Audio Kontrol driver draining my cpu

I wonder if anyone else has the same problem or could check their system comparing drivers?

When trying to multi-task during music playback, I frequently get stuttering when I have the Audio Kontrol selected for playback in the audio properties of the XP control panel, even just when playing an Mp3 and browsing the web. If I revert back to the Creative driver for my Audigy card, the problem goes away. The difference in cpu usage is dramatic in Win Amp or media player; 10-15% cpu usage with the Creative driver and 30-50% with the Kontrol Driver. It does not seem to matter if it is an mp3 or a cd the effect is the same.

I thought that the product would make it easier on my pc since it has its own hardware but it seems it is making my computer work even harder.

 

Welcome

You will see some CPU load from the AK 1 driver, but your readings seem really high- I see about 2-3% on my machine unless I'm running VERY low latency (1 ms USB/2 ms audio), in which case I'll see about a 10% overhead. For the most part, either 2 ms/4 ms USB/audio or 3ms/6ms USB/audio works well for anything you want to do with it; there the driver load's down to the 2-3% CPU load.

What's your USB latency/audio latency settings?

ew

 

I'm only using "medium latency" when just listening to tunes.

Maybe something happened when I reinstalled the driver. When I unplugged the USB connection I had to reinstall the driver again since I couldn't see it in control panel even when I plugged it back in. Then it said it would delete the old one when I said to reinstall. Will I have to reinstall it every time I unplug the cable?

I sent customer support some screens of CPU usage just in case they have an idea.

Besides this is my first NI purchase so I figured I should test them out. I've only had it for a few weeks, just got the desk set up the way I wanted it. The sound is good with both monitors and headphones, no doubt at all. I've only tried out Traktor le so far on the software. I see the enticement is the loop recording in the full version. That's quite a hook though.

But now that I know it shouldn't be doing this, I'll have to experiment some more. You are using Windows XP right? Just want to be sure, since I know Mac OS is better for some apps.

 

You shouldn't have to reinstall every time you plug it in. As long as you're plugging into the same port, you should be OK.

Yes, I'm using XP... I don't think I'd agree with your assertion that some apps run better on a Mac, though.

ew

 

I was just under the impression that some audio companies used to optimize for Mac OS. That could be more historic than current and I could be wrong.

Anyway, I found by putting the driver latency at "games / mulitimedia" or "high latency" lowered the cpu usage to 10% and nearly 2% respectively so I'll just go with that for general use.

Tech support also informed me that they've compared their driver to other USB solutions and they feel they are currently superior to many. Good to know since I am new to USB audio. Thanks for your help.

 

"Tech support also informed me that they've compared their driver to other USB solutions and they feel they are currently superior to many."

ha ha that's funny.

good ole unbiased research.

what are your PC specs? That will tell us a bit more on whether you should expect better performance

 

I thought it was funny too but I don't have the option of testing other interfaces myself. My pc is AMD 64 3000 with 1gig ram a couple 7200 rpm harddrives and a video card. The internal sound card is an Audigy 1. They said that a driver for an onboard card will always use less CPU and I guess that makes some sense. Any thoughts?

I just wanted to mention audio playback but I did notice that when I was using Traktor LE on medium latency, CPU usage would generally spike between 60-100%.

 

I have the Kore audio interface, which apparently is very similar audio driver wise, and I right now use my kore as my main computer audio interface... I don't get stuttering under ANY conditions, and I will sometimes have 15 firefox windows open, while an ftp client, and maybe even akoustik piano or kontakt 2 running at the same time with samples, and playing them...

If you are getting stuttering problems from basic usage of your card, there is a problem, either in your system, or with the drivers.

Let me put this all another way, if an audio card is not capable of handling audio tasks efficiently and properly within the environment it is created for, in this case the mulitasking Windows environment, then it is NOT made well. There absolutely are USB based audio cards that can play an mp3 while you check your email without messing up.

I don't have the problems you are having, and I always have minse set on 6 or 8 ms latencies...

Tech support should be trying to solve problems, and not absolve themselves from having to do what they are there to do. If they can't handle it, they should escalate the issue.... not escape it.

 

Jason's right; KORE, GR and AK 1 all use the same audio driver.

Once again, I'd try upping the USB latency. Try 3 ms USB/6 ms audio for starters and see if that works. I've found that a lot of issues with these drivers are due to the machine's USB hub not processing the flow quick enough.

Some more things that might be contributing;
1) IRQ issues. While they're rare, they still occasionally happen with XP. Do you have a card sharing the same IRQ as the internal USB controller?
2) Norton or McAfee. Both of these, even when disabled, will raise havoc with an audio system. I had a lot of audio glitches like you were talking about a couple years ago; the problem was that I was using the McAfee suite my ISP offered. Even with everything shut off, there were still audio glitches. I removed that and renewed my expired subscription to Trend Micro's AV and went back to ZoneAlarm instead- problem solved.
3) The Audigy itself. Have you tried disabling the Audigy in device manager and seeing if you still have the problems. That could be related to the first point as well.

ew

ew

 

just a thought, when i first got GR i had the same problem, but i was on service pack 1, when i updated to service pack 2 the cpu usage dropped straight away. you didnt mention what service pack your using so i thought i'd mention it. hope that helps

 

Oh yeah... that's why SP2's stated in the requirements. While USB 2.0 support's part of SP1, SP2's implementation is much better.

ew

 

SP1 was the issue. I wasn't sure if anyone had ever tested it, so I compared it myself using Process Explorer.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

I did a fresh SP2 install on an old harddrive for same machine and sure enough max cpu usage on medium latency dropped to 12%, down from about 45% max(audio playback). The usage also doesn't appear where it used to under "system" in Processes tab, it appears under the Peformance Tab only. So it appears that the driver is optimized for (or by?) SP2.

I've ordered a new harddrive for a fresh SP2 install and that should hopefully eliminate most of this issue. Thanks for the feedback.

 

How can i change USB latency settings?

Thanks

 

same problem for me (among all the other AK1 problems)

I have about 4 different USB soundcards and in Cubase all work fine . However, switch to AK1 and the CPU meter starts going like crazy up and down causing crackling.

 

If you're a Windows user, the AK 1 driver control panel has a USB latency adjustment. The Mac driver control panel doesn't.

ew