Ultralite MK3 Audio Dropouts followed by High Pitch Noise

[terrybritton]

I was working with Nick at MOTU support last week on this issue, which has been ongoing for me for quite a while. He provided a gem of insight that led me to check something on my Windows 8.1 machine. This also worked on my Windows 10 machine.

He said to not only use Programs and Features (formerly Add/Remove Programs) to remove the Motu Hardware program, but then to open the Device Manager and delete the drivers shown under "Audio Inputs and Outputs" at the top, opening that to show the list, and then right-clicking on each one and deleting it. (This goes faster if you position the Device Manager window near the middle of the screen so you aren't having to move your mouse so far each time!) Then also delete the MOTU ones under "Sound, Video and Game Controllers".

The thing is, I had done that several times before and reinstalled the driver/cuemix package many times already but to no avail. Then it hit me to check under the View menu in the Device Manager and select, "Show Hidden Devices." Holy moly - there were like 80 old copies of the drivers sitting there in Audio Inputs and Outputs!

I hung up with Nick and started the laborious process of deleting every one of them. Then I restarted the computer and installed the software driver package, and VOILA! Windows programs using Windows Audio (the RT is another name for WASAPI, which is almost as good as ASIO under Windows 10, btw) did need higher buffer settings to be glitch free (512 or 1024) especially for YouTube video playback. But finally the MOTU was not losing sync, dropping out and giving me that high pitched noise!

So, the steps are (revised from an earlier post here by HotShot):

The proper way to reinstall drivers:

1) Turn off the MOTU device and unconnected it from the PC

2) Uninstall the MOTU Hardware program from windows control panel Programs and Features (formerly Add/Remove Programs)

3) Open the Device Manager, drop-down the View menu and select, "Show Hidden Devices" and right-click and delete all instances of the MOTU driver elements found there, in both the "Audio Inputs and Outputs" section AND the MOTU ones under "Sound, Video and Game Controllers".

4) Restart the PC

5) Install the driver software (currently MOTU Universal Audio Installer 4.0.5.9644)

6) Restart the PC (again)

7) When windows is fully loaded, reconnect the MOTU device, turn it on, and let the drivers install. This takes about a full minute to complete - watch the Device Manager Audio Inputs and Outputs field and you can see them popping back in. Your Windows Audio (from the speaker icon) should show all the devices listed there also now.

Done

An additional good practice is to set all the Windows Audio items in Playback Devices and Record Devices to the same bit rate and sample rate as you use for ASIO. (That is, as set in the MOTU audio console.)

This likely will not cure every person's problems, but it sure cleared up mine after 7 weeks of trying everything else under the sun.

BTW - this also fixed the same issues I had with my 828 mk3 hybrid, which I now use daisychained via Firewire (Texas Instruments chipset in the FW card) to the Ultralite mk3 hybrid, almost doubling my inputs to my DAW. (Do not try using the two together via USB - it will not work.)

I'm giving a good look (running the trial) at Process Lasso as well to see if that makes things even more stable. (They are the folks who made the freebie that stopped your CPUs from parking - Thanks for that tip, Mourning6! - this software does that setting and more.) Audiophile users seem to love it. https://processlasso.bitsum.com/free-verses-pro/

Terry

[UPDATE Nov 15, 2016] There is no need to always re-install all your drivers. Very often, merely getting rid of the "ghost" drivers as explained in step 3 above is enough to end the confusion the PC seems to be having when deciding which driver is the current and legitimate one. The "ghost drivers" seem to be installed typically for other USB ports, but not always - merely improperly removing the drivers and reinstalling them will pile up your "ghosts" it appears.

[UPDATE July 15, 2020] See this post for what seems to work these days.

[Godly]

Thx Terry for the more than complete help guide!
As for my computer it doesn't work, this solution.
I removed everything, rebooted and reinstalled the latest drivers.
Also I have this problem that the right side of my USB aren't working with Mk3, it dropped out, still recognised but half functioning.
The left side is ok but now and then the hard cracks in series.
Not funny when you're on stage !

Are there people also experienceing this? Any solutions yet?
I love my Motu, but this almost made me switching to Roland.
It's horror.

[terrybritton]

Many interfaces do this.
Something in the computer might be firing off that takes control of your CPU and throws the real-time processing of audio streams off. Timing is so super critical with ASIO that any disturbance in the force ... I mean the continuity of the stream ... can throw off the timing enough to cause a cut off waveform inconveniently not re-merging at zero-point. Having ASIO buffers that are too small for that system's capabilities and/or processing load aggravates this problem mightily. But buffers are not always the reason behind this sort of thing happening.

The USB problem sounds like you might still have a USB 1.1 port in that machine! But I doubt that. Could it be a USB 3 port (a blue one)? Though MOTU says they work, they do so with little enthusiasm.

Glad you found your way over here from the Cantabile forum, Godly!

Terry

[wc2wc]

Thanks Terry,

You saved my ultralite mk3 from going out of the window .

Been fiddling with the motu driver after latest windows 2020 update , but nothing worked .
Removing the entries in the hidden devices did the trick .

thanks again

Werner from holland

[soulfreaky]

I created an automated solution making use of powershell scripts, if anyone is interested you can find it here:

https://github.com/soulfreaky/motu_ultralite_win_10_fix

Cheers!