M-Audio Dropout Nightmare

[Nigel451964]

Hi,

I have an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R audio interface which is a nice piece of kit but I'm having a chronic problem with dropouts when running my recording software and any media player. The dropour occurs every two seconds when recording and playing back as if it's synched up with a metronome and it's driving me insane.

I've tried changing buffer settings and removing processes that may be affecting performance and I've actually just performed a system restore on my pc so it should be fairly crap free.

The Fast Track's been ok (more or less) until now so I have no idea why this is happening but I can't do any recording until I've sorted this out which is a pain because I've got shit loads to do.

I hope you can help.

Cheers
Nigel

[Electriclight]

My first thought:
Are you using any plugins? If so, turn them off one at a time until you find the offender.

Turn off any wireless devices as well.

[brandondrury]

I've actually just performed a system restore on my pc so it should be fairly crap free.

Hmm. This isn't really a red flag, but it's a flag.

1) A mega optimized computer setup will have system restore turned off.
2) If there is something that caused a need for system restore you probably have a dirty operating system and that could be the cause of your problems.

Have these drop outs always occurred or is this a new thing?

As always, check for new drivers on the manufacturer's website. Try a few different latencies (I think you did that one) and go from there. In almost all cases it's a problem with pushing the computer too hard (either by your actual work or with the trashed operating system).

Brandon

[Nigel451964]

Hi Brandon,

I haven't got a mega optimized setup and I know this is something I seriously need to look at. I've done three sytem restores in the past year so clearly my system is nowhere near good enough for what I'm putting it through but it's a question of expense.

At the moment the drop-outs have, er, dropped off but it will happen again until I upgrade the system or buy a new system entirely geared towards audio production.

This is on my to do list along with getting bass traps for the control room and various other acoustic treatments.

I'm enjoying your book by the way. I've learned more from this one book than I have in several years of reading articles and courses and christ knows what.

Cheers
Nigel