Audio Dropouts Windows 10

Hi,

I just recently started to get audio dropouts while recording. In a 5 hour tracking session yesterday, it happened twice. That’s 2 times too many for me considering i’ve NEVER had this issue at all. My system is a core i7 Windows 10, 32 gigs of ram, system drive is an ssd drive. My interface is an Apollo Quad Firewire. Its the only firewire device that I have connected to my system and it’s on it’s own TI firewire card. This happens when i’m recording to another regular internal drive or an ssd.

Is there such a thing as a software like DPC latency Checker that actually tells you more specifically what the culprit may be? The only change that I can think of since this started was updating my drivers on the Apollo. I have since contacted their support and they’ve only suggested the regular Windows 10 optimization suggestions. There were a few things I hadn’t done so i’m hoping this cleared things up but I’m just trying to see what anyone else suggest. I have a 6 hr tracking session tonight so we’ll see. Thanks

Try LatencyMon :bulb:

http://www.resplendence.com/download/LatencyMon.exe

Thanks!

So here’s my report from latency mon. I ran it until I received a spike in Cubase. I’m not sure how to read this stuff. Hoping someone can help me out here. What I have done in the passed 2 days is disable my ethernet card while working in Cubase and that seems to keep the system stable. I still want to get down to what’s causing this because i’ve never had to disable it before. Thanks

I thought I could just add the attachment but it’s not letting me.

CONCLUSION


Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:05:40 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

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SYSTEM INFORMATION


Computer name: DESKTOP-T3HEMMK
OS version: Windows 10 , 10.0, build: 14393 (x64)
Hardware: Z97X-UD3H, Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., Z97X-UD3H-CF
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core™ i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz
Logical processors: 8
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 32642 MB total

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CPU SPEED


Reported CPU speed: 40 MHz
Measured CPU speed: 1 MHz (approx.)

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.

WARNING: the CPU speed that was measured is only a fraction of the CPU speed reported. Your CPUs may be throttled back due to variable speed settings and thermal issues. It is suggested that you run a utility which reports your actual CPU frequency and temperature.


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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): 484.608248
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 4.729676

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 483.584248
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 1.741795

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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): 39.8730
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.372820
Driver with highest ISR total time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.372820

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 2177466
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

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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): 177.5780
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: ntoskrnl.exe - NT Kernel & System, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.903789
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.988154

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 2922667
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

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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.


Process with highest pagefault count: chrome.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 331
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 111
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs): 1976.23950
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%): 0.002520
Number of processes hit: 10

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PER CPU DATA


CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 39.876864
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 39.8730
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 10.118759
CPU 0 ISR count: 2160064
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 177.1260
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 25.424899
CPU 0 DPC count: 2644945


CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 7.561973
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 18.7730
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.004525
CPU 1 ISR count: 3390
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 64.1880
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.776832
CPU 1 DPC count: 177027


CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 3.448666
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 18.6450
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.017330
CPU 2 ISR count: 13910
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 124.6680
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.443959
CPU 2 DPC count: 42303


CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 4.183928
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 2.7890
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000022
CPU 3 ISR count: 21
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 76.7040
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.027054
CPU 3 DPC count: 8675


CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2.964733
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.9630
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000002
CPU 4 ISR count: 2
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 177.5780
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.070775
CPU 4 DPC count: 17386


CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 4.429577
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 2.850
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000035
CPU 5 ISR count: 39
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 82.8750
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.033766
CPU 5 DPC count: 9178


CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2.634692
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 1.3060
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000008
CPU 6 ISR count: 10
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 125.3890
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.054513
CPU 6 DPC count: 13156


CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 4.023635
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 1.5430
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000024
CPU 7 ISR count: 30
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 78.6820
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.045990
CPU 7 DPC count: 9997


Check the drivers tab for drivers with highest dpc execution to see if anything unusual in there.

I do see that Chrome is listed as your highest pagefault…are you running Chrome alongside Cubase? (I doubt that is the issue but certainly worth trying with as little going on on the background as possible)

I would certainly suspect Chrome as the culprit. I learned a while back that if I have anything connected to the internet (and I also use Chrome) while running a Cubase session, I will experience recurring, if not constant, dropouts. Now I make sure all internet-related processes are off when running Cubase, and since implementing this policy, I can’t recall having a single dropout. It might also help to prioritze Cubase for realtime CPU usage, and de-prioritize anything else. Hope this helps.