Hi! A few days ago I've started encountering a very annoying problem. When I listen to a song I can hear crackling noises (not right away, maybe 30-60 secs after the song starts), it also happens when I write music in my DAW. At first the sound is alright, and then I start hearing terrible crackling noises (it almost sounds like a 8bit explosion sound effect). What the hell is wrong?! I can't even listen to music anymore at this point, this is annoying as hell.

 

Sounds like your buffer size is wrong?

 

You mean my DAW buffer size? It's the same as always.. And it's happening with anything related to audio, not just my DAW. For exemple when I play a video game the sound suddenly stops and I have to restart the game. Maybe it's a virus of some sort, I'm currently scanning my computer.

 

Have you tried re-installing the driver or, updating?

 

Yup, that's the first thing I did and it didn't fix anything.

 

Try to see if the soundcard has all the cables in the right place, also in some cases the cables "input or output" are bad.

 

that maybe the case but if you have cpu intense plug-ins then reducing buffer size will help.

considering you say it happens with other things.

dodgy cables?
did you do an update on your computer?
has the daw updated?
remove all drivers and start again!
test on another persons system?

 

First, who manufactures your card? Second, What is your OS? A few months ago, I experienced the exact issue. I have an ASUS Xonar DX 7.1. (changed from the Sound Blaster ZxR PCIe 124dB SNR.) The ASUS card suddenly began 'losing its mind' after about a year: static noises, crackling sounds, accompanied by intermittent sound lapses, etc. A real nightmare! My DAW workflow slowed to a virtual crawl! I tried several procedures: pulling out and reseating the card from its PCI slot, updating drivers, increasing the buffer size (DAW), changing from one DAW to another, disabling HDMI, etc. Nothing worked. However, (finally) it turned out that my speakers were the culprit. Apparently, my wireless printer was causing interference. So, in addition to the other things suggested, check out external interference possibilities that may be affecting your speakers. Also, check out this article: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov04/articles/computerproblems.htm.

 

Have you tried altering your video card settings? In the troubleshoot section of control panel vid settings, perhaps?

 

Nah it's not a CPU thing, my computer is plenty powerful. It's not just my DAW. When I watch YT vids the sound suddenly stops (or starts crackling), same if I play Skyrim for exemple, the sound will suddenly stop and I'll have to restart the game.

 

My OS is Windows 10 pro, I'm using a basic Steinberg Ur-12 soundcard. Maybe you're right, something must be causing an interference. I'll open up the device manager and see what I can find. Thanks to you and to everyone ITT helping me, much appreciated.

 

OH MY!!! I'm so glad you posted this link NYCGRIFF. Problem solved. My soundcard was too close to my computer tower and that caused interferences. I moved my sound card 1 meter away from my computer and this is it: No more crackling noises. Once again, thanks for the help!

EDIT: FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK NO. Problem not solved. What the hell! I'm going to sleep.

 

Last edited: Mar 8, 2016

Ferdinand: That's a real bummer, man!!! I can certainly relate to your frustration. It's gotta be something that's right in front of you that perhaps you're overlooking? You're right, sleep on it, and maybe the dawn will make clear some other possibilities. Keep us posted.

 

It can be power-related or USB drivers(chipset)/HWcontroller-related
Since you have a UR12 card, try to power it via second USB cable to your computer (dont forget to switch the power selector in the back) and replace the USB cable you are currently using for audio with a new, high quality one.

 

How old is your sound card? I had this problem with my TC Electronic one a while ago when the internal clock generation began to fade away. Also if it has a muting headphone out, try to plug something in and pull it out again.

 

Why someone spend money on such atrocity? For $200 you have some really decent options out there.

 

OP check Event Viewer for any errors (serious errors are under administrative events). It's amazing how stable and reliable Windows can be if you take the time to fix those

 

What are your CPU temperatures, Ferdinand? To me it sounds like you could have an overheating problem. What CPU are you using?

Then again, it also sounds like some kind of a soundcard driver problem.

 

I had a similar problem and it ended up being the USB cable.

 

Lets see, you moved your soundcard and was ok for a while. Look at your connectors, all cables, sound card PCB and look for phsical damage. Is not necessary big, for example some connector(s) may be detached from PCB board and you can barely see it(try grab everyone an move it with a little force and look what happen at other side of PCB. All connectors shoud be sturdy on PCB) and don't have good contact anymore, the same with cables. There is really 1000 things that can go wrong and some are really hard to find.