AXE I/O with occasional interrupted sound

[kamtik]

Anyone experienced AXE I/O with pops and clicks (interrupted) sound? It happens to me occasionally. The less buffer sample size I use the more likely it will have. The interruption usually keeps a few second and then resume normal. They are not tiny click or pops that sometimes happen when using low buffer with high CPU load. In my test the CPU usage is constantly low. I tried to use iRig PRO DUO and another audio interface with the smallest buffer size I can set (32 samples) there is no interrupted sound at all.

The interrupted sound is from the input and I can record it successfully in the DAW. The playback is the same as what I heart. I was testing it with no plugin involved.

I wonder if it was the driver problem or firmware problem or the hardware problem

[Peter_IK]

Please make sure you are using the latest AXE I/O driver and firmware which are available in your IK User Area. If this does not fix the issue, please open a ticket with IK Support at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support for official and direct technical support and I'm sure they can help you figure out what's happening and get you up and running. Thanks!

[dlgebert]

Anyone experienced AXE I/O with pops and clicks (interrupted) sound?

I have an iMac running MacOS Catalina (know your risks before installing) and I was recording this weekend in Studio One 4.5 using both Amplitube 4 and T-Racks 5 at the lowest latency I can get, which is around 6ms round trip. That's round trip, my input latency is around 3ms. No clicks, snaps, pops, etc. Never an interruption.

I started digitally recording around 1995 and my current setup is the first time I am able to record and forget that I'm not recording on analog equipment, which I started doing around 1983.

When asking questions like this, please list your setup since there are so many variables that can cause dropouts.

Dave

[kamtik]

Setup
Computer: macbook pro 15" late 2016.
Software host: both Ableton Live suite 10.1.3 and Amplitube 4 standalone
Audio interfaces: AXE I/O, iRig Pro DUO, audio interface of another brand.

Ableton Live had the issues as I said in my post. Later I tested with Amplitube 4 standalone too. Amplitube 4 standalone also have issue but the behaviour is different. The clicks and pops are very short like clipping sound (but i'm sure it's not signal clipping) but happens more frequently than Ableton Live's longer clicks and pops.

I tested it again today and I had some founding. I found that the issue won't happen when BOTH input and output device are AXE I/O even in the lowest possible buffer size (16/32 samples). However, if I set the input device as AXE I/O and output device as ANY of my other audio interfaces or even set it as the macbook pro build-in sound, the situation I listed above will happen. The lower the buffer size and more frequent it will happen.

My situation is I need to use another audio interface as output device. I like the preamp sound of AXE I/O very much for guitar and it's awesome. Really hope somehow this issue can be solved.

[Peter_IK]

I would still recommend opening a ticket and letting IK's support team help you. I'm sure they can get to the bottom of your issue.

[dlgebert]

I found that the issue won't happen when BOTH input and output device are AXE I/O even in the lowest possible buffer size (16/32 samples).

That makes sense considering that both devices have separate internal "clocks", so it sounds like a sync issue of some sort. I've never tried to use one device for input and another for output, but I'm not surprised that you would have problems trying to do so. Most DAW software will use one device as the timing master. In Studio One, if I pick AXE I/O, it chooses that for both in and out. If I pick my iMac's internal sound, it picks the mic for in and speaker for out, but it won't let me use both internal and AXE I/O.

Dave

[kamtik]

I have also though of some sync issue when I have the test result. I wonder if all those in professional studio must use the same device for input and output, as I know there are professional level studios which has a number of preamps for different purpose of recording. To me I would like to have a higher quality output and I may use a higher quality DAC as output device not necessarily an audio interface. As AXE I/O doesn't have a digital output I can't redirect the digital signal without going though its DAC, and I don't know how much latency will be introduced in such digital redirection if available.

Both Ableton Live and Amplitube 4 allow me to set different device as input and output. And I tested it with all other combination of different device like using iRig PRO DUO as input and my another audio interface as output and there is no problem at all even in 32 samples buffer. I tested it out before purchasing AXE I/O

[kamtik]

Did some search about clock sync in different digital devices. Knowing that there are some means to sync clock in multiple device such as digital signal protocols like ADAT / SPDIF using electric or optical signal. Or even having a dedicated word clock device as master to sync multiple devices which needs device support and it's costly. But for AXE I/O there is no support to sync clock in hardware way as it does not support any mean of digital input/output.

I'm wondering why all my other devices (including iRig PRO DUO) doesn't have such issue (at least I cannot notice) without having to specifically handle the clock sync issue. In the AXE I/O info page stated "24-bit, 192 kHz conversion and an ultra-stable, low jitter internal clock ensures the highest fidelity". I wonder if the clock in AXE I/O is "too stable" than all other clock.

I also wonder if software do have an role to handle the clock sync matter, as Amplitube 4 standalone and Ableton live has different behavior.

I'll try to do some more test tonight and will try the macOS aggregate device function for more findings.

[Peter_IK]

I would also suggest consulting the tech support team who can likely get your issue resolved. They can be reached at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support