New AXE I/O - loving it, but one noob question :)

[the_juiceman]

Hi, all -

Just wanted to say to the folks at IK - wow, the AXE I/O is amazing and I'm absolutely loving the AmpliTube Max deal that I got this past week. Incredible hardware and software - bravo.

Now the question: While I shop for studio monitors, I'd like to be able to just simply jam with backing tracks I've previously created in .mp3 formatting using WMP, or just pull up Youtube and play some tracks off of Google Chrome. Unfortunately, when AmpliTube is open, I get guitar sound through that software, but it blocks / cancels any sound from playing out of WMP or Google Chrome. Once AmpliTube is closed, WMP and Chrome can play sound fine....can you guys help me out?

Running through Win 7 and a Realtex HD audio card. Many thanks in advance!!

[Peter_IK]

Hi, we have a FAQ that can help with that! Check this out: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/faq/index.php?id=1236

[the_juiceman]

Thanks, Peter. After some messing around with settings, I was able to make this work!

...unfortunately, I now have (what seems to be from reading the forums) a common issue: I can play for 5-7 minutes or so, but then get increasingly crazy crackling until it just sounds like fuzz. Restarting the application solves this problem, but it then repeats. I'm not sure the optimal way to configure my soundcard and latency settings, but any additional help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Peter_IK]

Thanks, Peter. After some messing around with settings, I was able to make this work!

...unfortunately, I now have (what seems to be from reading the forums) a common issue: I can play for 5-7 minutes or so, but then get increasingly crazy crackling until it just sounds like fuzz. Restarting the application solves this problem, but it then repeats. I'm not sure the optimal way to configure my soundcard and latency settings, but any additional help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

That is not normal behavior. I would suggest working directly with the support team via http://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support and I'm sure they can assist and get your issue resolved.

[the_juiceman]

Hi, Peter -

I've got a ticket in with support, but they seem to be providing me very limited details with regards to troubleshooting and workarounds. Is there some specifically that you can point me to that can help me troubleshoot this issue - I don't want to have to return this device, but it's been a bit frustrating thus far.

For reference, I'm running on Win 7 Pro with a Core i5-4670 @ 3.40 ghz on a 64 bit OS with 32GB of RAM - so, my computer is more than powerful enough to handle this software.

Many thanks.

[Peter_IK]

I am not in tech support and they are the experts in matters like this. Unfortunately sometimes the early suggestions may not fix the issue. Please keep letting them know when you've tried their suggestions and that they didn't work and they'll keep working to get your issue resolved.

[Nagard]

I had the same issue - I tried installing VB Cable and Asio drivers as outlined in the FAQ but that didn't go very well. The entire issue brought much frustration and I thought of replacing the AXE I/O with something else, even though I am very satisfied with the sound quality, build and all the other features, it is really a good product.

The problem, as it turns out, is not in AXE I/O drivers as I thought, they are quite good actually, but in Windows default settings. Luckily there is an easier way to solve the problem than installing a bunch of additional software: right-click the speaker icon, open Volume Mixer and click on the icon that represents your AXE I/O Line Out, then go to Advanced Tab and check off "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device". This will allow sound from other applications to play in parallel with the DAW.

The first time I tried this I got stutter in the DAW, but find out that my buffer settings were set to 8 samples for some reason, which is unrealistic anyway. Raising it to 256 solved that, the lag is unnoticeable, and I didn't experience any other side-effects. I can now happily play through Amplitube or CakeWalk along with YT Music, Chrome etc.

If you are recording it is probably better to turn it off to prevent other applications from interfering with the sound quality, but for practicing does a perfect job.

[Ohmymy]

Thanks, Nagard. The problem is solved.