Maschine SW: Audio Dropouts, crackling, popping regardless of project size or buffer settings

2 different systems, audio works fine for a while (like 10 minutes, regardless of the amount of plugins loaded) then will start dropping out, crackling, popping, the typical sounds you hear when your system/CPU is being overloaded, however this is also happening with only a couple plugins, and toggling the audio engine during playback or stopped (power button in Maschine software, top right) immediately fixes the problem, for another couple minutes, then it starts again.

This is with using any plugins, including NI/internal plugins, not specific to sampling. How loaded the project is doesn't seem to matter, it can happen only with a couple plugins (Massive, Kontakt, etc. as example). I have tried all different configurations with my audio interface drivers (using native ASIO, WASAPI and ASIO4All2), doesn't make any difference.

Hardware config: Laptop: Alienware a51m i7 9600k, 32gb ram, M2 SSD, and my desktop is similar specs. Audio interfaces I have tried, PreSonus Studio26c USB on the laptop and a MOTU 828 Mk2 Firewire on the desktop. I have also tried the built in audio interface on my Maschine+ and Mk3 controllers. All the same behavior.

I have no issues like this with either of the DAWs I use (Ableton and Cakewalk). I can load up 30+ plugins, multi output Kontakt instances, etc. with barely any CPU load and no audio dropout issues.

Seems like the Maschine software is having some CPU efficiency/stability issues that build up over time, considering that toggling the audio engine immediately (temporarily) fixes the dropouts.

 

That sucks. Can you share a basic project with us to reproduce it?

Did you already try to revert back to 2.12.x to see if the issue disappeared?

 

No, but I will.

 

is it possible you have a feedback loop, possibly a midi feedback loop occurring? do you use loopbe1?

 

No, basic project, couple plugins... No other devices real or virtual. It's the Maschine audio engine.

 

are you using the asio4all driver??
as i tend to use it, and i notice i get crackles when there is too many outputs in the asio4all interface..(remove all other asio outputs, leave only the output you wish to use)
i think it is probably asio related, but it is entirely possible its related to the maschine audio engine as you state...
hope you get this sorted

 

Yep, have used ASIO4All (latest) and tried all different configs in there (yes isolating to just my audio interface outputs). Thing is, it works fine for a while, and then gets into this state where it will get bad, I toggle the audio engine, clears up for a bit then starts again... If I exit, reboot, try again, I'll get another 5-10 minutes and then back in that state again.

 

Can you try with another audio driver? Asio4all is notoriously finicky in my experience.

 

Yes, as said in the original post, I have tried ASIO native, WASAPI (Window native driver), and ASIO4All. Driver doesn't seem to matter. It's the Maschine audio engine, have no issues with other DAWs. Going to try downgrading to a previous version see if there is any change. Haven't had a chance yet.

 

Ok. When do you think you can share your project? Happy to try and reproduce it.

 

i have a possible fix...
i dont know if this will work, but i was made aware of an issue inside of Windows which essentially had a program calling for the microphone, IF within the windows "Privacy settings" you have the Microphone disabled... it causes massive CPU usage. which can result in what you are experiencing.

The setting i refer to is in the windows privacy settings, and set Allow apps to access microphone to "On"
try it out... it may well be the cause!!!
let me know how you get on!! cheeRs

 

Edit:
it is also the "Allow desktop apps to access your microphone" that needs to be also set...

 

guys, afaik we're talking about an N=1 scenario currently, can be anything specific to the OP's setup/config. Unless we have a project we can use to reproduce the issue on other systems it's hard to help out.

 

Crackles and pops are directly related to CPU,buffer size & drivers or possibly a OS problem due to updates(my suspicion)
nolubez has mentioned the issue is irrespective of song, size, and plugins, yet this issue persists.
the project therefore will have no bearing...

i came across the microphone issue by chance... as a user who plays pokerstars in VR the pokerstars game was causing massive amount of stuttering as soon as you entered the VRspace, what was occurring was the mic by default is set to on when entering VR pokerstars, the program calls for the mic, receives a failed message,the call request repeats continuously to make the connection, this is what was causing a massive amount of sttutering in VR to the point where your hand movements would not register for seconds at a time. making the game simply unplayable!!

if this same call function to the mic is being initiated within maschine and is continuously failing it will continue calling for it.. thus increasing the CPU... assuming maschine is calling for the mic..
this is the assumption the possible fix is based on...
i will say this many people using VR pokerstars simply blamed the poor optimisation of pokerstars, and probably are not even aware of the fix.. when it was simply a OS issue

 

Honestly the project doesn't matter, I can give you one but if your rig isn't having this issue, then it won't repro for you. This has even happened with a project created (and that plays fine) on my M+, then open it in Maschine and after a while, it starts up the CPU load issues.

I could see perhaps something to do with the mic settings IF the Maschine software is using (or trying to use) the input drivers and Windows is sticking a layer of processing in there for privacy. Nevertheless, I disabled all that and it's still doing it.

Sometimes, the audio will do timed dropouts, like the sound is pulsing in and out with crackling. Very typical audio dropout/buffer size behavior. Except, if I just toggle the sound engine, it instantly fixes it. I just recorded a video of it doing its thing and me toggling the engine... Literally just play a project for a couple minutes and this sort of stuff just starts happening... No CPU spikes in task manager, if fact none of my 8 cores are even past 20%.

 

assuming you "enabled" the "Allow desktop apps to access your microphone" to "on"
and set Allow apps to access microphone to "On"

and over time it is still building up the CPU usage, there is something going on in the background... that is causing it(obviously)
perhaps a memory leak somewhere in another application?
in TaskManager when Maschine is running... take note of the memory column.. look to see if a application is increasing in memory size..
these would be the tests i would go through to check if a application is interferring or affecting Maschine.
just as a sidenote... the term "memory leak" refers to a program or application increasing its allocation of memory.. this in turn shortens the memory available for maschine to utilise.. causing slowdown,stuttering etc

aside from that... this is a strange one!! i'd love to know how this one gets resolved!!

 

Yes, I know what memory leaks are. No, there is nothing else on the system that is using any significant resources, by significant, I mean next to no memory or CPU usage. In fact when these buffer overflows/internal Maschine CPU spikes happen, there is no observable difference in task manager or resource monitor.

Again... in Ableton or Cakewalk, I never see this behavior, same system, same plugins. So, has to be something with Maschine itself.

I have been engaging with support on this, have sent them a test project that is consistently showing this behavior + outputs from LatencyMon. So, hoping something will come of this as it's so not inspiring me to do any music right now (and I just bought an additional Mk3 controller for my studio - in addition to my M+)

 

i managed to reproduce what you were experiencing!!!
and realised how it came about... its kinda odd how it occurred
but within the asio4all interface, i was messing around with the buffer-offset, and also the in samples and out samples sliders
as i did this... it began to introduce noticeable crackles... so i set it back to normal...pressed "play" lo and behold within about 10-20 seconds of playing note repeated samples the crackles returned...
so i increased the buffer-size from 64 to 128 then again to 256 and the crackles resumed within that same timespan...exactly as you described
why it would do this is odd especially after returning all values back to normal...

i reset the computer... and the crackles came back.. just like you have been experiencing...
why it would continue to do that is kind of odd.... its possible its ASIO or the maschine ASIO is writing something to registry thus remaining when rebooting. which is why it would give the impression that Maschine is the cause of the problem.

i fixed the issue simply by uninstalling the ASIO4all and re-installing the Newer version which is now asio4all v2.15 beta2
which suprisingly now gives me a 3.5ms@64 samples round trip latency
but i suggest uninstalling ASIO4ALL and install the newer one

tell me how you get on with that one!!
cheeRs

 

Ok, so it's been a while, I had more or less given up on Maschine and have been sticking to M+ standalone (even though I had just also bought a Mk3 for the studio). I have been starting projects on the M+ in standalone mode and then opening those projects in Maschine desktop and they play fine without these dropout issues.

I then add just one (and any) Arturia plugin and it puts the project into this audio dropout state. And Maschine stays in this state even when I remove the plugin. Not until I restart Maschine and reload the project without the Arturia plugin will it go back to stable.

I have all the NI and Arturia software and VST dlls on the same drive, which is an M.2 SSD drive, it's very fast. Also, this same thing happens on my other studio computer that has a similar setup.

Again, I also have no issues with my DAW (Cakewalk) using Arturia and NI plugins side by side. So, it seems to be isolated to just the Maschine software.

I have a support ticket from when this started that have also just responded back to with this new development.

Would be interesting to see if you (anyone on this thread) can repro this if you have any of the Arturia plugins (or maybe even the demo versions).

Thanks

 

i can't repro it, i have arturia plugins, they work fine. it can be very system specific thing. latest versions of arturia and maschine, on windows 10, i7-9750H, 16gb,

perhaps strange question; did you install maschine, in the default directory (it must make a real difference, but some plugins tend to have problems with permissions, and strangely depends also on the host... never dived into it, just use a different host..)

a SSD drive has not a lot influence on real time audio. only in extreme cases, plugins are loaded in memory.

o two systems... that makes it more difficult to pinpoint.