I have a fairly powerful laptop that’s sold as a gaming laptop. It’s an Asus ROG GL503GE with a Core i7 8750H CPU, 32GB DDR4 RAM, GTX1050 GPU, and SSDs. It’s the same as this one, just with RAM upgraded to 32GB, NVMe upgraded to 1TB, and the HDD upgraded to a 2TB SSD. Therefore, it’s normally pretty smooth and issue free when in use. My audio interface is an Audient ID14 MkII.

However, when I use Ableton, even if I only have a single instance of something up, be it a Simpler with a kick sample, a Serum, a Sylenth, the audio is constantly clicking every few seconds. I have turned down master volume on Ableton’s master track so it’s not clipping that’s causing it. I have also tried increasing the buffer as high as 1024 samples and the audio rate down to 44.1Hz, so as generous as ai can pretty much, but there is still some crackling every few seconds.

Anyone got any ideas what could be the issue as I believe my laptop should be plenty powerful enough to run full projects without issue?! The Audient is fairly new to me, so it may be something there that I am not doing right?!

 

Open task manager while this thing is happening and see if there's anything suspicious, particularly regarding CPU usage.

 

- power plan
- asio buffer size

 

DPC latency issues probably, try LatencyMon.

 

I've found that Windows Defender can be a pain when using older CPUs for audio work, when producing, disable your internet and Windows Defender. You can see it at work in task manager under Antimalware Service Executable, it's quite taxing. Have you dug around in your interface's onboard ASIO drivers? It could need an update or you may be trying to run your system at too low of a latency. As others have said tho try latencymon to figure out whats not playing nice, it'll always at least point you in the right direction.

 

Hey man, i've got exactly the same problem.
Beast computer, Audient id44, and ableton crackin every seconds even while doing nothing...
Did you figure out something ?

 

Have either of you tried turning on your wifi? It sounds crazy, but with the latest Ableton11 I get constant crackles when offline. No plugins either so it has to be Ableton. Mine is a r2r version if that matters. When online everything works perfectly.

Specs:
Fresh install Win 11, Razer Blade 15(almost exact specs & mods), dgpu, uad x8p thunderbolt, latencymon dpc under 300u pagefault 1600, disabled pagefile, disabled excess services, no bloatware, latest drivers, latest available r2r software, asio uad driver, power plan on 100% CPU mode

 

Last edited: May 16, 2023

I've not had a chance to delve too much. Since my op I upgraded to a Ryzen 5950X based system with NVMe drives so am just coming to the end of reinstalling everything back on and will report back once I try it out.

 

LatencyMon to check for DPC spikes.

If those are the cause it can show you the file/driver where the spikes are happening, normally which is then the first one you should isolate.

These days it's almost always a USB device, Wifi-dongles being quite bad for this. But also built in devices are often hanging off the USB bus so it might be worthwhile trying things out with them as well, like @George Santos seems to be encountering.

But just because a file/driver shows up in LatencyMon doesn't mean it's faulty, DPC is normal part of driver function.

 

Most of the time it is related to DPC latency caused by "gaming" GPU (gtx, rtx ...) : hardware goes hot, requesting cooling and CPU throttling.
Gaming notebook are most of the time bad for pro-audio.
Try disabling the GPU and using the built-in graphic card (if any).
It is very hard to fix this kind of problem as far as it's hardware related.
Even with maximum asio buffer size its not enough to avoid audio crackling.

 

I use an Audient - iD14 at 256 samples / 44.1 kHz.
Try using 512 samples - if it cracks 256 samples.

1.) Don't let audio glitches ruin your performances! www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/
1.) The Ultimate Guide to Optimize your Windows PC for the Stage
https://gigperformer.com/docs/ultimate-guide-to-optimize-windows-for-stage/index.html
2.) LatencyMon 7.20
The LatencyMon software analyzes and identifies which device, which driver or which service is causing audio dropouts or malfunctions. Real-time audio suitability checker for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/2016/2012/2008 (x86 and x64)
Scroll Down to: System Monitoring Tools www.resplendence.com/downloads
3.) Windows Tuning Tips for Audio Processing
https://support.native-instruments....1729-Windows-Tuning-Tips-for-Audio-Processing
4.) PreSonus - Optimizing Your Computer for Audio - Windows 10
https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-...Optimizing-Your-Computer-for-Audio-Windows-10
5.) Ableton - Optimizing Windows for Audio
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209071469-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio
6.) FL Studio - Optimizing FL Studio performance
www.image-line.com/fl-studio-learning/fl-studio-online-manual/html/app_opt.htm
7.) Steinberg - Windows: How to set-up and optimize a Digital Audio Workstation
https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/...t-up-and-optimize-a-Digital-Audio-Workstation
8.) Focusrite - Optimising your PC for Audio on Windows 10
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10

 

Not the op, but having a similar problem with my gaming laptop and Ableton 11. Will try disabling the dgpu and testing.

Oddly enough, latencymon reports lower dpc, isr, and pagefault with Nvidia driver installed vs. Intel igpu driver. Will need to test for crackles a bit later.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Looking through the guides now, Beat16.

 

Last edited: May 16, 2023

Please do. Curious how your experience with Nvidia to AMD goes Ableton-wise. Ive been a Nvfanboy for a long time but brand loyalty is irrelevant at this point

 

options/preferences/Audio/ Latency buffer size?

Hit the test tone and up the sample size of the input buffer zone until there are no crackles.. maybe go a little bit over that to be certain.. turn off the test tone and try again



DOHn I mght have meant the OUTPUT buffer above ^^^^^ Lemme go double check!!!!

Of course I did.. please do the above with the OUTPUT buffer and try that.. k?

 

I'll let op respond for his system, but for mine that doesn't help. I get noise with just my vocal in an empty Ableton11 template without plugins at all buffer settings. Some else mentioned there could be an issue with wifi chip on the USB buss so that may be the next thing I check. As I get buzz only when wifi is off. Still working on adding some optimizations from the big list above too.

 

Last edited: May 16, 2023

ANY electrical device can give off feedback unless it is earthed properly. I use to have that with my DJ Decks too. Once correctly earthed no more buzzing.

 

This guide provided by beat16 solved my problem. Not sure what step specifically but after doing all of them, I'm operating static free. Bookmark it and save it for life pc people. The most comprehensive guide available that I've found.

The Ultimate Guide to Optimize your Windows PC for the Stage
https://gigperformer.com/docs/ultimate-guide-to-optimize-windows-for-stage/index.html

 

Which ASIO driver are you using? In Ableton, try switching your Audient ASIO driver to ASIO4ALL. Play with the ASIO4ALL settings and see if you can get rid of the crackles. This will at least tell you if it's an ASIO driver issue. Then follow these guides as BEAT16 posted above:

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209070329-How-to-avoid-crackles-and-audio-dropouts
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209071469-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio

 

I have an Asus laptop, and it crackles with some DAWs, too. It's GPU/GUI related. If I minimize the application the crackling stops.