1 (edited by systemexklusiv 2020-01-23 16:54:14)

Topic: Digiface USB, ADA8200, unexpected drop-outs/jitter

Hello everybody :-)

I use the DF USB together with 4 ADA8200 Adat Interfaces (32 channels I/O) for mixing and recording our music, f.i. we use it or making the individual monitor mixes for the band members and record the single instruments.
From all the Inputs I take a selection of more less 20 mono signals which I grab in Ableton Live for further processing. I use them for doing real time live effects but also we use it for recording the instruments on a single track basis.

Here the problems come up:
While Ableton Live plays certain sequencer tracks with metronome-tracks along our songs we also record the single Tracks of the musicians. There not much tracks playing back, maybe at most 10 tracks playback and 20 recording. Processor/Disk usages are below 30% - very relaxed

The processor and disk usage is pretty low and the audio buffer has a "relaxed" size but anyhow sometime in the midst of playback and recording, the playback gets stuck, some noisy digital sound comes up, followed by a second of silence and than the play/rec goes ahead.
This behaviour is kind of non deterministic and may come after 15 Min or 2 hours, but it happens at least sometime in a rehearsal.

When I take a look at the ADAT/master/Slave settings from RME it seems to be  stable - no errors displayed/ no flickering.


Here's what I tried so far:
- Set the DF to master and the ADA as slaves
- Set the ADATs as master (just one at a time) and the DF as Slave
- Changed the optical cables

Now I hope that anybody has some hints for me how to avoid these dropouts. My strong guess is that the source of evil is the Audio-Clock. As the DF is not used ADDA-Conversion itself I guess that the focus lies on the interfaces and they'd be better slaves?
Does anybody know a monitoring-SW for these usecases? Would be nice if I could find log-file where each sync-issues with the respective ADAT-Port would be logged. By this way I could dive deeper into system analysis.
Does anybody know if there is a way to use an external Clock or a some hidden settings? The DF on itself has no connector for WC..

Any suggestions are appreciated!!! The system could be so powerfull but the "drop out" issue is really annoying :-(

Thank you :-)

My spec are:
Thinkpad quad i7, 2.7 ghz per core
16 gig ram
win10
SSD dedicated music drive
Digiface USB, buffer 512 kb
--
totalmix
Abelton live 10
-- 20 channels activated

Babyface Pro,DigifaceUSB with 4*ADA8200
AbletoLive10Suite
https://www.facebook.com/nanomoon.cologne/

2 (edited by vinark 2020-01-23 17:16:56)

Re: Digiface USB, ADA8200, unexpected drop-outs/jitter

This is not a clocking or AD/DA issue but a laptop issue. Something on the laptop is hogging everything for a while. What I have no idea. You could run latency monitor for a few hours *without running any program and see if anything jumps out every once in a while.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
Babyface pro fs, HDSP9652+ADI-8AE, HDSP9632

3 (edited by systemexklusiv 2020-01-24 09:00:26)

Re: Digiface USB, ADA8200, unexpected drop-outs/jitter

Thank you! I thought it would be the clock because at least the Ableton indicators are not alarming. But of course.. maybe there is a indexing process or some other things runnning in the background.

Something on the laptop is hogging everything for a while

It sounds like you have your experiences. What was it in your case? Just out of curiosity.

latency monitor

Thanks for the hint. you mean this one?: https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon - I tried it but had no time to dive deeper into the analysis. Overall it says that my system is well suited for real time audio. I let it run for 3 Days with Ableton running but no recording. Maybe I should check all running processes which might interfere..

Babyface Pro,DigifaceUSB with 4*ADA8200
AbletoLive10Suite
https://www.facebook.com/nanomoon.cologne/

Re: Digiface USB, ADA8200, unexpected drop-outs/jitter

Yes. Most of the time it is the network driver or network use/services causing this. Since it happens every rehearsal a few hours should be enough. As soon as anything jumps in the red, you have the culprit. But of course just guessing from a distance.
Good luck!

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
Babyface pro fs, HDSP9652+ADI-8AE, HDSP9632

5 (edited by systemexklusiv 2020-01-24 09:18:05)

Re: Digiface USB, ADA8200, unexpected drop-outs/jitter

Good luck!

Thank you :-)

Yesterday night I changed a lot setting on Win10 and ran a quick 2 hour load test with ca 30 tracks recording an 20 playback - some reverbs and other effects where included too - I had not much time this night but the changes seemed to help and everything run smoothly. Unfortunately, I did not create a real testplan - but this is what I changed so far:

Lenovo - BIOS:
Disabled Speed-Stepping and any other energy related processor scheduling
Disabled unneeded devices like memory card readers
Disables WLAN, W-WAN and networking stuff which I don't use - I just use a ethernet cable to the router

Win10:
Disabled Windows Search
Disabled Acronis True Image (external software)
Disabled Win realtime Defender Virus Protection
Disabled Win Firewall
Disabled Java update checker

Browsed through the running services and disabled some other to me useless looking services (XBox gaming stuff so on)

If I find more time I will stress my system further.. next rehearsal is on wednesday but I have a good feeling now yay :-)

p.s. things I forget: disable internal Realtek Sounddevice

Babyface Pro,DigifaceUSB with 4*ADA8200
AbletoLive10Suite
https://www.facebook.com/nanomoon.cologne/