Hi Promidi,
The buffer sizes were the first thing I tried. I use 256 for recording when the project is still light. I switch to 512 for mixing when plug ins are added, and when it gets real heavy, I double that which is as high as the Scarlett will allow.
The problem was very persistent at the moment of posting, but has since proved to be intermittent, leading me to believe a windows background function was the culprit. I went through the steps of eliminating all that I could, and it seems like it is resolved for the moment. I believe I forgot to turn windows defender back off when I was online last before problem.
It was so annoying. I even copied the midi to a new fresh project, bounced to audio which was niceand clean there, and imported into the older project, and still had an intermittent crackle. It also crackled when Kirchhoff was set to duck the kick. Like you could hear the compressor working.
Anyway, it would appear to be solved for the moment.
Thanks for assisting.
The Guide