No sound with Balance

[EnochLight]

The only time I've experienced the weird YouTube/web browser audio playing back slower or wacky was when I ran Balance at a different sample rate than what I had Windows sound set to. Also, for the record - Balance is only 24-bit audio (Windows will typically default to 16-bit unless you change it - though this doesn't have anything to do with your issue I'm sure). Like others have said, use Balance only for your DAW and use your built-in audio on your motherboard for Windows audio - sometimes that makes things work better. Send off a support ticket request to Props, but be aware most of them are on vacation during this period of the summer and support response may be slow. Other than that, perhaps you got a bad motherboard in your build?

[Wook]

Ok, I got fed up and nuked Windows 7. I went with clean install of 8.1 this time that a friend gave me. He hated the thing.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

It plays everything perfectly now. In Reason as well as a default Windows sound device which I won't keep doing. Better to be safe.

It would be cool if we had a multiquote option here so I can thank you all individually. You have been fantastic and this thread might be of help if anyone else gets stuck with Balance or any other interface.

THANK YOU!

[Arsenic]

Ok, I got fed up and nuked Windows 7. I went with clean install of 8.1 this time that a friend gave me. He hated the thing.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

It plays everything perfectly now. In Reason as well as a default Windows sound device which I won't keep doing. Better to be safe.

It would be cool if we had a multiquote option here so I can thank you all individually. You have been fantastic and this thread might be of help if anyone else gets stuck with Balance or any other interface.

THANK YOU!

That's good news. Glad you got it sorted (in a round-about way). I wonder if this is to do with the USB ports on the board or the USB drivers - or a mixture of both.

As long as you are happy with having Win8 on the PC (I actually like it), then go have fun.

[Wook]

Ok, I got fed up and nuked Windows 7. I went with clean install of 8.1 this time that a friend gave me. He hated the thing.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

It plays everything perfectly now. In Reason as well as a default Windows sound device which I won't keep doing. Better to be safe.

It would be cool if we had a multiquote option here so I can thank you all individually. You have been fantastic and this thread might be of help if anyone else gets stuck with Balance or any other interface.

THANK YOU!

That's good news. Glad you got it sorted (in a round-about way). I wonder if this is to do with the USB ports on the board or the USB drivers - or a mixture of both.

As long as you are happy with having Win8 on the PC (I actually like it), then go have fun.

My guess would be that some drivers were conflicting. It seems that all usb ports work flawlessly at this point. I'm running onboard graphics drivers atm so we'll know for certain after installing drivers for GTX 970. nVidia drivers do have a tendency to screw up audio drivers.

Heh, I'm still stumbling a bit with Win 8. It will take a while to get used to it. Win 10 look really good and clean. I'll wait a bit on that one until they release a service pack or something.

[eusti]

Glad to hear that you got it sorted!!!

Yeah!

D.

[Wook]

Glad to hear that you got it sorted!!!

Yeah!

D.

Yes! I can finally enjoy my new headphones and monitors.

[Arsenic]

My guess would be that some drivers were conflicting. It seems that all usb ports work flawlessly at this point. I'm running onboard graphics drivers atm so we'll know for certain after installing drivers for GTX 970. nVidia drivers do have a tendency to screw up audio drivers.

Heh, I'm still stumbling a bit with Win 8. It will take a while to get used to it. Win 10 look really good and clean. I'll wait a bit on that one until they release a service pack or something.

Yeah. My understanding is that Microsoft fudged USB3 in Win7 and some devices just didn't like it. However, under Win8 they completely recoded it so that it works as it should. So, I wonder if there has been a change in the way that USB2 has been implemented in either the USB drivers or the Z97 chipset.

I've been using an Asus P8Z77-V Pro for 3 years now and Balance works fine on the USB2 ports under Win7, but USB 3 is a definite no go. I have Win8 on my laptop and I can use any and all USB ports for Balance.

Anyway, good luck. Hopefully the nVidia and other drivers won't cause any issues.

[Wook]

My guess would be that some drivers were conflicting. It seems that all usb ports work flawlessly at this point. I'm running onboard graphics drivers atm so we'll know for certain after installing drivers for GTX 970. nVidia drivers do have a tendency to screw up audio drivers.

Heh, I'm still stumbling a bit with Win 8. It will take a while to get used to it. Win 10 look really good and clean. I'll wait a bit on that one until they release a service pack or something.

Yeah. My understanding is that Microsoft fudged USB3 in Win7 and some devices just didn't like it. However, under Win8 they completely recoded it so that it works as it should. So, I wonder if there has been a change in the way that USB2 has been implemented in either the USB drivers or the Z97 chipset.

I've been using an Asus P8Z77-V Pro for 3 years now and Balance works fine on the USB2 ports under Win7, but USB 3 is a definite no go. I have Win8 on my laptop and I can use any and all USB ports for Balance.

Anyway, good luck. Hopefully the nVidia and other drivers won't cause any issues.

Here's an update.

All ports work without problems, including usb 3.0. I was dissapointed because this Z97a by Asus got some good reviews and it wasn't exactly cheap. It's a middle tier motherboard without all those "gamerz" gimmicks so I expected it to work without a hitch. It seems it does not like Win 7 though. It doesn't matter really as OS upgrade was on my to do list anyway.

I also installed latest GTX 970 drivers and no problems either. It does cause some spikes after monitoring it with LatencyMon but it doesn't affect Reason or other audio applications.

Maybe it's just a placebo effect but it seems to me that DSP hit is also lower on Win 8.1. All in all, I'm happy with how this turned out.

I'm also moving to a much bigger flat in September where I'll be able to finally setup my man cave. If it turns out well, I'll post pictures in that studio thread.

[jengstrom]

I can guarantee that the original cause was the fact that Balance was used with a USB 3.0 (xHCI) host controller driver on Windows 7, based on the scenario and solution you describe.

In recent years, many motherboards come with a (software) switch which is enabled by default, and makes sure all USB 2.0 (EHCI) ports are routed to the USB 3.0 host controller chip, via a USB 2.0 hub that is connected to and powered by the USB 3.0 host controller.

When that switch is enabled, every USB-port on the computer ends up connected to the USB 3.0 host controller, which means all ports are driven by the USB 3.0 host controller driver.

There is no USB 3.0 host controller driver which works on Windows 7 and can drive Balance. All USB 3.0 drivers which exist for Windows 7 are individual efforts by hardware manufacturers and consultants thereof, which are lacking features and/or contain serious bugs.

Microsoft implemented a general USB 3.0 host controller driver for Windows 8, so the manufacturer-provided ones from Windows 7 are now history.

For anyone reading this thread who can't yet migrate to Windows 8; there is normally a way to turn off the above mentioned switch, so that ports marked USB 2.0 are routed to an USB 2.0 host controller chip. You usually find it in the BIOS options, or in one of the hardware specific Windows control panels. In rare cases, the switch has been triggered by the presence of some chipset driver package, and in one or two cases I failed to find a way to change it, so it can be confusing.

[Wook]

I can guarantee that the original cause was the fact that Balance was used with a USB 3.0 (xHCI) host controller driver on Windows 7, based on the scenario and solution you describe.

In recent years, many motherboards come with a (software) switch which is enabled by default, and makes sure all USB 2.0 (EHCI) ports are routed to the USB 3.0 host controller chip, via a USB 2.0 hub that is connected to and powered by the USB 3.0 host controller.

When that switch is enabled, every USB-port on the computer ends up connected to the USB 3.0 host controller, which means all ports are driven by the USB 3.0 host controller driver.

There is no USB 3.0 host controller driver which works on Windows 7 and can drive Balance. All USB 3.0 drivers which exist for Windows 7 are individual efforts by hardware manufacturers and consultants thereof, which are lacking features and/or contain serious bugs.

Microsoft implemented a general USB 3.0 host controller driver for Windows 8, so the manufacturer-provided ones from Windows 7 are now history.

For anyone reading this thread who can't yet migrate to Windows 8; there is normally a way to turn off the above mentioned switch, so that ports marked USB 2.0 are routed to an USB 2.0 host controller chip. You usually find it in the BIOS options, or in one of the hardware specific Windows control panels. In rare cases, the switch has been triggered by the presence of some chipset driver package, and in one or two cases I failed to find a way to change it, so it can be confusing.

Excellent. Thank you for this. I'm sure it will help others who have issues.

Ever since I installed Win 8.1 it has been smooth sailing. I'm actually using Balance as a default sound device for a couple of days now and no issues whatsoever.