Drop outs, audio not playing, suddenly in a project

[Kendomixes]

I've always found studio one to be very reliable, so long as you've got everything set properly in Audio setup. All of a sudden in my active project audio has started dropping out, not just little drop outs but sometimes for many seconds, it eventually comes back then happens again. WHen it's not playing... all the meters are firing as if it is playing, just no sound. Sometimes it won't play at all. I thought maybe the install of a new plugin cause this so I removed anything recent I installed.

Setup - Studio One 6.6.4.102451, Windows 11 Pro
- SSL2+ audio interface
- Block size 2048 samples
- Tried with Release audio device in background on and off
- Dropout Protection Maximum
- Process Precision32-bit
- Sample rate 44.1 KHz
- On the SSL I have Safe Mode checked

Not of these settings have changed recently so I don't understand what all of a sudden caused this. I was working on a different version of this project and never ha d a problem. I haven't gone back to see if it's limited to one file (song) or just this new version and will try that next.

Has anyone experienced this and any recommendations on how to troubleshoot?

Thanks

 

[Trucky]

Please update your signature (see link in mine) with your system specs as that helps in responding to questions.

Interested in what your findings were regarding if the issue you're having is limited to the one song.

 

[Kendomixes]

Please update your signature (see link in mine) with your system specs as that helps in responding to questions.

Interested in what your findings were regarding if the issue you're having is limited to the one song.

done (I think). Not limited to the one song version. Also tested with my SCarlett 2i2 - not quite the same but very choppy playback.. still hunting.

 

[Dave71]

I had this once some weeks ago. Only 1 day, after that it never happened again. Maybe do a few reboots, then see if the issue persists

 

[Kendomixes]

The scarlette, I solved temporarily so I could work by switching to windows audio, which makes no sense because the Asio driver should be better performance (haven't tried the same with the SLL). Also the Scarlette and SSL should both have their own Asio drivers, but maybe it has to do something with the way studio one is interfacing with Asio drivers (??). I've rebooted a couple times since and powered down my SSL a few times. Will see how things are tonight.

 

[Trucky]

Are you running the latest ASIO drivers for the SSL 2 & Scarlett 2i2?

 

[Kendomixes]

Yes - although I have discovered an issue with the SSL. It's not a new issue, but one I need to resolve. The firmware is not updating for some reason.. should be v1.4 and despite running the updates successfully, says it's still 1.1. Maybe something changed in Studio One that doesn't work well with the older firmware (something SSL had updated long ago). Ticket in with SSL to try to resolve. Doesn't explain odd behavior with the Scarlette. Will test today again with SSL and see if any issues. Appreciate all the responses.

 

[Kendomixes]

I think I've found the issue... BSA Low Control. Why it just started happening I don't know as I've used low control before. I use bSA Clipper all the time, no issues. But as soon as I start with that plugin is when I have issues. Projects where it's not there, no issues, playing a project where it's there, the drop outs. Try to add it to a new project... starts happening. For now, I'll say this is resolved and try to remove, reinstall.

 

[Kendomixes]

Spoke too soon... started up again. That plugin has been completely removed from my system. Still searching for answers.

 

[Trucky]

Have you updated to Studio One Pro 6.6.4 yet?
With Block Size set to 2048 samples, have you tried turning Dropout Protection to Off or Minimum?

 

[Kendomixes]

Already on 6.6.4.. sorry my signature wasn't accurate. I just omitted the third digit. And I can confirm - this happens with both audio interfaces, but Windows Audio and just headphones no drop outs. SOmething to do with the way S1 is using the Asio drivers (two different drivers). Wondering if Asio4all or something like that snuck on to my computer... investigating.

 

[Kendomixes]

Regarding droput protection off... I don't think I have. Let me try that.

 

[Kendomixes]

First test tonight dropping dropout protection down seemed to work. But I'll continue to test.

 

[Kendomixes]

THis issue still on going (almost most a month later). Issue logged with PreSonus, no resolution yet.

• In my current project I rendered all midi to audio so there are no instruments anymore
• I tried all different settings of block size, drop out protection
• I resent my SSL 2+ to factory defaults, removed the drivers then reinstalled everything including firmware updates (I even tried testing with older versions of the driver and firmware in case it was an SSL update)
• I've gone back to old projects that I finished with no issues, and now they are displaying the same drop out behavior, completely unplayable
• Attached are images of the studio one and windows performance monitor - nothing individually pegging the CPU and yet Studio one's monitor is completely pegged
• While I don't have the exact same projects in other Daws, I've gone back to some very involved projects with multiple instruments, lots of plugins - no issue

So... it's looking like Studio One. I love Studio One and I have no idea why this started - but if I can't resolve, I'll have to switch. Just can't get any work done.

 

[Monobrowser]

A device buffer higher than 1024 samples often can give issues. Try 1024 and set Dropout Protection to Max.

 

[Kendomixes]

I have tried all combinations of buffer size and drop out protection.

 

[Kendomixes]

and adding - this occurs with two different audio interfaces. An SSL and Focusrite. The Focusrite highest block size is 1024. I'm currently explore what generally on windows was installed around the time this started (not just plugins which I don't think is the issue given this is happening on older projects) and also explorer whether iLok could be an issue.

 

[Monobrowser]

Do other DAWs work normal with the same driver?
Because all of this sounds like you have a general issue on your system. I can imagine a Windows Update messed up your configuration and energy settings. So verify that first. Power Plan and USB devices in Device Manager, switch off all options to save energy.

 

[Kendomixes]

Yes - my other DAW works fine still with either the SSL or Focusrite using their Asio drivers. It's only Studio One that seems to be pegging the CPU when I use those drivers. I've unistalled everything that was installed around the time this started, uninstalled-reinstalled Studio One, and it was still occurring.

In current project, I"ve gone through started deleting all the plugins that I had set in off position, bouncing vocal edits down, and also tried enabling Plugin Nap - not sure if that will help or hurt. Powermode on the PC is set to Best Performance and as mentioned earlier, using ParkControl to prevent CPUs from parking and turned off frequency scaling. I had also adjusted some power efficiency settings in the Bios. But... odd that I've never had to do any of this before. It is getting a little better. I was able play through with a bunch stutters at several parts, performance monitoring hovering around 80% + - on the CPU, but none of the major complete multi-second drop outs.

So I'm starting to think it's perhaps a combination of things - something installed, updated or otherwise + a demanding project. But clearly something was effecting old projects that I never had an issue with before.

I'll peek around at any other power saving settings.

 

[Kendomixes]

So I have gotten to a better place and I think my conclusion in last post was about right. It's a combination of something installed around the time things started happening (may have been a C++ redistributable from a plugin), and also a particuarly demanding project. Dropouts aren't completely gone but I still have some project clean up to do. What I did do in case anyone runs into this

• Uninstalled everything that was installed just before this started. As I may or may not need things, I"ll reinstall one at a time
• I moved iLOK from my dongle to the cloud - I took this step because occassionally my dongle was not being read. No indication that this was causing the issue as typically once it is identified, it doesn't drop, but just in case.
• Cleaned up my project by doing things like deleting silence section of tracks (multiple layers of vocals had lots of overlapping tracks), and moving more processing to busses. I also think Plugin Nap helped some, although I've never enabled this before.

Thanks for reading.