Audio dropouts making Cakewalk unusable.

[Feral State Sound]

24 minutes ago, David Baay said:

For my part, there is no rushing to judgement. I'm just suggesting logical troubleshooting steps, including making changes to the Cakewalk configuration.

The current release is working too well for too many users to conclude that the update has an inherent issue that's independent of the environment it's running in or the configuration of Cakewalk or project files. 

Of course the ultimate troubleshooting step would be to roll back the update, but that isn't possible with the current installation model unless you've prepared in advance by backing up or using scook's utility for managing versions.

I believe there were some changes to WASAPI driver mode related to sharing drivers, but the OP is using ASIO.

I do see more dropouts on my laptop, but I attribute that to using WASAPI shared mode on a low-spec machine with years of accumulated software bloat (dual-core company Lenovo). And it's no worse in this release than it's ever been. It's fine if I only use it for playback with the buffer at 10-20ms, but down at 3ms where you would want it for real-time performance of soft synths or input monitoring , it's dropout city. But I can see the DPC spikes and CPU hits from other processes that cause it, and if I go out of my way to do a clean boot ith WIFI and Bluetooth disabled, and switch to WASAPI Exclusive mode, it's quite stable at 3ms.

This reminds me... there was a problem with WASAPI driver mode at 44.1 kHz in a release late last year that I never encountered because I run at 48kHz. There's no indication that anything like that has resurfaced, but it might be worth changing sample rates (in a project with no recorded audio) as another general troubleshooting step, regardless of what driver mode you use.

Running Cakewalk in a recent laptop (i5 8250u, Mx150, 8 DDR4) under Win 10 in Wasapi Shared Mode (48 Khz, 24 bit). I am having tons of dropouts while testing VST plugins, no issues with other DAW on the same machine.  Sincerely and with no ranting, the audio engine in Cakewalk seems very fragile and unstable for me.

[David Baay]

What about WASAPI Exclusive? I can't vouch for Cakewalk's performance in WASAPI Shared mode in an otherwise ideally configured environment because I've never used it that way. When I wanted to see what WASAPI was capable of at low buffer sizes, I ran it in Exclusive mode. In fact, IIRC, the lowest buffer settings aren't even available in Shared mode...?

[abacab]

1 hour ago, David Baay said:

For my part, there is no rushing to judgement. I'm just suggesting logical troubleshooting steps, including making changes to the Cakewalk configuration.

The current release is working too well for too many users to conclude that the update has an inherent issue that's independent of the environment it's running in or the configuration of Cakewalk or project files.

If I was going to judge the hardware being used, I believe that it is fair to say that starting with a mobile processor at 2Ghz core frequency definitely limits the possibilities. Could be that something in Cakewalk "slightly" tilted the performance margin in such a way that someone running a DAW at 3-4 Ghz wouldn't notice.

[kevmsmith81]

1 hour ago, abacab said:

If I was going to judge the hardware being used, I believe that it is fair to say that starting with a mobile processor at 2Ghz core frequency definitely limits the possibilities. Could be that something in Cakewalk "slightly" tilted the performance margin in such a way that someone running a DAW at 3-4 Ghz wouldn't notice.

That is of course possible, and may explain why I get this issue with Cakewalk, but can use Reaper and Mixbus without issue.  Which I guess means I am going to have to seriously think about just switching to Reaper.

Not ideal, but buying a new computer isn't an option at this point.

[msmcleod]

It might also be worth checking these values in your configuration:

 

[Will.]

Cakewalk seems to be the only DAW with this problem. I haven't had any problems on this topic with other DAW's. Yet, I still prefer Cakewalk over them probably because I'm that comfortable using it, and know my way around it. I'm just gonna throw it out there - I've come to realize that when ever I remove the "Help Module" from the bottom right screen, and totally get rid of it,  this problem becomes absolute my side.  It could be my system, I don't know (i7 4th Gen, 16Gig ram, 2TB hardrive,  4.2ghz quad-core intel core i7CPU.) So, this confuses me too. Could it be that there's too much clutter some where on it's engine in the workspace? Some sort of outdated file source? This often happens when the CPU or RAM get's overloaded and does not refresh quick enough. This only started happening with the 64bit version on my side.  I don't recall dealing with this in the 32it version. 

 

[LarsF]

Just to explain a bit about some other daws

- Reaper adds asio buffer sizes to process as soon as any plugin latency is reported, multiple even, just add as plugins report. So having 128 or 256 samples that means first plugin with 1 sample latency or more add one more buffer.

- StudioOne the same, has minimum extra 64 samples processing buffer

You get longer roundtrip latency in these daws due to this, but maybe higher threshold to crackles.

 

First thing I noticed running Reaper 10 years ago - I had to go down to 64 samples to get acceptable roundtrip latency while recording.

So this could be one reason that margins are lower in Cakewalk - but get better roundtrip latency a lot of the time.

 

I tested various audio interfaces 10 years ago as I got my current daw computer - firewire as first.

Sonar freaked out with just one VST instrument unless I increased asio buffer size on step from what I used with rme.

Audio ran fine, just VST instruments seem to have some special routing going making it vulnerable.

But freeze in Cakewalk is the best implementation among all daws, giving you audio on all outputs etc - so no problem using that if project grows to crackles of some sort.

Having no crackle issues, RME HDSP 9632 64 samples asio buffer and i7-860 2.8 GHz, even with largest projects I have now 80-85 tracks - but run majority external midi gear since 6-7 years back. I just like hardware at my fingers more than mouse click-fest.

I just found that I don't need to run instruments live constantly - so over all tip is to test if freezing making audio of it all helps any crackles you have. Unfreezing and re-recording is so smooth in Cakewalk I would not think twice doing that if having problem.

 

So how much is due to VST instruments running live - just test if way forward freezing them changes anything - is my tip. Unless recording a specific instrument right now - no need to use resources on live - especially not in Cakewalk.

[Skyline_UK]

8 hours ago, _Will_ said:

Cakewalk seems to be the only DAW with this problem. I haven't had any problems on this topic with other DAW's. Yet, I still prefer Cakewalk over them probably because I'm that comfortable using it, and know my way around it. I'm just gonna throw it out there - I've come to realize that when ever I remove the "Help Module" from the bottom right screen, and totally get rid of it,  this problem becomes absolute my side.  It could be my system, I don't know (i7 4th Gen, 16Gig ram, 2TB hardrive,  4.2ghz quad-core intel core i7CPU.) So, this confuses me too. Could it be that there's too much clutter some where on it's engine in the workspace? Some sort of outdated file source? This often happens when the CPU or RAM get's overloaded and does not refresh quick enough. This only started happening with the 64bit version on my side.  I don't recall dealing with this in the 32it version. 

 

"...this problem becomes absolute my side.."   Can I just clarify, do you mean that audio processing is not as good when you close the Help module?  Is that 100% the case every time you open CW and close the Help module?

[Kevin Walsh]

I feel the OP's pain. I love Cakewalk but I've always had occasional problems with dropouts and crashes and the latency at which I operate has always been higher than I wanted it to be. I have an old MOTU Firewire 8pre that I bought somewhere around 2005. The performance was such that I was forced to change how I record because input monitoring was a non-starter for me.  Since other people didn't seem to have these issues I always assumed it was my machine, an aging but oh-so-reliable  X58-based i7/970 system I built in 2011, and I just pressed on. I loved the sounds I got out of that thing though! The MOTU ran okay in Reaper, but I hate using Reaper. 

I never really solved the latency issue on that system, but I did discover through many Windows updates that Microsoft loves to reset all your carefully tuned system parameters to values they want them set to. Window sometimes (but not always!) likes to re-enable power management for USB and CPUs, and all the built in audio devices you don't use magically turned back on.  I also learned that I must uninstall and re-install the MOTU device drivers whenever the Windows runs an update. It was said that MOTU boxes were targeted at Mac's first and foremost and I don't know that for sure but I believe it. I dreaded both Windows and Cakewalk updates. They almost always introduced a new round of crashing and instability.

This last January I picked up a Ryzen 9 3950x and a Gigabty x570 AORUS Master and the parts to go with it and built a new system, but I kept  my old MOTU. Stability was good out of the box, but the latency issues remained. Maybe I could get a bit more juice out of the old girl, but not much. So I picked up a new Audient ID22 this week and got it yesterday. BLAM. All problems solved! I had never seen the heady heights of sub-64 sample settings before, such a pleasure to have everything work so well. Fast, stable, great sounding. No crashes. We'll see what the next update brings but I'm very happy with things right now.

Cakewalk isn't perfect but I've personally discovered that your interface hardware chain (firewire, tb, usb, etc)  and the quality of your drivers are an under-appreciated factor in your audio setup's stability and efficiency. I know the OP has ruled out new hardware, and I get that, it took me a long time to justify my recent hardware refreshes, but keep in mind that current software development is done in parallel with current hardware development and both sides of the equation matter.

 

[Will.]

14 hours ago, Skyline_UK said:

"...this problem becomes absolute my side.."   Can I just clarify, do you mean that audio processing is not as good when you close the Help module?  Is that 100% the case every time you open CW and close the Help module?

No, Absolute as in "Free of restrictions." Meaning, the problem goes away - as in no more audio dropouts. Like I said, it could be that my system or "O.S" don't read the file correctly. A few clutter sitting some where in the 64bit version of the DAW maybe. I don't know. That's why it is very important to make sure the "Use Analytics to improve Cakewalk" box is ticked under "Preferences."

[Michael Richards]

This new update is killing me. I have had dropouts before and they were all cured with the next upgrade. Absolutely nothing has changed. I use ASIO driver. It isn’t worth getting into. One day it will be cured. I never use a wireless router with this machine. It had been rock solid for a month before this update.

I don’t know why I’m complaining. Well, maybe my big mouth was telling everyone how rock solid Cakewalk has been. I agree with some of the people that said Reaper didn’t have this issue. 

[frodo]

Buenas  activa la memoria cache  de lectura y ajustala  yo la puse a 1024 y perfecto

 

[frodo]

Esto es respecto al error  4

[frodo]

On 27/2/2020 at 11:22, kevmsmith81 said:

¿Alguien más tiene este problema con la última actualización? Es el código de error 4

Los abandonos de audio están llegando al punto en que ya no puedo usar este DAW. Solo para intentar lo menos exigente que se me ocurrió, intenté hacer una sola toma vocal en una pista de acompañamiento de karaoke, y todavía lo entiendo.

He intentado cambiar de los controladores personalizados de mi interfaz a Asio4all, y aún sucede.

Como referencia, puedo tener exactamente las mismas cosas abiertas en Reaper, con los mismos complementos que usan la misma configuración del controlador y no obtengo abandonos en eso, así que estoy seguro de que no es mi computadora el problema, sino Cakewalk.

Prefiero usar Cakewalk, ya que tengo más confianza en mi camino, pero si esto no se detiene, ¡tendré que comenzar a aprender Reaper correctamente!

 

EDITAR: Solo como referencia, mi máquina es una computadora portátil con Windows 10 con una CPU Ryzen 5 2500U y 16 GB de RAM, por lo que es un sistema bastante decente. Tiene un HDD mecánico en lugar de un SSD, pero aun así Cakewalk estaba bien antes de las últimas actualizaciones.

Activando la memoria cache de lectuara se me soluciono a mi yo la puse a 1024

[Adam Green]

Th

On 3/3/2020 at 12:24 AM, Will_Kaydo said:

A few clutter sitting some where in the 64bit version of the DAW maybe. I don't know.

 

This make sense in many ways.

[Adam Green]

On 3/2/2020 at 1:21 AM, Will_Kaydo said:

 Could it be that there's too much clutter some where on it's engine in the workspace? Some sort of outdated file source? This only started happening with the 64bit version on my side.  I don't recall dealing with this in the 32it version. 

 

I'm 100% onboard what you have said here. 

[Starship Krupa]

On 2/27/2020 at 9:51 PM, Max Arwood said:

I wish we could have an "official" statement of tweaks. I wish it would have  a few levels - These will help, These will help more, and - If you are desperate for horsepower try these.

Well, there is a page in the official Cakewalk documentation about improving audio performance, but I'm not even going to link to it here. It's so out of date that I started a lighthearted humorous thread about it called "Wisdom of the Ages." It looks as if it has not been updated in decades. There are men and women reading this thread, using CbB, who were literally not yet born when that document was last touched. I would like to compile a Windows 10-appropriate list that the new devs could incorporate into the current documentation if they wish, but that's another thread.

Anyway, when I first upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 (I'll now call it an "upgrade"), my system was not 100% happy. So I rolled up my sleeves and looked at what was going on using some analysis tools. I learned two important things.

First, Cakewalk's playback engine streams from every clip's associated audio file every time you hit Play*. That goes for muted clips and tracks, too. The only tracks and clips that don't stream are ones that are Archived.

(*Not all DAW's do this. Some have logic that figures out which is the audio that needs to be streamed (that is, clips that are unmuted) and streams only those files, and some may even do dirty tricks like compress or bandwidth limit on playback (on PLAYBACK, I stress, not mixdown) in order to provide that coveted glitch-free mixing experience. With so many people believing that "all DAW's sound the same," they can do whatever they want, because, after all, it's impossible for a DAW to sound different. ?)

Second, Windows Defender Antimalware Service is set up by default to scan everything in real time. That is, every time a program reads or writes a file to or from the drive, Defender is sitting there waiting to jump in and scan it. That includes VST plug-ins, samples, audio files and all the dynamic linking libraries that any Windows program like Cakewalk loads during runtime. Just think of a whole extra program between Cakewalk and the drive that's scanning your vocal performance for malware on the fly....

This is not theoretical. In both cases I sat here and watched Windows Process Monitor as I ran a project and did a Keanu "whoa." In @Robert Bone's worst suspicions I doubt there's a wi-fi adapter driver around that could eat up as much overhead as I was seeing, and I was getting clean DPC scans. ?

But enough of my prattle!

What can we do about this?

Windows Defender allows you to exclude certain folders from realtime scanning. Get thee now to Settings/Security and exclude your Cakewalk project folders from realtime scanning. I also recommend you do it for your plug-in and sample folders. None of these folders are likely to carry a malware payload, and if by some chance they did, Defender would pick it up on its systemwide scans. Be aware that Microsoft loves to revert your security settings, so once you've excluded folders from realtime scanning, check that setting every couple of months to make sure that they haven't switched back.

Also, in projects with many unused takes that you're keeping around for possible later comping or alternate versions, etc., consider moving them to other tracks and then Archiving those tracks so that they don't all get streamed unnecessarily while you're mixing and comping your main "keepers."

Try these and report back if you see an improvement in performance. They work for me, on my system, but as always, YMMV.

[timboalogo]

I have used Avira for years now and have excluded the folders you mention. Without the exclusions, even a fast system can be brought to its knees.

Timbo

[kevmsmith81]

11 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Well, there is a page in the official Cakewalk documentation about improving audio performance, but I'm not even going to link to it here. It's so out of date that I started a lighthearted humorous thread about it called "Wisdom of the Ages." It looks as if it has not been updated in decades. There are men and women reading this thread, using CbB, who were literally not yet born when that document was last touched. I would like to compile a Windows 10-appropriate list that the new devs could incorporate into the current documentation if they wish, but that's another thread.

Anyway, when I first upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 (I'll now call it an "upgrade"), my system was not 100% happy. So I rolled up my sleeves and looked at what was going on using some analysis tools. I learned two important things.

First, Cakewalk's playback engine streams from every clip's associated audio file every time you hit Play*. That goes for muted clips and tracks, too. The only tracks and clips that don't stream are ones that are Archived.

(*Not all DAW's do this. Some have logic that figures out which is the audio that needs to be streamed (that is, clips that are unmuted) and streams only those files, and some may even do dirty tricks like compress or bandwidth limit on playback (on PLAYBACK, I stress, not mixdown) in order to provide that coveted glitch-free mixing experience. With so many people believing that "all DAW's sound the same," they can do whatever they want, because, after all, it's impossible for a DAW to sound different. ?)

Second, Windows Defender Antimalware Service is set up by default to scan everything in real time. That is, every time a program reads or writes a file to or from the drive, Defender is sitting there waiting to jump in and scan it. That includes VST plug-ins, samples, audio files and all the dynamic linking libraries that any Windows program like Cakewalk loads during runtime. Just think of a whole extra program between Cakewalk and the drive that's scanning your vocal performance for malware on the fly....

This is not theoretical. In both cases I sat here and watched Windows Process Monitor as I ran a project and did a Keanu "whoa." In @Robert Bone's worst suspicions I doubt there's a wi-fi adapter driver around that could eat up as much overhead as I was seeing, and I was getting clean DPC scans. ?

But enough of my prattle!

What can we do about this?

Windows Defender allows you to exclude certain folders from realtime scanning. Get thee now to Settings/Security and exclude your Cakewalk project folders from realtime scanning. I also recommend you do it for your plug-in and sample folders. None of these folders are likely to carry a malware payload, and if by some chance they did, Defender would pick it up on its systemwide scans. Be aware that Microsoft loves to revert your security settings, so once you've excluded folders from realtime scanning, check that setting every couple of months to make sure that they haven't switched back.

Also, in projects with many unused takes that you're keeping around for possible later comping or alternate versions, etc., consider moving them to other tracks and then Archiving those tracks so that they don't all get streamed unnecessarily while you're mixing and comping your main "keepers."

Try these and report back if you see an improvement in performance. They work for me, on my system, but as always, YMMV.

I use Windows Defender, and I wasn't aware of this.

So, I will try this and see how I get on.  And thank you!

[frodo]

 Buenas una preguntilla ¿

Cuando activar la memoria cache