@anoise
It seems to me, it happens, quite regularly (only May/June 2024 has been skipped), roughly, in 3 months´ intervals.

It must be related to something that comes quarterly, IMHO.

Well, if I understand it right, TotalMix sends parameters to the interface. And changing the parameters in Totalmix (switching EQ off and on, again) or resending parameters from TotalMix after USB disconnecting and connecting again, makes it work fine...

So, it does look like, that from time to time, the transfer of data (parameters) from TM to Babyface is somehow corrupted. But why, that is the question....

It looks like, there are just few users that experince this. It may be just coincidence, that none of them uses Mac.

Do you see USB transport errors (crc errors) in driver settings?

Keep driver settings Window open, then CRC checks will occurr. Watch the CRC counter whether they increase.
Especially when the error occurrs.

Yeah that is the question is it a babyface hatdware error or a wrong setting by totalix, maybe because of an usb glitch during startup. I agree the last one seems probable too, maybe not caused by windows or updates but by usb itself.

Yes, as a possebilty, but we would have to know if the babyface can be set to this state from an external source. I think when they can replicate the issue at rme we will know if it is an internal fault or external. But as long as rme has not seenbthe state, we will not know. But since we all have the same babyface mostly without issues, but different computers, there is some logic to it being external. Oh wait, does it happen as soon as the babyface is on, or during windows (mac also?) loading?

In summary, the problem only affects the right speaker output and is resolved by disabling the speakers equalizer on TotalMix.

I haven't found a way to trigger the problem, I found an easy way to stop it, namely disabling the speaker equalizer in TotalMix. Otherwise, unplugging the device's USB cable or restarting the computer still stops the problem.

Yes.

I change the settings periodically, after adding a subwoofer, changing the acoustics, and more.

But simply disabling the EQ solved the issue.

How was this last EQ setting just for the case the settings were not the default settings?
Theoretically, this also could have a connection to the issue.

Could you kindly deliver a screenshot of those EQ settings that were active before you disabled the EQ?

@Kubrak: was only an idea. Who knows in what combination it is being triggered.
I intended to simply collect information (as long as they are there) just for the case it might be helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OftBwba1T10

In this video you can see how things happen. The sound of the right speaker was reduced to about 10-15%, otherwise the noise is unbearable. The left speaker works normally and when the volume level is changed, music is heard from it, but the right output does not react to this. The right output is affected only by the equalizer settings.

Yes, this is the current equalizer setting, yesterday when the noise appeared, I was on the same setting.

We have suspected (dare I say known) now for over a year that the EQ is the source of this problem. The EQ runs on the chip/FPGA in the Babyface, not on the PC/CPU. There was a suspicion that the error could be at the EQ initialization at startup. RME even tried to fix it with custom firmware by reworking the EQ init (see post 82 in this thread), but sadly it did not fix it.
When I received the new unit from RME, the first thing that happened when I connected it to the already switched on PC was the distorted EQ. I fixed it by switching off and on the EQ, like always.

So, it seems it is not HW defect in Babyface. It would be highly unprobable, you get two units with exactly the same HW failure.

And is that so that when it happens it stops occuring after few days and then for about three months no problem? Or is this just my false interpretation of what happens?

This is a misinterpretation because I am on the same device and things are happening in parallel with you, right?

The real question is why or in what circumstance can the chip, the DAC, the DSP or whatever in the unit generate noise at full scale, and only in the right channel. How can that happen, and only when the EQ is on? That is something only the RME engineers may have a clue... we are in the dark here trying to find some patterns.

As far as I remember, the problem always happened in parallel, I checked and it was indeed the case, you just missed seeing the posts

Here they are:

On February 29, 2024, there was a noise (post 24). In post 47, I also described a problem around March 2024.

In post 49 I describe that I had a problem around May 2024.

In post 53 I describe that I had a problem October 2024

I don't have such an add-on.

Here i see that the equalizer was not activated on your device two months ago.  https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=41312

Its always good, to have dual boot implemented where you can test against a vanilla installation.

Just now I got blasted by the white noise, first time with the new unit, until now it was just the distorted EQ.
PC was running since this morning without problems. A windows update asked to restart the PC. After restart, I open a youtube video and get the white noise. There is nothing else to say.

It could be a coincidence and not triggered by win updates. Most of the time there are days or weeks after a win update that it happens. It would be interesting to see if it triggers under Win 10 but I can't test that. It would mean I had to use 10 exclusively for months to see if it triggers. Maybe most Babyface windows users don't use the EQ and are still on Win 10. We will see after Win 10 expires this year and the number of new Win 11 users will increase, if other users will report the noise.

was this with the most recent driver? 1.271?

that same thing happened to me except for the windows update

booted the pc, played a youtube short and it full blasted a white noise on the right speaker

this has to be a software/driver/buffer failure problem

Today morning I caught OVR in Totalmix in the right channel. The speakers were off, so I can't tell if it was white noise or distorted EQ. I then switched the Operational Mode from Full to DAW mode to see what happens and the OVR disappeared, probably because Totalmix reloaded itself and so did the EQ. What causes the EQ to sometimes malfunction on startup remains a mystery.

Two days ago, a cumulative update for win 11 was installed.