Axe I/O intermittent pops and crackling sounds with amp sim software.

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OldDog1970

New member
Hi everyone.

Just getting back into guitar after a couple of decades and looking to embrace the newer technology. The only problem is that I am having problems and hope yall can help me sort it out. :)

After tons of research I decided to go with an audio interface and amp simulators. Mostly for playing live (in my basement) just due to the huge number of options available without spending tons of money on physical hardware.

While recording is something I plan to do occasionally I am having an issue with playing live through my interface and amp sim right now. This is where I am praying that the expertise available in this forum will help to end my frustration with this technology.

So I have an AXE I/O audio interface and it came with Amplitube Max as a bundle. I also have a Lenovo IdeaPad S340 with AMD Ryzen-5 3500U Quad-Core processor and 8 GB of Ram.

The problem I have is intermittent pops and crackles when playing through Amplitube in stand alone mode. When playing a clean tone it is just a pop or crack but when using a heavily distorted sound it is almost like a farting sound and very annoying.

Amplitube has a CPU meter built in and when the meter jumps so do these pops and cracks most of the time. So I figure this is part of the issue.

I have also downloaded a free trial of Bias Amp 2 and the problems where evident there as well so the issue is apparently not with Amplitube.

Amplitube has a built in recorder and none of these sounds are affecting the actual recording but do happen intermittently upon playback through the AXE I/O interface.

This does seem to happen most frequently when my laptop is running on battery. When I plug my charger in it rarely happens and may only happen again once the battery is fully charged.

I did return the first interface thinking that was the problem but it still persists with the replacement I got.

I bought an M-box 2 mini from Ebay and have had no issues as far as I can tell.

The AXE I/O has its own power supply so I do not think it is a problem with USB power.

I am at my wits end trying to figure this out. I have tried a few things I have seen online to no avail. I hope you pro's can help me figure this out and I will be eternally grateful if you do so.

Thank you in advance and hope to here from you soon.
 
I can only suggest the usual things when faced with what is surely a 'Latency/buffer size/PC resource issue, hopefully someone here will have the AXE interface and know more?

First job, put up Task Manager and see what is running and how much CPU is being used in the normal course of events. I don't know if that PC is up to the task but I would have thought so. See what is running when the PC is started (MSCONFIG) If the CPU is being tasked less than say 5% for just internet work you probably don't have a hidden resource monster.

I have looked at the manual for the AXE. Did you install the drivers ABSOLUTELY AS TOLD IN THE BOOK? Always worth downloading drivers afresh and starting again.

Check you have not set for an unrealistically low latency time. 10mSec is usually fast enough. Other 'grabbers' are network adaptors, disable in Control Panel. In extremis, disable the on board sound card in CP and THEN re install drivers.

An email to AXE support would be a good idea.

I hope this has not been TOTAL bllx! I am sure some proper PC gurus will be along shortly.

Dave.
 
Axe io

I am running the Axe and the Amplitube full bundle, as well as running Steven Slate drums 5.5 through the interface. Ableton Live 10 Suite, Reaper have been no problem. I bought my HP new, didn't install unnecessary stuff. Make sure your computer is running at its best. Defrag etc. Make sure you are not clipping anywhere. Check your latency and buffer size on your software. The Axe i/o control panel on your screen will let you set the buffer. From 8 to 2048. Good luck.!
 
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xcracer said:
I am running the Axe and the Amplitube full bundle, as well as running Steven Slate drums 5.5 through the interface. Ableton Live 10 Suite, Reaper have been no problem. I bought my HP new, didn't install unnecessary stuff. Make sure your computer is running at its best. Defrag etc. Make sure you are not clipping anywhere. Check your latency and buffer size on your software. The Axe i/o control panel on your screen will let you set the buffer. From 8 to 2048. Good luck.!
Click to expand...

Just a tiny point..."Defrag" ? I hope the OP has an SSD for the main system drive and so now that is neither required nor desired. TRIM takes care of such things automatically.

Dave.
 
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