks as they are bloated and full of garbage that make life miserable so he let me take his Win7HomePrem OEM disk. Does that sound about right? I want to say i used the windows key on the side of my computer versus stealing one from work. But i am positive when he handed me the disk it was nothing more than a disk in a sleeve with no writing on it. That to me just makes sense. Would it matter what activation key i used if i were to do an upgrade to windows 10 ?

I am sadly finding that the older i get the more out of touch with this stuff i am getting. i've lost all sense or desire to stay current with tech shit as it just constantly evolves and i can't keep up on it.

Thanks MT.

[musicturtle]

My machine was an HP that i had gotten a great deal on locally second hand and i had to wipe it clean. The IT guy at work advised me not to use The HP disks as they are bloated and full of garbage that make life miserable so he let me take his Win7HomePrem OEM disk. Does that sound about right? I want to say i used the windows key on the side of my computer versus stealing one from work. But i am positive when he handed me the disk it was nothing more than a disk in a sleeve with no writing on it. That to me just makes sense. Would it matter what activation key i used if i were to do an upgrade to windows 10 ?

I am sadly finding that the older i get the more out of touch with this stuff i am getting. i've lost all sense or desire to stay current with tech shit as it just constantly evolves and i can't keep up on it.

Thanks MT.

You can actually install 10 without a key(just check the install without key box)...lacks a few customizing features. Just need to make creation tool with a usb stick.

With mine when I went to the activation screen in windows 10 it just said this license has been digitally activated. I didnt need to input anything. And this was after doing a clean sweep of the entire hard drive.

Here is a link with more detailed info
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.zdnet. ... 0-upgrade/

And here is a link to Windows Update Assistant. I was having several issues after install and this helped as well.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... -assistant

[WhiskeyJack]

I think i got it beat guys. Have had a good run through with fresh ears and eyes and i think it's well sorted.

I just created a rough tune with a few tracks of AT4 in it and also played on top of that with another instance running. Also one glaring issue i didn't factor into any of this is the whole time i was tracking and playing back i had the Focusrite control software window open. When it is closed / exited this problem goes away entirely. I definitely think that is the glitch and i am going to consider this issue resolved.

[musicturtle]

Excellent news!

[Lt. Bob]

[
I am sadly finding that the older i get the more out of touch with this stuff i am getting. i've lost all sense or desire to stay current with tech shit as it just constantly evolves and i can't keep up on it.

Thanks MT.

all of my stuff is hardware .... no updates ..... no latency ..... infinite routing possibilities as long as I have cables ..... can't crash and lose work ..... not perfect of course and hardware can break.
But I never ever have to deal with the problems I see come up so frequently in software based recording.

However, I do realize that I have many thousands of dollars invested in stuff I've bought the last 30 years.
'puter recording is cheaper by far but since I have other ways to not record, it interests me none.