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Howdy!

TL/DR
Audio static after switching StudioLive III sample rate to 48kHz with new i9 PC build. Research and Presonus support suggest system adjustments with no joy. Support suggested potential conflict with i9. Have any of you experienced i9 issues outside of the obvious system changes in streamlining for audio?

System Specs
  • Win10Pro
  • Gigabyte Designare MOBO
  • i9-9900k
  • Corsair LPX 64Gb (4x16) 3200Mhz RAM
  • Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500Gb SSD (OS Drive)
  • Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2Tb SSD (working files)
  • WD Blue 3D NAND 2Tb SSD (VI)
  • EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G5
  • No graphics card as I use the processor for rendering.


Peripherals
  • Studio One Pro 4ish
  • Korg NanoKontrol2
  • Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 First Gen (left over, for MIDI only now)
  • Presonus StudioLive III mixer (for DAW mode/controller)

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Details
I generally use 44.1kHz but a recent project had me switch up to 48kHz. After doing so, I noticed a somewhat repeating static (soft crackling) in my playback. At first I thought it was sounding roughly with audio clip peaks, but now I feel more of a pattern that repeats every 3-5 seconds. Note that I mean this description very loosely. This does not appear to be recording to file and it happens on playback, live playing, and even streaming audio from local drives, YouTube, video clips, etc. It acts like an overlay, in a way.

While I hear the same scratchiness whether I'm listening through StudioLive III output through headphones and monitors, I do not hear the noise if I sync to bluetooth devices, bypassing my mixer. Also, this is not just through Studio One. If I monitor audio of any source through SLIII, the occurs.

Efforts
I have combed through numerous forums, support links, and have contacted Presonus support, all offering various degrees of system customization for PC audio to include power settings, BIOS, C-states, drive settings, disabling devices/WIFI/Bluetooth, block sizing/latency adjustments, ensuring that physical devices are drawing from the same power source, and on and on. This has been a fairly deep dive already, with no luck. I am three steps away from sacrificing a chicken or two. Well, at least a KFC bucket.

I noted in my list above that I was using the onboard graphics from the i9 CPU; however, I have since installed a graphics card hoping that that minimum pull on the CPU might have been the source of my issue. No luck there either.

Support and I spent about 7 or so messages back and forth mostly just asking me to do the same streamlining steps I had applied when researching this on my own, originally. There were a few new steps in Presonus' list but nothing made a difference. The last communication was that this may be related to the i9-9900k and that it would be forwarded to the development team. That I should be on the lookout for updates and track release notes to see if this is addressed in the future. The final suggestion was to use another CPU in the meantime.

I've posted a similar thread on another forum and the only reply there was similar issues with Studio One. That user migrated to another DAW ecosystem and has not experienced the issue since. I can't imagine changing at this point (I purchased the SLIII 32s just under a year ago!), so that's not really an option.

LatencyMON has me in the green. Reverting to 44.1 seems to tame the noise. That's where I'm at currently.

Questions
  1. Have any of you experienced similar issues when using the i9 (specifically the i9-9900k)?
  2. Do any of you have any insight to Presonus' development to speak in any detail on how often such issues are dealt with? Based on my Google-fu, it seems that there have been a few i9 issues over the last 2-3 years. I don't think those are the same as mine, but I'm curious if they're related.
  3. Have you any suggestions on how I might reroute my headphone/monitor out while still using SLIII as my DAW controller? I'm sure that I am asking the wrong question in ignorance, but hopefully you see my goal even if that's not the path to take!
  4. If you have experienced something like this, did you change CPU? Is the i7 good in the Presonus universe? Seems counter-intuitive to me, but I'm here to learn.

Thanks, all, in advance for whatever thoughts you can offer.
User avatar
by brianhenry1 on Thu Jul 09, 2020 6:12 pm
Same identical problem with recent Intel i9 (year old). I think it started happening after a firmware/UC Control upgrade about 2 years ago. Now cannot use 48K without the buzz and distortion. Have exchanged 15+ emails with Presonus support to no avail. Did everything under the sun and then some including deleting Realtek. I have a StudioLive 16 and thought it might be my unit, but apparently not. Think it is caused by some interference with the audio card in the computer, but have used other interfaces and can use 48+ with them without the buzz. Something in the StudioLive software, I believe.
User avatar
by noelsapp on Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:27 am
brianhenry1 wroteSame identical problem with recent Intel i9 (year old). I think it started happening after a firmware/UC Control upgrade about 2 years ago. Now cannot use 48K without the buzz and distortion. Have exchanged 15+ emails with Presonus support to no avail. Did everything under the sun and then some including deleting Realtek. I have a StudioLive 16 and thought it might be my unit, but apparently not. Think it is caused by some interference with the audio card in the computer, but have used other interfaces and can use 48+ with them without the buzz. Something in the StudioLive software, I believe.


You don't know how oddly comforting it is to see someone else with a similar experience. With the seeming lack of posts online that match my experience, I just knew it was something I was doing wrong either in setup, application, or PC component builds. Sure, any of that or even a combination could still be the source of my troubles, but at least I now know there is someone else.

That said, I hate that you have had to deal with this for as long as you have.

I do find all of this strange as I would assume those of us building custom PC systems specifically for audio production would lean towards the higher numbered CPUs, given Presonus' specs for multicore use, "I7 processor or higher with 4 cores or more." I believe that's been around for a while, which leads me to wonder how are more users not experiencing this?

I can only assume the average user probably isn't investing so much into interface hardware (StudioLive series, specifically) for more practical solo use options like Focusrite 2-8 input boxes. Perhaps the bulk of those using the StudioLive interfaces are using them as standalone, live recording for church and venue rather than as a DAW control. I have nothing to base that on aside from the lack of similar issues around the intertubes.

iderno.

Anyway. Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it!
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by PAE Seth on Sat Jul 11, 2020 9:02 am
Has to do with Certain 1150 (300 series) chipsets and i9 processors on PC.

Ice Lake (10th Gen) Processor also seem to show this issue (2020 MacBooks, latest Dell XPS series).

We've gathered a good bit of data of the past few months. Engineers are looking into this as we speak.

Should be solved with firmware update. No ETA on release. There are lots of AVB improvements in the pipeline, so that may delay things a bit.

PC #1: Asus Prime Z690-P, i5-12600k 10-core (6+4), 32GB DDR4 3200 MHz, RTX 3060 12GB, ADATA XPG 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, 2 x 1TB WD Black HDD

PC #2: ASUS X299 Prime Deluxe II, i7-7820X 8c/16t, 16GB 2666 MHz DDR4, GTX 1060 3GB, Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 SSD (Win10 Pro), Samsung 860 EVO SATA SSD (Win11 Pro), OWC Aura 512GB NVMe M.2, 2 x 1TB HDD

Mac: 2010 Mac Pro 6 core 3.33 GHz, 32GB 1333 MHz DDR3, AMD RX 5500 XT 8GB, Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 Card, Aquantia 10Gbps AVB card, Dual eSATA PCIe + Stardom 8xHDD Raid Tower
User avatar
by noelsapp on Mon Jul 13, 2020 10:45 am
PAE Seth wroteHas to do with Certain 1150 (300 series) chipsets and i9 processors on PC.

Ice Lake (10th Gen) Processor also seem to show this issue (2020 MacBooks, latest Dell XPS series).

We've gathered a good bit of data of the past few months. Engineers are looking into this as we speak.

Should be solved with firmware update. No ETA on release. There are lots of AVB improvements in the pipeline, so that may delay things a bit.


Thank you for the details and reply. I very much appreciate it. Two comments when you have time:

  1. Is there a list of processors (or hardware components in general) that are known to be compatible/incompatible? I mean, apart from the very broad system requirements listed on product pages.
  2. Based on my system specs in the OP, I will be happy to help test or provide additional information if that could be useful.

Fingers crossed that updates will be sooner than years later! Thank you again.
User avatar
by SwitchBack on Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:28 pm
What I hardly ever see mentioned is that Studio One has two functionally distinctive sample rate settings:
- the sample rate for the interface(s), as set e.g. from S1’s start page (“configure audio device”).
- the sample rate for the song, as set when creating a new song, or from an existing song’s “song setup”.

With interfaces it’s important to use a single sample rate for all apps (including system audio) sharing that interface. An interface toggling between sample rates plays havoc with the audio buffers, so expect problems when an interface’s sample rate is not the same in all apps using it.

The sample rate for a song determines how S1 processes and stores audio. This sample rate can be different from the interface’s sample rate, making S1 convert inputs and outputs on the fly. That’s fine, but keeping both sample rates the same can save a little on processor load (and maybe audio quality).
Same for me on my gaming laptop Corei5 everything crackles only on 48khz. Been looking for a solution.
User avatar
by SwitchBack on Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:42 am
So what happens when you run the interface/mixer at 44.1kHz and the song at 48kHz? Still noisy?
User avatar
by fripholm on Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:46 am
I've just found out about this thread and I seem to have similar issues on my i7-8565U laptop (Lenovo ideapad S340) using my SLIII 24 console and my 16R rack mixer with ASIO drivers in Reaper. It never occured to me that the actual sample rate could have something to do with that so I never tried it with 44.1kHz and I can't check it at the moment. Obviously, this is not exclusive to i9 systems. Funnily, my desktop machine (i9-9900K) doesn't even have this problem.

I was in contact about the crackling back in July 2019 (!) but they had no clue (in fact, the support guy blamed Reaper) and it's a relief to see an actual Presonus rep admit that it's a known problem - one year later!!! Back then I just gave up and learned to live with the crackling as it only occured on playback - not on recorded audio. What helps in my case is a little software called "ThrottleStop" with the settings as shown in the attached screenshot. As far as I remember I didn't mess with any of the advanced settings. The crackling stops as soon as the software runs.

ts.jpg
Last edited by fripholm on Sun Jul 19, 2020 1:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
by noelsapp on Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:40 pm
fripholm wroteI've just found out about this thread and I seem to have similar issues on my i7-8565U laptop (Lenovo ideapad S340) using my SLIII 32 console and my 16R rack mixer with ASIO drivers in Reaper. It never occured to me that the actual sample rate could have something to do with that so I never tried it with 44.1kHz and I can't check it at the moment. Obviously, this is not exclusive to i9 systems. Funnily, my desktop machine (i9-9900K) doesn't even have this problem.

I was in contact about the crackling back in July 2019 (!) but they had no clue (in fact, the support guy blamed Reaper) and it's a relief to see an actual Presonus rep admit that it's a known problem - one year later!!! Back then I just gave up and learned to live with the crackling as it only occured on playback - not on recorded audio. What helps in my case is a little software called "ThrottleStop" with the settings as shown in the attached screenshot. As far as I remember I didn't mess with any of the advanced settings. The crackling stops as soon as the software runs.

ts.jpg


That's interesting you have an i9-9900k desktop with no issues. Mind me asking what your specs are with it? I'm curious what components you have to compare to mine.

How did you find out about ThrottleStop?

Thanks for posting.
User avatar
by noelsapp on Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:42 pm
christopherrodriguez15 wroteSame for me on my gaming laptop Corei5 everything crackles only on 48khz. Been looking for a solution.


Mind me asking your specs/components on the i5 machine? Just to compare? Thanks for posting. Sucks we're experiencing this, but at least we're not alone. lol?
User avatar
by noelsapp on Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:47 pm
SwitchBack wroteWhat I hardly ever see mentioned is that Studio One has two functionally distinctive sample rate settings:
- the sample rate for the interface(s), as set e.g. from S1’s start page (“configure audio device”).
- the sample rate for the song, as set when creating a new song, or from an existing song’s “song setup”.

With interfaces it’s important to use a single sample rate for all apps (including system audio) sharing that interface. An interface toggling between sample rates plays havoc with the audio buffers, so expect problems when an interface’s sample rate is not the same in all apps using it.

The sample rate for a song determines how S1 processes and stores audio. This sample rate can be different from the interface’s sample rate, making S1 convert inputs and outputs on the fly. That’s fine, but keeping both sample rates the same can save a little on processor load (and maybe audio quality).


Yeah, that was a pain just trying to get S1 to recognize what rate my board is. Lots of restarts before they decided to be friendly. I'm sure that's user error on my part.

I've not tested two different settings to see what the outcome is. Or at least, I haven't deliberately. I believe though I have gotten warning errors that my board is at a different rate back when I was screwing around with it. My memory could be off on that so take it with a grain of salt. I'll test it when I get some free time from work.

Thanks for the post.
User avatar
by fripholm on Sun Jul 19, 2020 1:29 am
noelsapp wroteThat's interesting you have an i9-9900k desktop with no issues. Mind me asking what your specs are with it? I'm curious what components you have to compare to mine.

How did you find out about ThrottleStop?


Just to be clear - I was able to check the i9 system only with the 16R rack mixer which crackles on the i7 laptop. As my SLIII 24 console is installed at the venue where I work I couldn't test it with the desktop machine - only the portable computer.

The motherboard for the i9-9900K is an ASUS Prime Z390-A, it has 16GB DDR4 RAM (Corsair), 5 SSDs (4 SATA and one NVMe), Corsair H115i Pro AIO cooling and a Radeon RX5700XT graphics card. It usually runs with a Fireface UFX+ over Thunderbolt all day long without any issues (dual boot with Win 10 Pro and Hackintosh on Catalina).

ThrottleStop? When I first experienced this issue, it turned out that the crackles got less the higher the CPU load was and my theory was that some kind of power management or throttling mechanism was the culprit. With the settings shown this seems to be deactivated and the crackling stops - at least on my system. It doesn't seem to affect system performance either - maybe power consumption is slightly higher - but who is recording with a laptop on battery when the interface it's connected to runs on mains power... 8-)
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by markshrader on Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:51 pm
noelsapp wroteAlso, this is not just through Studio One. If I monitor audio of any source through SLIII, the occurs.


noelsapp - Thank God another victim of this issue! I could find no mention of this anywhere.

My son and I own a StudioLive III 32SC, running with Studio One 4.6-ish.
We just finished a brand new PC build with an i9-9900, 32GRAm, tons of storage, etc, pert-near identical to the components you named above. So I'm thinking this thing is going to smoke... and no more issues baby! (especially since SO4.6 started crashing on my previous older PC).

I posted a PreS ticket, got one reply. Per my tech's request updated all software and firmware, and submitted the PC's info log and am still awaiting PreS tech reply (a couple days ago now).

So we are clear: As long as I am monitoring through the SLIII, there is crackling - period.
Local or streaming MP3s, YouTube, Prime movies, does not matter. I even reinstalled my Clarett Pre4 - connected it and bam, perfect audio, on everything, including SO4! And I mean clean as a whistle. How can this not be the USB driver - comm?

I am stuck. Swapping out USB cables doesn't help, down-rating to 44.1k doesn't help, restarting (PC, SLIII, whatever) doesn't help, kicking my cat, yelling at my wife, eating brownies, nothing seems to do it.

So wondering, did you try the throttling app mentioned above? Haven't gone there yet, had to reply first and throw in my ante and say hey!

Any progress that anyone makes is gold. Please share as soon as you can.

Thanks,
Mark
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by noelsapp on Thu Aug 20, 2020 10:06 am
markshrader wrote
noelsapp wroteAlso, this is not just through Studio One. If I monitor audio of any source through SLIII, the occurs.


noelsapp - Thank God another victim of this issue! I could find no mention of this anywhere.

My son and I own a StudioLive III 32SC, running with Studio One 4.6-ish.
We just finished a brand new PC build with an i9-9900, 32GRAm, tons of storage, etc, pert-near identical to the components you named above. So I'm thinking this thing is going to smoke... and no more issues baby! (especially since SO4.6 started crashing on my previous older PC).

I posted a PreS ticket, got one reply. Per my tech's request updated all software and firmware, and submitted the PC's info log and am still awaiting PreS tech reply (a couple days ago now).

So we are clear: As long as I am monitoring through the SLIII, there is crackling - period.
Local or streaming MP3s, YouTube, Prime movies, does not matter. I even reinstalled my Clarett Pre4 - connected it and bam, perfect audio, on everything, including SO4! And I mean clean as a whistle. How can this not be the USB driver - comm?

I am stuck. Swapping out USB cables doesn't help, down-rating to 44.1k doesn't help, restarting (PC, SLIII, whatever) doesn't help, kicking my cat, yelling at my wife, eating brownies, nothing seems to do it.

So wondering, did you try the throttling app mentioned above? Haven't gone there yet, had to reply first and throw in my ante and say hey!

Any progress that anyone makes is gold. Please share as soon as you can.

Thanks,
Mark


Kicking cats? lol that line is a great description of the frustration I've experienced too.

As to an update, no. I've not tested the app. I did look into the developer but never downloaded to install. Since my last post, I've put both hardware and software sample rates at 44.1 and figured I'd dive into this again whenever I upgrade to the latest S1 version, which probably won't happen for another month or two.

Sadly, I have nothing new to offer as a result. I am surprised that you are have this issue at both sample rates. I too switched cables, stripped all connections in and out (both mixer and PC) hoping something my have been causing interference. Nada. It just doesn't work. I am also surprised that there aren't more posts on this topic, assuming it is the i9 processor. I figured any new build would fall in that category. Maybe not though.

I see it's been a few weeks since your original reply. Have you made any discoveries yet?

At least this will bump the thread.

*edit*
Support was minimal for me as well. I provided more tech support suggestions as documentation of my efforts than I got, and questions I had asked were generally overlooked and left unanswered, instead replying in what felt more like scripted responses to very top-level topics.

The post here was the most information I had received from Presonus as to detailing a connection to the processor. I am appreciative of that. But as far as my support ticket(s) go, that was a waste of time. "Be on the lookout for an update, then check the notes to see if your issue is addressed." eh. It was eventually closed as solved, without a solution. The guy did say that my ticket was stored on another database to recall if updates come. I'm not expecting anything.
Hi collegues,
I have been the owner of an SL32S for about a month now. I read that there were problems with the 10th generation intel processors, but since mine was a 9th generation (i9-9900K) I didn't think it would be impossible to use the console.

The problem I experience is the same as you have: small clicks start and the sound ends up deteriorating completely in a few minutes until it is impossible to use. This happens every time I use the console.

A month ago (a few days after buying the SL32S) I wrote a ticket to Presonus and they answered that they were working on solving the problem, today I have written to them again to see if they have a solution on the way or I have to sell the console because it is impossible to use it... now that it's new ;o(

Have any of you found a solution, even if it is temporary, to be able to use it while Presonus is sending a new firmware?

Thank you for this thread and for your comments... it is the only light on the Web about the problem.

Angel
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by wahlerstudios on Mon Oct 26, 2020 6:13 am
You might want to check the beta version of the coming next firmware. It says: "Series III USB performance improvements on computers with certain 9th and 10th Gen Intel i-Series processors running Windows 10x64." You can find the beta firmware here:

StudioLive Series III Public Beta
viewforum.php?f=384
wahlerstudios wroteYou might want to check the beta version of the coming next firmware. It says: "Series III USB performance improvements on computers with certain 9th and 10th Gen Intel i-Series processors running Windows 10x64." You can find the beta firmware here:

StudioLive Series III Public Beta
viewforum.php?f=384


Oh! thank you very much for the information... I hope it will also work for macOS because I have a computer with W10 and another with macOS, both with processors affected by the problem! and it is impossible to use the SL32S.

Angel
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by noelsapp on Mon Oct 26, 2020 7:12 pm
wahlerstudios wroteYou might want to check the beta version of the coming next firmware. It says: "Series III USB performance improvements on computers with certain 9th and 10th Gen Intel i-Series processors running Windows 10x64." You can find the beta firmware here:

StudioLive Series III Public Beta
viewforum.php?f=384


Hey, man. Thanks for the notice. Unfortunately, this was no fix. At least not to my issue in the OP above. Maybe others will have a better run of it.

I can record in 44.1 still, but it is really disheartening that 48kHz is off limits considering how much I've invested into this setup. I really don't know what to think anymore. I can't in good conscience recommend PreSonus products at this point. And yeah, I hate to be that guy.
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by noelsapp on Mon Oct 26, 2020 7:34 pm
angellrodriguezalcalde wroteHi collegues,
I have been the owner of an SL32S for about a month now. I read that there were problems with the 10th generation intel processors, but since mine was a 9th generation (i9-9900K) I didn't think it would be impossible to use the console.

The problem I experience is the same as you have: small clicks start and the sound ends up deteriorating completely in a few minutes until it is impossible to use. This happens every time I use the console.

A month ago (a few days after buying the SL32S) I wrote a ticket to Presonus and they answered that they were working on solving the problem, today I have written to them again to see if they have a solution on the way or I have to sell the console because it is impossible to use it... now that it's new ;o(

Have any of you found a solution, even if it is temporary, to be able to use it while Presonus is sending a new firmware?

Thank you for this thread and for your comments... it is the only light on the Web about the problem.

Angel


Are you able to change your sample rate to 44.1 on your SL32S with better sound? I too have the i9-9900k. While a sample rate of 48 creates a weird repeating static pattern, 44.1 seems fine. I'm not suggesting that this is an acceptable compromise! It is NOT! But until it is resolved, perhaps that can get you going?

...still patiently waiting for a fix.

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