Audio interface or no audio interface?

[dilshan89]

Hey guys,

I've got a Novation Impulse 49 hooked up to Ableton. Listen to it through an M-audio Fast Track Pro audio interface, but when I use it, I tend to get crackles. Do you guys use an audio interface? Or do most people just use their laptops built in-sound card to listen to their work?

When I use my laptop's sound card theres a delay between when I hit the keys, and when I hit the sound. I also get the same crackling noise I mentioned above. I think I fixed both these problems by raising the 'In/Out Sample rate' to 88200 in Ableton preferences, which automatically raised the Input Buffer Size to 8192 samples, and the Output Buffer Size to 4416 samples. Are there any disadvantages to what I've just done?

In summary:

1) Do people usually stick with their laptop's built in sound card, not bothering with an audio interface (is it supposed to sound better)?

2) Is what I've done with the sample rate OK? Are there any disadvantages to what I've done?

Thank you

[Da hand]

1) Do people usually stick with their laptop's built in sound card, not bothering with an audio interface (is it supposed to sound better)?

2) Is what I've done with the sample rate OK? Are there any disadvantages to what I've done?

Thank you

1. Most people will use an audio interface. It generally provides better AD/DA conversion, some will have balanced in/outs to eliminate external noise, and the card will be less prone to interference from other computer components.
2. No need to change the sampling rate, just raise the buffer on the fast track pro.

[dilshan89]

Hey thanks so much for your reply.

I'm a bit confused. When I go to my Fast Track Pro properties, the 3 tabs are 'Bandwith', 'Latency' and 'About'.

Under Bandwith, I can change either the Sample rate (44.1, 48, 88.2, 96) or the Sample depth (16 or 24).

Under Latency, I can change the slider that goes from 128 to 4096.


1) Which one of these is the buffer?

2) Would a Sample rate of 88.2 be detrimental to the sound?

3) How can I balance the in/outs to eliminate external noise as you mentioned?

[darkenedsoul]

Do you have ASIO drivers set up for your interface? If not I highly recommend getting ASIO4All. It's free, a 64 bit version is available (I think since 2.10 was released).

I would try setting latency to 128, drop bandwidth/sample rate to 44.1khz, 88.2 I don't think will buy you much/hear much of the difference. But then again I'm not an audio *pro*. Sample bit depth of 16 will suffice and match that in Live preferences. Same for sample rate (called something else I think but not in front fo DAW).

External noise, depends on what type of cables your interface can take with what you have going to your external speakers. What I mean is it either has TR or TRS inputs = recommend matching the type of cable, Tip Ring, or Tip Ring Sleeve. It may have with the noise, also if you are powering this from the wall wart, try it in a different outlet, could be picking up noise from a crappy ground in the outlet.

[login]

Sample rate at 44.1 is enough IMHO. bit depth 16 is cd quality so that are standard sound setting.

Now for buffer size set it at 256 and keep and increase it till you dont get crackles, depending on your CPU and soundcard and the ammount intensive instruments you are using in your proyect you will get less or more performance.

512 or 1024 buffer size is IMHO usable.

[dilshan89]

Hey thanks for the replies

1) Which setting is the 'buffer'. It doesn't say buffer anywhere in my fast track properties

2) What does ASIO4All do?

[Da hand]

Hey thanks for the replies

1) Which setting is the 'buffer'. It doesn't say buffer anywhere in my fast track properties

2) What does ASIO4All do?

1) it will be the Latency setting in your case.

2) no need for Asio4All. Sound Track Pro drivers are ASIO drivers.

[dilshan89]

I've already increased my latency to 512 samples. I still get the crackling noise though. Is it safe to go higher than this? Is there any disadvantage to doing so?

[crumhorn]

Make sure your wireless network is disabled. On my system wireless networking causes constant crackles in the audio, I have no idea why, but I believe it's quite a common problem.

[H20nly]

^ that.

also, if you have agessive antivirus settings... those can interfere by attempting to scan files on creation. in the case of audio and MIDI files in your DAW this could cause a problem. you shouldn't have to disable AV but you don't need it turned up to the highest levels either.

and, as mentioned... try plugging into a different electrical outlet... line noise can come from those. another way to test this is to see if the noise vanishes when you're on battery power.

also, you've done a lot of what i call "jiggling the handle" to try and fix this. now that these fine gents have helped you find the right settings... it could be time to reboot. let your computer come anew and try again.

good luck!

[dysanfel]

1) Do people usually stick with their laptop's built in sound card, not bothering with an audio interface (is it supposed to sound better)?

2) Is what I've done with the sample rate OK? Are there any disadvantages to what I've done?

Thank you

1) It depends. If I am writing with soft synths and samples I use the built in audio. If I am recording audio or mixing I use an interface. Why fuss with an interface to just monitor?

2) Lower your buffer to 128 samples. If you can't work in Ableton without it choking I would look into a new computer, honesty. Who has time for troubleshooting? Life is too short for that crap.

[dilshan89]

But I feel the crackling improves when I raise the buffer to 512+. Is it bad to use such a high buffer ?

[H20nly]

^ no... unless you hear a lot of latency.

"use your ears"

if hitting a drum pad or a piano key triggers the sound too long after you hit it... if audio such as vocals or guitars sound as though they have an echo or an effect on them... then your settings need to be adjusted.


this is the troubleshooting that teaches you WTF is going on. before this thread you couldn't change your buffer settings... it's probably not your computer. if anything it's your Mbox. i doubt low latency is their claim to fame on that unit, but i've never owned one so i can't be sure.

try 512 and see if it works for you... then adjust up or down as necessary. try numbers that are multiples of 8.. 16, 64, 128, 192, 256, 320, 384, 512, 768, 1024...

it's not that hard.

set it and forget it...

[login]

But I feel the crackling improves when I raise the buffer to 512+. Is it bad to use such a high buffer ?

iMHO it isn't bad you just get more latency, if you are not playing a lot in realtime you wont notice it too much.

It is what your system can handle: CPU, audio interface and the plug ins you are using. ¿How much cpu use is you daw showing when you get crackles?

[UltimateOutsider]

So, M-audio don't get the highest marks for audio interface performance, but from my experience your computer is the most important part of the equation. Your CPU, chipset, drivers, power management settings, etc, all play a part in how far you can push your system before audio starts to break down (with the pops and crackles).

As the others mentioned, having a big buffer just increases the latency (usually experienced as the amount of time between when you press a key on your keyboard and when you hear the note being played). But 512 is about as high as most people go in normal circumstances. If you're hearing crackles at 512 samples, you might need to take a look at what's going on with your PC.

Even on my crappiest interface I can have literally hundreds of plugins enabled in a project at 512 samples without any crackles, and my PC's 3 years old.

NOTE: Lots and lots of people have reported problems even on new computers when they plug USB interfaces into USB 3.0 ports. All USB interfaces I know of are designed for the USB 2.0 spec (or lower!), and many of them seem to have problems when plugged into USB 3.0 ports. This is NOT supposed to be a problem, but it definitely is for some devices.