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I was browsing around here and noticed some people having random crackles in their audio. Well here’s the cause and some solutions. Most of this stuff will work for you as it worked for me and for other people, but there’s no guarantee. If you do still run into trouble i’ll try to help you.
So why does it crackle? The cause is DPC latency spikes. I won’t talk about what DPC latency is in technical terms, you’re free to look it up at Microsoft and read it yourself. But basically a driver is taking too much time to process low-level calls and interrupts everything else, namely sound and video. The reason is that Windows is NOT a true real-time system, there are lots of timers and calls and interrupts that (try to) keep the system running fluidly. Unfortunately they do not succeed all the time, partly because of programmers that don’t follow driver writing guidelines, partly because of other things i’m too lazy to list.
So, it goes like this. Most of you DJs probably have laptops (i have two myself), so i’ll focus on them. Please note that this applies if you have done everything and still have crackling/skipping/slowing down audio, even with large buffer sizes and/or ASIO.
1. Clean install. Yes you’ll laugh maybe, but DO IT. It’s of paramount importance to get rid of all the junk your computer manufacturer installs. I haven’t seen ONE laptop come from the factory with a properly installed operating system. Right now, Windows 7 64-bit is my operating system of choice. Vista 64-bit would be the second choice, Vista isn’t all that bad in 64, but Win7 is still a lot better. It’s for Vista what XP was for 2000 if you like it this way. XP is still a good choice for slower machines and netbooks, but it’s being phased out so do upgrade.2. Don’t just install everything from the computer manufacturer page and call it a day. Don’t install ANY of the manufacturer supplied software (i’m talking crap media players, volume OSDs and the like). Especially the volume OSD on HP laptops is one of the worst things i have ever seen. It crashes most fullscreen apps, and if it doesn’t, it slows everything down to a crawl while it’s displayed. It’s so slow that you end up swiping the volume bar again and again without response, then it suddenly jumps to maximum. And if you NEED a volume OSD in the middle of your screen… buy a TV okay.
Hunt for drivers on the card manufacturer pages not on the computer manufacturer (except audio if you use the onboard soundcard, as that’s usually customized for that particular model). Especially WIRELESS drivers, they can be a major headache when it comes to sound. Turn off PowerMizer if you got a nVidia GPU in your laptop. Be aware that this will make it run hotter but if you don’t game on it use the nVidia Performance utility to make the clocks run at low frequency all the time and keep it cool.
Here’s a few places you can get drivers from.
http://ati.amd.com (ATi Graphics)
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php (modding tool, makes desktop drivers you get from ati.amd.com compatible with your laptop) No more waiting for updates from your computer maker! Unfortunately it does not support the latest chips but it works for up to HD4800 series.
http://www.nvidia.com (nVidia Graphics)
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com (nVidia Graphics for laptop users) I recommend Dox’s modified Forceware 185.85, is 15-25% faster than any other version including the latest, and there is no decrease in quality.http://www.intel.com (Intel Corporation, for chipset drivers, integrated graphics drivers, and WIRELESS drivers (always be up to date with wireless drivers or funny things can happen)
http://www.broadcom.com/support/ (Broadcom, Wireless drivers)http://www.synaptics.com/ (Touchpad drivers)
Okay, did all this? Still getting crackles?
3. Investigating. Download the DPC Latency Checker: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml Run it and see if you get any red bars. If you do, turn off devices one by one. Start with the wireless card, then onboard sound, any USB peripherals, you get the idea. If everything is green but you STILL get crackles, get the Microsoft Windows Performance Toolkit and have fun… That is a topic of its own so if you need help with it let me know.Edit: A new tool has come to my attention. It is called LatencyMon and can be downloaded from here. It will not only tell you your driver latency, it’ll also point out the offenders! How cool is that.
Blabber removed.
Thanks Andrew…
very very vegy good presentation!
but check your breakaway presets and try some more settings on other presets…
breakaway presets are like an encyclopedia 🙂
🙄 🙄 🙄Another hint for Intel Core2 and CoreI7 users:
DISABLE intel speedstep in the BIOS! I tried lot’s of things before I found out what was screwing up my sound after a couple of seconds all the time.
Dennis
[quote author=”Diekgait”]Another hint for Intel Core2 and CoreI7 users:
DISABLE intel speedstep in the BIOS! I tried lot’s of things before I found out what was screwing up my sound after a couple of seconds all the time.
Dennis[/quote]
So…. that’s a big part of Intel’s power management and for laptops, almost necessary to keep any battery life…. No?[quote author=”timmywa”][quote author=”Diekgait”]Another hint for Intel Core2 and CoreI7 users:
DISABLE intel speedstep in the BIOS! I tried lot’s of things before I found out what was screwing up my sound after a couple of seconds all the time.
Dennis[/quote]
So…. that’s a big part of Intel’s power management and for laptops, almost necessary to keep any battery life…. No?[/quote]I overclock heavily my main Core 2 Duo based computer so SpeedStep was off to start with. But on my two laptops (AMD processors though) the CPUs are both undervolted AND speed managed by RMClock on one and TurionPowerControl on the 2nd, since RMClock does not support newer processors. Speed stepping done right won’t screw up anything. Unfortunately pretty much everyone takes it for granted that it will always work.
The nVidia PowerMizer is a good example of speed stepping done wrong. For some reason the call takes ages on certain GPUs and ruins all sound every 30 seconds. Another wrong here is that when simply working in the Windows Aero GUI, the clock speed shouldn’t bounce up and down all the time, as the graphics elements are consistent throughout the whole desktop. But did they bother to fine tune the clocks? Noooooooooo. Do laptop makers allow us to customize the BIOS? Noooooooo. They even integrated the video BIOS into the main one so we cannot dump, edit and reflash the video BIOS like we do on a desktop PC. That’s the main reason why i don’t like pre-built computers. Get them out of noob mode ffs.
I like RMClock for that reason as it allows you to fine tune EVERYTHING, plus it allows many different speed steps to be taken, thus less impact on performance at any given moment. There is less than 1% difference in performance, but a very noticeable difference in temperature and battery life. Too bad it isn’t developed anymore and no source code available.
However, the battery thing raised a question in my head: Do you mix/DJ/broadcast on batteries? Um, where’s the rest of the gear powered from? 😆 Anyway if that’s the case invest in a few more deep discharge car batteries and have fun.
[quote author=”X-Hosted”]But you shouldnt run BBP on a laptop
[/quote]Erm, why not? I did, do, and will do. 8) As for the presets, you’re right, but i hate the sound of multiband compression, and every other preset seems to have lots of it. It sounds good to me and that’s what matters for now. In a few months we’ll see if it sounds good to my listeners too, till then i have to devise some "let’s not get caught" plans.
Edit: Thanks for the sticky! I’ll update the first post with a few links.
I have a confounding issue – my machine is an i7 2.4 MHz (I believe) with 6 gig of ram; Windows 7 64 bit – should be plenty of HP right? I just installed an AudioScience 5111 card, and I am running StationPlaylist for automation. I just installed Breakaway Live, upped the buffers, yet I am getting
one or more audio drop-outs per song.I downloaded the utilities suggested – all green on the first utility; latency mon shows tha AudioScience drivers super high at 4ms
Are the sound card drivers causing my drop-outs? I am frustrated, as I thought the machine I had would rock the set-up.
Check the Power Settings in Control Panel. Choose High Performance and then go into that preset and check all the details. Be sure min and max cpu are both set to 100%, turn off any other power-saving items for USB or PCI or Sleep. MAx that puppy out! Then check in the BIOS for anything about power-saving/sleep/speedstep. Turn all that mess off as well. Start with that, then experiment with drivers, if needed.
I reinstalled the Dixon Systems USB external, and no drop outs. I am guessing the AudioScience card drivers don’t play well with Breakaway Broadcast or Live with StationPaylist.
I attempted to switch to the WAVE output to see if that made a difference – HOWEVER the AudioScience card was not listed under WAVE. The driver must not support WAVE in 64 bit OS. I have an email into AudioScience to hopefully confirm or deny my suspicions.
Running BBP ASIO and experiencing random crackling, continually.
Will try these steps. Thank you for the informative post.
I upated the BIOS. Turned off speedstep, and updated all mainboard drivers. Pops and clicks gone. Thank you!!!
While using the Breakaway pipeline as the output, I'm hearing a warbling or rapid "wup, wup, wup, wup" type sound in the audio which is otherwise fine, which I'm not hearing when I use the audio card (Digigram) as the output. I've tried numerous things to solve this, but haven't had any success. Anyone know of a simple cause/solution? I have tried changing the sample rate, buffer size, buffer count, etc. with now success. I have also tried using PCM and DS instead of KS. This is a Dell Optiplex system running Windows XP Pro with a 2.33 ghz Intel core 2 duo, 2 gb of ram.
[quote author=larry@hd103.com link=topic=935.msg16404#msg16404 date=1386347543]
While using the Breakaway pipeline as the output, I'm hearing a warbling or rapid "wup, wup, wup, wup" type sound in the audio which is otherwise fine, which I'm not hearing when I use the audio card (Digigram) as the output. I've tried numerous things to solve this, but haven't had any success. Anyone know of a simple cause/solution? I have tried changing the sample rate, buffer size, buffer count, etc. with now success. I have also tried using PCM and DS instead of KS. This is a Dell Optiplex system running Windows XP Pro with a 2.33 ghz Intel core 2 duo, 2 gb of ram.
[/quote]What is connected to the other end of the pipeline, and are you able to change the settings on that as well?
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