HAUPTWERK GLITCH

Dear All,

I'm experiencing occasional, short pops/clicks rather like very short crackles of static which are only present when actually playing; these are manifest on both the speakers and headphones, so it doesn't seem to be a monitoring problem. My computer seems to be functioning smoothly, so I can only imagine that the problem is with the sound card or plugs/connections.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, please!

Many thanks,

Maurice Maguire.

[mdyde]

Hello Maurice,

What audio interface are you using?

When the glitches occur, do any of the virtual meters go into (or nearly into) the red on Hauptwerk's "Audio, MIDI and performance" large control panel ("View | Large floating control panels ...")? How much RAM does your computer have, and how much does that control panel say is 'free'?

Assuming that you're using a PC, rather than a Mac (otherwise let us know):

- Make sure that you have all available Windows updates installed. Reboot after updating anything.

- Make sure that you have the latest driver and firmware installed for (especially) your audio interface, and also for any other hardware. (Check on the manufacturers' websites for the latest versions.) Reboot after updating anything.

- On the "General settings | Audio device ..." screen in Hauptwerk, make sure that you have the audio interface's native ASIO driver selected (not DirectSound), and that the number of buffers is set to 1, and try a buffer size of 1024 (which should always be safe).

Do you then have the glitches if you try using the St. Anne's sample set (which is small)?

If so, try running LatencyMon ( https://resplendence.com/latencymon ) while you're playing, and while the glitches occur. Does it report that your PC is performing properly for real-time audio use?

What CPU does the PC have? (A small number of users of AMD CPUs have had strange problems, seemingly after some recent-ish Windows update, related to CPU affinity.)

Also, try working through the "Performance tuning: Summary: Other operating system and computer optimizations and diagnostics" section in the main Hauptwerk user guide (pages 308-310 in the current v7.0 version). For example, on some PCs people find that they need to disable the Windows Sysmain/Superfetch service due to it causing audio glitches, and likewise for drive indexing.

Many thanks for your extended reply, Martin. I shall consult with my installer and let you know the outcome. Best wishes,
Maurice.

[mdyde]

Thanks, Maurice. Hope he/she manages to resolve it easily for you.

Hi, Martin!

I said I'd report back to you.

After intervention by my installer, I'm still getting occasional, sporadic single 'clicks', irrespective of which sample set I'm using or of the sound volume. (My sound card is ESI U86 XT.)

My system is just over two years old, and for the first byear of so was glitch-free. The only changes we've made are the installation of a couple of sample sets,plus an upgrade to HWVII.

My installer has worked through all our suggestions (he'd already done most if not all, plus recommendations in Brad Robinson's 'GlitchFree' booklet); he has disabled everything that is not necessary for the operation. He has reloaded the ESI drivers.

We are at a loss to understand/solve the issue! Brad seems to suggest that the problem may lie with the interface between HW and Windows OS. Would installing Windows 11 help, do you think?

Any further help would be much appreciated. It is of course in everyone's interest to have this resolved!

Kind regards,

Maurice.

[mdyde]

Thanks, Maurice.

My system is just over two years old, and for the first byear of so was glitch-free. The only changes we've made are the installation of a couple of sample sets,plus an upgrade to HWVII.

If the PC is connected to the Internet, then probably some automatic Windows update, or some other automatic update, such as a driver update, happened around that time which was the culprit. (Simply upgrading to Hauptwerk v7 from v5, or installing additional sample sets, won't, in themselves, directly cause audio glitches in other sample sets.)

Would installing Windows 11 help, do you think?

Conceivably it might happen to resolve something, but I have no specific reason to think that it would. My advice would be to first try to identify the underlying problem, and resolve it directly if possible.

Could you confirm the answers to these specific questions?:

- Is the latest version of the motherboard BIOS definitely installed? (If not, please do that first.)

- Are all available Windows updates definitely applied? (If not, please do that first.)

- Are the latest drivers (and firmware if applicable) definitely installed for your audio interface? (Check on ESI's website for the latest versions, and install them if applicable: https://download.esi-audio.com/?w=esi&p=97&g=2&l=en )

- Is your ESI U86 XT audio interface connected to a USB port directly on the PC (not via a USB hub)? (If not, please try that.)

- Is the Windows Sysmain/Superfetch service definitely disabled? (If not, please do that.)

- Is Windows drive indexing definitely disabled (and for all drives, if there are several)? (If not, please do that.)

- On the "General settings | Audio device ..." screen in Hauptwerk is the audio interface's native ASIO driver selected (not DirectSound), and the number of buffers set to 1, and the buffer size set to 1024 for now (which should always be safe)? (If not, please do that.)

- If you try running LatencyMon ( https://resplendence.com/latencymon ) while you're playing, and while the glitches occur, does it report that your PC is performing properly for real-time audio use?

- After checking all of the above, do you (still) get audio glitches if using just the St. Anne's sample set? (It's a good test since it doesn't use much RAM or CPU.)

- If so (when using St. Anne's), when the glitches occur, do any of the virtual meters go into (or nearly into) the red on Hauptwerk's "Audio, MIDI and performance" large control panel ("View | Large floating control panels ...")?

- (Assuming that your Hauptwerk licences are in an iLok dongle, and not in iLok Cloud), does keeping the PC temporarily detached from the Internet/network (with WiFi and BlueTooth disabled, and no Ethernet cables connected) eliminate the glitches?

- What CPU does the PC have? (A small number of users of AMD CPUs have had strange problems, seemingly after some recent-ish Windows update, related to CPU affinity.)

Many thanks, again, Martin! I'll pass this on to my installer and willkeep you posted.

Kind regards,

Maurice.

[mdyde]

Thanks, Maurice.

In case it's useful, Francois Ratte (who also works for MDA handling support, and is an expert in Hauptwerk and PC performance issues) offers one-to-one remote support on a consultancy basis: http://www.hauptwerkconsultant.com/