• Registered: 2024-11-26
  • Posts: 6

Topic: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

Hi,

I'm the happy owner of a fireface UC since a very long time. I know that the interface starts to be a bit old, but i never had any problem with it running very crowded ableton sessions for live purpose with the buffer around 96 samples without any issue.

A few weeks ago, things started to get a bit more complicated, with some crackles happening here and there (when putting the buffer at less than 256).

Up until this week, it was manageable. But now, i'm getting very huge CPU spikes on my ableton cpu monitor (like 500%) on sessions that are empty. Doesnt seem to happen when i'm putting the buffer at the maximum.

I've changed a lot of settings to get things to work better those past few days on my windows 11, cant really recall all of them. But apart from one night of usuability (dont know why), the interface is still creating this huge spikes. I've tried today with other audio interface and the UC is the only one creating those spikes, all the other ones hover around 1/2% of cpu usage on my Ableton. I got all my drivers up to date.

Did anyone had a similar experience with a rme interface ? What could be the cause of this problem ? Is the interface dead ?

Thanks for your help and sorry for my bad english !

  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 9,807

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

Is this reproducible with other software like Reaper?

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

RME Support's Website

  • Registered: 2024-11-26
  • Posts: 6

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

Just tried it and reaper seems to work fine, so i guess ableton is the culprit here.

I dont know what can make my interface bug specially with ableton but at least i know where to look at now. Thanks a lot !

  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 9,807

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

The interface does not actively cause these issues, because it's not involved in DAW internal processing and rendering. What might cause Live to specifically react to the UC like this is another question... Are you using the ASIO driver?

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

RME Support's Website

  • Registered: 2024-11-26
  • Posts: 6

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

Thank you very much for your time
Yes, I'm using the asio driver, just updated them today to be sure.

After further testing, other audio interfaces started to have the same problem with Ableton (although not as bad as with the fire face). So i guess my UC is fine and the problem is in the box

I also was very surprised to see that some heavy vst were working smoother with the other cards than with the rme (with the buffer at max on everyone of them). Usually when i use the fire face, plugins with heavy gui like ozone tend to create overloads when the user interface is open, but i did not have this issue while testing with other interface.

I don't really know how relevent it is to my problem.

  • Registered: 2024-11-26
  • Posts: 6

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

After further testing through latency mon, it seems like i got an ISR count that is insanely high for WDF01000 (around 3000 per minute). It goes to like 100 000 per minute when ableton is open with a buffer at 64, and at a much slower rate when i put the buffer at 2k. The same thing is happening, with a bit less ISR/min with another audio interface. Wich would explain why it seems to work a bit better with other interfaces, even tough i face the same problem while recording.

I dont know what to do with those infos, i tried to modify some settings in bios/peripherals but it didnt do anything. I hope a hard reset of the computer will fix this, even tho i would prefer not to.

  • Kubrak
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2023-08-03
  • Posts: 605

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

It may be any driver. I would guess, if it affects all audio interfaces it will not be any of them, but something else.

Usuall suspect is graphic card, IMHO. But it may be many other drivers for devices....

Follows explanation what WDF01000 is:
"Wdf01000.sys is part of the Windows Driver Framework. To explain it simply, when making a driver, you can save a lot of work by having this process do most of the tedious coding. It has lots of code already done so you can focus on just delivering the functionality you want without worrying about all the extra stuff that's necessary when making a driver. The issue for us when we are debugging is that we don't see who or what is having this driver do work for it. We just see Wdf01000.sys."

FF UCX II, Digiface USB, Babyface Pro FS
  • Registered: 2024-11-26
  • Posts: 6

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

Thank you, i'm trying to see wich driver is causing this problem. I still have ISR when nothing is plugged in my computer, but at a number that seems less alarming (like hundreds / min).
I guess i ll try a fresh install of windows and see if it improves anything from there

  • Registered: 2024-11-26
  • Posts: 6

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

Well, in case someone stubble upon the same problem, i did a fresh install and everything, i still got the ISR count going crazy. Haven't tried with any audio interface yet, but from what i gathered online, this seem to be a known issue. Seems like Nvidia would be the culprit and there's no work around. Guess it's time to change computer and go on. The fireface uc is still going strong then ! Thanks for the guidance, if anyone else with the same problem ends up here while looking for a solution, good luck !

  • Kubrak
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2023-08-03
  • Posts: 605

Re: Sudden huge cpu spikes with Fireface UC

Maybe different/older GPU driver? Or change graphic card..... Sometimes just moving card to different slot might help....

FF UCX II, Digiface USB, Babyface Pro FS