Distorted Sound On Playback and Record Through Interface

[justinpbrown71]

I have an acoustic guitar, with pick-up, inputted through a Zoom R8 interface with the latest Zoom R8 ASIO driver installed (Windows 10).

The problem I have is that after about 1 minute of recording, the guitar signal suddenly changes to sound like it's being put through a frequency modulator effect, and the recording played back is the same.

I also get this when playing back previously recorded tracks (not recorded through the interface), but only when using the Zoom R8 interface, and intermittently.

I've read that this could be because of excessive cpu use due to the latency being too low, but my cpu use is not increasing above about 30% (RAM abt 60%). I have tried changing the buffer size from 256 to 512 and 1024, both in the Zoom ASIO control panel and Sync and Caching > File System, but there's no improvement.

Here is an image of my Driver Settings in CW with the buffer size set at 256:

UPDATE - Now the effect is currently permanent on all the tracks of one project, but if I export and play them back in WMP (via the interface) they are okay. Other projects are playing back okay.

UPDATE #2 - Having exported all the individual tracks and testing them (they're okay), I returned to CW, and without re-opening it played the original project which all of a sudden played back perfectly through the interface. I had made no changes to settings or anything at all.

UPDATE #3 - I have tried recording on other projects, as I thought the issue could be due to using specific VSTs, but even recording the guitar clean, with no VSTs previously added to the track, after a short while the sound of the guitar becomes distorted.

Edited September 8, 2022 by justinpbrown71
Updated information and more relevant title.

[John Vere]

This might be similar to an issue I have using a Motu M4.  I’ll get distorted recordings. Not play back ever but sometimes new audio recording is distorted. 
It only happens when there’s been outside activity like I was using Sony Vegas or You Tube. 
The only way to get back audio is a total reboot of computer and interface.  
So next time it happens try that. 
 

One other place to look for audio issues is matching sample rates. I explain how to set this in Tutorial #1. 

 

[justinpbrown71]

20 hours ago, Cactus Music said:

This might be similar to an issue I have using a Motu M4.  I’ll get distorted recordings. Not play back ever but sometimes new audio recording is distorted. 
It only happens when there’s been outside activity like I was using Sony Vegas or You Tube. 
The only way to get back audio is a total reboot of computer and interface.  
So next time it happens try that. 
 

One other place to look for audio issues is matching sample rates. I explain how to set this in Tutorial #1. 

 

Thanks for your reply, John.

I have watched your recommended video a couple of times and set up everything as it should be. The sample rates match between the hardware, Windows and CW.

I have reduced the buffer size to 1024 for recording and playback, but still I get the random 'robotic/frequency modulator' noise effect occurring during record and playback. Sometimes I get 15 minutes of recording time before it starts. Sometimes only on the track I'm recording onto, though usually after a short while it  appears on all the other tracks playing back.

I don't think it's a power issue; I've been monitoring the power draw and it's not too high.

I've stopped some unnecessary background services and have no AV running apart from Windows native one and Defender. Updates are halted.

Here are my current settings:

 

[John Vere]

The best way then to troubleshoot is the process of elimination. The first thing I would do is to use a different interface. If you have a friend or music store you can borrow from I would try that.
Zoom are not very high on the list of quality Audio  drivers. 
You might want to contact them and ask if they can help. 
Try a Google search of your issue to see if others have the problem. For sure this stuff is not a Cakewalk issue or nobody would be using it. 

[Byron Dickens]

That device sure is giving you a lot of trouble....

Edited September 9, 2022 by bdickens