Error on audio playback: "The audio buffer underflowed... (-6085)" Pro Tools 10.3.10

[Evilhamsta]

Here's the Sandra report of my system spec before i go into details about the issue:

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : TheBeast
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : OEM System Product Name
Serial Number : Sys***
Chassis : Desktop
Mainboard : ASUS P8Z77-V
Serial Number : 1302082********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 1805 12/19/2012
Total Memory : 15.72GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz (4C 8T 3.81GHz, 3.8GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 8MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA1155

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS Core (Ivy Bridge) DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 8GB DIMM DDR3 1.6GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Nanya NT4GC64B8HG0NF-DI 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Micron 16JTF51264AZ-1G6M1 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Micron 16JTF51264AZ-1G6M1 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Kingston ACR512X64D3U16C11G 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Samsung S24C570
(1920x1080, 23.5")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (7CU 1344SP SM5.0 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit, PCIe 1.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 112kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 112kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
OpenGL Processor : GeForce GTX 670/PCIe/SSE2 (4GB)

Storage Devices
LITEONIT LCT-128M3S (128GB, SATA600, SSD) : 119GB (C:)
Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA300/600, 7200rpm) : 932GB (R:)
Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA300/600, 7200rpm) : 932GB (R:)
HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 (1.2GB, SATA150, BD-RE, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 4MB Cache) : 1GB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
SSD (C:) : 119GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ LITEONIT LCT-128M3S (128GB, SATA600, SSD)
RAID (R:) : 2TB (NTFS, 4kB) @ 2x Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, RAID/SATA300/600, 7200rpm)
Jul 09 2015 (D:) : 4GB (UDF, 2kB) @ HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 (1.2GB, SATA150, BD-RE, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 4MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS Panther Point LPC Controller
Audio Device : ASUS Panther Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Audio Device : ASUS GK104 HDMI Audio Controller
Audio Codec : nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra [NV40.0]
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS Panther Point 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS Asmedia 106x SATA Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS Panther Point USB xHCI Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : ASUS Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 3 : ASUS Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
USB Controller 4 : ASUS ASMedia XHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send To Microsoft OneNote 2010 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : HP Photosmart 7520 series (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Fax - HP Photosmart 7520 series (200x200, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Scanners and Cameras
Scanner : Hewlett-Packard HP Photosmart 7520 series (NET) (Scanner, USB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Intel(R) 82579V Gigabit Network Connection (Ethernet, 100Mbps)
Network Adapter : Evolve Virtual Ethernet Adapter (Ethernet)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1
Platform Compliance : x64


Note: The O/S is Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit), not sure why the Sandra report says 'Home Media Center', this does not reflect the system information under system in control panel.


Pro Tools error text:

"The audio device buffer underflowed. If this occurs frequently, try decreasing the "H/W Buffer Size" in the Playback Engine panel or remove other devices from the audio firewire bus. (-6085)"

I receive this error after a few seconds of playing audio in a brand new session, with only a click track, with the error reproducible at a session sample rate of both 44.1kHz and 48kHz. The H/W buffer size is set to 64 so I can't set it any lower.

The audio interface i'm using is the M-Audio Fast Track, with the latest driver installed (version 6.1.12).

I'm running Pro Tools version 10.3.10

I have followed all of the steps advised in the General Troubleshooting and Optimization guides.

[albee1952]

Some red flags for me:

Memory Module : Nanya NT4GC64B8HG0NF-DI 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Micron 16JTF51264AZ-1G6M1 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Micron 16JTF51264AZ-1G6M1 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Kingston ACR512X64D3U16C11G 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
3 different brands of RAM is not a good idea. For me, every stick is an identical brand, size and model number(maybe just try the matching MICRON sticks in 2 slots of the same color).


Memory Controller : ASUS Core (Ivy Bridge) DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 8GB DIMM DDR3 1.6GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics
I am not a fan of integrated graphics and would disable this, and install a modest nVidia graphics card. not sure this would fix things, but....

RAID (R:) : 2TB (NTFS, 4kB) @ 2x Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, RAID/SATA300/600, 7200rpm)
What happens if you try recording to a single drive, instead of the RAID setup?

I am also not a fan of M-Audio interfaces, but maybe try it on different USB ports(it will need to re-install the driver for each new port, but that should be automatic) One more tidbit that could help; go into BIOS and disable the floppy drive(if its enabled there).

[Evilhamsta]

Thanks for the response :)

I will try your suggestion of using just the two Micron sticks of RAM and see if this provides any results, and I will also try and obtain a lone HDD to record onto and see if this works. I already tried all the available USB ports and I get the same issue whichever I use.

[Evilhamsta]

Just tried using only the two Micron sticks, to no avail, the problem persists. Working on getting my hands on a single HDD now.

[Amack]

Try increasing the H/W Buffer Size!

Originally Posted by Evilhamsta

Here's the Sandra report of my system spec before i go into details about the issue:

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : TheBeast
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : OEM System Product Name
Serial Number : Sys***
Chassis : Desktop
Mainboard : ASUS P8Z77-V
Serial Number : 1302082********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 1805 12/19/2012
Total Memory : 15.72GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz (4C 8T 3.81GHz, 3.8GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 8MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA1155

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS Core (Ivy Bridge) DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 8GB DIMM DDR3 1.6GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Nanya NT4GC64B8HG0NF-DI 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Micron 16JTF51264AZ-1G6M1 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Micron 16JTF51264AZ-1G6M1 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Kingston ACR512X64D3U16C11G 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Samsung S24C570
(1920x1080, 23.5")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (7CU 1344SP SM5.0 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit, PCIe 1.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 112kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 112kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (1344SP 7C 914MHz/1.2GHz, 512kB L2, 4GB 6GHz 256-bit)
OpenGL Processor : GeForce GTX 670/PCIe/SSE2 (4GB)

Storage Devices
LITEONIT LCT-128M3S (128GB, SATA600, SSD) : 119GB (C:)
Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA300/600, 7200rpm) : 932GB (R:)
Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA300/600, 7200rpm) : 932GB (R:)
HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 (1.2GB, SATA150, BD-RE, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 4MB Cache) : 1GB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
SSD (C:) : 119GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ LITEONIT LCT-128M3S (128GB, SATA600, SSD)
RAID (R:) : 2TB (NTFS, 4kB) @ 2x Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, RAID/SATA300/600, 7200rpm)
Jul 09 2015 (D:) : 4GB (UDF, 2kB) @ HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 (1.2GB, SATA150, BD-RE, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 4MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS Panther Point LPC Controller
Audio Device : ASUS Panther Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Audio Device : ASUS GK104 HDMI Audio Controller
Audio Codec : nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra [NV40.0]
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS Panther Point 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS Asmedia 106x SATA Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS Panther Point USB xHCI Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : ASUS Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 3 : ASUS Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
USB Controller 4 : ASUS ASMedia XHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send To Microsoft OneNote 2010 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : HP Photosmart 7520 series (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Fax - HP Photosmart 7520 series (200x200, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Scanners and Cameras
Scanner : Hewlett-Packard HP Photosmart 7520 series (NET) (Scanner, USB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Intel(R) 82579V Gigabit Network Connection (Ethernet, 100Mbps)
Network Adapter : Evolve Virtual Ethernet Adapter (Ethernet)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1
Platform Compliance : x64


Note: The O/S is Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit), not sure why the Sandra report says 'Home Media Center', this does not reflect the system information under system in control panel.


Pro Tools error text:

"The audio device buffer underflowed. If this occurs frequently, try decreasing the "H/W Buffer Size" in the Playback Engine panel or remove other devices from the audio firewire bus. (-6085)"

I receive this error after a few seconds of playing audio in a brand new session, with only a click track, with the error reproducible at a session sample rate of both 44.1kHz and 48kHz. The H/W buffer size is set to 64 so I can't set it any lower.

The audio interface i'm using is the M-Audio Fast Track, with the latest driver installed (version 6.1.12).

I'm running Pro Tools version 10.3.10

I have followed all of the steps advised in the General Troubleshooting and Optimization guides.

[Evilhamsta]

Increasing the H/W buffer size doesn't solve the problem, the same message comes up, suggesting to reduce the H/W buffer size.

[Amack]

Did you try changing the "Preferred Buffer Size" (to 64, 128, 256, 512, or 1024) in the Fast Track's Control Panel before starting Pro Tools? You should also verify that the Control Panel's "Sample Rate" matches that of the PT session.

Originally Posted by Evilhamsta

Increasing the H/W buffer size doesn't solve the problem, the same message comes up, suggesting to reduce the H/W buffer size.

[Evilhamsta]

Yes I made sure that the fast track control panel settings matched the playback engine and session parameters.

[Amack]

Have you tried using the Fast Track with another DAW, Windows Media Player, Audacity, etc.?

Originally Posted by Evilhamsta

Yes I made sure that the fast track control panel settings matched the playback engine and session parameters.

[Evilhamsta]

No, never thought of that :) i'll give it a go!