UR22-C "Audio Interruption due to USB error"

Steinberg Hardware UR-C Series
1

Hello!
I have brand new UR22-C, and I can’t get get stable audio playback through the device.
According to ASIO driver status, the dreaded “Audio Interruption due to USB error is detected” message appears in Steinberg USB driver settings, as soon as I try to play any longer audio stream, in addition to audio drops. This makes working with the device impossible. These drops appear only when audio output is loaded, when recording or when playing back with loopback there are no problems.

I am working with different PCs, one is a laptop, with Core i7-1235U CPU, which has integrated Intel USB chipset, and Windows 10 Pro 22H2.
Second is desktop PC, also with Windows 10 22H2, with integrated Intel W790 chipset USB, but I also tried PCI-Express add-on cards, with Renesas USB 3.0 controller, Diodes USB 2.0 to PCIe bridge, ASMedia 3242 PCIe controller (20 Gb/s) and Fresco 3.0 controller. Every single one of these have the same issue.

On the laptop dropouts are much more frequent, and can happen even twice in a second, and generally I haven’t got more than 10 seconds of uninterrupted sound.

On the desktop it’s less frequent, happens usually at most 4-5 seconds apart, and often times I can get 2-3 minutes of uninterrupted audio out of it. I gave up on laptop. I can’t set anything in its BIOS anyway.

I have already done my research in other places, and checked following:

  • UR22-C has newest firmware, and I have newest available software.
  • BIOS, firmwares on everything on the motherboard is up to date. Windows update is regularly ran and all devices - onboard and off-board have their drivers installed.
  • Windows is installed on GPT layout, and boots in UEFI mode. SecureBoot is on, set to Windows OS.
  • Windows boot disk is NOT encrypted.
  • I have ECC RAM, and I ran memtest on it, there weren’t any errors
  • ALL PCI-Express ASPM and power saving features are turned off in BIOS.
  • Power to USB in S5 (soft-off) state is disabled
  • ALL USB power saving features are turned off in OS.

Experiments I ran:

  • XMP is required for this PC to work, but I removed all but one RAM modules, and checked without it anyway - for all of the testing.
  • Turbo Boost is required for this PC to be usable (or it stays in 1.2 GHz clock all cores), but for the sake of test, I also disabled it - for all of the testing.
  • I checked USB ports only directly, without any USB hubs (I don’t have any anyway).
  • I checked both powered with USB-C, and with external micro USB power, using high quality power brick and high quality portable USB power bank.
  • I installed one after another all of the USB controllers listed above
  • I checked obviously both 3.1 and 2.0 modes, all modes (Low Latency, Standard and Stable) and 128/512/2048 values.
  • I talked with my retailer’s support staff, and they agreed to lend me second UR22-C device, it behaved exactly the same.
  • I grabbed another SSD and installed Windows 10 from scratch.
  • I replaced cables with high quality ones - USB-A to USB-C, and USB-C to USB-C, the latter included PD 3.0 certified cables.
    I haven’t noticed any of these having any impact on the issue.

Although I own and use many strange USB devices, none of them ever gave my any issues.

I don’t have any more ideas. Is there anything else I can do?

2

Wow! You seem to have a stubborn issue here!
I was tempted to suggest an exorcism… but let’s try other options first.

The error message suggested this could be a hardware issue and you did a great job investigating this track.
One last hardware test I can think of is to make sure you use the external power supply (and not the usb-c power) and set the “Power Source” slider in the back accordingly.

Then let’s look into the software side…
Open Task Manager and close/disable/stop all non-critical applications running in the background. I suggest the bulldozer approach where you kill a “large” number of processes and services (take notes) until the error message disappears, then reboot and try by disabling only half of your previous test, until the error shows up again. Then disable half this list, etc. Take a pen and paper to take notes and avoid going nuts.

Let me think about it if I get other ideas… hopefully others here will have seen that issue before and provide a quicker fix.
Very bizarre…

3

I spent some more time debugging the issue.

As a first order of business, I completely reinstalled my OS from scratch, switching to Windows Server 2022, my reasoning being there is far fewer background stuff going on, and most programs need to politely ask to be run, instead of treating autostart as their home turf. Sadly, to no avail.

I suggest the bulldozer approach where you kill a “large” number of processes and services (take notes) until the error message disappears

You see… the problem is the error never goers away. It wasn’t an issue that started happening, it was present from day 0.

One last hardware test I can think of is to make sure you use the external power supply (and not the usb-c power) and set the “Power Source” slider in the back accordingly.

I already did that test, with truly decent power brick, but I repeated test with laboratory power supply I borrowed from my workplace. Also it didn’t help.

I thought about an exorcism (referring always spot-on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_90uFCrWWY ) - but gave up.

In another news I lent the device to my friend, who uses Focusrite 2i2 (we switched for a few days). He said, that on his PC (AM4 based PC and Windows 11) he had the error pop up few times, but only on USB extender (he has optical USB extension as his PC in different room), when plugged directly to the PC there was not a single problem.

So if no one else has any ideas… I will probably try some other device. It pains my heart, as UR22 has absolutely everything I want, including built-in effects, which drastically reduce software clutter and my work.

4

Hi there
Have you seen this? A whole list of tweaks that might help.

Although it didn’t worked for me. Im still looking for a solution to my case. Still have some days before I wont be able to return mu UR44C so I will dig deeper and try to work it out.

Please write here when you will have some news on your case.

6

Hello!
Yes, this post was one of the first I stumbled upon, and I have tried this in every Windows system I used. I spent little more time trying to pin this down, and arrived at conclusion, that simply nothing can be done.

This device is simply incompatible with my computers.

I have two PCs now - a Intel Gen12 (Alderlake) based laptop, made by Clevo, which has no controls over USB and power settings in BIOS, so I can’t really do anything. It’s running Windows 10 Pro, and stutters on output (and displayes the error message) every 30 or 40 seconds. But in addition to this, it also interrupts effects run on host PC (I am using IK’s Amplitube, as I have full license, and never had this issue).

Second PC is Xeon W7 based desktop, on ASUS W790-Ace motherboard. It’s basically a server in an ATX PC form factor, and it has very different architecture. Power controls, and USB routing were of lower priority in this hardware than in your typical desktop PC, and USB is hanging off of PCI-Express, instead of chipset or CPU/SoC. It’s running currently Windows Server 2022. It doesn’t help that there is a GPU and two dozen SSDs. The audio drops every 4-5 seconds.

I do not plan to put together another dedicated to audio input only PC. So this is the end of the road for me with Steinberg. I am eyeing some cheaper Behringer unit like UMC202HD, since I won’t get full 100% refund on UR22C.

7

It never occurred to me to check older versions of Windows. If I have time I will check it, just out of curiosity.

9

thank you for covering that. You saved me a Sunday evening :slight_smile:
But Lets be honest - Steinberg needs to officially address this.

It’s clear that it’s their fault, either in driver or in hardware. I have tried Behringer, SSL, Focusrite, and some even random cheap DAC/Guitar interface combo from AliExpress. None have same issues, and work on same hardware. Do they really want to hear “Avoid at all costs, doesn’t work” in product reviews, and comments?

And since the product package contains software keys, resell and/or returns are highly problematic.

11

Well I must say that indeed it is a disappointing that Steinberg has these flaws and by studying this forum and other sources it seems that there is not much going on from their side to get better. I was hoping to make my dream come true by buying this satisfy-all-my-needs- interface (UR44C) but ended in second week of struggle to make it work :frowning:

Good that we have this community where people can share their feedback and important infos. It is very helpful for me.
Another good side that I see in this bad situation that these Steinberg issues are with us for some time now which allowed us to accumulate large volumes of info and nad solutions gathered by poor customers who are (stil) struggling to find a fix by trial and errors. Great job to us!

So having said all that It seems that I have found some cure to my issue "Audio Interruption due to USB error"

I have performed as much as I was able to from the “Great List Of Solutions” provided by @dondawell in his thread (linked few posts above). Thanks Dondawell for your input!
Mainly updating everything that was to update (using manufacturer site and three different standalone apps to find different drivers that needed update). Experimenting with ports, cables, uninstalling/disabling everything related to audio that could interfere with YamahaSteinbergUSB driver, even tweaking Registry Editor and BIOS… finally I got my self to a place where I still got this error once in a while in Yamaha Driver Panel, but there is no more audio cuts off (drop outs) during playback or recording. Im testing it second day and so far so good :slight_smile:

I might decide to keep this interface :smiley:
Just I will never get back those long days wasted for fixing something that should work from the start

Steinberg and Yamaha - please do something about this :pray:

13

Well I was somehow prepared. Before buying this interface I did a upgrade from win 10 to 11 j :slight_smile: I wanted to rule out the situation that I will run it with no issues on 10 and then one day - months, years after purchase when I will finally (and inevitably) go to win 11 and face this nightmare after the return policy is over. And now I have these issue but I also have 30 days to test it.

Yes risky, but the battle is not over - I still have some tweaks that I leave for later in case that issue will return. And there is still hope that Steinberg+Yamaha will finally one day release an updated and healed driver

This interface is exactly what I need right now and a truly upgrade to my home studio - its worth the struggle.

Two weeks left until end of my return period.
If you have any suggestion what tests I could perform to provoke the issues than write now!

16

Congratulations!

In my case it nothing helped from any of the other help threads. My drivers and firmwares are always up to date. Only noticeable difference I have observed during troubleshooting is switching to stable/2048 configuration, which grants some time, a minute or so, before the interruptions happen. Shorter buffer / Low Latency mode allows for immediate problems. This in my humble opinion points to a bug in driver.

17

Steinberg makes the device, but the support contact is indeed with Yamaha Music (in my case Yamaha Music GMbH).
Device is supported, so lets drop them some email.

Community support forum is one thing, but at some point manufacturer should step in.

Yamaha has pretty good track record when it comes to support of keyboards from my experience, we will see how it goes with USB Audio interface.

19

I must say that the list of what one can do and change in PC/laptop is long. These steps listed by @dondawell is something more universal (except some BIOS tweaks) but each machine is different and has its own programs, drivers, processes and services.

For me for instance from the things that I had to discover for my self was uninstalling one audio software that I was using as my windows EQ, deleting Realtek ASIO driver from Regestry, disabling audio driver for my monitor (I use a adapter from VGA to HDMI that supports audio). Uninstalling my driver for my previous audio interface. Disabling in Device Manager all devices that may interfere with YSUSB driver.
Other thing was to make my laptop more light and save CPU resources for DAW by stoping and disabling many system services, uninstalling some programs that I found useful, but used rather rarely. I dont haver that powerful machine, so I need every drop of CPU for make playback and recording smooth and thus decrease the audio drop outs.
So I encourage everyone who is determined enough to make own research and dig deeper.

20

Hi All,
Just to chime in. I have the same problems with my UR24C device connected to a W11 Dell Precision 7740 system.
I am getting not only drop outs but apparently some kind of driver reboot with 1-2 secs (!) audio interruption.
The driver panel is reporting an error: “Audio interruption due to USB error is detected…”.
Reading thru a few posts about Yamaha driver issues it seams like the drivers are just crap. Is there anyone out there who could report that their UR*C device are working just fine with no drop outs even with low buffer sizes?
I feel like I have to cut my losses, toss my UR22C and buy a competitor, like UA Apollo or RME Babyface interfaces. They are supposed to have stellar drivers …
I don’t want to waste my time reinstalling windows, disabling bunch of drivers etc… I just dont have the time nor the nerves to do it …
Sorry, I thought I bought decent HW that I expect to work flawlessly with their Cubase SW which I also bought.
Frustrating …

22

FWIW… I had way more issues to make UA work on W11, and no issues with the UR44C. Even if UA support staff was stellar, they seem to focus more on Mac, and PC support was an afterthought.

Not saying Steinberg/Yamaha drivers are flawless by any means! But many configuration details (aside from the audio driver) can be the root cause, and forums from all vendors report catastrophic driver issues…

For every vendor/driver/configs, we have 1000s of silent happy users, and dozens of loud unhappy users… so it’s very hard to predict what will be our user experience with any of them!

All that said, if you are tired of your current issues and want brand new ones :wink: you can change vendor. In that regard, RME has a good reputation ($$), but I would check out Audient too.

24

I built dozens of PCs since my first 80286 running Cakewalk on floppy disks, and my approach has always been the same: No bells and whistles. A boring machine is a stable machine. Strip-down simplicity is the key.

It starts with a top-quality oversized PSU, a properly-installed heatsink and premium quiet fans. Told you it was boring.
Unless of course you buy a laptop… then you don’t get to pick any of these, but you pick a solid metal-case laptop from a reputable vendor with the best cooling option you can find. This means avoid the crazy-thin super-light laptops.
And please of course… no overclocking…

My latest CB machine happens to be a laptop.
(I have 5 computers in my office, please don’t ask why)

It’s a 16in Lenovo (selected also for its convenient numeric keypad for CB), with an i7-1370P. In a nutshell: Avoid the U series, go for P series (for laptops of course).
It’s paired with 32GB of RAM and 2TB SSD.

Again for simplicity/stability, use the integrated graphics. GPUs are more for gamer machines. I know they can save you a few minutes once in a while (with some heavy Spectralayer tasks for ex.) but the intrusive drivers and bloatware that come with their load of surprises are not worth the trouble.

But above any hardware details, the top ingredient for stability is a clean OS install.
When helping a friend with an unstable machine, I start by disabling, or even de-installing, all the semi-useless bloatware running in the background.

And disable anything said “automatic”.
Disable automatic updates, not only for windows, but for you GPU (if you succumbed), and any programs or tools, especially anything from Adobe. Better yet, de-install anything from Adobe… ok ok I will confess having an old grudge with them… :wink:

Disable any and all cloud syncing, like icloud, onedrive, evernote, etc.
You can use them, but manually.
Disable weather widgets, etc… you’re getting the picture now: make it boring!

Open Task Manager and look at it for a while to see who is eating resources in the background once in a while and question if it is really needed.

You can also disconnect your PC from the internet to test if it helps.

Once you stripped down your machine from all the bells and whistles (it often could take hours), open your DAW and see if you still have issues.
If it’s OK, start slowly re-enabling only the goodies you are really missing, but keep it clean and simple.

As you can see, I don’t mind long posts :wink:

I truly wish all of you some peace of mind… I know computer can drive you nuts. I remember opening the door and throwing an expensive printer out in the snow because of driver issues…not my proudest moment :roll_eyes:
[ Edit: Yes I brought the printer back inside, dried it up, and managed to fix my printer driver issues. I still have that same printer over 10 years later. ]

26

I had this problem since 2020 never got fixed, I changed the cable, the computer followed all of the fixes I found everywhere of BIOS, encripted disk, only ssd , etc… nothing works … am going to use the ur816c just as a digital preamp because I just can´t work with these dropouts all the time.

27

Update
I wrote emails to Steinberg, Yamaha Europe, and Yamaha Poland. I have written in Polish, English and German, just to be sure.
I can say that level of support has been provided is exceptional.
Exceptionally bad, that is.
I have not received even a single email in response. No contact, no reply, not even an automatic confirmation “thanks for your message, someone will read it and reply”.

I am persistent, so I WILL call them by phone, next. If this won’t help, I am going to try to get Yamaha HQ involved.

I COULD sell it (especially since I haven’t used software keys associated with it), but damn, I like the product itself and its capabilities, and I WANT it to work. I am beyond pissed, and I want them to have their crap together.

I will keep you updated.

28

I gave up
Here’s an update
I used all my 30 days of return period to find a solution to this issue.

UR44c
Windows 11
Dell laptop

When I thought I managed it - I was wrong. I could not help that poorly written driver to work properly. Although I tried really hard and did all the crazy acrobatic and tweaks…

Customer service is terrible. No help.
I sent it back an bought Focusrite 18i8. At first I was sad cause I wanted the Legendary Steinberg on my desk and not this red Focusrite shiny box …but after just few days I realised that I should do it in a first place and save myself the hassle with UR44c - wasted time.
It works like a charm no problems - similar specs, but more inputs, much better software control, perfectly written driver (multi-clieant!!) and … customer service is outstanding!. You can literally chat with the staff LIVE at any time to solve any issue.

Sorry Steinberg
you lost a customer right here.

29

Hello friends from all over the world, I am a UR24C user in China.
My laptop encounters the same situation as Vatharian.
For example, when I am listening to a 4-minute song, this unpredictable interruption may reach at least 1 time every 7 seconds.
I searched Steinberg’s official website in China, and the official content still could not solve my problem. I also checked the common social networking media in China: Weibo, Bilibili, and searched various engines, but found nothing.

Until I read the original English words of the error message (yes, to use the UR24C sound card, you must install the Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver and dspMixFx_UR-C, and these two software are all in English),
Then I came to here.

If I hadn’t seen your comments, I almost thought I was the only human in the world who encountered this. Even half a month ago, I bought an Audio-Technica m50x headset for this sound card.

But the current situation is too infuriating. Not to mention listening to music, I can’t even play any electronic games, let alone plug in the bass to practice.

Tomorrow (now it is 3:31 am China time, I started to search and test various solutions at around 10 pm, including but not limited to those done by Vatharian, such as:

  • Changing 3 USB3.0 cables, finding the corresponding voltage and current plugs for independent power supply test
  • Taking the mobile power supply for independent power supply test
  • Using 2 type-C to type-C cables for testing,
  • Plugging in different computer USB ports,
  • countless computer restarts,
  • even thinking that it was the voltage requirement problem of the Audio-Technica m50x headphones, and replaced 2 other headphones for testing

I will call Yamaha China’s after-sales service phone number to report the problem (on the last page of the product manual).

If Yamaha has no solution, I will also sell this sound card as second-hand, and Yamaha will not only lose me, but as mentioned earlier, no one in China’s social media talks about this matter? Then I will “help” Yamaha tell all Chinese users, after all, the Internet has memory.
There is a Chinese Musical Instruments Exhibition in Shanghai every October. If I go to the exhibition next year, I will “greet” the Yamaha staff cordially.

After all, 5 important hours of my life are gone just like that.

Sorry, my English level is limited, and I can only use Google to translate the above words.

30

Having the same issue with MSI GE78 V14 laptop.
Nothing works. I did every possible from the list… emailed steinberg support and yet no answer…