Recording and playback freezes with new U-Phoria audio interface

[nkeelaghan]

I just got a new Behringer U-Phoria UMC404HD. When I tried using it in Cakewalk, it's recognized fine. However, the play bar freezes when I start recording. It seems to record the audio despite seeming frozen. The audio will continue to freeze until I turn recording off on the track. Furthermore, the audio is not playing on Cakewalk, and I've tried both the computer speakers and the headphone jack on the audio interface. The audio is only able to play when it is exported.

Also, this interface is supposed to be 4-in, 4-out, but it's showing up as 2-in, 2-out on Cakewalk, with 2 stereo channels. I thought this interface was supposed to be 4 independent stereo channels--was I mistaken?

Screen capture: https://youtu.be/ePdkS0hES2Q

Thanks!

[msmcleod]

The UMC404HD has 4 mono inputs and 4 mono outputs, i.e.  2 stereo in / 2 stereo out.

As for the freezing, it's difficult to tell as it seems you've got drop-out notifications switched off.   The drop-out code on the notification will tell you why it's dropping out.

 

[nkeelaghan]

If you can tell me how to turn drop-out notifications on, I can try it and get the code. I never turned them off so I'm not sure why they are off.

I tried to see if I could change the buffer, but it's all greyed out.

Edited March 14, 2022 by nkeelaghan

[nkeelaghan]

Also, all my notifications are on, so I should receive dropout notifications, but I'm not...

[scook]

Download and install the driver for the insterface and set the drive mode to ASIO in Preferences > Audio > Playback and Recording

[rfssongs]

Not exactly a high tech answer but - make sure your cords are plugged in tightly and that you are not getting power fluctuations. I have a different interface but if it gets overdriven enough it will crash everything.

[msmcleod]

Other things:

• +1 to @scook's and @rfssongs suggestions - you want to be using the official ASIO driver from Behringer, and running in ASIO mode, and using a high quality cable.
• Uninstall any "generic" drivers such as ASIO4ALL or the generic ASIO drivers from Steinberg, Reaper, MAGIX or FLStudio - they are not needed if you have a real ASIO driver, and can interfere with your main ASIO driver.
• If you're using a laptop, ensure you are running in High Performance mode - turn off any battery saving features.
• It's better to record at a lower buffer size than 4096.  Personally, I record at a buffer size of 64, but 128 or 256 should be fine too.
• Make sure your all Cakewalk folders ( e.g. global audio folder, project folders & any plugin folders ) are excluded from any virus checkers or cloud sync devices.  If they are trying to access the wav file Cakewalk is saving to during recording, it could cause dropouts at best, and even worse crashes.

 

[John Vere]

You might benifit from watching the very first video in this tutorial series here.

 

[nkeelaghan]

On 3/14/2022 at 3:11 PM, scook said:

Download and install the driver for the insterface and set the drive mode to ASIO in Preferences > Audio > Playback and Recording

Okay so I've got the driver from their website (already had it it installed), and tried switching to ASIO, and got this weird error--see attached image. I tried changing the dropdown on the left under "available devices" to match the other side, "speakers." Cakewalk worked fine, but no audio was being recorded from the mic, and the input only had the options available under the second attached image.

For the sake of trying, I went back to the audio preferences, and reverted to "WASAPI Exclusive." Guess what? It works and records now fine, without error or stoppage.

If this is only temporarily working, I can come back for more advice. But for now, it seems to be working, and I only have one more question. Under the sound icon in the windows taskbar, I can change the audio output of my computer between my speakers and the Behringer interface. However, with the interface plugged in, from Cakewalk I can only get audio through the interface. How can I switch between audio outputs in Cakewalk with my current settings? Thanks!

[John Vere]

You really need to watch this. I guarantee it will work if you do. 
 

 

 

[nkeelaghan]

That video was really helpful! I can see that it's a pretty complex system but I'm starting to understand it more. Might need to watch the video a few more times.

I think the most useful thing is I think I finally understand the different driver modes and what each is used for. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ASIO is best for recording, and only allows for one audio interface for minimum latency, which is why my onboard sound doesn't work in ASIO mode. But I can use the WASAPI modes for that.

[scook]

21 minutes ago, nkeelaghan said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but ASIO is best for recording, and only allows for one audio interface for minimum latency, which is why my onboard sound doesn't work in ASIO mode. But I can use the WASAPI modes for that.

ASIO uses one driver at a time. Some manufacturers supply ASIO drivers that can work with several of their interfaces at a time. AFAIK, there is no ASIO driver that works with multiple interfaces from different manufacturers. 

There are generic ASIO drivers that will aggregate interfaces. These drivers are nothing more than wrappers for native Windows drivers (WDM and WASAPI). These drivers were written to use with products that only support ASIO. In addition to ASIO, CbB supports native Windows drivers so there is no need to use a generic ASIO driver. Generally, these drivers should be avoided especially if a manufacturer supplied driver is available. Generic drivers are known to conflict with manufacturer supplied ASIO drivers.

The Realtek ASIO driver has never worked well.

When using onboard audio, WASAPI is the best choice for Win10 and Win11. Old OSes should use WDM.