Audio Lag / Freeze / Stutter with UR242

Hey guys,

i got a “serious” problem.

First of all, the specs of my pc:
Intel Core i7 8700K
Gigabyte Z370 HD3
16 GB DDR4 Ram
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
500 Gb SSD Harddrive
Steinberg UR242 (Soundcard)

When I’m playing games and sometimes out of nothing my audio is stuttering or freezing or whatever I should call it. That means, that the audio is silent for about 1/2 - 1 second. The game works fine, but the audio doesnt work in that moment. Audio means → Audio of game, of my music, of everything I can hear.

The problem occured, since I upgraded to the RTX 2080. (Used a 1080 before) But the card works fine, no problems at all with graphics or frame drops. I updated Microsoft and tried to use older and the newest NVIDIA driver. I made a BIOS Update but the problem is still there.

I tried several other Audio Interfaces. They work fine, without the issue. So, the problem occurs only with the Steinberg UR242. I updated the interface, so it got the newest Driver installed.

I used LatencyMon to get some information about the audio issue. Here is the result:


CONCLUSION


Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. 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 0:12:02 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


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SYSTEM INFORMATION


Computer name: DESKTOP-R87R0TF

OS version: Windows 10 , 10.0, version 1809, build: 17763 (x64)

Hardware: Z370 HD3, Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., Z370 HD3-CF

CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core™ i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz

Logical processors: 12

Processor groups: 1

RAM: 16330 MB total


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CPU SPEED


Reported CPU speed: 3696 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.


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): 2004,50

Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 3,714060


Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 1956,70

Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 1,55190


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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): 2282,988636

Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation


Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0,166958

Driver with highest ISR total time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation


Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0,184708


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): 2259,369048

Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 441.87 , NVIDIA Corporation


Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0,057774

Driver with highest DPC total execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernelmodustreiber-Frameworklaufzeit, Microsoft Corporation


Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0,186268


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.


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: msmpeng.exe


Total number of hard pagefaults 41613

Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 13379

Number of processes hit: 68


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PER CPU DATA


CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 65,868739

CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 2282,988636

CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 15,932888

CPU 0 ISR count: 1035185

CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 2259,369048

CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 14,908377

CPU 0 DPC count: 3499026


CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 34,062110

CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 342,326299

CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0,071207

CPU 1 ISR count: 25242

CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 596,091450

CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0,745576

CPU 1 DPC count: 26877


CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 20,117987

CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 3,495130





I hope somebody can help me here.

Thank you!

Perhaps, its some problem with the drivers?

I noticed this is also an issue with the latest builds of Windows 10. I was fine before build 1909 and 2004 is making it worse. I haven’t found a solution. My games do this as well, so it’s definitely a Windows issue.

Hey man.

I have suffered from audio drop outs (what you call stutter) since last September when I built a new PC. For me personally, they almost always have happened exclusively while playing a 3d game. It’s only happened once on desktop while I was using WinRAR.

I’ve tested a lot of things and it’s been a huge pain, but what I’ve narrowed it down to is my ram being set to XMP profiles.

I have MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, Ryzen 5 3600, Radeon RX5700 and I’ve tested with 2 different sets of RAM. I tested all BIOS updates from factory to current and it always occurs only when XMP profiles are set.

For me I used UR22mkii on a Win7 setup for 3-4 years without issue, but in Windows 10 it’s been nothing but a headache. I have recently bought another interface because I don’t think Steinberg/Yamaha plan to fix the bad drivers anytime soon. For me, running my ram at 2133mhz or 2666mhz isn’t an option when I have 3600mhzCL18.

I noticed you have 2080ti so I assume you have some fast ram with XMP set, maybe do a test

The same!bruh.
I have suffered from audio drop outs until I turn off the xmp of the memory (the frequency drops from 4000 to 2666).And then no more audio was lost!
I hope Yamaha officials can issue a new driver or firmware to solve the problem of adaptation to the xmp configuration :exploding_head: