1 Topic by will_m (edited by will_m 2018-03-13 00:46:54)

  • Registered: 2018-02-22
  • Posts: 52

Topic: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

Hi all, so I've had my UFX+ for a few weeks now and sadly its not going so well. I have a strange bitcrusher / distortion type effect that intermittently appears on windows based audio. ASIO based audio seems unaffected.

So far I've had it happen on Youtube videos in Chrome and music from Windows Media Player and Groove. I'm running Win 10.

So far I can't seem to find a pattern for when it occurs, I've had it happen when playing back music and by simply stopping and starting the track it disappears.

I made a short video to illustrate the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Dad1se6jQ

I've not come across this issue with my previous interface.

System Set-Up

Win 10 Pro
Asus X99 A-II
Asus TB EX3 Card - Apple TB3 to TB2 Adapter
i7 960k
64GB RAM
Cubase 9

RME UFX+: Driver 1.13

will_m's Website

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2018-03-12 20:29:45)

  • ramses
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  • Registered: 2012-10-14
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Re: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

Which USB3 port do you use ? From Chipset or any ASMEDIA etc ? Use USB3 ports from Chipset !

See handbook ch39.3 in terms of compatible chips.

Alternatively any of these 2 cards:

This (requires PCIe socket with x4 PCIe lanes), because it has one dedicated USB3 chip behind each of the 4 ports.
https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/son … 79334.html

or that one USB3 chip shared between the 4 ports:
https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/son … 48037.html

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • Registered: 2018-02-22
  • Posts: 52

Re: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

ramses wrote:

Which USB3 port do you use ? From Chipset or any ASMEDIA etc ? Use USB3 ports from Chipset !

Sorry I have should have clarified that this is over Thunderbolt. I have an Asus TB3 card with an Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter.

will_m's Website

4 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2018-03-13 08:39:25)

  • ramses
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Re: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

When listening to youtube then you browse the internet.
Could internet be the component here which makes the difference ?
Are you using the WiFi card of your mainboard or are you connected cabled via Ethernet ?

You could i.e. test whether the noise also happens when you use a simple Music Player
to playback files from local disk using the Windows Sound System
in this case it should be the RME WDM driver.

Other suggested checks:

1. Is clock source set to internal ?

2. What ASIO buffersize are you using ? Does it help to increase it ?

3. How many WDM devices did you create ? If you enabled all or more then you actually need, maybe try to configure only for Analog 1+2, assumed you connected your speakers there.

4. What device do you have entered in Windows Sound as Standard Sound device ? RME UFX+ ?

5. Maybe it could help to reset TotalMix FX completely
Options -> Reset Mix -> Total Reset
And after that maybe "Straight Playback with all to Main out"

6. Is your sound card on your mainboard still active ? Could you try whether it helps to deactivate it ?

7. Do you have WiFi enabled ? Can you disable Wifi in the BIOS to see whether the issue might be triggered from there ?

8. I see the board has also Bluetooth. Could you disable all this "add-on" HW to see whether the problem maybe is triggered by some devices / drivers ?

9. Does it work better via USB3 ? To exclude that it might come from TB
(although you say its mainly with Audio Playback of Windows, but is this 100% reproduceable, or occasion ?)

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • Registered: 2018-02-22
  • Posts: 52

Re: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

ramses wrote:

When listening to youtube then you browse the internet.
Could internet be the component here which makes the difference ?
Are you using the WiFi card of your mainboard or are you connected cabled via Ethernet ?

You could i.e. test whether the noise also happens when you use a simple Music Player
to playback files from local disk using the Windows Sound System
in this case it should be the RME WDM driver.

Thanks for your help Ramses, I'm using an ethernet cable and yes the issue still occurs when playing back a local file in a media player, such as WMP or Groove Music.

Other suggested checks:

1. Is clock source set to internal?

Yes

2. What ASIO buffersize are you using ? Does it help to increase it ?

It varies, usually 512.

3. How many WDM devices did you create ? If you enabled all or more then you actually need, maybe try to configure only for Analog 1+2, assumed you connected your speakers there.

I have 2 created, Analog 1+2 and Analog 9+10 (the first mic pres on the front panel).

4. What device do you have entered in Windows Sound as Standard Sound device ? RME UFX+ ?

The default device in the Windows Sound is the RME UFX+. I have this set in properties as so:

https://i.imgur.com/OBEqyqV.jpg

As the issue sounds like a bitcrush effect I thought it might be sample rate / bit depth related.

5. Maybe it could help to reset TotalMix FX completely
Options -> Reset Mix -> Total Reset
And after that maybe "Straight Playback with all to Main out"

I can try this, what is the best way of saving my current configuration though as I don't what to lose what I've already set-up.

6. Is your sound card on your mainboard still active ? Could you try whether it helps to deactivate it ?

It is disabled in BIOS.

7. Do you have WiFi enabled ? Can you disable Wifi in the BIOS to see whether the issue might be triggered from there ?

The motherboard doesn't have Wi-Fi.

8. I see the board has also Bluetooth. Could you disable all this "add-on" HW to see whether the problem maybe is triggered by some devices / drivers ?

I don't believe it has Bluetooth on board.

9. Does it work better via USB3 ? To exclude that it might come from TB
(although you say its mainly with Audio Playback of Windows, but is this 100% reproduceable, or occasion ?)

I am going to try it over USB3, the issue is intermittent but seems quite frequent. I can't pin down what sets it off as it just seems to be random. In the video I posted it even stops after pausing and restarting a track in media player.

will_m's Website

6 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2018-03-13 22:22:15)

  • ramses
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Re: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

If I look at my settings for UFX+ Speaker then it tells: 24bit, 44.1 kHz.
But this is only because I use 44.1 kHz (RME Driver Settings).
If I change it to 192 kHz, then Youtube Playback still works ..
Maybe try USB3 .. to see whether it makes a change.
Dont forget you need then to install the MADIface driver.

Your Mixer Settings you can save by 2 ways IF I am not wrong ...
1. save snapshot and workspace to single files or
2. use workspace quick select and save alltogether there in a quick save slot
I do always both 1. and 2. and this never failed.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • Registered: 2018-02-22
  • Posts: 52

Re: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

ramses wrote:

If I look at my settings for UFX+ Speaker then it tells: 24bit, 44.1 kHz.
But this is only because I use 44.1 kHz (RME Driver Settings).
If I change it to 192 kHz, then Youtube Playback still works ..
Maybe try USB3 .. to see whether it makes a change.
Dont forget you need then to install the MADIface driver.

Your Mixer Settings you can save by 2 ways IF I am not wrong ...
1. save snapshot and workspace to single files or
2. use workspace quick select and save alltogether there in a quick save slot
I do always both 1. and 2. and this never failed.

Thanks, yes I work at 48KHz because I work to picture so I've set the WDM audio the same. There also seem to be an option to go to 16-bit but not sure of that makes a difference.

I'm going to try USB3, I have a port on my adapter card, then two different chipsets on the motherboard itself, one is ASMedia, which apparently is not supported but the other is Intel, which seems to be allowed. Support have also suggested using USB2.

will_m's Website

8 Reply by will_m (edited by will_m 2018-05-07 12:52:40)

  • Registered: 2018-02-22
  • Posts: 52

Re: UFX Plus - Strange bitcrusher type effect on Windows audio

Just an update on this for anyone else with the same issue. I believe it seems to be specific to TB, using the TB connection I'm still getting random distortion and glitches of Windows based audio.

I can usually get rid of it by stopping and starting a track in my media player or refreshing the page in my browser but it will always return.

I contacted main support two week ago and haven't even had a reply so I'm fast losing patience on this.

I'm not sure what else I can try, other than just resign myself to using my TB interface over USB.

will_m's Website