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HELP
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:49 pm
by cubehead
I am in the middle of a session and I am getting random crackling on all of the channels on my HD 192. I am running DP 5.12 on a Dual G5. The HD 192 and my 2408 are clocked to a focusrtie octopre via lite pipe.
Thanks,
Chris
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:58 pm
by buzzsmith
2 quick thoughts.
Shutdown and reboot all devices...
Make sure the clock source is set correctly for both DP and your OctoPre.
Hope this helps!
Buzz
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:02 pm
by cubehead
Thanks but I tried all that. The odd thing is that it worked fine from 12PM today until now. We've been cutting live drum tracks all day.
Any other thoughts... could it be an overheating problem? Seems odd becuase I have been running the same setup for 2 years.
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:24 pm
by Frodo
If you are using VIs, look for any hard drive settings and set its prority to high. Then lower the MOTU Audio System Preferences either from high to medium or from medium to low (found in DP's setup menu).
Another option is to check things like Work Quanta, Max Work Percent, and Prime Seconds, all of which can redirect resources from graphics to audio in some way. Info about this is found in the DP 5.11 addendum pdf (not the 5.12 addendum).
Take note of how many channels and effects you are running at once. You could be overloading the MAS engine. Disable or remove one effect at a time from the project until you isolate the threshold of pain for the computer's data bus or until you've encountered a RAM/CPU hungry plugin-- like a convolution reverb.
Or you could simply have too many things running to/from one single hard drive. Splitting up locations for virtual instrument libraries and/or running your DP projects from a hard drive other than your system drive could also help (if you're not doing this already).
If there are later drivers for your audio interfaces, install them. Neither would it hurt to reinstall current versions of audio drivers just to eliminate the possibility of driver corruption.
If you suspect that it's a heat issue, take note of when the pops and clicks occur. Because it takes a little tiime for the computer to heat up, one thing to watch for is pristine performance within the first 30 minutes and deteriorating performance as time passes. Yours doesn't sound like a heating issue from what you've described. It sounds more typically like bus/buffer overload and/or the hard drive(s) working overtime.
Some have reported issues when syncing two or more interfaces with DP 5.12. Some have reverted to DP 5.11. Others have disabled one or more devices when not in use. Some have tried different clock sources by using one of their other interfaces. (Try clocking from the 424 to see if that helps.) If all devices are needed to run concurrently, there are not many options if tweaking audio settings doesn't solve the problem.
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 3:56 pm
by cubehead
Thanks for all the advice. I am not running any plugins and have tried switching clock sources several times. The issue seems to have for the moment gone away. I can't seem to make it happen which is driving me nuts. I have tried recording on different drives... Switching audio wire cables optical cables.... THe only thing I haven't tried is re-seating the PCI 424 card. Do you think that's a possiblilty? When it's happening, it happens in Cue mix without DP even being open. Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Would it make sense to purchase another PCI card to rule out that problem. I'm in a tough spot because I own and run a comercial studio that is booked 12 hours a day.
Thanks
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:01 pm
by gearboy
Did the computer fall asleep?
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:03 pm
by James Steele
There's always a chance of 424 failure. I had similar issues and found out it was the 424 that had gone bad. You might be able to return to MOTU and have it replaced for a fee? Not sure.
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:07 pm
by cubehead
computer did not fall asleep... The other strange thing is that the problem only occurs on the HD 192 not the 2408 so woudn't that indicate that nothing is wrong with the PCI card. I have switched HD 192's a s I have a second one that I wasn't using and I still had the problem.. I'm losing my mind
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:46 pm
by James Steele
cubehead wrote:computer did not fall asleep... The other strange thing is that the problem only occurs on the HD 192 not the 2408 so woudn't that indicate that nothing is wrong with the PCI card. I have switched HD 192's a s I have a second one that I wasn't using and I still had the problem.. I'm losing my mind
Well then it doesn't sound like you could have TWO bad HD192s. I wonder if you plugged the HD192 into a different connector on the 424 card? That's a pain though as it'll mess up your input/output names and all of that.

I'd try giving MOTU a call in the early am.
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:20 pm
by pencilina
Hi,
Make sure you have the latest 424 driver - I was getting intermittent dropouts on my 2408's optical ins until I updated. This might help.
good luck
b