Problem Recording using QU 16 USB B with cubase 5

[I amParticipant]

I have a HP ENVY with a Intel graphics controller and I have distortion that comes and goes with USB B across all channels. I cannot record. Any solutions?

[I amParticipant]

Thanks for the help.

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

That’s alright – thanks for the detailed description.

https://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

first thought is sample rate – but you’ve checked that I presume…

[David HaughtonKeymaster]

Hi all, I think this will require some degree of qualification before we can verify the cause of the fault.

@philt80 + @vaughank1, can you verify the nvidia gpu model numbers you were using for us please?

@ljefe, can you verify that this is the same issue and it is definitely caused by phantom pwr?

@autofahrn, Andreas, can you also verify the nvidia gpu units you are using please?

Thanks all.
Harry.

[ljefeParticipant]

Hello Harry, thanks for posting.

I can’t confirm that it is the phantom power, I wish I could, but it was intermittent distortion. The only reason I believe it is the phantom power is because I have been recording line level signals for months with no issue, then spent a day recording vocals and the distortion showed up.

The tracks initially sounded great, but after about three hours we did another couple of takes, listened back, and those takes were thickly distorted. I tried recording through channels 1, 2, 3 and 4, but there was distortion on all four channels. I shut down the mixer, we took a break. An hour later I powered back up and we recorded fine for another two hours, then the distortion showed up again. Since then I have been turning off the phantom power during breaks and everything has been fine.

I haven’t tried to re-create the distortion because I don’t want to interrupt the project I’m working on or cause myself permanent trouble. I’m still using OS 1.73. I have been afraid to upgrade, wondering if the problems were related to the newer operating system updates.

I have a Qu-16 running OS 1.73 into a Macbook Air 2013, 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, graphics- Intel HD Graphics 5000 1024 MB, Mountain Lion 10.8.5, Logic Pro-X 10.0.7.

It’s possible my troubles are not related to the troubles other folks here are experiencing. If the distortion occurs again I will stop and do some troubleshooting- try all the channels, toggle phantom power. What else can I check for?

Thanks for your help.

[AndreasModerator]

@harry A&H: My old recording system for the Qu32 was a plain old Dell Vostro1710 (build 2008!) with a 2GHz Pentium DualCore T5870 based on Intel chipset (with ICH8 USB controller) and a nVidia GeForce 8600M GS running Win7 Home Premium.
I’ve also used a similar plain old 2008 MacMini with 1.8GHz DualCore running OSX 10.7 but in the meantime I’ve switched to a more modern MacBook pro running natively Win10 when using for recording (which also works safe when booted in OSX).

The Phantom issue sounds like a potential thermal issue for me. Maybe I never encountered a problem since I always run from dSnake (no local Phantom supply) and have a small personal paranoia fan mounted underneath the desk (keeping temperatures about 10 degrees lower). I could redo my testing with several local channels sourcing phantom mics and DI boxes with fan turned off.

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[philt80Participant]

Hi Harry,
I’m running an self assembled Windows 7 Ultimate machine. The motherboard is an older Gigabyte GA-970A-D3, with an AMD FX-6300 CPU with a WD 7200 rpm Black edition drive. I’ve tried with both the evga geforce gtx 460 (P/N 768-p3-1360-TR) and an MSI GT 720 (P/N N720-1GD3HLP). I was using nvidia drivers 361.75 when I switched out for an ATI/AMD card. I can post the sysinfo file if you need this. This motherboard uses the SB950 southbridge and I did have the correct and updated USB/chipset drivers for it (Crimson 15.12). I am using two daws (Samplitude Pro X2 and Studio One 3.1) and both were giving me trouble. I tried in both the Etron USB 3.0 ports and the USB 2.0 ports with no change.
I changed the video card (to an old radeon 3450) and the distortion reduced drastically but periodically if I have the machine on for about 6-8 hours, it will distort sometimes (I can’t pinpoint to exact times). I also am using phantom power (but didn’t ever think that is a possibility) on chan. 7,8,9. (just trying to think of everything that might be relevant). To fix the distortion now, I have to quit the DAW and restart, this fixes it. Before I’d have to reboot after about 5-20 mins of use.
I have kept the firmware on the QU24 up to date as they came out.

It is nice to see that A&H are looking at this issue and thank you for your time!

[VKParticipant]

Hi Harry,

I am running Windows 10 with Intel 7 Xeon chip, 64gb ram with a GA-X99-Sli Gigabyte Mother board.Cubase 6.5 as the DAW. QU-16 desk with upgraded firmware.

Firstly I had the GTX560 Ti as my graphics card which I then changed for a GT740 SC. The distorted noise happened with both of these cards. Then after reading the post by Philt80 – I changed my card again for an AMD R7 (370) and I have not had the distortion noise since. Completely gone.
Phantom power was not my issue as it wasn’t turned on. I don’t vocally record at home.

Hope this helps 🙂

[David HaughtonKeymaster]

@ljefe thanks for the info.

I’ve experienced issues like this with other Core Audio Devices on OSX Mountain Lion and Mavericks which have been fixed by updating OSX.

By OS 1.73 do you mean Qu firmware version 1.73? Reports from the others leads me to believe that this isn’t a firmware issue.

I’m sure an update will not cause any further issues, but I am however a firm believer of NEVER UPDATE MID PROJECT!

Are you able to try this with a different mac or even set up a separate boot partition on your mac with a later operating system?

Thanks again.
Harry.

[David HaughtonKeymaster]

Oh no! I’ve turned this into a PC forum! 😉
Don’t worry guys I’ve built more than my fair share…

It’s common to find conflicts with PCI Audio Interfaces and Graphics Cards, or Integrated Graphics hardware acceleration (such as NVIDIA’s PowerMizer software) hogging CPU load and real-time USB audio processes, but this is not usually with PCI(e) Graphics Cards causing issues with USB audio.

@autofahrn I’m not ruling it out, but I’m just not sure it is a thermal issue. If you could test and let us know this would help.

@philt80 when you reboot, are you rebooting both PC and mixer right away?

@vaughank1 this also helps point towards ruling out any thermal issue in the preamp stage.

Thanks all for your help.

I will do some overnight soak testing here early next week on a mac and a PC to see if I can replicate any issues.
Please keep me posted on your findings.

Cheers.
Harry.

[AndreasModerator]

Thermal test already in progress since about 5 hours using this setup:

– Qu32
– Ch1-8 receive 4 stereo audio streams from a sequencer (Spectralis)
– These four streams are routed into four FX units running reverbs (assuming these require most DSP performance)
– Ch15-24 receive signals from 10 phantom powered mics and DI boxes
– All 18 input streams are recorded and mixed on my plain old notebook (Intel Core2Duo/nVidia) running Win7 and Reaper
– Mix sum is sent back live to channels 11&12 which I’m listening to
– ASIO settings are minimum USB buffer and 64 Samples, providing a turnaround latency of about 2mSec, which is damn great.

I’ve decided to run with this critical ASIO setting since it pulls about 50% constant CPU load on my notebook and any user action results in slight audible clicks. Audio is clean when not touching anything, so errors should be noticed easily (hopefully).

My fans are off, dogbox is closed and DSP temperature is at about 70°C, case temperature at the rear sockets at 37°C.

This setup ran nicely until right now, where I too get this noise. Re-plugging USB instantly cures the issue.

I’ll continue testing with fans active, to reduce temperature. I’ll let you informed if this changes anything (I somehow doubt it). Then I reverted ASIO settings to more moderate values (I normally use largest buffers with 2048 Samples, since for live recording I’m not bothering with low latency).

Writing this I realized that everybody with issues should check (and probably post) the Qu ASIO settings.

[AndreasModerator]

45 minutes later: DSP temperature lowered to 62°C, case temperature at 31°C. Played well until right now, where buffers got out of sync again. So it should not be a temperature issue.
But I’ve noticed some HDD action right before the noise begun, so I continue testing with USB buffers set to Low and 128 Samples.
Changing ASIO settings immediately cured the issue.

[philt80Participant]

Harry,
I only reboot my computer, I’ve never rebooted the QU when this happens. This fixes the distortion until it happens again. With the ATI gpu, I can simply close the DAW and open it again and it will fix it.

[philt80Participant]

My ASIO settings could not get below 2048 samples without distortion. At 2048 it would last clean for about 20 mins. I would assume that changing the asio buffer settings actually clear the buffers and start fresh but I’m no expert in that. I tried every buffer setting there was 🙂 I believe now my buffer setting is at 512 samples with my ATI card in and I get distortion after about 6-8 hours on a good day.

[AndreasModerator]

@philt80: I’d really expect stable operation at lower ASIO settings on your system. Did you try disabling networking for a test (both LAN and WiFi)?
Anyway, after seeing two more times broken audio with 128 Samples, I switched USB Buffers to standard and Samples to 256. Running stable for three hours now. Keep it running…

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