Did you try this ?

Are there errors counted up in the BF Settings dialog when these noises occur? Any other USB devices that could be connected to a different port?

Sometimes, motherboard has a built in wifi, and it's on. You want to disable that at BIOS level.
Another thing is power performance set to "high performance". Check DPC latency again.
In my experience, USB interfaces are more prone to be offended by the DPC latency spikes even around 1000 us. FW interfaces often 'get around' the spikes. I think you need to figure out how to lower the base value of the DPC latency. For quad core CPUs, 200-500 seems very high to me. I won't say that system is 'optimized for audio'.

I can't say it's going to solve your problem, but try disabling CD/DVD player's driver from Device manager, and check the DPC latency again. You may see some better numbers of DPC latency.

Also, does it happen with 'lots of plug ins' you mentioned in the first post? Or, does it happen even you have just a few plugins?
If this happens with just a few plugins, your unit may require service.

Another thing worth trying is to use with another PC, if you have some available. Some USB chips have some troubles, and your motherboard may require firmware updates. If you know the particular manufacture of your motherboard, check the version number of the board, and then check their web site.

One more thing to try is to download Reaper and try your plugins with Babyface. Reaper is extremely 'lean' program, and uses much less resources than other DAWs. If you still see the same problem with Reaper, you can say it's DAW-independent.

I think I have the same problem. Working on a Macbook Pro 13", 2,54GHz Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, enough space on harddisk.
DAW is Ableton Live and Pro Tools 9. Snow Leopard as OS.

In my latest project I have about 45% CPU usage in Ableton Live. When using the internal sound output of the notebook I don`t hear any pops or whatelse. But when I use Babyface as interface I get big latency problems (at least it seems like latency problems) although Ableton tells me that i just use 45%. I can`t even start a normal playback because it gets very noisy and clipping.

I can`t play my latest liveset when using Babyface too. Before I bought Babyface I had to borrow a M-Audio Fast Track Pro from a friend for live gigs. Worked flawless, no latency problems.

And no, the tracks aren`t clipping, everything is well leveled and gainstaged

Babyface is the first USB interface I bought, just was using FW interfaces before (Digidesign 003 for instance). I never ever had those problems with the FW interfaces.

Everything else is working very well with the Babyface, I really love it. But this latency problems are driving me crazy.

Can there anything be done to fix that problem?

thank`s and cheers,
Thomas

no help from the RME support guys?...

here's my machine specs:
my motherboard is Asus P5KPL / EPU
processor is Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz (4M Cache)
chipset is Intel Bearlake G31 / Revision 10
Intel(R) G33/G31/P35 Express Chipset Processor to I/O Controller - 29C0

GPU: PCI Express 2.0 x16: MSI R4350 (MS-V161) 110MHz (600MHz)
Winbond W83627DHG-P (ISA 290h)
Diode (ATI-Diode)
ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series (512 MB)

PSU: ATX Switching Power Supply
model: LC400hc v1.3

BIOS 0404 (latest update)

2x Kingston (2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)
Windows 7 64Bit Ultimate (SP1)

i think that's it. not sure... i've been looking around for the last couple of hours.

Go into the bios and disable the power safe options for the cpu.
See if the radeon driver can be updated. There was a whole bunch of radeon drivers that caused crackles here. Also make sure onboard chipset video is disabled in bios. I also have a second system using a P5K motherboard (p35 Chipset) and it works 100% ok. With a pci interface I can run at 64 samples. I don´t have a babyface.

Do you have the asus epu software installed? If yes uninstall it, mayor troubles!

AFAIK the buffer settings have no effect on WMP or Winamp. I run cubase at 64 samples and on my main system, a P5Q with Q9550  and even also at 32 samples (also PCI not usb). That is a quadcore of the same generation as yours (only a little faster but not that much).
If you open task manager what does it say when you hear the crackling. Is the load spread evenly among cores?

You could try Reaper, it has great audio performance and is free to evaluate.

Yes equal, but also very high. It is normal that audio breaks at this cpu level. Depending how even the load is anything above 75% can break up. Remember that although rme drivers are very good, they don´t give you a faster cpu rotfl . From my experience their drivers are better then others. With my old card audio would break at 55% and with my rme pci at 80%. And remember that USB is a little worse then PCI.

When mixing is it a problem to have high latency ?
It's very common when mixing to let the music play and just
adjust levels, EQ etc or is the latency a big problem with plug-ins as well ?

regards S-EH

when i'm at the begining process, working on vsti or something similiar, it's all good. no latency issue.
the latency problem happens when i have a lot of plugins working, like in the final-mixing stage. tweaking EQ's, automations, etc. leaving it playing to adjust in real-time is almost impossible with a 256samples buffer size.

should i get mor RAM? or need to buy a new motherboard with a better chipset?

well, those CPU's are a bit expensive... 300€/400€.
no more tips?

this is so damn frustrating

*edit: does my current situation (weak cpu) in any way will affect the sound quality through Babyface? or it's just affecting the performance in real-time tasks?

Only performance!

Here in the Netherlands you can get a second hand Q9550 for €100 with a little patience and get €50 back for your old one.

One other thing, your cpu isn´t that weak. Maybe it is just one or two plugins you use a lot that are overly cpu hungry. When you are running such a project, see if disabling certain plugins makes a lot of difference and maybe look for an alternative.

Good luck
Vincent

already looking for a new Q9650 or Q9550.

thanks to all users that reply and helped me.

will let you guys know what's my current situation when i have a new CPU.

all the best.