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Thread Focusrite scarlet solo (2nd gen) intermittent popping crackle

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1 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.
Show first post
11
Just to let you know. I tested the new beta drivers Scarlett 2nd Gen 4.36.0 because the issue should solved with these drivers. Yes, it's definetely solved but... Now I get this issue with the microphone. All recorded files are distorted after a period of time.
I know it's beta but what is going on with these drivers? The "stable" 4.15 drivers are more unreliable.
For now I will stay with the 3.2.2 drivers which are the only working ones.


12
Hi guys, I know I'm late to this form but I am having the exact same issue with the
Scarlett 2i2 (Gen 2) rather then the solo.

Anyone know a driver that could fix this issue?

I am currently using the driver "4.36.5.612"

This problem has been going for 6 months now with over 40 hours of time trying to fix it myself so its very irritating for me. Any help would be very appreciated on nailing this audio glitch.

Many thanks :)
13
Use the 3.2.2 drivers. They are still working for me. The newest driver is still buggy. I get a crackling voice over time using my condensor mic and windows audio stack (ASIO is working so far) . This is not happening with the 3.2.2 drivers.

The only problem I have with the 3.2.2 drivers is that sometimes after a windows update the sound (input and output) sounds robotic. Like a built in sound mutator ;). Reinstalling the software is fixing this issue. As long as there is no fix I will stick with this driver. Newer driver is not equal "better".
14
Link to the drivers isn't working for me. Anyone able to post a new link?
Thanks
15
Is there someone that could help me, i have the same problem but the link to the older driver doesnt work for me?
16
Hi there!

I'm having the exact same issue here but, the thing is, I use Mac!...so, already from the beginning I didn't need to install any drivers to get my Scarlett working, just plug and play. I'm beating my head here and going crazy. At the beginning I thought the cable was the problem, as sometimes holding it tight around the connection with the mic would make the robotic buzz disappear, and so it worked like that for a long time. That reinforced the idea that the problem was with the cable...but now, there's no moving te cable whatsoever that will fix the terrible cracking-robotic noise....It's really annoying.

Any help please?

Thanks!
17
Is the problem temporarily fixed when you unplug the cable and put it back in?
18
I have a Scarlett 2i2 2nd gen and I do get pops and crackles too. Supposedly, this happens at random times when I am using the microphone across platforms such as Discord or in my browser which is Chrome. Replugging the device temporarily solves the issue. I don't get this issue at all if I set a Virtual Audio Cable as the output device if I enable listening on the Focusrite device, and then use that VAC as my audio input device.

I have recently played around with using my Focusrite box as my audio output... but everything, while audible, has pops and crackles. I can confirm this has happened on multiple installations of Windows, buffer size is 1024 with the sample rate being 44.1 kHz, with the device plugged into a USB 2.0 port on my motherboard (the issue is consistent between all my USB ports - 3.1, 3.0 and 2.0 and neither present any further issues than what I already face).

I cannot really provide a recording of a crackly microphone input as it varies and may not occur for days or weeks at a time - VAC as a workaround is inexpensive so I'm overly not too fussed about that but as a playback device... with pops and crackles... undesirable.

Edit: forgot to mention - the pops and crackles during playback will be present all the time however doesn't seem to occur when playing back from Ableton which utilises the ASIO driver. Windows I guess uses a generic "Focusrite USB Audio" driver of sorts rather than ASIO which could be part of the problem. I'm not 100% sure on this though.

[ Post last edited on 10/04/2018 at 11:48:11 ]

19
Sounds exactly like the problem I have experienced with e.g. Discord, Teamspeak. Like I said, a "workaround" is to install an older driver (3.2.2).
If you want to try it (for Windows) just PM me. They removed this driver from the beta driver site and I don't know if I'm allowed to post this link public.
The problem on MAC sounds driver related too.
20
Quote from meeshaw:
Sounds exactly like the problem I have experienced with e.g. Discord, Teamspeak. Like I said, a "workaround" is to install an older driver (3.2.2).
If you want to try it (for Windows) just PM me. They removed this driver from the beta driver site and I don't know if I'm allowed to post this link public.
The problem on MAC sounds driver related too.


I need the 3.2.2 Driver aswell :( can U PM me with a link plz? I dont know how to send messages...