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Update Requires Focusrite Driver Re-Install Every Time

John Ritter

By John Ritter
in Cakewalk by BandLab

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John Ritter

John Ritter

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I've solved this twice now, so it's more of a notice to Cakewalk.  On the last official update, as well as the early release 2021.09, the install has messed with my Focusrite drivers to the point I had to re-install them both times.  Obviously not a huge deal as it takes a minute to re-install the drivers.  I don't recall everything that happened last time but it wasn't functional until I re-installed, but this time my audio was just distorted like crazy.  Reinstall fixed it immediately.

Again, no big deal, but I feel the cakewalk team should be aware of this.

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10510U CPU @ 1.80GHz   2.30 GHz, 32GB RAM

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bitflipper

bitflipper

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Interesting. Hundreds of us use Focusrite interfaces, but nobody's reported this before. Doesn't mean you don't have a problem, just that it may be specific to your system. Could the distortion actually be a too-low buffer size? CW doesn't mess with that, afaik, so I'm just guessing. Are you using ASIO or WASAPI?

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Will.

Will.

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8 hours ago, John Ritter said:

I've solved this twice now, so it's more of a notice to Cakewalk.  On the last official update, as well as the early release 2021.09, the install has messed with my Focusrite drivers to the point I had to re-install them both times.  Obviously not a huge deal as it takes a minute to re-install the drivers.  I don't recall everything that happened last time but it wasn't functional until I re-installed, but this time my audio was just distorted like crazy.  Reinstall fixed it immediately.

Again, no big deal, but I feel the cakewalk team should be aware of this.

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10510U CPU @ 1.80GHz   2.30 GHz, 32GB RAM

It could be a virus (or the annoying Windows defender which i'd disabled completely.) Try deleting your old drivers exe. Assuming you keep a copy of it on the same system as your DAW machine. Mine is on an external drive in a draw somewhere, but prefer to do a clean download and install. 

OR

It could be a recent plugin install with its own drivers that overwrites your system drivers everytime its being used - like soundgrid etc. Can also be a video editor software, or Video Converter app with its own drivers. 

Maybe a broadcast software where you have to choose drivers to record a live stream like OBS where it changes the windows drivers which is open drivers. 

Theres a few more i can think of, but this should give you some idea on what to check for. Check whats your default drivers in windows and if you don't use the rest -  disable them.  

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John Ritter

John Ritter

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Perhaps it was my ASIO buffer settings.  I had set it down to 96 when troubleshooting some latency the other day but I didn't have a problem until I updated the next day.  Updating the driver reset my buffer and it works fine now.  I have used it at 96 previously with no issues but who knows.  I only use this computer for audio production, so other software isn't really an issue.

Thanks for responding guys.

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msmcleod

msmcleod

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Whenever I've had distorted sound with focusrite drivers, it's been because Windows is using the focusrite at 48Khz and CbB is using it at 44.1Khz.

If they're both set to the same, there's no issues.  Mostly though, I try to have Windows use a different sound device instead, like my onboard device or my USB headset.

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John Ritter

John Ritter

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2 hours ago, msmcleod said:

Whenever I've had distorted sound with focusrite drivers, it's been because Windows is using the focusrite at 48Khz and CbB is using it at 44.1Khz.

If they're both set to the same, there's no issues.  Mostly though, I try to have Windows use a different sound device instead, like my onboard device or my USB headset.

Never thought of that.  Not even sure how to check that.

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John Ritter

John Ritter

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57 minutes ago, John Vere said:

For smooth sailing best to choose a sample rate and stay with it. 
Go into windows sound settings and make sure the same sample rate is set there as was set in Cakewalk  

 

 

Yeah, I've never messed with sample rate but I'll surely check.  Thanks.

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John Bradley

John Bradley

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7 hours ago, msmcleod said:

Mostly though, I try to have Windows use a different sound device instead, like my onboard device or my USB headset.

Same here. I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 which is the only thing Cakewalk uses. In the Windows "manage sound devices" control panel, the only output device I have enabled is the Realtek chip on the mobo, for 'computer sounds'. Everything else (most notably the Focusrite) is 'disabled' as far as Windows is concerned. To my mind, letting Windows touch your pro audio device is just asking for touble; give it a throwdown device it can muck with without affecting your work.

Wish there was a way to disable some of them (nVidia High Def Audio) in Cakewalk as well, so it stops asking me "hey, a new audio device, wanna use it?" whenver my monitors wake up, but that's another matter entirely.

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Craig Anderton

Craig Anderton

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2 hours ago, John Bradley said:

Wish there was a way to disable some of them (nVidia High Def Audio) in Cakewalk as well, so it stops asking me "hey, a new audio device, wanna use it?" whenver my monitors wake up, but that's another matter entirely.

Maybe this forum thread will help. I was shocked at how much disabling the "high-definition" (yeah, right...) audio drivers installed by graphics cards degraded performance. Doesn't happen with all graphics cards or all drivers, but it's well worth checking out.

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bitflipper

bitflipper

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21 hours ago, John Ritter said:

Never thought of that.  Not even sure how to check that.

I don't know, either. It's always bugged me that the Focusrite UI would confidently display the Windows default sample rate of 96 KHz even while I was playing back a 44.1 KHz project with no other applications open.

20 hours ago, John Vere said:

For smooth sailing best to choose a sample rate and stay with it. 
Go into windows sound settings and make sure the same sample rate is set there as was set in Cakewalk  

So this morning I took John's advice and changed the Windows default to 44.1. It probably won't make a lick of difference, but at least Mix Control will stop mocking me.

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John Vere

John Vere

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That link is pretty outdated info must have been windows 7 era.  |With W10 it's a 2 second trip to Settings/Sound/ Manage Sound devices to disable any unwanted sound devices.

It's one of the first things any DAW user setting up their audio should have done. This keeps Cakewalk and all audio apps focused on your interface. I never have conflicts and especially when I stay with 44.1. 

 I only have the on board enabled right now because I am making tutorials to demonstrate how to set this up. This immediately seems to cause problems for Movie Studio and VLC player. If I disable on board everything always works I have no need for on board sound output.   Pretty easy to toggle on and off if you need it. 

 

Screenshot (178).png

 

Here the where you set windows clock rate-  Settings/Sound/ Output device/ Additional device properties. 

 

383499452_Screenshot(179).thumb.png.e0fe499143bfa29c260080d1d8648446.png

Edited by John Vere
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Craig Anderton

Craig Anderton

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While not specifically about what the OP experienced, it's related: I often have to re-install things after a Windows update. Yesterday, right after a Windows update, my eLicenser said I didn't own any products. Re-installing the eLicenser control center, then unplugging/plugging the dongle, solved the problem. Also, I sold my Roland Octa-Capture interface years ago so I don't know if this is still an issue, but it often needed to have its drivers re-installed after a Windows update.

And sometimes, Windows tries to be "helpful" and go back to defaults that were changed. Bottom line is it's not always an issue with the program.

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Jake Waidelich

Jake Waidelich

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I've had to reinstall my Focusrite 2i2 drivers twice since I've gotten it and haven't been able to determine why. Both times I've had poor sound after being gone for a long weekend and turning computer back on. After reinstalling driver then everything was fine again. I haven't updated to latest CW version yet so I don't ent know if that's my issue, but I guess I'll find out soon enough when I do.

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  • 2 weeks later...
John Ritter

John Ritter

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Unfortunate follow-up to this.  I'm now in the position of having to re-install my focusrite drivers nearly every time I restart my computer.  Windows is set to 44.1khz, Focusrite installs by default at 48khz, but even when I change it to 44.1khz I still get the crunchy audio.  I re-install the drivers (which only takes a minute), and my audio is fine.  Any help is appreciated folks.  It's not Cakewalk doing it (I think), but I don't know what's going on.

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