Pro tools 11 & Windows 10

[MarianneMatyash]

Hi all,
I just got a brand new computer (PC), that is really strong and tailored especially so I can work with multiple plugins easily and record here at home. Anyway, had the bright idea to install WIN 10 on it.
At first it seemed to work fine but now I get this horrible distortion. This is not a latency problem as I've checked and also there is no reason for it in terms of the system.

Does anyone know what is causing this and/or how to resolve it?


I thought it may be a clocking issue, but since I'm using I am using EIE PRO as the sound card the set up is a little different and I'm not sure how to even tweek or get to this element.
IDEAS??

[sw rec]

1. "Brand new computer" means NOTHING in Pro Tools land. The big question is, "Is it COMPATIBLE?" Follow the "help us help you" link above and post a Sandra Report.
2. AVID has clearly stated that they don't recommend trying to run Pro Tools on Windows 10 yet.

[MarianneMatyash]

Motherboard is Asus Z97-K
Processor Samsung SSD 850 EVO (250GB)
16RAM

Anything else I can add that helps?

[seanbil]

Originally Posted by MarianneMatyash

Hi all,
I just got a brand new computer (PC), that is really strong and tailored especially so I can work with multiple plugins easily and record here at home. Anyway, had the bright idea to install WIN 10 on it.
At first it seemed to work fine but now I get this horrible distortion. This is not a latency problem as I've checked and also there is no reason for it in terms of the system.

Does anyone know what is causing this and/or how to resolve it?


I thought it may be a clocking issue, but since I'm using I am using EIE PRO as the sound card the set up is a little different and I'm not sure how to even tweek or get to this element.
IDEAS??

You may have answered your own question when you said that you upgraded to Windows 10. Pro Tools 11 isn't qualified for Windows 10 as sw_rec mentioned. Neither is Pro Tools 12. Of course that doesn't mean that it won't work, but it does mean that you could face issues that are tough to track down because they don't appear in qualified systems. Also, the Akai Pro website's specifications for your device only lists driver compatibility up through Windows 8.1 x64. While a Windows 8.1 driver should generally be compatible with Windows 10 it's not a guarantee.

One quick thing you could try to see if the EIE Pro driver is in fact the problem is to install the ASIO4ALL Universal ASIO Driver at www.asio4all.com and see if the distortion goes away. (Unfortunately, ASIO4ALL has a listed compatibility of Windows 8.1 as well but it still might help for troubleshooting purposes.) Also, I wouldn't recommend using the ASIO4ALL driver for continued use if it does solve your problem because it won't be as efficient as a dedicated driver from your hardware manufacturer.

If things were working prior to installing Windows 10, then I would consider backing up your current system and then downgrading back to Windows 8.1 until Akai Pro releases a Windows 10 driver. Still, even that may not help because Avid has yet to approve Pro Tools 11 for Windows 10. If you were previously at Windows 7, then I would highly recommend using that OS above anything else because the industry predominately tests their software against it.

Since you mentioned that your system is brand new, it's also unknown whether or not you actually had an opportunity to try Pro Tools with Windows 8.1 (or even 7). In this case it's equally possibly that the issue is something that's unrelated to the EIE Pro driver or even Windows 10. So it would definitely be beneficial for you to provide a Sandra Report as sw_rec suggested, so that others can give you some more input on the matter.

[seanbil]

Originally Posted by MarianneMatyash

Motherboard is Asus Z97-K
Processor Samsung SSD 850 EVO (250GB)
16RAM

Anything else I can add that helps?

Generally speaking, most PC setups are compatible. The Sandra Report will provide a little more insight as to whether your RAM is mismatched, for example. If the 250GB SSD is serving the dual purpose of running your OS and storing your Pro Tools projects, then that's also an issue. Unfortunately, little things like that can cause big problems for Pro Tools.

You did mentioned that things seemed to work at one point. So it had me wonder what's actually happening on your Pro Tools meters? Are they constantly in the red or are they in the green and "boxy" with little movement? I'm not familiar with the EIE Pro, but there should be a "Control Panel" for it -- maybe in your system tray at the bottom right of your screen? Usually these devices have an internal mixer and I'm wondering if you've maxed out the levels there by accident even though the dials on the device itself look normal. On some outboard gear there are "soft knobs" that can show one volume level (for instance) but still be digitally-manipulated even further from within the software. Since these knobs aren't motorized, you may not be aware of any changes made. If you can't find the EIE Pro control panel, then (with the speakers off), turn each knob a little bit up and then back to where you think they should be level-wise. Now turn on your speakers and see if the distortion is still there. It's probably not the problem, but it's still worth a shot.

[MarianneMatyash]

Hey,
Thanks for the reply.

This comp is brand new but I was previously using PT 11 & 10 with Win7 on another comp using the EIE pro and it worked fine.

I will fill out the Sandra report, thanks for drawing my attention to it, I am new here

At the moment it seems to be working - I reinstalled PT and it worked for one session. Session afterwards the distortion returned- hasn't got anything to do with the meters if I understand you correct, they are all in the green. I then did a "repair install" and it seemed to fix the problem. Two sessions later the PT is still functioning properly. Crossing my fingers.

My question is - what do you mean about the 250GB? You mean you think there isn't enough memory for the PT to operate?
I did install the PT now on my D: drive that has TERRA of memory on it... Just wondering if that's what you meat.

[seanbil]

Originally Posted by MarianneMatyash

Hey,
Thanks for the reply.

This comp is brand new but I was previously using PT 11 & 10 with Win7 on another comp using the EIE pro and it worked fine.

I will fill out the Sandra report, thanks for drawing my attention to it, I am new here

At the moment it seems to be working - I reinstalled PT and it worked for one session. Session afterwards the distortion returned- hasn't got anything to do with the meters if I understand you correct, they are all in the green. I then did a "repair install" and it seemed to fix the problem. Two sessions later the PT is still functioning properly. Crossing my fingers.

My question is - what do you mean about the 250GB? You mean you think there isn't enough memory for the PT to operate?
I did install the PT now on my D: drive that has TERRA of memory on it... Just wondering if that's what you meat.

I was thinking that you may have had a gain staging issue with the EIE Pro and not be aware of it until now. It would be nice if Pro Tools were throwing back some error codes to you because it can give us an indication as to where to look. What comes to my mind when you say "distortion" is what you would hear from digital clipping. However, if the distortion that you hear resembles "crackling" then I might focus my attention on how well your system is running. In the case of "crackling", take a look at your Playback Engine settings and see if the "ignore errors during playback" option is checked. Ideally you would want that unchecked so that playback automatically stops if the audio engine cannot render your session without error.

The Sandra Report is great for tackling performance-related issues. I'm almost tempted to suggest that you not even bother with it at this point unless you're getting error codes from Pro Tools, because the problem really seems to point to driver compatibility or to Pro Tools 11 compatibility with Windows 10 or to both. I was thinking that deleting your Pro Tools preferences might help, but seeing that "repair install" worked has me thinking otherwise.

One thing I'll point out is that Pro Tools is a fairly weighty program. If you're not hearing playback distortion when you first open a session, but hear it only after you close and reopen a session, then that's just Pro Tools being "Pro Tools" as weird as that may sound. Problems can occur when closing and reopening very large sessions. So one test I would suggest you try is rebooting your computer, opening a full session and checking that it plays back normally. Next, exit out of Pro Tools and relaunch it. Open the session again and check if it's playing back normally. If all is well, then just close out the session and reopen it. Does the playback distortion occur? If not, then try closing the session and reopening it a few more times. If the distortion returns, does it happen after exiting Pro Tools and relaunching it? I'm thinking that the issue might lie somewhere with that audio driver and how it's interacting with Pro Tools. If exiting out of Pro Tools and restarting it helps, then that's your workaround for now -- as inconvenient as that may be.

The 16GB of RAM is more than enough for Pro Tools. As for the 250GB SSD drive, that in itself is not a problem when running Pro Tools. What would be ideal is if you ran the Pro Tools 11 software from that drive but saved your sessions to a different hard drive. This can help to resolve performance related issues where playback suddenly stops with an error code. For now that doesn't seem to be the problem for you, but it's something to keep in the back of your mind if you encounter a -9073 error message (if I recall correctly). So in your case, if the 250GB is where your Windows OS is located, then I'd install Pro Tools on that drive and save my sessions to the 1TB D: drive. HOWEVER, since you already installed Pro Tools on drive D: and are not hearing any distortion, just keep things the way they are for now and see how things go. (If it ain't broke, then don't fix it!).

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by MarianneMatyash

I did install the PT now on my D: drive that has TERRA of memory on it... Just wondering if that's what you meat.

Always install Pro Tools on the system drive (C:).

[The Weed]

And record your sessions on a separate physical hard drive.

Cheers,