Of course, I agree. But with my comment I try to state that Microsoft updates in many situations interfere with manufacturer’s products placing “genuine” Microsoft pieces at higher priority. I didn’t find that we have a choice in setup for that.
Well, I tried the AG03 mk2 with both the 2.1.3 drivers after the latest windows update… no fix to the issue.
On the advice of the other forums, I tried the old 2.0.3 drivers… now, it doesn’t disconnect, but it has very bad crackling and other audio artifacts, making it still unusable for what I want to do.
Interestingly enough, the older 2.0.3 drivers show as “Microphone” and “Speaker” under the sound devices, while the newest 2.1.3 drivers show as “Line” twice. I wonder if that’s a symptom or source of the overall problem we are all experiencing.
Guess I’ll have to stream from my underpowered Macbook until a fix on Yamaha/Steinberg’s end allows me to use the stream PC for the audio.
I remember version 1.7 was ideal for long time and nobody can explain why we update/upgrade already working systems. And best of all - it does the same thing that 2.0.3 and 2.1.3.
For information again for the Yamaha developers, my audio headphone output on t he Yamaha MG12XU is completely dead thanks to the driver and not the hardware, it’s amplified problems you read here so. And YES i have installed the newest driver.
How i could make downgrade from the driver?
When is a new driver coming ?
You can download previous drivers from the Steinberg website. Deinstall the installed driver via the Windows control panel and then install the previous driver.
The Problem is if i deinstall the 2.1.3 driver, when i restart pc, the 2.13 driver is again active? Is this a driver bug, too? He is not away in the System Control.
The Yamaha Audio Hardware remains as an entry.`
Shouldn’t the entry be out if you have uninstalled the Yamaha driver?
No that is not a driver bug, that is probably a Windows bug. However, I have never had a problem in deinstalling via the control panel, that is always working.
Does it show any error message? What about the Windows messages in the event viewer, does it show any error related to the deinstallation?
What do you mean by this? This seems different than the USB driver? Show a screenshot of it please
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Probably when you restart Windows after you uninstall 2.1.3, it adds its own driver just because “found new hardware” that sits without a driver. “Windows knows what you really need!” 
In this case look at driver properties in Device Manager. If it’s Windows driver, don’t worry and install 2.0.3. But if it’s still the same 2.1.3, then the workflow will be harder starting with restart computer in safe mode or trying delete driver files from system folder as an Administrator etc.
Don’t make it more complicated as it is. The Steinberg USB driver is not automatically detected by Windows. You Ned to install it manually
I wrote “found new hardware” not “found new driver”. Windows can put a name of device. Unknown devices were in past. Now USB chips in devices are giving more detailed information about what it really is you connected to the PC.
And this still has nothing to do with the Steinberg USB driver, which is the reason for this thread.
This driver is installed and deinstalled manually and does not relate to a USB Chip.
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In an effort to try to get some more direct answers, I’ve just contacted Yamaha support in Malaysia, who hopefully would be able to get answers from Yamaha support globally. I’ll keep you all posted if I hear anything worthwhile we can try from them.
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Also tried Twitch Studio instead of OBS to see if it made any difference, but no…
So… basically, any livestream software, the moment I open it up, it kicks the AG03MK2 off the USB chain and disconnects my audio. As a music streamer, this is absolutely unacceptable.
What bugs me off is the fact that the Download site mentions the following as supported:
AXR4U / CI1 / CI2 / CI2+ / UR12 / UR22 / UR22mkII / UR28M / UR242 / UR44 / UR824 / UR-RT2 / UR-RT4 / UR22C / UR44C / UR816C / UR24C
At first, I thought that it could be the case of Steinberg slowly killing the support for the UR series, since they have now the URC ones that sure look like a step forward (except the UR824 and UR28M, which the new product line doesn’t have any hardware with similar features).
Now I’m even more intrigued to see a UR816C user mentioning having problems with these drivers!
Anyway, here’s my results:
2.1.1. - Kills the audio on anything beside Cubase once it’s started. On 2.0.4 that doesn’t happen at all
2.1.3. - Only works the first time it’s launched. After that, Cubase hangs.
Because of those results, I actually thought that Steinberg could be thinking already on Windows 11 compatibility, and upgraded to it. Instead, it’s giving me exactly the same results.
That said, I’m back to 2.0.4., but it seems that performance of those drivers on Windows 11 bring glitches, audio drops and artifacts that weren’t there on Windows 10.
It’s with great interest that I’m waiting for the next drivers update, because I don’t want to lose the beautiful integration that a Steinberg interface has when combined with Cubase.
Is this something that requires some sort of clean install? Do we need to fiddle around Windows settings to make 2.1.3. work as it should? Is there a conflict of old files that have to be manually removed?
Should this issue take too much time, I’ll have to conclude that Steinberg is killing support for the UR series, and will have to convert the UR824 to an ADAT preamp.
windows 11
using ur44
its seems im not the only one that having issues with the interface
while using the pc while listening to music there are cuts in the sound
please fix the driver
A long rant/investigation but bear with me everyone. I hope Steinberg reads this and fixes this buggy mess they call a driver.
Guin,
The issues you have noted about 2.1.1/2.1.2 and 2.1.3 are EXACTLY the issues that are still present for a Windows 11 installation with either the latest Cubase or Nuendo. In my case, Nuendo. Version 12.0.52. AXR4U interface. I will refer future references as Cubase as that is what most people are likely using. There is no difference although.
To reiterate and to add to Guin’s observations:
2.0.3/2.0.4 - Works and can properly disengage and bring back WDM audio. If for example, you have a browser open playing a YouTube video and launch Cubase/Nuendo, the WDM audio will drop a little when the Cubase Audio System kicks in BUT will ultimately come back and both the Cubase Audio system (with the Steinberg USB ASIO driver loaded) and the WDM audio work fine and can both play audio. You can repeatedly launch Cubase with WDM audio playing and it will ALWAYS come back.
THE CON: After a bit of time, audio eventually drops out or begins to introduce artifacts which eventually get worse (to the point where it all sounds like a big ol’ distorted glitchy mess) and you have to physically turn of and turn on the AXR4U. After that, the cycle repeats. It’s an inevitable fate and the artifacts WILL come back. Guin states this isn’t an issue for Win 10, but most of us are probably on Windows 11 by now. Especially any newly purchased machine.
2.1.1/2.1.2/2.1.3 - The artifacts seem to either be gone or lessened. I haven’t fully been able to test this because guess what? The WDM audio never comes back after launching Cubase.
After you install either of the 3 driver versions above, (2 of which Steinberg claims they have fixed the WDM audio playback issues, 2.1.2/2.1.3 explicitly) the system seems to work fine. All fine and dandy. WDM audio works and no weird USB drop outs or notable artifacts… BUT… the moment you launch Cubase, it goes either 2 ways:
1 - Cubase launches, once the Cubase Audio System kicks in and the Steinberg USB ASIO driver kicks in, you will hear the same audio drop out interruption, and both WDM audio and ASIO audio work BUT Cubase hangs. Sometimes it doesn’t hang but I’d say 80% of the time it does. Completely frozen. You have to go into Task Manager and close Cubase.
Also: Cubase and Nuendo have this stupid integration where it attempts to load the Scene data from the dspMixFx interface which can also cause Cubase to hang with the newer driver versions. If you go into the Studio settings, go into the AXR4 settings, you can uncheck to disable Scene data loading, but then you get this annoying message whether you want to load/recall Scene data or not every time you launch a newly created template. Which can still cause Cubase to hang. A complete mess. A part of me believes some of the hangs are caused by this scene data integration. IF you launch an empty project, one that isn’t a template with Scene data, Cubase sometimes launches normally. Zero issues… but again, sometimes. Which likely ties this to the actual driver. When 2.0.4 is installed, Scene data isn’t an issue. Still, Steinberg needs to implement a better solution in regards to Scene data. If we don’t want it loaded, then just don’t load it.
2 - Cubase launches. Audio system kick in. WDM audio can be playing or not, doesn’t matter. After that, WDM audio NEVER comes back. You either have to physically turn off and on the AXR4U or restart the computer. Even though Steinberg claims they have fixed the WDM playback issues, they clearly have not.
Pretty mind boggling that a company such as Steinberg under the Yamaha umbrella, can’t build a proper driver once and for all. Especially for a device that costs as much as the AXR4U.
I had to roll back to 2.0.4 to fix these issues and just have to deal with the artifacts. I just have to turn off and on the interface. A dumb fix that shouldn’t even be a fix. Cubase/Nuendo DO NOT crash although. Everything works. If the artifacting/drop outs weren’t an issue with this driver, the 2.0.4 driver would be the golden driver. But of course, it’s not and Steinberg seriously needs to fix this.
This makes me want to go back to my UA Apollo X8 interface. At least their driver works with zero issues in regards to WDM. No dropouts, artifacts, etc. Unfortunately, Thunderbolt on Windows is rocky. Especially with an AIC. A Mac with a UA/Thunderbolt interface work flawlessly in my experience. Not trying to throw shade, but the truth is, this Windows Steinberg USB driver is a mess. Not entirely sure if this has to do with differences between the USB system vs TB system but regardless, things just need to WORK.
It’s in no way, a driver that you can deploy in a professional environment.
I write this to hopefully get a response from the Steinberg team. I am 100% willing to provide any more additional information so we can finally get this driver fixed. Once this driver is PROPERLY working under Windows 10 AND 11 and can properly manage WDM audio, with zero artifacting and zero USB drop outs, then that’s when this interface will be the perfect interface. Until then, this is a big paper weight. The hardware is gorgeous and sounds amazing. The Cubase/Nuendo integration is amazing. The driver behind it, a complete pile of crap.
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Hello, d_roman92.
It surprises me to hear that Steinberg’s flagship, the AXR4U, is having the same issues as my UR824.
There’s something very wrong with the drivers then. In a certain way, it makes me a bit glad though, because I was afraid of Steinberg slowly stop the support for my unit.
Yeah, I agree that the integration is the greatest aspect that made me choose a Steinberg unit, embracing their “ecosystem”.
Let’s hope that they will read our comments. For the sake of customer happiness, I’d like to hear that they are already finishing their 2.1.4 driver. That or a 3.0.0 driver!
Btw, I wonder how often a driver update turns out to be smaller in size than the previous drivers?
I mean, Windows version 2.0.3 is 7.1 Mb, and 2.1.3 is 4.6Mb…
Just checked back to see if they’ve released a new working driver. As others have said this does make the “mind boggle”. Very unprofessional behaviour from Steinberg and Yamaha.
For now I’ve gone back to version 2.0.4. Works fine on my Windows 11 installation.
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Yeah, 2.0.4 works with Windows 11. But it doesn’t look optimized at all.
I’ve been having crackles and occasional dropouts that weren’t happening while on Windows 10.
This is starting to be unbearable to use as a working tool.
Also, am I wrong or didn’t I see any official Steinberg statement about it since October? That’s a lot of time to hear at least a simple “We’re working on it” by now.
Sorry for sounding a bit sour, I still hope you are able to find a real solution with optimized drivers for Windows 11, and not some workaround that forces users to either live with it, limiting the amount of tracks that usually could use on their project files previously, or find another hardware solution without the beautiful integration, but that actually works.
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