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Focusrite scarlet solo (2nd gen) intermittent popping crackle

  • 48 replies
  • 26 participants
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Topic Focusrite scarlet solo (2nd gen) intermittent popping crackle
Hi guys,

I have spent the last few weeks trying to fix this issue but its hard to troubleshoot due to it being intermittent and unable to identify what the cause is. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated, as I feel a little out of my depth.

I bought a Rode NT1A Microphone with a Focusrite Scarlet Solo (2nd gen).

Sounded pretty crisp to start but for some reason starts making popping and crackling sounds, and at times just becomes completely inaudible with robotic noises coming from it. Unplugging and plugging back in from the back of scarlet seems to be a temp fix.

I have tried all USB ports in computer including USB 3.0 which don't appear to fix the issue. I have also insured that USB root hubs are not set to power saver mode.

System specs below:
Operating system: Windows 8 pro 64-bit
Chip type: Nvidia Geforce GTX 960
16g RAM
proccessor: i7-3770 CPU @ 3.4ghz

I followed these instructions for optimisation for windows 8.

https://global.focusrite.com/answerbase/optimising-your-pc-for-audio-on-windows-8

I am trying to use the program called reaper to run the audio through however the crackling appears to happen irrespective of using reaper so i guess thats handy to know.

Unsure of where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated, understanding that this topic has been created several times.
View this discussion’s subject
26
Same issues here as well. Any way someone could PM me a link please to the 3.2.2 drivers? Thanks!
27
I've had the same problem for over a year with my 2i2.

Could someone please DM me the link?

Thank you.
28
I will give it a try (3.2.2 driver):

https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArSPT-qNarAnpBxaud86IccfPuTH

[ Post last edited on 05/27/2019 at 21:29:47 ]

29
I want to chime in on this because this forum helped me figure out a solution.

My problem wasn't with a driver (I have a first gen 2i2) but rather with the Network Interface Card (NIC), the hardware that allows my PC to connect to the internet

Apparently it was causing the CPU to operate in a weird way and this, in turn, was affecting my focusrite much in the same way that everyone describes here.

As soon as I disabled the NIC in my settings, the problem of crackling audio disappeared. After putting in a new NIC, I haven't had the problem since.

Hope this helps anyone

[ Post last edited on 04/09/2019 at 14:59:24 ]

30
Brian Williams, the NIC you are talking about, is it the one is integrated to the mother board ? Or this is a physical external card ?
31
Good to hear that there is a solution for you Brian. Anyway I wont buy another NIC because its clearly a driver issus, because:
- with the 3.2.2. driver the problem does not occur.
- with the newest "stable" drivers the problem occurs.
- I have a desktop pc with a NIC integrated on the mainboard (Asus ROG Mainboard). I would rather buy a new audio interface than buy a new NIC.

I'm still testing (since yesterday) the new driver 4.62.1 which was released on the focusrite beta site. Until now I have no crackling issues with it. I will give an update.

http://beta.focusrite.com/file.php?id=1343

Edit 2019-06-04: still no issues for me.

[ Post last edited on 06/04/2019 at 04:17:50 ]

32
Was googling and saw this thread, so I came to chime in.

I just reinstalled it from the official version to the beta version and can confirm on initial observation that crackling is gone.

There is still an initial delay pop at the start of recording in Discord but as you use the application it disappears in time.

That is important, in time. Not immediately, at the start it's still occasionally glitchy.

No crackle though and for that I'm grateful that you pointed me in the beta drivers way, because it's just annoying for other people to listen to.

And yeah, as always, listening to the audio driver directly through the sound control panel(the old not the new Win10 trash) was always perfect with the old driver. But any application and naah, crackle at random.

EDIT: I was wrong I think actually, the pop comes from the network, and it's fixed as the stream smooths out. ISP is doing some bad buffering... TeamSpeak is perfect but that does a local test. It's another app that was crackling before too.

Will observe how this goes.

EDIT2: Ok, after a longer stretch of randomly trying I did still manage to get it crackling on discord once again, so no, it's still not fixed. Teamspeak was fine though. But right after I couldn't get it to crackle again...

Guess I'll keep observing.

EDIT3: Apart that 1 observation ,thus far at randomly testing the crackling seems to be so much more rarer that I could almost say that it doesn't exist. 1 day of useage and I haven't countered it again, apart that intial bleep with Discord, it sort of sorts out right after. I will add to this if I encounter it again, otherwise I'll probably disappear.

[ Post last edited on 06/05/2019 at 15:25:55 ]

33
You are right, there are sometimes some crackling sounds whike recording or in Teamspeak / Discord. But it seems to be only for short period and much less than before. Still some room for improvement...
34
Dun dun dun, now it's an official release. I do wonder if they changed anything, even though the versioning number is the same.

(I've had experience with beta drivers that were versioned the same but were actually changed a bit, NVIDIA in this example)

But yeah, it's solved. The Discord Burp is gone because I had my sound system set to legacy, standard doesn't bug out at all. (still on beta though, I'll be reinstalling to the official release in a sec)
35
I'm back on 3.2.2. It's rare but the cracks while recording are still there. It annoys me, so there is no reason to upgrade to the latest firmware for me.

[ Post last edited on 06/15/2019 at 12:24:07 ]

36
Do you happen to have the binary for that version?

The thing is, after a while of useage I've noticed that certain kernel drivers are spiking in DPC. And an intial burp in crackle still exists when starting to record with Discord for example.

But it does work okay after that inital crackle.

(This is to remedy whatever I've said earlier. And also, the beta driver didn't seemingly have these spikes, and I was stupid enough to delete the file, and now they've removed it from the beta site..., if someone has that somewhere too, I'd be grateful)
37
I uploaded the 3.2.2 driver earlier in this thread.

Quote:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArSPT-qNarAnpBxaud86IccfPuTH
38
Yeah for my unit that driver is definately broken. Youtube videos, for instance, play at 1.2x speed. Something I've never come across before.

Stuff is out of sync with it. And on its default it was crackling a bunch. Tuning to 16 bit 44.1 removed that but the extra speed remained.
39
Quote from Huzzaa:
Yeah for my unit that driver is definately broken. Youtube videos, for instance, play at 1.2x speed. Something I've never come across before.

Stuff is out of sync with it. And on its default it was crackling a bunch. Tuning to 16 bit 44.1 removed that but the extra speed remained.


I experienced the same sync issue in the past especially after big windows updates. Solution which worked for me:

1. uninstall all Focusrite drivers. Removed the remaining files manually if sone exist.
2. Restart PC
3. Fresh reinstall of the 3.2.2. driver
4. Restart PC
4. I set the Audio input and output to 24bit 96khz (the default should work too)

[ Post last edited on 06/18/2019 at 20:17:09 ]

40
Quote from meeshaw:
Quote from Huzzaa:
Yeah for my unit that driver is definately broken. Youtube videos, for instance, play at 1.2x speed. Something I've never come across before.

Stuff is out of sync with it. And on its default it was crackling a bunch. Tuning to 16 bit 44.1 removed that but the extra speed remained.


I experienced the same sync issue in the past especially after big windows updates. Solution which worked for me:

1. uninstall all Focusrite drivers. Removed the remaining files manually if sone exist.
2. Restart PC
3. Fresh reinstall of the 3.2.2. driver
4. Restart PC
4. I set the Audio input and output to 24bit 96khz (the default should work too)


Interesting, by the files remaining do you simply mean the files in the directory in Program Files(x86) or do you also mean the keys in the registry etc.? Truth be told, going after all the keys it laid around is a headache I'm not willing to put myself through but the simple process of just nuking out the folders it put itself in(I'm also assuming something in AppData as well) then that I'm fine with.

I'll give that a go with the reboots and file deletions. Although I already did the reboot sequences. I'll give it another go tonight. See what it does.

PS. Do you use the 2nd gen 2i2 or the 1st one?
41
I didnt delete the registry entries or the files in the user folder (AppData). Only the remaiming files in the program files folder.

I use the 2nd gen solo and 2i2.

[ Post last edited on 06/20/2019 at 14:05:18 ]

42
I went out and bought a Steinberg UR12(wanted a 22, but they just sold it before me) and this just doesn't have this problem.

I actually had my old m-audio 2x2 laying around(I switched from this to the Scarlett because this one was blue screening my machine occasionally and it had such a poor usb connection that if you nudged the box it disconnected). But I tried it yesterday for a bit and it just works too. With its driver, things are perfect, no crackles. As long as it works, the m-audio is fine.

I am, unfortunately, disappointed.

If I somehow manage to get a MAC in the near future I might consider Scarlett again, but as far as PC goes, I've buried the thought of using another one from them. I belive it's the driver implementatin. Cannot be the hardware or the firmware because I hear it's bit-perfect on MAC devices.(You can read on about this in many reddits, forums, etc. On PC it actually works perfectly in DAWs too, and also when you direct listen for the recording device in the sound control panel.)

The pre-amp is also better(undeniable, it is the cleanest and best in it's class), that is one of its redeeming qualities along with a few other nice finishing touches but the crackle in one of my main utilities, Discord, is a deal breaker to me.

I'll think about selling it, but it will probably remain laying around for quite a while before I utilize it again. That, is a shame really. I actually liked the unit A LOT, when I first tested it on my laptop after buying. It was so clean and nice. On an old set of some Philips headphones I forgot the model of the headphone out was absolutely fantastic. MIC was awesome too outside Discord...

Yeah, enough rambling now. Hopes of the newer driver fixing it, crushed. It's quite a bit better than the old one, but not there, yet.
43
How annoying!

I'm also trying to get to the bottom of an annoying metronomic pulse click from monitors which is coming from ALL main outputs of the Focusrite Saffire 24. Checked all computer settings, midi clock etc and all leads back to the Saffire outputs. it happens whether track is stopped or running. I have to mention that this pulse does not come out of the headphone outputs.

Help Please!!!
44
BLUF: Your interface buffer size needs to match you ASIO4ALL buffer size.

DAW software, MAC OSX, and audio interfaces all use the ASIO standard and typically work well together. Windows, however, uses its own driver standard called Windows Driver Model or WDM.

When you play an MP3 file on Windows Media Player, for example, audio commands in WDM are sent to your audio interface. If your interface is ASIO, it will not understand WDM. This is why you need a piece of translator software that translates WDM requests into ASIO commands and vice versa. Most people use ASIO4ALL as this translator.

The reverse situation exists when you are running a DAW (ASIO) through your PC speakers (WDM). In this case, the ASIO audio sent by the DAW needs to be translated into WDM (again, ASIO4ALL) before the speakers can produce sound.

Your device accepts data in chunks defined by the input/output (i/o) buffer size. The ASIO4ALL sends out data in chunks that are defined by *its* buffer size. These two sizes need to match. Imagine two people speaking through a translator but they talk over the translator before he/she finishes. The process needs to be synchronized.

As @Huzaa points out, there is no problem in Mac or DAW (because they understand ASIO natively) - the problem is when using a web browser or other application that only understands WDM.
45
I upgraded the Firmware in my Scarlet 6i6 and immediately started hearing persistent crackling noise with all audio played through the interface. I tried multiple installs, switching USB ports and a number of other solutions. What seems to have fixed it for me is to switch from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0. I'm guessing the new firmware targets a 3.0 connection.
46
Hello, i know this is an old thread, but i'm having the same issues with my scarlett and i've tried the 2.5 drivers and the new ones, but nothing works. I'd like to try the 3.2.2 listed here, but the link takes me to a page that says i don't have permission and that it's going to redirect me even though it never does. I do have a beta account, but i can't find that driver on the site. Please help me. My scarlett always worked fine in Win10, but now I have a new computer and the problem is persistent. I run an Intel chip. Many thanks in advance.
47
Can someone send me a working link to 3.2.2 drivers? I created account but i don't have permission. Please help
48
Hello! I've recently noticed my unit (the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 2nd Gen) also has this issue. I've owned this product for about 3 years with no issues at all, I'm mostly an instrumental musician and recording Bass & Guitar into DAWs is what I used it for the most.

I recently bought an Audio Technica AT2020 XLR Condenser microphone that I wanted both for gaming, voice acting, singing, recording, and daily use. I quickly noticed all of these issues with my unit as using it for playback on a daily basis for anything that wasn't my DAW would cause a lot of cracking and popping, and talking to friends and people on the internet I'd be made aware that I'd sound robotic or just broken at random times, as mentioned in other posts here, I'd also unplug and plug the interface back in to temporarily fix it again.

Something I've tested is that while I was in a voice call with someone in Discord, I'd have my mic on playback in Reaper and I'd be just listening to myself. When they pointed out my voice broke, it was sounding perfectly fine on the Reaper playback but if I went on the Discord playback it had the robotic crackle sounds.

I'm at a loss on what to do, entirely. I've loved this unit for as long as I've had it up until these last two weeks that this started happening to me with it. I've tried changing the buffer size and the kHz altogether which has alleviated the cracking and popping more or less but hasn't fixed it, despite that, the mic still glitches out with it.

I'm on Windows 10 running the latest drivers as of the date of this post, and just nothing works. I really want to find a solution for this not only cause I love this product but also cause I'm too poor to afford another one, specially after the price of everything literally triplicating where I live ever since I bought it.

I'd be extremely grateful for any solutions or any pointers that could help me at all.

[ Post last edited on 08/07/2020 at 15:17:17 ]

49
Hi all. I recently purchased a Focusrite Scarlett Solo Gen 3, and I believe I am experiencing this exact same issue. Running firmware 1605 on Windows 10, with driver version 4.65.5.

It's not apparent much in recordings (becomes hugely distorted and robotic sounding), but my friends who game with me on Discord complain that I become 'crackly' after some time - usually when the computer has been left on for long periods, or I'm in big gaming session (4-8 hours a stretch). This is upsetting as I bought the interface specifically to use my XLR mic for comms/streaming/recording voiceover.

The 'fix' is a reboot, and it's just plain unacceptable to have to interrupt a workflow like that.

Has anyone managed to make contact with Focusrite and have the issue solved once and for all?

Cheers!