audio Pops & clicks outside DAW

[Toon Develtere]

I get occasional pops or clicks or breaks in audio outside of PT when using a Steinberg UR242 audio interface. For example: I'll be watching a youtube video and all of a sudden there is a break in the audio of like 1 second. It only happens every 5 minutes or so but it is still annoying and I don't think it is supposed to happen. It happens even if I don't have any other programs running besides chrome (for the youtube video), so it's not like I'm pushing my laptop over its capacity (I think).

This is my setup:
-> one month old HP PAVILION POWER 15-CB002NB laptop:

• Intel Core i7-7700HQ

• 16 GB RAM - 256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050

• Windows 10

-> brand new Steinberg UR242
-> 2 yamaha HS7 studio monitors

I have ParkControl software that prevents CPU parking.
My system power status is on high performance.

I used to work with an older focusrite scarlett 2i2 interface but with that interface the problem was even worse. The sound would cut out for a much longer period and I had to unplug and plug the usb back in to resolve that issue every time it happened.

Hope this is the right place to post this?

[Wizzoboy]

1st thing to check is the USB hubs. In "Device Manager - Universal Serial Bus Controllers" , check the properties of each USB HUB making sure that under the "Power Management" tab that they are not set to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".
If that fails, I would look at disabling ParkControl to see if that makes a difference.

[albee1952]

As with all Windows setups, things will work better if you designate Windows to NOT use your Pro Tools interface as the default playback device Having the OS and Pro Tools fighting over control of the hardware might be the cause of this There are many other ways to get youtube(and other Windows sounds) to come out of your monitors(but first, route Windows thru the on-board sound card and see if that sounds clean with no dropouts)

[DonaldM]

Another thing to check is the clock source on your interface. With my Forcusrite Scarlett, if I have the clock source set to "internal" (which is normally where you'd want it when working with Pro Tools), and I then listen to something external, like you're trying to do, then I will get pops and clicks. Re-setting it to S/PDif fixes that. You may have something similar going on with your interface. But, as Albee pointed out, you really don't want your interface to be your main audio device. Use the windows playback for that.