• Registered: 2021-01-15
  • Posts: 6

Topic: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

Last week my Babyface pro started acting weird, I think it was after a Windows update but am not sure.

After using Ableton or listening to music via Spotify for a while the sound starts distorting and it just gets worse and worse. This goes away when I change the buffer size but always comes back.

I have run LatencyMon which doesn't detect any issues, also uninstalled Sonarworks SoundID which I originally thought caused the issue but is hasn't changed. I have also completely uninstalled Ableton (it only ocurred there at first), and the RME driver (version 1.2.27.0), but reinstalling them only seems to have worked temporarily. I have also used the flash update tool to update the firmware to Revision 203.

I have just changed the buffer size after another distortion episode and it has now played audio from Ableton for 20 minutes without issues.

However, when looking at Control panel > Sound no visual output is registering in any of my devices, even though playback works. Right clicking on a device and selecting Test plays sound correctly. TotalMix FX works fine, though.

My computer:

Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-7900X CPU @ 3.30GHz   3.31 GHz
Installed RAM    96.0 GB (95.7 GB usable)
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Windows:

Edition    Windows 11 Pro
Version    21H2
Installed on    2022-03-15
OS build    22000.1761
Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.1761.0
Last update: KB5023774 on 2023-03-29

In TotalMixFX it is called Babyface Pro (1), would this be a duplicate driver?

Would be grateful for any help that I could get, as I would like to avoid reinstalling Windows completely.

  • Registered: 2021-01-15
  • Posts: 6

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

I just ran CCleaner to clean up registry files and got this:

The file referenced at:

\AppData\Local\Temp\rme\dpinst64.exe.ApplicationO (it cut off here)
could not be located. These references are often left behind after uninstalling software.

Solution: Delete the registry value.

  • mkok
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2020-11-04
  • Posts: 630

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

What do you mean distortion? Do you mean the audio glitches and breaks up which is what you get if you hit high cpu. Or do you mean distortion like an overdriven tape machine or input where it doesn’t breakup but sounds distorted.

The first instance would not be called distortion and can be confusing when used.

Have you tried installing the drivers again? Are you on the latest drivers? I had a windows update and I had to install the driver again. Also has the update removed any windows tweaks you may have done? Are you running a performance power mode?

Babyface Pro Fs, Behringer ADA8200, win 10/11 PCs, Cubase/Wavelab, Adam A7X monitors.
  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
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  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,132

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

Kallin wrote:

I just ran CCleaner

Evil … the risk that it damages more than it helps is high.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

5 Reply by Kallin (edited by Kallin 2023-04-05 19:52:07)

  • Registered: 2021-01-15
  • Posts: 6

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

mkok wrote:

What do you mean distortion? Do you mean the audio glitches and breaks up which is what you get if you hit high cpu. Or do you mean distortion like an overdriven tape machine or input where it doesn’t breakup but sounds distorted.

The first instance would not be called distortion and can be confusing when used.

Have you tried installing the drivers again? Are you on the latest drivers? I had a windows update and I had to install the driver again. Also has the update removed any windows tweaks you may have done? Are you running a performance power mode?

Yeah, audio glitches and breaks up, sorry for the confusion! Yes, I have uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers again several times.
I would also have guess CPU issues but CPU usage in Ableton Live and in Windows rarely is above 20% when it happens.

Might repairing Windows help?

I don't really have any special Windows tweaks, and I checked that High performance plan is used and disabled USB selective suspend.

  • mkok
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2020-11-04
  • Posts: 630

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

Have you ran latencyMon to see if there is a bottleneck?

Babyface Pro Fs, Behringer ADA8200, win 10/11 PCs, Cubase/Wavelab, Adam A7X monitors.
  • Registered: 2021-01-15
  • Posts: 6

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

Yes, no issues there!

8 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,537

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

That sounds like a USB communication issue. Sometimes these do not show up as USB errors (reminds me of AMD and nVidia issues). Try a different USB port and a new USB cable.

If this all started last week you might be able to go back by uninstalling the latest Windows updates that came in. Also check under Add & Remove Programs what you might have forgot that was added and steals audio performance.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

9 Reply by Kallin (edited by Kallin 2023-06-03 16:33:28)

  • Registered: 2021-01-15
  • Posts: 6

Re: RME Babyface pro starts distorting

I noticed that I had two Unknown devices in the device manager, after doing some research I found that these were indeed USB drivers. I updated these so that the unknown devices went away, and also changed the cable. Since this didn't work, I reinstalled Windows last night.

This worked for a while until the problem came back with a twist, when listening to music through Spotify the speed started increasing along with the clicks and pops.

When looking in the Babyface Pro properties in the device manager, this is under Information:

Device USB\VID_2A39&PID_3FC0\108A2E380918FC8 requires further installation.

Also, when going into the Fireface USB settings and changing the number of WDM Devices, it will always revert to 6.

It's interesting that you mentioned nVidia issues, when running LatencyMon it returned this, could this have something to do with the issues?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system seems to be having difficulty handling real-time audio and other tasks. You may experience drop outs, clicks or pops due to buffer underruns. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. Also one or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  1:25:53  (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        MKDESKTOP
OS version:                                           Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 22000 (x64)
Hardware:                                             MS-7B05, Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-7900X CPU @ 3.30GHz
Logical processors:                                   20
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  97980 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   3312 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   798,80
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   6,431684

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       796,40
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       1,665114


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              1546,744565
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0,020377
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0,021696

ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   2784847
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs):               3
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              1
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              1819,683575
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       storport.sys - Microsoft Storage Port Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0,025726
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 535.98 , NVIDIA Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0,061519

DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   4678585
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs):              10817
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              1
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count:                 msedge.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults                       19193
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          10795
Number of processes hit:                              59


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       18,773543
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 0 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs):                371,711957
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,417317
CPU 0 DPC count:                                      244069
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       191,980933
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs):                1546,744565
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s):                   22,019556
CPU 1 ISR count:                                      2308915
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs):                1819,683575
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s):                   57,160466
CPU 1 DPC count:                                      3935343
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       27,438777
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs):                27,001812
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,090348
CPU 2 ISR count:                                      93949
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs):                791,251208
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s):                   2,673767
CPU 2 DPC count:                                      229823
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       16,359378
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 3 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs):                142,042271
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,038564
CPU 3 DPC count:                                      7427
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       15,806418
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 4 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs):                190,993357
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,118036
CPU 4 DPC count:                                      16791
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       16,813394
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 5 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs):                774,894928
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,106988
CPU 5 DPC count:                                      11304
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       14,375140
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 6 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs):                774,072464
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,107379
CPU 6 DPC count:                                      18083
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       14,126424
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 7 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs):                774,660628
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,049604
CPU 7 DPC count:                                      8684
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       13,277611
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 8 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs):                785,833333
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,507323
CPU 8 DPC count:                                      42014
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       13,139451
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 9 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs):                782,381643
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,468001
CPU 9 DPC count:                                      36769
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       13,534035
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 10 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs):                129,166063
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,070073
CPU 10 DPC count:                                      7599
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       14,509535
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 11 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs):                108,807971
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,071305
CPU 11 DPC count:                                      7254
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 12 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       12,620447
CPU 12 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 12 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 12 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 12 DPC highest execution time (µs):                91,725845
CPU 12 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,037307
CPU 12 DPC count:                                      3803
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 13 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       13,060315
CPU 13 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 13 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 13 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 13 DPC highest execution time (µs):                771,995773
CPU 13 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,048365
CPU 13 DPC count:                                      4925
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 14 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       12,598929
CPU 14 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 14 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 14 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 14 DPC highest execution time (µs):                134,163043
CPU 14 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,051661
CPU 14 DPC count:                                      5392
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 15 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       11,379416
CPU 15 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 15 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 15 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 15 DPC highest execution time (µs):                772,085749
CPU 15 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,026267
CPU 15 DPC count:                                      2783
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 16 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       12,548156
CPU 16 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 16 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 16 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 16 DPC highest execution time (µs):                766,496981
CPU 16 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,059290
CPU 16 DPC count:                                      6535
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 17 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       17,872370
CPU 17 ISR highest execution time (µs):                47,301329
CPU 17 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,250854
CPU 17 ISR count:                                      381987
CPU 17 DPC highest execution time (µs):                790,567029
CPU 17 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,231495
CPU 17 DPC count:                                      16273
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 18 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       12,939087
CPU 18 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 18 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 18 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 18 DPC highest execution time (µs):                170,829106
CPU 18 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,636990
CPU 18 DPC count:                                      46712
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 19 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       12,694802
CPU 19 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0,0
CPU 19 ISR total execution time (s):                   0,0
CPU 19 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 19 DPC highest execution time (µs):                772,693237
CPU 19 DPC total execution time (s):                   0,523422
CPU 19 DPC count:                                      37820
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________