Thread Scarlett 2i4 cuts out when lowering latency

Good morning,

This is likely to be a limitation with the spec of PC that you're using.
Essentially when you lower your buffer size (in order to reduce latency), you're asking your CPU to work harder. If a CPU is being overworked in this way, then the audio can glitch, however it can also just drop out the audio in extreme cases. This is of course not helped by the fact that many guitar fx VSTs like you're using are quite high resource.
What is the spec of your PC specifically?

Let me know how you get on.
Simon // Focusrite Technical Support

Hi Simon.

I am definitely sure it's not a bottleneck in my system.
I have 16GB 1600Mhz Corsair Vengeance RAM and an AMD FX 8350 4GHz 8-core.

I checked the CPU load under that configuration and it wasn't even close to being used up. Only using 7% of my CPU.

Hi,

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.resplendence.com/latencymon

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.


Simon // Focusrite Technical Support

For this test, I just ran Bias AMP and iTunes and played until the audio cut out.

https://i.imgur.com/YGYTQcr.png

Hi,

And just to check, this graph result was taken during or just before the audio cut out?
At what buffer size does the issue occur? If you gradually work down in 1m/s increments (with there being no issue reported at 10m/s), let me know what setting the audio drops out with.

Let me know how you get on.
Simon // Focusrite Technical Support

The result was taken just after the audio cut out. Roughly a second after.

Gradually working down, audio starts to cut out from 4m/s lower.
Checking the graph during each test, it still showed positive marks from 4m/s and lower but the audio still cuts out.

The silence isn't very reassuring about your product...

Hi,

Apologies for the delay in response as I believe Simon has been unavailable to respond to the previous posting, but I am happy to jump in and help out!

Since your machine looks to be suitable to processing audio, lets see if a later beta release fairs better performance wise for you.

To do this, please uninstall the Focusrite Driver, from your Programs List in Control Panel.

This can be done by going to Start> Control Panel> Programs> Programs and Features ... Here you will right click on "Focusrite USB 2.0 Audio.." and choose uninstall. When prompted to restart please choose later.

Next, please go to Device Manager> Sound Video and Game Controllers and right click on the Scarlett 2i2 and choose uninstall. You will also need to check the box to uninstall the driver as well, when prompted. Now reboot your PC.

The end result should be a "Code 10" when the device is connected. The "Code 10" error will be shown in the form of a yellow triangle being listed next to the Scarlett 2i2 in Device Manager. To confirm this, please disconnect and reconnect the Scarlett to your PC.

Now please disconnect the 2i2 and install this driver: http://beta.focusrite.com/file.php?id=1187

Once installed, lets confirm that you have Optimized your PC for Audio by following this guide: https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10

Please keep in mind that with this newer driver, you will not choose the buffer size in ms but rather samples.

What are your findings?

David // Focusrite Technical Support