Yeah this is a really weird issue, I probably can’t help you much further unfortunately.
Thanks for trying!!
Can you check and verify that none of the Windows Sound settings and Windows Sound Control Panel settings are changing when you’re opening Cubase with the RME Babyface with a buffer size setting less than 512 ?
I disable all un-used devices in the “Playback” and “Recording” tabs to avoid any conflicts.
Why would you do that? Most of us use a system audio device for Windows so there are no conflicts with Cubase running the ASIO driver with your audio interface.
I don’t have any additional advice to offer, but just wanted to provide two data points for your troubleshooting: I run an RME Fireface 800 by Firewire on Windows 10 x64 22H2 with an AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU on an ASRock X570 Extreme4 mobo and I do not have this issue.
So this is possibly specific to the USB drivers and/or Windows 11. Good luck.
Interesting, that makes sense. I just have never thought to configure my computer like that. I have always disabled the onboard audio. But this gives me something to think about.
If I had to guess which Rear USB 3.2 Gen2 ports are connected directly to the CPU, it would be the #13 yellow USB 3.2 Gen2 ports seeing as these are the “Lightning Gaming Ports”. But it’s impossible to know for certain without contacting ASRock support to find out the definitive answer.
“Lightning Gaming Ports” are a brand-specific feature, primarily found on ASRock motherboards, designed to reduce latency and improve performance for high-speed gaming peripherals like mice and keyboards. They achieve this by using separate USB controllers to dedicate resources to these devices.
I don’t know if that’s true. I too use an RME interface and it’s used for all audio, Windows audio included, without issues. If your interface is multi client capable, as RME’s interfaces are, it shouldn’t be a problem.
One benefit of doing this is that you can easily route any audio via Total Mix using loop backs and record it in your DAW.
I guess I’m overly cautious then and prefer that my FF800 not have to deal with anything other than Cubase. I actually use a Line6 Tone Port DI for my system sound, not the Realtek on my mobo (which I keep disabled). The infrequent occasion that I want to record something from Windows audio I just plug a cable from the TonePort into my FF800.
Not using my FF800 for Windows also allows me to set WDM Devices to zero freeing up resources and bandwidth.
I’m using Windows 11 with AMD Ryzen 9950x and an MSI x870e Carbon motherboard to run Cubase 14 with an RME Fireface UCX II as my audio interface. I have never had the issues expressed in this thread and my setup is running great and stable. In BIOS, I did disable the onboard audio. I also added a USB card that is recommended by RME and proven to be stable with their drivers (linked below). No problems here. My guess is it’s your motherboard. Though there’s been some irregularities with the x3D chips but not sure this is the case. These USB cards are cheap and effective for RME though so I’d def add one to your board.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1016794-REG/sonnet_usb3_4pm_e_allegro_usb_3_0_pcie.html
No issues here either with my 9950x machine and RME Fireface 802FS, uses same driver as RME Babyface Pro. I’ve also tested other RME interfaces on this machine, including a Babyface Pro FS, no problems.
I’ll try to do some more testing later if I get a chance, but my initial thought on this is that there’s a problem with the OP’s system somewhere, USB issues, or some other software/driver conflict/issue.
These kinds of things can be very hard to solve, so I understand the OP’s frustration, but I have NO problem switching between apps at very low latencies, with a very high level of stability with Cubase/Nuendo 14, Bitwig, Reaper, WaveLab, SpectraLayers, and many other apps, etc. BTW I normally stick with 128 sample buffer as my default (but I go lower some times), and have never had the issue described by the OP so far, that I can recall, on this 9950x system. I also have NOT had this issue on other AMD systems plus RME, going back a couple of generations.
Still, this is worth trying to get to the bottom of this, and there may be some strange edge cases where there is an issue. For example, I typically do NOT use Kontakt 8 standalone like the OP, so who knows, that might be a contributing factor. I use Kontakt 8 as a plugin. So there may be some weird combination of steps that triggers an edge case that I don’t do in my usual workflow compared to the OP’s workflow. But I run a lot of other apps and I keep the system typically at 128 sample buffer and NO issues as described by the OP.
Hope you figure it out!
Thanks to everyone who has tried to help - it appears I may have hit on a solution.
In the RME TotalMixFX app there is a “reset total mix” option and it was suggested to me on the RME forum I should try that. After doing so Cubase seems to be working without issues at low sample buffer sizes (hooray).
Since installing the RME device on my system the only thing I have done in the TotalMix window is move the level sliders up and down occassionally. So I am a bit surprised (to put it politely) that something in this window would have such an impact on the behaviour of the interface.
If anyone else comes across similar issues - in the TotalMixFX windows go to Options>>>Reset Mix>>>Total Reset and then see if the changes the behavior of your interface.
I will report back if this issue flares up again, thanks again to all who tried to help.
Good to hear!
If this really solved the problem please mark your post as solution. This way other (future) users see it right underneath your initial post. Thanks!
Interesting fix. I hope this isn’t redundant but I ‘solved’ this issue by adding a PCIe USB3 card.
I have flagged my issue as solved in the post a couple above, having spent some time yesterday and today testing and the issue has not recurred. I am still a bit suspicious of this but the operation of Cubase and the Babyface Pro has been flawless since the “Total Reset” in TotalMixFX.
Interesting, this makes me mighty curious to know if there was a particular setting that was the culprit or if the RME TotalMix FX software was bugged out. I guess we’ll never know. I’m glad you found a solution though.
Did you post your fix on the RME forums and get a response from any RME employee’s? I would be interested in hearing their take on this. Perhaps you could link to your RME forum post for us to follow.
Cheers
Yes I posted, no RME response I have seen. Here is the link: