Another Pops and Clicks complaint

Question

I have posted this in a few different threads looking for answers. I'm just coping it here for convenience:

I am using a Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1 USB interface and I'm getting really bad popping and crackling in my speakers whenever a web page loads, I click the scroll bar and scroll through a website or click and scroll through my audio creation software (Propellerheads Record).

I upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit from XP Media Center and I have a Creative Labs Xfi XtremeMusic for my primary sound card. At first, the popping and crackling was occurring on that card, too, but I added some additional RAM and lowered the quality to 16-bit 41,000. That took care of the issues on that card but the issues on the Audio Kontrol 1 are still persistent.

I want to use my Audio Kontrol 1 for MP3's because I have my new Mackie MR5's plugged into it and they sound amazing (aside from the crackling and popping).

After digging through forum after forum, I think I've narrowed it down to a DPC issue. I downloaded the DPC Latency checker and ran it while I did every day tasks. I get spikes whenever a I load up a new webpage, or scroll through a site like Facebook or Reddit. Other sites don't cause as much of an issue. I have also scrolled through sites using the down arrow on my keyboard and my spikes stayed up in the red the entire time. I can't remember the numbers, but it was around half way, like in the image below. The popping and noise only occurs while I have music playing. If I don't, I don't have any issues.

This image below was recorded while I had the song I was working on playing, and I clicked and dragged around the devices area in Record. You can see the red lines start as soon as I start dragging around, then stop as soon as I let go. During this time the popping and crackling is awful.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/...f11e5cb9_o.jpg

I've tried disabling drivers for almost everything. I thought it was my old video card that had the worst performance score in the Windows area, so I replaced that, too. Nothing has worked so far. Is this just a major issue with how Windows is handling IRQ?

By the way, I'm running...

Dell XPS 400
GeForce 9500 1 GB
4 gigs of RAM

fireberd · Answer

According to their web site this unit is NOT Win 7 or 64 bit compatible: "This product is currently not compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows XP/Vista".

Generally, if a device is Vista compatible it is also Win 7 compatible but we have seen compatibility issues with some audio hardware and Windows 7 that Windows 7 specific drivers are needed. I've seen posts on the Sonar forum about some devices not working or not working properly in Windows 7 and specific issues with 64 bit.

If it worked in XP, keep in mind Vista and Windows 7 handle audio functions differently.

There is also an issue with SoundBlaster Xfi's (older PCI versions such as what Dell provided) and more than 3 GB of ram causing popping crackling. Creative has (or had) a Beta Vista/Win 7 driver that some users have reported fixed the 3GB/popping and crackling problems.

Another potential USB issue is how many or what type of USB devices are on the USB bus.

I suspect Windows 7 specific drivers will be needed to fix your NI device problems.

vickers00 · Answer

Hi Fireberd...

Thanks for your response. Based on what you said and what I've received from others, it's sounding more and more like I'll be making the switch back to XP. Guess I'll have to wait until I buy a new computer for that nice shiny new operating system (assuming they fix these audio issues and my sound card will actually work, since the new PC would be specifically for audio).

fireberd · Answer

I don't think it's the PC but more the SoundBlaster drivers or in the case of the NI it's not 64 bit compatible.

I have an Alesis io26 firewire connected 8 channel recording interface unit, that I used to use. It works great in Vista 32 bit but until Alesis recently came out with 64 bit drivers I couldn't use it with Vista 64 bit that I had at the time. As I wanted 64 bit compatiblity I replaced the Alesis io26 with a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 unit as it is fully 64 bit compatible and what I now use in my recording studio with Sonar 8.5 software.

vickers00 · Answer

The NI should be 64 bit compatible. They released 64 bit drivers recently. That's what I'm using now.

I think the best option is probably heading back to XP. I'll probably end up getting a new PC here pretty soon to run my music stuff. Mine just isn't keeping up with my software right now.

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Another Pops and Clicks complaint

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