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E-MU 0404 USB Pops and crackles - help

post #1 of 35
2/14/09 at 4:12pm
Thread Starter 
So yeah, I'm having some major pop/crackle issues with my e-mu 0404 usb. It was working yesterday when I was at school with my laptop docked and both the HD where my music is and the 0404 plugged into the USB hubs on the dock. Also, I was using ethernet for internet if that helps. Now both devices are plugged straight into the laptop and I'm using wireless. I noticed that in addition to the random pops there's almost always a click when I switch window focus, or even do something like change tabs in firefox.

Things I've tried:
Restarting countless times
Messing around with buffer settings countless times
Turning off wireless, using either ethernet or nothing at all.
Changing USB cables
Changing USB ports
Reinstalling 0404 drivers
Tried DirectSound, Wasapi, and ASIO in foobar all with various settings
Giving foobar high process priority
Essentially everything I found searching this forum.

Yet I'm still getting pops and clicks. This is driving me absolutely insane.... I'm about to throw this ****ing thing through a wall. Help?
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Emu 0404 USB 2 Audio/MIDI Interface
EMU 0404 4 Channel Digital PCI Audio Interface
post #2 of 35
2/14/09 at 4:16pm
Disable the wireless internet connection and see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn't, there may be something else you could try (buffer sizes and the like).
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post #3 of 35
2/14/09 at 4:26pm
You may want to try a usb card dedicated to the e-mu.
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post #4 of 35
2/14/09 at 4:42pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taikero View Post
Disable the wireless internet connection and see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn't, there may be something else you could try (buffer sizes and the like).
Did both, but I'm open to suggestions for particulkar buffer settings, though I've tried a bunch.
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post #5 of 35
2/14/09 at 5:22pm
Hmm.....

Download this tool: DPC Latency Checker

This will take a while, but go to the Device Manager (My Computer, right click, Properties, Hardware tab, Device Manager) and disable hardware items one by one, checking the latency and whether or not the problem arises again, then re-enabling if that isn't the problem.

Also, in foobar2000 make sure you've gone to the ASIO Virtual Devices configuration for the EMU 0404 and configured it for at least 16-20 ms of buffer instead of only 10 (default). Anything over 20, maybe 30 ms will mess up visualizations, but if you don't want visualizations, you can increase the buffer even more. You could also try lowering it from 32 bit to 24/16 bit.
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post #6 of 35
2/14/09 at 7:13pm
Thread Starter 
The only driver which I can disable which reduces latency is the 0404 driver itself. Also, not all pops have a corresponding latency spike in DPC, some do though.
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post #7 of 35
2/14/09 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
Another weird example of when pops occur: When I scroll up or down on a webpage, there are a bunch of pops and crackles, sometimes with a corresponding DPC spike.

What the HELL is going on here?
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post #8 of 35
2/14/09 at 7:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsedgwick View Post
Another weird example of when pops occur: When I scroll up or down on a webpage, there are a bunch of pops and crackles, sometimes with a corresponding DPC spike.

What the HELL is going on here?
First, remove all other USB devices, including mouse and hard drives.

If this does not work, then try a shorter USB cable.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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post #9 of 35
2/15/09 at 12:20am
Also consider updating various device drivers (video card for instance). It could be a problem with your USB hub/port itself, so you might consider switching hubs/ports or snagging a hub with its own power supply (or a PCI -> USB card).

I still think there's something in your buffer settings or running in the background that's causing the problem. Running anti-virus software in the background, maybe?
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post #10 of 35
2/15/09 at 12:20am
What's your graphics card?
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post #11 of 35
2/15/09 at 1:18am
Thread Starter 
ShinyFalcon, I have the ATI FireGL 5250.

Updates - I've tried:
Using ASIO4ALL
Updating 0404 firmware
Disabling various device drivers
Updating my graphics driver
Installing the 0404 w/ FB2K in Windows 7 - still pops!

I refuse to believe that all three USB ports on my laptop are messed up, but what else could have changed from my docked setup?

Should I just return the damned thing? Any other good value ($200) DAC/AMPs that won't be so ****ed up?
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post #12 of 35
2/15/09 at 1:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsedgwick View Post
Should I just return the damned thing? Any other good value ($200) DAC/AMPs that won't be so ****ed up?
Sad part is just getting another won't fix the underlying problem in your system, whatever it is. Sounds to me like your dock has a better USB hub/more power to the hub than your current setup. That or you have other USB devices pulling power/focus from the DAC's USB connection.

One other option: Try the AIMP 2 player. It uses its own driver (not DirectSound, WASAPI, or ASIO from what I can tell, some kind of kernel interface or something).

I'm strongly recommending a separate USB connection of some sort or somehow modifying the current USB hub's settings. I didn't get clean audio from my EMU 0404 until I separated my mouse/keyboard from the hub my EMU 0404 was using.
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post #13 of 35
2/15/09 at 1:32am
Thread Starter 
Taikero, is there any way to boost the amount of power my system provides to a particular USB port? For some reason I remember something like that from previous adventures.

edit: Also, what would a "separate USB connection" be? A PCMCIA card or something?
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post #14 of 35
2/15/09 at 1:38am
About the most you can do is tell Windows not to turn off the hub to save power (Power Management tab).

Like I say, I think you're getting interrupts from your video card/mouse/keyboard (like when you're scrolling your browser), or your buffer size isn't large enough to handle your CPU/memory being tied up for very long (Unfortunately, determining WHICH of the many buffer sizes you can change here is the problem).

Just another note, sometimes background programs can cause DPC latency problems, so if you have some process running in the background you don't use, uninstall/turn it off.
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post #15 of 35
2/15/09 at 2:13am
Thread Starter 
I have no background programs running.

What buffer sizes can I change besides the ASIO and FB2k ones? For both of those I've tried either extreme setting as well as several in between.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Emu 0404 USB 2 Audio/MIDI Interface
EMU 0404 4 Channel Digital PCI Audio Interface
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