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Audio glitches with Windows 10

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Eric Sagmuller

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Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostSun May 15, 2016 4:31 pm

Ok, so I recently built a new computer with Windows 10 and am having some issues with audio glitches. I've determined the processor is spiking at times doing background things that sometimes causes my audio to glitch. I'm using an Audiofire 12 with their latest driver that's only listed for Windows 8.1. So it's possible it's not as stable as it should be.

So I used Task Manager to see what's running when the processor spikes occur. I disabled all of the startup items that I found could be disabled, but I don't know about the last one <windows host process rundll32.exe>.

Under resource monitor I found a number of items that show usage when the CPU spikes. The worst offenders are <svhost.exe (local system network restricted)>, and <clean mgr.exe> that also causes <system> to spike. The smaller offenders are <perform. exe>, <system interrupts>, <NV backend.exe> and <dwm.exe>. Edit: Now <system NT kernel> is doing it the most using over 8% for 60 seconds or more, while playing for awhile.

Are any of the above able to be turned off or disabled? With HW and an organ loaded the system runs between 2-4% processor usage while playing a few stops. The spikes are causing 10-30% total processor usage. Maybe my Firewire is overly sensitive, but if I could keep the spikes from occurring in the first place, that would solve the issue.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric
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mdyde

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostMon May 16, 2016 2:14 pm

Hello Eric,

My general suggestion would be to try working through our Windows/PC performance troubleshooting document here: https://www.hauptwerk.com/news/tutorials-computers/2013/02/10/operating-system-and-pc-optimizations/

DPC latency would be particularly worth checking for. Unfortunately the DPCLat utility isn't yet fully compatible with Windows 10, but it does at least run, so perhaps it might help to show something anyway. It would also be worth trying disabling all networking (wired, wireless, Bluetooth, etc.), as a troubleshooting step.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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Eric Sagmuller

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostMon May 16, 2016 5:28 pm

Hi Martin,

Thanks for the tips. This computer will never be on the network, so disabling all that isn't an issue. I'll let you know how I make out, it may take me several days to get to it.

Thanks,
Eric
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bigwold

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostTue May 17, 2016 4:15 am

LatencyMon from Resplendence looks like it may be useful as it lists each driver with DPC count and highest exection time in msecs
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mdyde

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostTue May 17, 2016 4:17 am

bigwold wrote:LatencyMon from Resplendence looks like it may be useful as it lists each driver with DPC count and highest exection time in msecs


Thanks for the information. That looks like an exceptionally useful tool.
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.
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abaymajr

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostSat May 21, 2016 7:36 am

mdyde wrote:
bigwold wrote:LatencyMon from Resplendence looks like it may be useful as it lists each driver with DPC count and highest exection time in msecs


Thanks for the information. That looks like an exceptionally useful tool.


LatencyMon is a great software, indeed. It's also referenced by a guide titled "Glitch Free", written by Brad Robinson, the author of Cantabile DAW software:

https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitc ... litchfree1
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Eric Sagmuller

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostSat May 21, 2016 8:00 pm

Wow this absolutely looks great too. I'll have to admit I just haven't had the time yet to work through any of the advice. Work just has me fatigued at the end of the day lately. At least I have hope the glitches can be cured.

Eric
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Jan Loosman

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostMon May 30, 2016 3:06 pm

Hello Eric

I also had audio glitches with win.10.
When i started playing there where glitches and after some minutes they usually disappeared.
I found out it was the intel speedstep and mem. Xmp settings in the bios.
After setting the processor to a fixed speed and disabling xmp al glitches disappeared.

Regards Jan
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Eric Sagmuller

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostMon May 30, 2016 3:34 pm

Hi Jan,

Thanks for the tips. I've been reading "Glitch Free" as I have time. They also mention the processor slowing down with little work, and yes mine definitely does that. I've noticed with task manager that the speed drops way down with just HW and the jumps up whenever I have some background activity. I still haven't had time to actually try any of the disables. The write-up mentions a whole bunch of things to disable, along with the list Martin sent me.

Eric
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Jan Loosman

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostMon May 30, 2016 3:42 pm

The processor speeding down is caused by intel speedstep technology to save energy.
I had the same observation as you did.
I am almost sure that speedstep and xmp are causing the glitches in your configuration.

Regards Jan
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dw154515

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostSun Dec 02, 2018 5:17 pm

Did you ever find a resolution to this? I am experiencing the same issue after "upgrading" to Windows 10. The Cantabile article is great! I followed it all the way through, but my issue persists. I have also used LatencyMon and it seems to think everything is doing fine. If I leave it running for several hours, it reports back in the red with DirectX.
Drew A. Worthen
Master of Music in Composition - Butler University
http://www.drewworthen.com
Director of Music & Website Admin - Greenwood UMC
http://www.greenwoodumc.org
Design Engineer - American Sound and Electronics - Indy
https://americansound.cc/
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Eric Sagmuller

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Re: Audio glitches with Windows 10

PostSun Dec 02, 2018 6:49 pm

Yes it's been working well. Once in a great while I get a little hiccup, but for my home use it's not an issue.

Eric

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