EMU 0404 USB Clicking/Popping Sounds

[refault]

I just installed my EMU 0404 USB today, connected to my laptop. Everything is fine and it sounds great through my SR-71/HP-2's, but sometimes (using directsound in winamp) it clicks/pops, and is annoying. I tried using the ASIO SSE2 plugin for winamp and it made the problem even worse.

Is there a fix for this? Is it my laptop (I tried all the USB ports, same problem.)

 

[SR-71Panorama]

Probably the buffer length. Don't know how to adjust in winamp though. I stopped using that at version 3.

 

[wavefunction]

Hm can you try stressing your hard drive and see if you can produce these results. As far as I know ASIO driver is really sensitive to these things, and will produce all kind of strange noises if the hdd activity is high. Maybe same things apply to direct sound driver. You could try increasing buffer in Winamp at Preferences (ctrl-p) -> Output -> DirectSound output -> Configure -> Buffering

 

[refault]

K, I installed FB2k, and installed the ASIO plugin for FB2k. Although it works, it still gives the clicks/pops as in Winamp (same with DS in FB2k), and takes AGES to load a new song in ASIO.

I tried to install KS (Kernal Streaming) but can't get any output. Any advice?

 

[Ahriman4891]

Did you follow the proper installation procedure (in the manual)? Also, try going to the motherboard manufacturer's website and getting new USB drivers.

Testing it on some other computer would also help.

 

[refault]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahriman4891 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did you follow the proper installation procedure (in the manual)? Also, try going to the motherboard manufacturer's website and getting new USB drivers. Testing it on some other computer would also help.

I believe I have the latest drivers for my laptop and I have installed the EMU correctly. I am getting less clicks/pops using FB2k's Directsound (than winamp's one), although it's still there. I juts tried ASIO4All and I can't get any sound output either (similar to when I tried Kernal Streaming.) And as I said (in FB2k), ASIO (EMU 0404 ASIO) lags when switching songs (and I even have that Microsoft patch!!!)

Ugh this is giving me a headache!!

(I played around with buffer settings to no avail BTW. Also, my laptop is the HP Pavilion zv6000, for reference purposes.)

 

[refault]

Also, do you know if I purchase an external USB 2.0 drive for my laptop, do you think that would help?

 

[Ahriman4891]

If anything, that will cause problems. There is probably only one USB controller, and it will have to divide its time between streaming data from the hard drive and sending it to 0404usb. You'll probably get more lag and desync clicks.

 

[refault]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahriman4891 /img/forum/go_quote.gif If anything, that will cause problems. There is probably only one USB controller, and it will have to divide its time between streaming data from the hard drive and sending it to 0404usb. You'll probably get more lag and desync clicks.

Well, here is my USBView config... any tips on what to do:

 

[Ahriman4891]

Well, you have 2 USB controllers, but from the diagram it seems that they share the same PCI-to-USB bridge. I am honestly not sure if it could become a bottleneck.

Still, if you have cracks/pops, I doubt getting a USB HDD will fix it. It will either stay the same or (hopefully not) you'll get additional problems. You can geta hdd from some place with a good return policy and see whether it works in your setup.

Is there no chance to test the soundcard on another computer?

 

[refault]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahriman4891 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, you have 2 USB controllers, but from the diagram it seems that they share the same PCI-to-USB bridge. I am honestly not sure if it could become a bottleneck. Still, if you have cracks/pops, I doubt getting a USB HDD will fix it. It will either stay the same or (hopefully not) you'll get additional problems. You can geta hdd from some place with a good return policy and see whether it works in your setup. Is there no chance to test the soundcard on another computer?

I just bought a PCMCIA slot USB 2.0 card and connected my EMU 0404 USB to it. So far so good... I wish I could use ASIO mode though (in Foobar, it lags. any other good ASIO codecs out there?)

The PCMCIA USB card is run on VIA drivers, so it's pretty stable I believe, no issues. (it was probably motherboard/bottleneck issues.)

But yeah, I want to use ASIO/KS with Foobar now since (i think) the crackling issue is fixed. Any tips on how I can set it up without that ASIO lag when switching songs, and etc.

edit: still getting minor "clicks", not as often and not as frequent though (with the PCMCIA card). :/

 

[Ghanso]

Quote:

Originally Posted by refault /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just bought a PCMCIA slot USB 2.0 card and connected my EMU 0404 USB to it. So far so good... I wish I could use ASIO mode though (in Foobar, it lags. any other good ASIO codecs out there?) The PCMCIA USB card is run on VIA drivers, so it's pretty stable I believe, no issues. (it was probably motherboard/bottleneck issues.) But yeah, I want to use ASIO/KS with Foobar now since (i think) the crackling issue is fixed. Any tips on how I can set it up without that ASIO lag when switching songs, and etc. edit: still getting minor "clicks", not as often and not as frequent though (with the PCMCIA card). :/

To fix the ASIO lag in foobar: in Advanced settings set "Thread priority (1-7)" to something below 5 so 4 is nice. Voila no more lags!

 

[3000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghanso /img/forum/go_quote.gif To fix the ASIO lag in foobar: in Advanced settings set "Thread priority (1-7)" to something below 5 so 4 is nice. Voila no more lags!

Wow! Just great, thank you very much. Now it works like a miracle!

 

[Slogra]

I noticed myself that cpu/hd heavy virus scanners cause popping/skipping on my configuration. So now i'm using a light virusscanner: AVG.

 

[LFC_SL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghanso /img/forum/go_quote.gif To fix the ASIO lag in foobar: in Advanced settings set "Thread priority (1-7)" to something below 5 so 4 is nice. Voila no more lags!

I love you

You are a star

Tried everything from changing dsp manager > to having no dsp, changing sample rate, all sorts. Finally fixed it