1 Topic by Senthrax (edited by Senthrax 2013-11-10 11:50:24)

  • Registered: 2013-10-22
  • Posts: 3

Topic: Audio software freezing when using Multiface I

Hi,

Ive recently bought a 2nd hand RME Hammerfall DSP Multiface (mk1 box) and I am having some issues with it. On my laptop it's working perfect, on my desktop I am having issues. The person I bought it from also used it on bot a laptop and desktop and did not experience the issue I am having.

What works?
For playing regular sound, there is no problem and everything works perfect. This is windows media player, winamp, windows sounds, sound from browser,..
Feeding sounds through the input works and outputting this sound from the input ports works perfectly.
RME settings and Mixer software seems to work fine, DIGIcheck seems to work fine..

What is the problem?
When starting up a DAW (Reason, Ableton Live, NI Maschine) everything seems good at first sight.. Then when starting to play sound from any device my pc will freeze. It could be from the first note I play, or it could take a minute of everything working seemingly perfect until BAM, I hear a tiny "tick" and it freezes.. The content on the screen stays visible, but I can't do anything but shutdown the pc by holding the powerbutton for 4 seconds, OR.. I noticed that when I unplug the PCMCIA card when the pc is frozen, it will become responsive again, so I was thinking IRQ assignment issues..

The problem can also accur when clicking a menu item within my DAW after I had played a note or a part of a song successfully and stopped playing audio..

What is the setup?
I have the Multiface unit connected to a RME Digital Audio CardBus Interface which is inserted into my pc via a PCI card PCMCIA controller.

- PC is running Windows 7 64 bit (laptop aswell)
- Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 motherboard running BIOS version F11
- Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz running @4.00GHz (100 bus speed x 40 multiplier)
- 8Gb (2x4Gb) Corsair DDR3
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570
- RME Digital cardbus interface has been flashed to latest version (Hardware Revision 17)
- RME HDSP/HDSPe Series WDM Streaming Driver Version 3.38 installed
- Reason 7 installed
- Ableton Live 8.4 installed
- Maschine Software 2.0 installed
- PCI PCMCIA Adapter card with Ricoh Chipset
    --> Note I have not found an alternative yet (Searched locally and online in shops in Belgium and The Netherlands) that uses a Texas Instruments chipset to test

What did I try (without success)?
Searched google and the forums here and found some perhaps related things but none have produced a solution..
- Disabling all in and outputs except 1 and 2
- Disabling USB3 in the BIOS settings
- Disabled other soundcards I have (onboard Realtek, and M-Audio Fast Track Pro)
- Completely removed and uninstalled any other soundcard and related drivers and software (onboard realtek and M-Audio Fast Track Pro)
- Disabled onboard Realtek Audio (Azalia coded)
- Set RME rate settings to 44.1KHz, 48KHz and 96KHz
- Check windows event log.. No issues regarding this
- Check device manager, RME was running on IRQ 19 along with many other things..
    None of which I could disable for as far as I am aware of
        - Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 - 1C1E
        - Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E
        - Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller
        - PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
        - Ricoh R/RL/RT/RC/5C475(II), R5C520 or Compatible CardBus Controller
        - RME Hammerfall DSP
        - Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
- Changed PCI card (PCMCIA Adapter) to other PCI Slot
- Check device manager, RME was running on IRQ 16 along with a couple of other things..
    None of which I could disable or know how to disable for as far as I am aware of
        - Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 1C10
        - Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 - 1C18
        - Ricoh R/RL/RT/RC/5C475(II), R5C520 or Compatible CardBus Controller
        - RME Hammerfall DSP
        - Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) Processor Family PCI Express Root Port - 0101
    --> Note, is it perhaps somehow possible to manually change the settings so the RME Hammerfall DSP used an unused IRQ?
- Tried installing BIOS F12 version which has some USB related things improved but got a message it was not able to run on 64bit..
    Did not find another version on gigabit website to try
- Disabled automatic startup of HDSP Mixer
- I have a second RME Digital Audio CardBus Interface card (PCMCIA) and a second cable which I also tested


So..
I don't really have anymore ideas at the moment. Is this a know issue, is there anything I could try, does anyone know a solution? Is it a matter of not being able to use it for my desktop in the way I am doing and do I need a RME HDSP PCI Card for my Multiface or should it work as well with a PCI PCMCIA adapter as I am doing? If more info/details are needed let me know.

Any help or guidance is very welcome! What should/could I do?

Kind regards,

Steven

  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 9,853

Re: Audio software freezing when using Multiface I

In the days of Cardbus equipped laptops, the Ricoh chipsets were often problematic. My guess would be an issue with the chipset when higher bandwidth (i.e. more channels) is involved. I would suggest replacing this adapter setup with an RME HDSP(e) PCI or PCIe card.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

RME Support's Website

3 Reply by Senthrax (edited by Senthrax 2013-11-10 11:51:04)

  • Registered: 2013-10-22
  • Posts: 3

Re: Audio software freezing when using Multiface I

Thanks for the advice.

What do you mean with more bandwith? The problem manifests both if I play one single sound on one VST as when I play an entire song with multiple tracks, with either only output 1 and 2 enabled as all outputs enabled..

I also noted it can happen when playing nothing at all.. for instance I played some sounds, stopped and then click a menu item, and it freezes.. so I guess no bandwith is being used at that time..? (updated original post with this)

One a sidenote, is it possible to assign the RME to a specific unused IRQ channel?

4 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,777

Re: Audio software freezing when using Multiface I

When you use ASIO usually all channels are active, mo matter how many 'sounds' you play.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

5 Reply by Senthrax (edited by Senthrax 2013-11-11 16:45:56)

  • Registered: 2013-10-22
  • Posts: 3

Re: Audio software freezing when using Multiface I

Oh ok I see.

Senthrax wrote:

One a sidenote, is it possible to assign the RME to a specific unused IRQ channel?

And what about the IRQ thing?

And does anyone know a PCI PCMCIA Adapter card with Texas Instrument Chipset? (The price difference with a HDSP card is very significant so the HDSP card is my last option)

  • Registered: 2007-05-09
  • Posts: 649

Re: Audio software freezing when using Multiface I

IRQ sharing shouldn't be a problem these days.

7 Reply by Thermaltake (edited by Thermaltake 2013-12-03 21:55:23)

  • From: Croatia
  • Registered: 2010-08-27
  • Posts: 237

Re: Audio software freezing when using Multiface I

RME Support wrote:

In the days of Cardbus equipped laptops, the Ricoh chipsets were often problematic. My guess would be an issue with the chipset when higher bandwidth (i.e. more channels) is involved. I would suggest replacing this adapter setup with an RME HDSP(e) PCI or PCIe card.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

I have Ricoh 5C475(II) or R5C520 cardbus one of that two, and it's ni my pc since day 1 working perfectly, never had problem with it.