cracking popping sounds

robkermit · Feb 26, 2003, 08:43 PM

When using latest kX audio drivers, sound frequently cracks and pops. Can someone give me more information on how to resolve this issue? I don't think that it really is a problem with the drivers, as they worked perfectly with this sound card in my computer which recently died.

System:
Shuttle VIA MVP3 motherboard AT standard
AMD K6/2 350 MHZ w/ 3DNow
256 MB (128 MB x 2) PC 100 SDRAM
PNY Geforce 2 32 MB PCI
SoundBlaster Live Value CT4670 PCI
3COM 3C905B 10/100 Ethernet PCI
6.4 GB Quantum Bigfoot IDE
16x10x40 CD RW IDE

Daniel Drummond · Feb 26, 2003, 11:33 PM

Does the sound pop/crack only when using ASIO or also with general music files (like when using media player or winamp)? If they pop only when using ASIO try increasing the latency a bit.

robkermit · Feb 27, 2003, 01:00 PM

Daniel: The sound pops whenever I stream music off the Internet, through Radio@AOL. How can I increase latency?

danielshoes · Feb 27, 2003, 02:19 PM

robkermit, this is chronic problem that happens with the SB Live series. I had a Live Value in a machine very similar to yours (FIC PA-2013 and a K6-2/450) and this crackling sounds had ever happened with me, specially when playing games (at low frame rate scenes) or when moving data through the HDs. It looks like this noise appears when the PCI and associated buses are experiencing heavy data traffic. Searching in Creative website last year, I found a troubleshooting page providing instructions to soften the crackling effect. One of these instructions wast to tweak a parameter in the BIOS called "PCI BUS LATENCY" (I guess this is the latency Daniel Drummond mentions - hey another brazilian here!!!) and keep trying different values until you get a satisfactory result. But my good'n old FIC PA-2013 didn't had this option in BIOS. So, I never could get a solution for this problem. After making an upgrade to a ASUS A7V-133 with a Duron 1300, still using the same SB Live, the problem ended up. Curiously, this A7V-133 has the "PCI BUS LATENCY" option, but I never had the need to chance it.

robkermit · Feb 27, 2003, 02:47 PM

Daniel,

Thanks for your reply. I have had this sound card for a very long time, and have used it on many different systems. The original system was a MSI motherboard (ALI chipset) and AMD K6/2 450. Worked great.

Other friends who have owned AMD systems with VIA chipsets and SB Live cards, have also complained
about the same problem.

Maybe there is a flash upgrade available for the motherboard I am currently using? Guess I got a few things to look into today

If not, guess I can handle some cracking and popping till I get my new computer ordered.

Daniel Drummond · Feb 27, 2003, 03:53 PM

The latency I was talking about was only related to the ASIO part of the drivers. But in fact, there's something called "via pci latency patch" that could help you. Search for it in google, download and install and see if the crackling gets better. Also, take a look at this http://www.kxproject.spb.ru/686b.php?language=en

robkermit · Feb 28, 2003, 01:37 PM

Daniel, Thanks for your reply and help. I downloaded and installed George's PCI Latency Patch. So far so good! :-)

bones · Mar 4, 2003, 07:57 AM

Driver Version: 5.10.00.3530 - debug
SB0060 5.1 [a000]
Win XP Pro.
Motherboard: Asus A7V333 (AMD using Via Chipset)

To preface this message: I was absolutley stunned with the positive differences in these KX drivers. The surrounder rocks the house, and its nice to know I can use my computer for 6 channel DVD surround again. The doors have opened far in that field. But now onto business.

(5.10.00.3530 - debug) To let anyone interested know, I was experiencing the crackling/popping sounds in every application when certain preconditions were met (accessing a hard drive located on a PCI card for example, CPU pegs etc...), and they were pretty bad in this version.

Applying George's PCI Latency Patch (found here: http://www.kxproject.spb.ru/686b.php?language=en) really helped things out. Well, as far as I can tell it fixed them.

Side note: I've never had the problems in the past with the Creative drivers (yes, goodness knows you guys at the KX Project have been compared to those whack jobs at Creative far too much, and I apologize). But it doesn't yet make much sense to me as to why I needed to only now apply this patch (previous versions of the KX drivers didn't have the problem anywhere near as bad, if at all with my system). Then again, for all I know a whole mess of problems on my computer were just fixed with the patch. Explanation on that would be wonderful, but its no big deal.

The real deal I have with crackling is with recording. I haven't touched any real hard core audio programs like the ones described in the forums (Cubase, Sonar etc...) though I do love recording my guitar with effects and with that some midi drums that I play "live" using my computer's keyboard and some midi-player-keyboard. I never find any problems with playing the guitar and effects in real time on the speakers, though, when I record it using Cool Edit (or any wave recorder for that matter) every once in a while the recorded wave will clip out, even though during the recording, the sound coming from the speakers is just fine. In short: playback is cool, recording is pooched.

When playing back the recorded wave, the sound chops out frequently. It only becomes worse when attempting to record the midi drums over the sound, where not only is playback speed effected, but the realtime midi playback is really chopped and delayed as well. In short again: realtime playback of midi is pooched when wave file is playing in cool edit.

This problem has existed for me throughout my experience with KX.

Is this buffer size related? Or ASIO?

If ASIO related, could someone instruct me as to how to change the ASIO settings in KX? I keep forgetting how to get to that darn menu.

Any assistance would be awesome.

Thanks,
Steev

Eli · Apr 17, 2003, 04:58 PM

I use an old PIII 600 and a board which is not VIA...

I have the crack & pop problem MOSTLY when playing games, and when transferring files during playing music in winamp.
(Not specially in ASIO)

Anyone got any idea how can i fix it?

RIV@NVX · Apr 17, 2003, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bones
Side note: I've never had the problems in the past with the Creative drivers (yes, goodness knows you guys at the KX Project have been compared to those whack jobs at Creative far too much, and I apologize). But it doesn't yet make much sense to me as to why I needed to only now apply this patch (previous versions of the KX drivers didn't have the problem anywhere near as bad, if at all with my system). Then again, for all I know a whole mess of problems on my computer were just fixed with the patch. Explanation on that would be wonderful, but its no big deal.

Creative's drivers include it and install it by default when VIA chipset is detected.

Feb 26, 2003, 08:43 PM	#1
robkermit DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bakersville, North Carolina Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	cracking popping sounds When using latest kX audio drivers, sound frequently cracks and pops. Can someone give me more information on how to resolve this issue? I don't think that it really is a problem with the drivers, as they worked perfectly with this sound card in my computer which recently died. System: Shuttle VIA MVP3 motherboard AT standard AMD K6/2 350 MHZ w/ 3DNow 256 MB (128 MB x 2) PC 100 SDRAM PNY Geforce 2 32 MB PCI SoundBlaster Live Value CT4670 PCI 3COM 3C905B 10/100 Ethernet PCI 6.4 GB Quantum Bigfoot IDE 16x10x40 CD RW IDE __________________ There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

Feb 26, 2003, 11:33 PM	#2
Daniel Drummond DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Brazil Posts: 1,137 Rep Power: 0	Does the sound pop/crack only when using ASIO or also with general music files (like when using media player or winamp)? If they pop only when using ASIO try increasing the latency a bit. __________________ www.palcomp3.com.br/ed

Feb 27, 2003, 01:00 PM	Thread Starter #3
robkermit DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bakersville, North Carolina Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	increasing latency? Daniel: The sound pops whenever I stream music off the Internet, through Radio@AOL. How can I increase latency? __________________ There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

Feb 27, 2003, 02:47 PM	Thread Starter #5
robkermit DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bakersville, North Carolina Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	via Daniel, Thanks for your reply. I have had this sound card for a very long time, and have used it on many different systems. The original system was a MSI motherboard (ALI chipset) and AMD K6/2 450. Worked great. Other friends who have owned AMD systems with VIA chipsets and SB Live cards, have also complained about the same problem. Maybe there is a flash upgrade available for the motherboard I am currently using? Guess I got a few things to look into today If not, guess I can handle some cracking and popping till I get my new computer ordered. __________________ There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

Feb 27, 2003, 03:53 PM	#6
Daniel Drummond DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Brazil Posts: 1,137 Rep Power: 0	The latency I was talking about was only related to the ASIO part of the drivers. But in fact, there's something called "via pci latency patch" that could help you. Search for it in google, download and install and see if the crackling gets better. Also, take a look at this http://www.kxproject.spb.ru/686b.php?language=en __________________ www.palcomp3.com.br/ed

Feb 27, 2003, 02:19 PM	#4
danielshoes DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro - Brazil Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	robkermit, this is chronic problem that happens with the SB Live series. I had a Live Value in a machine very similar to yours (FIC PA-2013 and a K6-2/450) and this crackling sounds had ever happened with me, specially when playing games (at low frame rate scenes) or when moving data through the HDs. It looks like this noise appears when the PCI and associated buses are experiencing heavy data traffic. Searching in Creative website last year, I found a troubleshooting page providing instructions to soften the crackling effect. One of these instructions wast to tweak a parameter in the BIOS called "PCI BUS LATENCY" (I guess this is the latency Daniel Drummond mentions - hey another brazilian here!!!) and keep trying different values until you get a satisfactory result. But my good'n old FIC PA-2013 didn't had this option in BIOS. So, I never could get a solution for this problem. After making an upgrade to a ASUS A7V-133 with a Duron 1300, still using the same SB Live, the problem ended up. Curiously, this A7V-133 has the "PCI BUS LATENCY" option, but I never had the need to chance it.

Feb 28, 2003, 01:37 PM	Thread Starter #7
robkermit DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bakersville, North Carolina Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	george's via latency patch Daniel, Thanks for your reply and help. I downloaded and installed George's PCI Latency Patch. So far so good! :-) __________________ There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

Mar 4, 2003, 07:57 AM	#8
bones DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Driver Version: 5.10.00.3530 - debug SB0060 5.1 [a000] Win XP Pro. Motherboard: Asus A7V333 (AMD using Via Chipset) To preface this message: I was absolutley stunned with the positive differences in these KX drivers. The surrounder rocks the house, and its nice to know I can use my computer for 6 channel DVD surround again. The doors have opened far in that field. But now onto business. (5.10.00.3530 - debug) To let anyone interested know, I was experiencing the crackling/popping sounds in every application when certain preconditions were met (accessing a hard drive located on a PCI card for example, CPU pegs etc...), and they were pretty bad in this version. Applying George's PCI Latency Patch (found here: http://www.kxproject.spb.ru/686b.php?language=en) really helped things out. Well, as far as I can tell it fixed them. Side note: I've never had the problems in the past with the Creative drivers (yes, goodness knows you guys at the KX Project have been compared to those whack jobs at Creative far too much, and I apologize). But it doesn't yet make much sense to me as to why I needed to only now apply this patch (previous versions of the KX drivers didn't have the problem anywhere near as bad, if at all with my system). Then again, for all I know a whole mess of problems on my computer were just fixed with the patch. Explanation on that would be wonderful, but its no big deal. The real deal I have with crackling is with recording. I haven't touched any real hard core audio programs like the ones described in the forums (Cubase, Sonar etc...) though I do love recording my guitar with effects and with that some midi drums that I play "live" using my computer's keyboard and some midi-player-keyboard. I never find any problems with playing the guitar and effects in real time on the speakers, though, when I record it using Cool Edit (or any wave recorder for that matter) every once in a while the recorded wave will clip out, even though during the recording, the sound coming from the speakers is just fine. In short: playback is cool, recording is pooched. When playing back the recorded wave, the sound chops out frequently. It only becomes worse when attempting to record the midi drums over the sound, where not only is playback speed effected, but the realtime midi playback is really chopped and delayed as well. In short again: realtime playback of midi is pooched when wave file is playing in cool edit. This problem has existed for me throughout my experience with KX. Is this buffer size related? Or ASIO? If ASIO related, could someone instruct me as to how to change the ASIO settings in KX? I keep forgetting how to get to that darn menu. Any assistance would be awesome. Thanks, Steev

Apr 17, 2003, 04:58 PM	#9
Eli DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 38 Rep Power: 0	I use an old PIII 600 and a board which is not VIA... I have the crack & pop problem MOSTLY when playing games, and when transferring files during playing music in winamp. (Not specially in ASIO) Anyone got any idea how can i fix it?