Scarlett 2i4 pops/drops/clicks

[emf1138]

Mixing from home, I'm using my Focusrite all day, everyday. I'm noticing that I get random pops and glitches when playing. Also, some random crackles when using headphones. I'll stop and playback the same area and and the audio is fine, no errors. I've tried adjusting HW Buffer and Disk cache and it's still happening. "Ignore Errors" is disabled. I've trashed prefs, still happens. Does a drive re-format sound in-order? Any other thoughts?

Trash Can Mac, 32gig ram, PT Ultimate 2019.10, Glyph USB 3.0 drive.

[Darryl Ramm]

You are a long away from justifying a drive reformat.

Are the click in the recording or happening on playback? (edit: I see clearly on playback)

You tried disk cache... but don't leave it set to "normal" set it to a size that will fully cache your session. Look on the cache meter to see it go green. they start working in the session once it's fully loaded. Now it's set to the best it can be. No other setting makes sense unless you start to run out of memory.

Common cause of headphone "crackles" is faulty headphone socket connections or damaged headphone cable/wiring or sometime RF interference from cell phones, etc.. Are you sure that is not happening here. And it's also not a microphonic headphone volume knob. Give them all a good wiggle.

What sample rate are you running at?

Are you using the interface directly or via an aggregate device? Check Pro Tools has not opened an aggregate device, don't assume (and don't use/get rid of the aggregate).

Try playing back through built in output. Try removing interfaces, all USB peripherals etc. you can and just run the computer with built-in output.

Are you recording to the USB 3 Glyph. What file system? Remove the Glyph drive and try a session off the internal SSD (which will outperform the Glyph so much it's silly)... but I'll eat my hat if the disk is at fault but mostly I just want it removed because its an electrical peripheral connected to the computer.

What macOS version?

What buffer size are you running at now? What happens in you increase that?

If increasing buffer fixes it it might be a plugin issue... and you might need to end up troubleshooting plugins.

[emf1138]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

You are a long away from justifying a drive reformat.

Are the click in the recording or happening on playback? (edit: I see clearly on playback)

No, the clicks and glitches are not getting recorded

You tried disk cache... but don't leave it set to "normal" set it to a size that will fully cache your session. Look on the cache meter to see it go green. they start working in the session once it's fully loaded. Now it's set to the best it can be. No other setting makes sense unless you start to run out of memory.

I've tried 9, 12, 20 gig

Common cause of headphone "crackles" is faulty headphone socket connections or damaged headphone cable/wiring or sometime RF interference from cell phones, etc.. Are you sure that is not happening here. And it's also not a microphonic headphone volume knob. Give them all a good wiggle.

What sample rate are you running at?

48k/24

Are you using the interface directly or via an aggregate device? Check Pro Tools has not opened an aggregate device, don't assume (and don't use/get rid of the aggregate).

Direct.

Are you recording to the USB 3 Glyph. What file system? Remove the Glyph drive and try a session off the internal SSD (which will outperform the Glyph so much it's silly)... but I'll eat my hat if the disk is at fault but mostly I just want it removed because its an electrical peripheral connected to the computer.

Yes. Extended Journaled

What macOS version?

High Sierra 13.4.

What buffer size are you running at now? What happens in you increase that?

Happens at 256, 512, 1024

If increasing buffer fixes it it might be a plugin issue... and you might need to end up troubleshooting plugins.

[Darryl Ramm]

Mmm. So try those other tests. And an obvious comparison is to just play music from iTunes and see if you are hear problems there, though the same interface, and built in output. If it's only Pro Tools and it's in both the interface and build in output... then I'd try playing back a new session with just a stereo audio track and no plugins, adding in some plugins if that works. I'm trying to recall some weirdness with a plugin that did leave click artifacts, can't remember the one, but if that's the cause you'll find your one.

[JoelG]

Might also want to see if there is a newer driver available for your interface: https://customer.focusrite.com/en/support/downloads

Joel

[emf1138]

Originally Posted by JoelG

Might also want to see if there is a newer driver available for your interface: https://customer.focusrite.com/en/support/downloads

Joel

No drivers for MacOS.

[emf1138]

I made all tracks inactive except for a printed mix stem. There are no plugz or sends on the stem and it's going directly out to the monitors. It did give a minor pop/drop twice, which is not nearly as much as normal. I only stopped and started playback a couple times, but watched all 11 minutes. So, dunno.

[its2loud]

Try a different USB cable
Restart the interface
Try different headphones if you’re only using headphones
Check the system sample rate and any other devices you have hooked up to the interface.
Open Audio Midi setup in Mac OS. Make sure the sample rate of the interface matches that of your session. It should change automatically but it could have gotten stuck.
Check your session clock source and the focusrite’s clock source should be set to internal

[emf1138]

I used Quicktime to watch a mix bounce of the same 11 minute program and there were no pops or anomalies. So, it's definitely PT related.

[emf1138]

Yeah, I'm at a loss. I've swapped USB cables, reformatted mix drive, and removed kexts and prefs that Focusrite support suggested. Still pops and dropouts. Guess it's time to upgrade the interface.