USB Digital Noise on SQ-5

[JoshParticipant]

(2nd attempt to post as the edit appeared to leave the thread completely blank.)

I saw the sticky for the Qu-series digital noise topic, but didn’t see an indication that this applied to the SQ-series as well, hence the separate topic.

The attached ogg mp3 file shows the result I have when connecting a PC application (Ardour 5.12.0) to the SQ-5 over the USB-B protocol. The majority of the time the audio is clean, but I’ll get the distortions that seem to be described for the Qu-series on the audio sent from the PC into the SQ-5. I am running the latest firmware on the mixer, 1.2.2. The issue can be heard at 5-8 seconds, and again at 13-18 seconds into the file.

The attached file was recorded by mapping the USB input channel to an Aux send routed as a mix back out the USB interface and recording it into another track in Ardour. This accurately reflects what I hear when monitoring the input channel directly from the mixer as well.

The PC in question runs Ubuntu 17.10, although I’ve experienced this same issue on my laptop with Ubuntu 16.04 as well (there using both USB 2 & USB 3 ports.) I’ve attached the detailed lsusb output for the SQ-5 as well, if it’s of any use; if additional information would help, feel free to inquire. CPU usage is low, and locking the CPU frequency governor to the chip’s max rated clock-rate have no effect.

The tree of the SQ-5 USB layout looks like this:
|__ Port 7: Dev 8, If 0, Class=(Defined at Interface level), Driver=, 480M
|__ Port 7: Dev 8, If 1, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
|__ Port 7: Dev 8, If 2, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
|__ Port 7: Dev 8, If 3, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
|__ Port 7: Dev 8, If 4, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
|__ Port 7: Dev 8, If 5, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M

I’m wondering if this appears to be the same issue as on the Qu-series, or if this is something different. Suggestions as to a fix are welcome. While I can make other arrangements to feed audio from the PC into the mixer, it would be nice to have full support for USB mapping with clean audio.

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[KeithJ A&HModerator]

Hi Josh,

Thank you for being so thorough with the information here, and listening to the audio, it does seem like a similar issue to that which we’ve seen when a computer has not been optimised for audio.
The fact that SQ is class compliant means it will show up and work with a lot of systems, but I’m afraid we do not support Linux at the moment.

Keith.

[Jay-TParticipant]

I’m getting a similar problem with our SQ6. Recording via USB-B into a MacBook Pro (running macOS Sierra). Using the USB port on the right side of the MacBook (next to the HDMI port). Other ports in use are both mini display ports using dongles (one to HDMI and the other to ethernet)

here’s a clip of the type of sounds I get. Again intermittently.

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[Jay-TParticipant]

to add to my previous post we are using a program called Audio HiJack to record the audio from the SQ6

[Jay-TParticipant]

Can anyone chime in on this from Allen and heath please?? how can I fix this problem?

[WesParticipant]

I am having the same issue with SQ5 on a Windows 10 PC. My audio sounds exactly like the file sent by Josh. I have had this experience with both an Intel based DAW and a AMD based DAW. I’ve tried all the solutions recommended in the Glitch Free publication, which was suggested reading from tech support. When running LatencyMon I get nothing but green lights while the issue is happening (as I would expect running a DAW with an 8 core 3.0GHz processor and 32g of RAM). I’ve tried running the unit through both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports. I’ve disabled wifi and ran directly to my ISP using ethernet. I’m sure I’m forgetting at least a dozen other things I have tried. This has been going on for 8 months so my memory may be a little suspect. It’s a shame because the desk really sounds fantastic when it’s not glitching. Unfortunately I purchased this as a head end for my DAW and it has not been reliable enough to use for that purpose. Extremely disappointed!

[juniorParticipant]

I am also experiencing the same problem and I have already made several complaints and always say that the problem is in my MAC or in my notebook, only before I used the Behringer X32 console and never had this problem. I am also quite disappointed!

[Alex A&HKeymaster]

Hi All,

If you are having issues with audio streaming between the SQ and a Windows PC, please take a look at this article to help solve the issue: https://support.allen-heath.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1205/338/troubleshooting-issues-with-the-sq-usb-b-interface

For those of you having these issues on MacOS, or if you have tried the above link and it hasn’t solved the issue, please contact support by starting a ticket at support.allen-heath.com.

Thanks!

Alex

[WesParticipant]

After months of trial and error I think I found a work around for my particular issue with USB digital noise. In my case (SQ-5 on a Windows 10 computer) I found that there was a conflict between the ASIO drivers and Windows media. The SQ-5 would stream audio from Windows applications fine until I used my DAW (and thus started the ASIO driver). From that point forward things would get sort of hit and miss and the digital aliasing would increase dramatically. My work around was to disable the SQ entirely in the Windows mixer. My DAW (Reaper) still uses the ASIO drivers. In the Windows mixer I use the audio output of my motherboard’s on-board sound card. I then bring this audio in (using an audio cable) as a stereo input to the SQ. In this way when I’m using the DAW I’m using ASIO only. When I play back audio from Windows (Media Player, Youtube etc.) I’m using a separate audio device. With the system configured this way I can run the ASIO driver at 16 samples with no audio issues (latency is roughly 6 msec). It may not be the answer for everyone but it worked for me!

[FrankParticipant]

The only problem for me is, that it is not possible to playback directly out of the DAW (in my case Cubase). But perhaps it would be another workaround for playback to change the driver in the DAW… for recording -> A&H-driver, for playback -> Windows onboard driver. But it will not be possible, to playback at the the time, when recording (one track in the DAW fpr playback, other tracks for recording, what I play together with the playback). But the workaround of you is one way, if you don’t need to hear the things, you recorded to the DAW directly after recording with the A&H-equipment…

[WesParticipant]

Frank:
In my system I’m able to play back directly from the DAW through the USB channel on the SQ. Windows media is the only thing that plays out of the secondary sound card. So, when I’m playing a Youtube video my system uses the on-board sound card from my motherboard. When I’m tracking with my DAW (and therefore using the ASIO drivers) I monitor on the USB fader on the SQ. In Windows 10 Playback Devices I actually have all the SQ options disabled. This seems counter-intuitive but after looking into the way ASIO drivers work I realized they are only active when my DAW is open. I hope this clears things up!

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