Anyone else get audio crackling/slow down with on-screen activity?

[chimp_spanner]

Hey guys so here's the setup;

i7 4700MQ
12GB RAM
2GB nVidia 740M
500GB SSD OS/app drive
1TB Mechanical HDD for data
NI Komplete Audio 6
Windows 10 64-Bit

I've noticed for quite some time now that Reason pops if I switch between windows (either between Reason and my browser, or just different detached views) even when the CPU usage is super low. Up until now it's been annoying/unpleasant, but not too much of an issue. However I'm trying to record guitar on a track that's pushing maybe 70% CPU, and just the act of it drawing the waveform is slowing it down so much. It's like there's a bottleneck somewhere, like the graphics are interrupting CPU time that should be devoted to Reason, even though I have a dedicated GPU. It almost time stretches, it's breaking up that much.

Anyone ever had anything like this before? I feel like my laptop should be able to handle this project. There's nothing overly crazy going on compared to my Cubase projects.

Any thoughts? Desperate for some help!

[sdst]

i don't have problem but

check the computer fan, and the software running in the background

[Ronin]

I have experienced similar issues with my pc, which is similar spec(if not a bit better). But i do not have any gfx card other then the onboard motherboard chip.
I have the biggest issues with opening the eq spectrum window. The graphics of this spike my cpu usage very hard. I was actually wondering whether i should install an old gfx card to take some load off the cpu. Seems strange as my pc is pretty damn powerful.

[Carly(Poohbear)]

Is your audio shared or have you set the following 2 options
"Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"
"Give exclusive mode applications priority"
If you have not set them options I would and try that first.
(right click on speaker icon, select "Playback devices", from the device list select properties for your sound device and go to the advanced tab, you should see the options there.

You could also raise the priority of the Reason, from Task manager (advanced view) select "Reason" right click and select "Go to details" (same as the details tab) right click again and set the priority above normal\high. (this is more for testing as if this sorts it then you have another process eating you CPU time).

Out of interest have you set (from Reason General preferences) CPU usage limit?

Regards
PoohBear

[chimp_spanner]

Thanks for the reply Carly! Yeah those two options are on by default - not sure how much bearing they'd have if I was in ASIO mode vs WDM or Direct Sound but I unticked/re-ticked just to be sure. No change.

I tried changing the CPU priority and so far as I can tell, no difference. I should add that I experience something similar to this in Cubase - if I drag any on-screen windows I see some very significant CPU spiking. It almost feels as though drawing the on-screen elements is using more CPU than it should do.

Also I have set Reason to "No Limit". The only way I can describe it is "twitchy". It's really frustrating. Gonna take a look at my visual/performance settings, make sure there's nothing turned on that shouldn't be.

[alex]

Thanks for the reply Carly! Yeah those two options are on by default - not sure how much bearing they'd have if I was in ASIO mode vs WDM or Direct Sound but I unticked/re-ticked just to be sure. No change.

I tried changing the CPU priority and so far as I can tell, no difference. I should add that I experience something similar to this in Cubase - if I drag any on-screen windows I see some very significant CPU spiking. It almost feels as though drawing the on-screen elements is using more CPU than it should do.

Also I have set Reason to "No Limit". The only way I can describe it is "twitchy". It's really frustrating. Gonna take a look at my visual/performance settings, make sure there's nothing turned on that shouldn't be.

Hi,

if you already haven't, I think Latencymon is worth a try:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

It could be useful to pinpoint which driver/subsystem introduce latency or takes more execution time.
Good luck!

[gak]

I was told that is normal (though it pisses me off)

It only happens when the cpu is about 3 bars or higher here. When I first got my babyface it seemed to be much better but now it's back.

[Carly(Poohbear)]

if you already haven't, I think Latencymon is worth a try:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

That looks like a handy little tool, now in my toolbox

[chimp_spanner]

Okay I ran latencymon. DirectX Graphics Kernel is at over 400ms of system latency. I'm reading an article over at Native Instruments and in a screenshot of non-problematic drivers the same driver is 0.1ms. There some other drivers in the x00ms range but the DirectX one looks like it could have something to do with my problems. How to fix it, however, is totally beyond me!

[chimp_spanner]

Scratch that, I'm an idiot. I was looking at total run time. Not highest. D'oh.

[Stranger.]

ΣΣΣ

[elMisse]

I had this problem with an internal RME pci-e audiocard in my PC. Had really long conversations with manufacturers, and the answer always was, that somehow I had screwed internal grounding inside my PC-case or smth...

So, because I had to get some things done and I didn't buy their crap, I friggin' bought and installed a new mainboard from another brand.

No problems whatsoever anymore.

[chimp_spanner]

Yeah I do get the feeling it's a fundamental problem with the laptop like the mainboard or something; the way the components are all talking to each other and being assigned CPU time is just borked. I think the next system I have will be a tower and I'll do some serious research into the most trouble free components.

[ReasonUser]

I've pretty much always had random soft crackling and I have a very high spec machine. They start rarely around 50%, but get more frequent at 70% and up. I'm highly sensitive to any sound that should not be there so any little imperfections during playback and I notice...

[tibah]

Back in the days with Cubase 5 (2010), it used to be because of bad 2d support from a new graphic drivers. Finding an older build of the driver fixed this for me.

[chimp_spanner]

Yeah I did find a post on the Cubase forum that suggested a particular build of the nVidia driver was great for music. But, being a laptop, you can't roll back the drivers. You have to use the manufacturer releases and they only go back so many versions. Absolute nightmare.

[CookieClimber]

I get the same issues by just moving the cursor sometimes.

[sentient.minority]

I'm hoping this will help a little:

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/ ... Windows-10

Although I moved to Mac some time ago I've had the same issue back when I was on PC.

The bit that fixed it for me was the setting for processor scheduling for background services.

Although the above is from Focusrite it seems to apply universally.

[jengstrom]

So no findings when you ran LatencyMon?
It is possible to get such audio interference without DPC bottlenecks, but that's still a good first place to search.

The best way to run a LatencyMon-test is:

Prereq: Make sure Reason is started and a project is open that makes the reported clicks occur.

1. Start LatenyMon
2. Start playing the Reason-song
3. Go back to LatencyMon and press play to start capturing

Important to note: Expect LOTS more clicks and pops while measuring, as a side-effect of the measuring itself.

4. Do the things that usually make the reported clicks occur, several times, and make sure you actually hear the same type of clicks you are looking fo.

5. Go back to LatencyMon and press stop
6. In LatencyMon, take a screenshot of the first tab and the Drivers-tab (size the window to include a good sized Drivers-list)

Ponder those screenshots to find any DPC bottlenecks running in the Windows kernel on your system.
Attach the screenshots or tell what is in them and I can quickly be sure if DPC bottlenecks have anything to do with it.

[Aquila]

Yeah I did find a post on the Cubase forum that suggested a particular build of the nVidia driver was great for music. But, being a laptop, you can't roll back the drivers. You have to use the manufacturer releases and they only go back so many versions. Absolute nightmare.

There are ways to force-install drivers that aren't provided by OEMs. I had to do that with my HP laptop beause the OEM drivers for the Intel Graphics chip were faulty and HP wouldn't update them.