Native Instruments - Knowledge Base
Knowledge Base
I get crackles and dropouts from my audio device (Windows)
In case you experience serious dropouts please go carefully through the following points.
1. Requirements
1. Requirements
You should check back on the package of your product or on the product page on our website if your computer fulfills the minimum requirements.
2. Updates
2. Updates
Make sure you have the latest update (Software and Driver) installed. You can get information on your driver version by going into the Control Panel, then click on About. To access the Control Panel of your audio device, go to Start>Programs>Native Instruments [Product Name] Driver>Control Panel. Updates can be found in the SERVICE CENTER or on our website under Support.
3. Latency
3. Latency
Check the Latency settings of your audio device. You might need to increase the Latency as it is set too low and it eats up your CPU.
Example AUDIO KONTROL 1:
In the AUDIO KONTROL 1 Control Panel you will find the Latency settings. In the screenshot it is set to minimal latency. Via the drop down menu you will find different Latency settings. So in case you experience dropouts, increase the Latency step-by-step till the dropouts disappear. You can increase the Latency via the Presets or you can define it yourself when you choose user defined settings in that drop down menu.
In other Native Instruments audio devices you will find similar Control Panels.
4. Power Options
Example AUDIO KONTROL 1:
In the AUDIO KONTROL 1 Control Panel you will find the Latency settings. In the screenshot it is set to minimal latency. Via the drop down menu you will find different Latency settings. So in case you experience dropouts, increase the Latency step-by-step till the dropouts disappear. You can increase the Latency via the Presets or you can define it yourself when you choose user defined settings in that drop down menu.
In other Native Instruments audio devices you will find similar Control Panels.
4. Power Options
In case you are using a laptop, it is not recommended to run it on its battery, as the computer might provide less energy to the devices in order to save energy.
Furthermore, it is recommended to disable power management to the USB hubs, to assure that the audio device receives enough power to work properly. XP turns this on by default. Go to the device manager (Control Panel/system/hardware) and right click a USB hub to bring up properties. On the power management page, uncheck all boxes. Repeat for each hub and reboot.
Furthermore, it is recommended to disable power management to the USB hubs, to assure that the audio device receives enough power to work properly. XP turns this on by default. Go to the device manager (Control Panel/system/hardware) and right click a USB hub to bring up properties. On the power management page, uncheck all boxes. Repeat for each hub and reboot.
5. USB port
Try using a different USB port on your computer, as they might differ in the way how the are supplied with power and to which IRQ they are distributed.
6. Remove the Battery (Laptops only)
Common built-in devices are: network adapter, WLAN cards, bluetooth ports, infrared ports, printer ports etc. Try to disable the network adapter and WLAN card first, as they are the most common devices causing problems in audio processing. Make sure that you don not disable devices that are indispensable for your notebook to work properly. Here is a list of devices that you should not deactivate: System timer, Keyboard, System CMOS/real time clock, Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System, Numeric data processor, Primary IDE Channel, Secondary IDE Channel, Graphics Controller, Ultra ATA Storage Controllers.
8. Deactivate Virus Scanner
Try deactivate programs such as a Virus Scanner while you use the audio device. These programs constantly search the computer and might disturb audio processes.
9. Shared Memory
Built-in graphics cards in laptops (sometimes in desktop computers as well) are often shared-memory cards. A shared-memory graphics card accesses to the same memory as the CPU. Other graphics cards have their own memory, so that the main memory is reserved to the processing of audio data. Other names for the same issue are TurboCaching or Hypermemory. You want memory and processing power available for your audio project.
Shared Memory Graphics cards might be responsible for audio dropouts or crackles. Unfortunately in such an integral system as a laptop it is difficult to exchange such a component.
How to check if you have a shared memory graphics card:
Right-click on My Computer and select properties. Go onto the General tab. Here you will find information on the RAM that is installed in your computer. Normally RAM amount goes up in 64MB steps, such as 64MB, 128MB, 192MB,...., 512MB and so on. In case the amount of RAM displayed here does not fit in this series (e.g. 504MB; it can not be divided by 64 resulting in a Natural Number) it might be a hint that your computer has most likley a shared memory graphics card.
Another way to find out, is to search in the Internet for your exact Model of your computer or your graphics card, to get information about the card. Very often this issue is not clearly communicated on the websites though. You might contact the manufacturer directly, to get a statement.
10. Task Manager
Go into the Windows Task Manager (go to Start>Run and type TASKMGR into the dialog field) and go to the Processes tab. Check if there are any processes on your computer that drive the CPU load constantly up. There might be background processes that interrupt the audio processing.
11. Disable HyperThreading (Pentium IV computer with 3GHz or higher ONLY)
6. Remove the Battery (Laptops only)
We experienced cases, where removing the battery from the Laptop actually helped removing crackles and drop-outs from the audio signal. Please try this out. It might be due to a low quality implementation of the laptops power circuit.
7. Latency Checker & Devices
7. Latency Checker & Devices
Dropouts
might be brought on by certain components of your computer. Please download a
tool that scans your computer regarding suitability for audio processing here: www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
There is no software installation required, just launch the tool after downloading.
With all external devices disconnected the tool gives you hints to whether your computer is suited for audio purposes or it might give you an idea of what device might disturb your audio process.
In case your computer might not be able to handle glitch free audio processing, the tool shows red latency bars and gives a report in the box on the bottom. Run it with both settings – the audio device connected and disconnected - to find out about your computers capacities. In case you get red bars, there are workarounds that might help you adjusting your computer for audio purposes.
Other devices of the computer might be disturbing the audio processing. In case you experience serious drop-outs, you might need to disable these devices.
To do so, please go to the device manager (Start>Run and type devmgmt.msc). You can disable a device, let us say the network adapter, by clicking on network-adapter, and then double click on the device to bring up the properties dialog. On the bottom of this pane you can disable the device via the Scroll-Down menu. Please deactivate it and hit OK. You should see a red cross over the device, which means that it is deactivated.
Common built-in devices are: network adapter, WLAN cards, bluetooth ports, infrared ports, printer ports etc. Try to disable the network adapter and WLAN card first, as they are the most common devices causing problems in audio processing. Make sure that you don not disable devices that are indispensable for your notebook to work properly. Here is a list of devices that you should not deactivate: System timer, Keyboard, System CMOS/real time clock, Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System, Numeric data processor, Primary IDE Channel, Secondary IDE Channel, Graphics Controller, Ultra ATA Storage Controllers.
8. Deactivate Virus Scanner
Try deactivate programs such as a Virus Scanner while you use the audio device. These programs constantly search the computer and might disturb audio processes.
9. Shared Memory
Built-in graphics cards in laptops (sometimes in desktop computers as well) are often shared-memory cards. A shared-memory graphics card accesses to the same memory as the CPU. Other graphics cards have their own memory, so that the main memory is reserved to the processing of audio data. Other names for the same issue are TurboCaching or Hypermemory. You want memory and processing power available for your audio project.
Shared Memory Graphics cards might be responsible for audio dropouts or crackles. Unfortunately in such an integral system as a laptop it is difficult to exchange such a component.
How to check if you have a shared memory graphics card:
Right-click on My Computer and select properties. Go onto the General tab. Here you will find information on the RAM that is installed in your computer. Normally RAM amount goes up in 64MB steps, such as 64MB, 128MB, 192MB,...., 512MB and so on. In case the amount of RAM displayed here does not fit in this series (e.g. 504MB; it can not be divided by 64 resulting in a Natural Number) it might be a hint that your computer has most likley a shared memory graphics card.
Another way to find out, is to search in the Internet for your exact Model of your computer or your graphics card, to get information about the card. Very often this issue is not clearly communicated on the websites though. You might contact the manufacturer directly, to get a statement.
10. Task Manager
Go into the Windows Task Manager (go to Start>Run and type TASKMGR into the dialog field) and go to the Processes tab. Check if there are any processes on your computer that drive the CPU load constantly up. There might be background processes that interrupt the audio processing.
11. Disable HyperThreading (Pentium IV computer with 3GHz or higher ONLY)
Please disable HyperThreading in the BIOS of your computer. Since every BIOS
looks different, we can not exactly say how to do that, but just go
into your BIOS and check if you find any entry on HyperThreading and
disable it.
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