XPS 15 7590 DPC latency

I hope everyone is coping well and staying safe during this pandemic.

I've had a weird experience with my 2018 Dell XPS 15 9570 - I'm a mobile DJ that used to use Serato DJ Pro (a widely-used DJ software for those that don't know), which on the whole ran better on the XPS than it did when I was using my previous 2012 Macbook Pro.  I changed equipment to a standalone system, however I've gone back to using Serato with my Dell XPS 9570 and a nice new controller...or at least I've tried to.

I've started having occasional audio dropouts when using Serato, it's been hard to replicate it exactly.  I was worried that it might be my controller (which acts as an audio interface over USB), but I couldn't replicate the issue with my studio PC that has a 1st gen Ryzen 5 CPU, which is bizarre. I tried different USB ports (including USB C) and I even tried a different controller that I had lying around, and I keep getting these random dropouts.  The scrolling waveforms freeze, and the audio does a repeating glitch at the point where it happens, and then it eventually reorients itself.  As a DJ that intends on doing more wedding events when the world gets back to a sense of normality, I can't this to happen in the middle of an event!!

Can anybody comment on how/why this would only have been happening since trying the laptop after a many-month absence of using it, considering before I never had any issues?  I'm perplexed - I've tried many consumer-grade variables (BIOS options, power usage profiles etc), but nothing's got it back to it's previously decent working state.  I'm comforted (very mildly) by @fireberd 's comment that it's not specifically a Dell issue, which gives me hope that it may be rectifiable, but I don't know what to think.

Hi everyone,

Following up from my first message a couple of weeks ago, I'm happy to say I've resolved my issue that I had with using my 2018 Dell XPS 15 with Serato DJ Pro!  I can't exactly remember where my digging lead me to success, but I'm pretty sure it started with a youtube search that yielded similar users with similar experiences.  In short, it was recommended to disable or get rid of all Dell and Adobe software.  I had reasoned that it should have been a software issue causing my audio latency pops, given that everything was operating normally in the months preceding me using the laptop as a primary-audio device.  Also my DJ software (Serato DJ) hadn't been updated to the point where it would cause so much instability, especially given my hardware configuration - and given I was preparing to do an OS refresh/reset to try to mitigate the problem, I opted to do a clean reinstall of Windows.

I uninstalled everything with the name Dell on it, and after a decent amount of testing, Serato is working perfectly now.  I still have the concerning latency monitoring numbers that I had before, but it's not translating into performance issues when practicing live.  I'm testing things out to a much longer timeframe compared to when I'd routinely get audio problems (usually within ten-fifteen minutes), so I'm happy to assume this is the fix I wanted.  I'll be testing whether I'm able to do multitrack recording using my Focusrite USB 3 interface without problems, but at least for now I'm getting the results I want - both with and without using the AC adaptor.

Good report.  Sort of how I got my Dell laptop cleaned up for my recording studio.  But as mentioned instead of getting rid of Dell and whatever, I did a dual boot installation and the second Win 10 only has needed drivers and my recording studio apps.  

A lower buffer size relates to lower latency.  I can run my MOTU 4pre at 64 samples reliably and no dropouts in Windows 10 and that results in 2.8 ms recording latency as reported by Cakewalk (Sonar).  

One major issue is the vendor driver, a poorly written driver and there can be problems, including latency and dropouts at low buffer sample rates.  A well written driver and works great.

You won't be able to see my latency graphic until the forum moderator approves it so probably tomorrow it will be visible.

Hi @fireberd ,

Thanks for your reply - you're quite right, however the buffer size actually was quite reasonable, I think 256 samples, certainly no less than that (at least with DJing, you don't need ultra-precision with MIDI data unless you're scratching).  It's a Roland device, so I'd like to assume their drivers should be okay! I did use a different MIDI controller with the XPS 15 and had the same issue, so I don't think it was likely a faulty ASIO driver - this was all prior to me doing the clean install.

I also had tried the Roland controller with my desktop PC, which has a 1st gen Ryzen 5 CPU, and I couldn't replicate the buffering that I originally had on the XPS laptop. I actually use a Focusrite 18i8 USB interface with my Ryzen desktop, I'm able to get down to 96 samples quite comfortably using VST plugins and virtual instruments.  

My Latencymon testing has shown warnings both before and after I did my Windows reinstall, but I'm comforted given it's not actually translating to real-world performance issues with my laptop.  Before my reinstall, I was also testing Serato DJ without using an external audio interface (i.e. just using the Windows Audio drivers), and it didn't cause performance issues - however Latencymon still showed the warnings I've had throughout this experience.

I'm not keen to declare anything being proof-positive at this point, but I think I've reasonably (if not seemingly) narrowed it down to a relationship with the Dell software being installed/active on the laptop, and audio interfaces being connected via USB.  I'll be keen to keep testing though.

Hi @hardware408 

To be honest I literally had zero issues with my XPS 15 running Serato DJ with a number of different controllers, and I was using it regularly between mid 2018 to late 2019.  On paper, it's had a better track record than my 2012 Macbook Pro Retina - because it crashed once on that computer!  

I'm hesitant to call myself an expert, however I'll consider myself a person that's had a better experience with the XPS laptop once the Dell programs have been removed at least - at most combined with a Windows 10 reinstall from scratch.  It might be worth backing everything up and giving it a shot to see if it translates to better results. The Serato-Spazzes you describe sound like what I had before - I'm not getting them anymore.

Regarding the Yamaha interface - Core Audio is Mac's proprietary class compliant audio drivers that hardware manufacturers build their devices against in order for them to work plug-and-play without their own 3rd party drives (I think) - I don't think this technically works with Windows and ASIO, so Yamaha would need to build their own ASIO-compliant drivers in order to get them to work.  It's possible that the Core Audio option offers better options compared to what Yamaha were able to achieve.  It's an older device too (I see it's USB/firewire), so maybe that have something to do with it.