8pre, Windows 7 64bit, multiple issues

[paddykahn]

So my 8pre is my main interface as of now, i'll very likely add an 896 in the near future however. My computer is running windows 7 64 bit with 4 GB DDR3 RAM, I have a TI IEEE1394 card and i've already changed the drivers to legacy, and my primary DAW is Ableton Live 8.2.1.

Right now I'm experiencing multiple issues, the most troubling of which being very sparse clicks and pops in the recording, or just a complete skip. The strange thing is this happens once every 20 or so minutes of recorded audio, very rare.

Whats much more frequent is when the clock source is set to internal I encounter issues with playback and recording. While listening to a mix through the main outs on the 8pre it will randomly produce a bunch of very loud clicks and grinding soungs, and then become complete static, and when i turn the DAW's main output as low as -50 db the mix returns to a normal volume, so this static is just a incredibly loud signal of what i'm listening to. The issue is resolved after a few minutes or with a restart of the hardware, or it simply never occurs when I set the internal clock to SMPTE (with no configuration whatsoever of an actual SMPTE timecode) Although no matter what, the interface will on occasion go silent and the 44.1 light on the hardware blinks, sometimes for a minute or so then everything returns to normal, other times i have to restart the unit. this a relatively new issue at this point however.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Pk

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[TheRealRoach]

This wouldn't be THE Paddy Kahn from T.O. would it?

In any case, the problem you describe echoes that of problems first experienced in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (aka SP2). If you want to read all about it go here: http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 14&t=31518. The "long-story-short" version is that audio interruptions of any kind (characterized by intermittent loss of sync, all-out refusal to sync, random clicks and pops, buzzes and chirps at random frequencies, squeals, drop-outs, static, all-out failures to load the MOTU FW audio drivers at all, or your MOTU unit not being detected by your system) are caused when the amount of data being transferred passes the threshold of the bandwidth available. This can happen in a few common places:

- at the firewire connections: When WinXP SP2 came out the Windows Firewire Bus Controller driver - which tells the Windows OS how to interact and control the computer's firewire ports - had a serious error which limited the bandwidth from FW400's 400mbps down to 100mbps. This was supposedly fixed with a patch, but alas, nothing has ever worked as it should have since about 2004. This is not just a problem with FW and motu, but rather a problem with any device that requires high continuous data throughput from the computer to an external device. Up to about 2004 everything just worked.

- the video card. If you have other video cards to try then do so. A good idea is to find the most basic video card available. Video Cards are notorious for "tapping" the CPU throughput at regular intervals. In your case, every 20 minutes. Also be sure to try various video card drivers.

- background services. You've probably already dealt with this, but it's vital to have only the programs/drivers installed that are vital to running your studio setup. If you need to use your computer for personal duties as well then create a dual operating system boot option (not to be confused with a simple second user login).

- Lastly, here is a great real-time diagnostics tool that measures how long data waits before being processed by the CPU. The shorter the time the better.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

I would be willing to bet that your audio interruptions correspond with a spike in latency. The trick is finding out what is piece of software is causing the spike.