Thread Unstable sound

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Claus Guldbrandsen

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First post

1 Posted on 06/16/2015 at 00:24:16

why is my sound unstable?

I am running win 7, and just bought a new sarlett 2i2.

Sound is from time to time dissapering, becoming louder in one speaker, making noices, humming.

I am hooking up to a pair of Yamaha HS8 Monitors. The problem is also with headphones.

I was having the same problem with my fireface soundcard, and after one year i decided to get a new soundcard. But the problem persists.

Driveing me nuts.

Where does the problem com from?

THanks

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Simon Focusrite

AFfinity Poster

2 Posted on 06/25/2015 at 02:46:14

Hi Claus,

Sorry that you seem to be having some issues, the problems could be system related seeing as you were having the same issues previous to the Scarlett.
Lets take a look at some optimisation steps that you can run through for Windows:

https://global.focusrite.com/answerbase/optimising-your-pc-for-audio-on-windows-7

Have you tried another USB port? Some are internally hubbed and can cause issues. Please try each one and monitor the performance of the interface.

Please ensure you have disabled power saving mode for USB devices:

In the device manager (Start > Control Panel > System and Security > System > Device Manager), in the Universal Serial Bus controllers section, right click each USB Root Hub, choose Properties > Power Management and untick the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option.

USB Power

If using a Laptop, it could also be worth checking the general power management of your computer:
Go to Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options.
Set the Power Scheme to High Performance (if this setting is not available, click on Show additional plans first). Then click on Change plan settings. On the next page set both Turn off the display and Put the computer to sleep to Never.

Power Options

Then click Change advanced power settings. In the window that opens make sure you have the following settings:
Hard disc > Turn off hard disk after > Setting (Minutes) = Never
Sleep > Sleep after > Setting (Minutes) = Never
USB settings > USB selective suspend setting > Setting = Disabled
Display > Turn off display after > Setting (Minutes) = Never
Processor power management > Minimum processor state > Setting = 100%
Processor power management > Maximum processor state > Setting = 100%

Please note, not all options may be available.

It could also be worth checking for any available USB/Chipset driver updates for your motherboard, including the latest BIOS updates.

Dropouts are also often caused by DPC latency, an interrupt request by another driver/hardware combo that is preventing your PC from streaming audio in real time. To check if this is indeed the issue, Could you download the DPC latency checker from this website, then send me a screen shot of the graph once opened for a minute or so while playing audio out at the same time? :

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml (Win 7)

If this is mainly happening when recording, as opposed to playback, then please run the software while running your DAW at the same time.

Let me know how you get on, and we'll go from there.

Best regards
Simon // Focusrite Technical Support

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