9.12 and 2408mk3 Drops Out

[cody]

Intermittent, but the DP stops sending audio to the 2408 - you can see the levels in DP itself, but nothing is outputted. Have the latest audio drivers but am wondering if it's FINALLY time for the 2408... Anybody else? In the meantime, back to 9.02!!!

A bit bummed since everything else ran so smoothly!

[mikehalloran]

Do your tracks play back?

[cody]

Yep, the tracks were showing levels, etc. But nada from the 2408 itself. Odd. Fine back in 9.02...

[dix]

Yes. The exact same thing has happened to me a few times. Not enough to drive me back to 9.02, but annoying for sure. Will create a TechLink when I have a chance. ....toggling the Hardware Settings in DP brings it back btw

[mikehalloran]

The issue is that DP is assigning priority to file processing. I had this issue in 7.24 and 8.07.

9.12 uses different settings for the playback buffers. MagicD has posted on this. There are a few settings that affect payback.

So while it is a 9.1 vs 9.02 issue, it's not a bug. There are a few recent threads on this.

[cody]

I'm not sure I understand - but it's not a bug? I looked for other threads and am not tracking...

Is there a solution other than going back to 9.02?

Very curious - thanks much for your help!

[mikehalloran]

I'll have to find the threads and link them. Difficult on my iPad.

This issue is quite old. The reason you haven't seen this before is that buffer settings/latency has changed.

There's a setting in DP that many use to make this go away but I forget what it is. There are at least two recent threads on it.

[cody]

I've scoured this forum and can't seem to find a specific thread on this issue where the audio interface drops out.

There is a solution or it's just a known issue (but not bug?)

Sorry if I'm being dense here!

[dix]

I remember seeing this issue mentioned too, but hell if I can find it now. Makes sense that it has something to do with latency and buffering, since that all got rejigged in 9.1. ...I wonder if toggling the 2408mk3 would fix it. I'ma try that next time it happens.

[cody]

I know that quitting out of DP and reopening did not fix the problem in my case...I didn't try toggling the 2408 in hardware setup though. I'm back in 9.02 now, so unless there's some kind of "fix" I'm likely sticking with that for awhile.

I'm still a bit confused on how this isn't a bug. The audio looks to be playing back within DP etc but nothing is sent to the 2408...

Thanks!

[dix]

I think a "bug" is when all users are experiencing the issue. As far as I can see it's just you and me for this one. ...and your issue is a bit different than mine in that restarting DP or toggling the Hardware Setup fixes mine.

[dix]

Cody, since this issue is so rare, it makes it less likely that a fix will ever come from MOTU. It's more likely that we'll have to do something in our setups to eliminate the issue.

One other clue is that the disconnect happened much more often when I was working on a document that had a lot of, very cpu intensive, Izotope RX Denoiser plugins instantiated.

...suggestions just received from MOTU:

1.) Test the built in outputs of your Mac. Does the audio cut out?

2.) Try connecting the 2408 to a different port on the PCI card.

3.) Reinstall the latest version of the Motu Audio Installer (v1.6.68717) available on motu.com/downloads.

[cody]

THANKS. A few other things they said on techlink:

- Adjust the "Prime Milliseconds" to 500. This is a subtle change to the audio engine buffer that I have seen positively impact performance.

- Since DP's audio engine has been enhanced with the addition of Next-Gen Pregen, you are now able to run at higher buffer sizes with lower latency results. What buffer size are you running at in this project? Does it help to increase it?

CODY: I'm at 512, just like in DP 9.02. Increasing it to 1028 in DP 9.12 - would that be like 512 in 9.02?

REPLY: That is correct. You can now increase your buffer size to double what you have in the past.

[dix]

UPDATE: The last two times this happened I only needed to toggle the output channel going to the 2408mk3. Normally my Master fader is going to Analog 1-2 on the 2408. When I lose the connection if I set the output to, say, Analog 3-4 it brings everything back. I can then set it back to 1-2. No telling if this will work for anyone else with issue, but that's super simple compared to restarting DP or the Mac.

[dix]

Back to 9.02

For whatever reason the fix above stopped working and DP 9.1 is again losing connectivity regularly on larger projects. Weird thing is that all other audio from the Mac remains connected and plays out of the 2408mk3 normally. Only DP loses the connection. It's definitely way worse/happens more frequently when the project is hitting the top of the CPU.

I'm reopening my Techlink with MOTU. Any suggestions welcome. For now I'm going back to 9.02 for most projects