[slenderfungus]

I have been using Pro Tools 7.4 M-Powered with Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 for six months with no audio problems at all. However, after uninstalling PT 7.4 and upgrading to PT 8.0 M-Powered, I am now experiencing significant pops and clicks in the audio when attempting to record audio tracks using Guitar Rig 3. As suggested by Digidesign, I have installed and run “PC Wizard 2008” and I can provide the full report on my system specs if requested. However, to keep this first posting concise, the following is a quick summary of my system specs and troubleshooting info:

Windows Vista Business SP1
3.0Ghz Intel P4 530j
4GB DDR2 Memory
Intel D915GEV Motherboard/Chipset (BIOS is updated to the most current available)
System Drive: 7200 SATA 3.0GBs/500GB Drive with 50% space still available
Separate Dedicated Audio Drive: 7200 SATA 3.0GBs/500GB Drive with 95% space still available
NVidia GEForce 6600 with most current drivers available
Guitar Rig 3 Kontrol
Delta 1010LT sound card

Troubleshooting Summary and PT 8 M-Powered Info:
Hardware Buffer at 512MB
“Ignore Errors During Playback/Recording”: Disabled
Problem occurs with both 16Bit and 24Bit session configurations
PT Preferences set to limit recording allocation to 100 minutes (not open ended allocation)
System and Audio drives have been defragged
I have reinstalled PT 8 twice and performed a clean reinstall of Delta 1010LT drivers
Delta 1010LT drivers and Guitar Rig 3 drivers are updated to the most current releases
Guitar Rig 3 drivers are updated to the most current releases

Interestingly, the pops and clicks become even more significant if I glide the cursor back and forth across the “Bars/Beats” section of the PT “Edit” Window while passing audio signal and the problems seem to become worse if the PT “Edit” window is maximized.

The problem does not occur if I record signal directly through the Delta 1010LT or if I am playing back audio tracks previously recorded using PT 7.4. The clicks and pops only occur when Guitar Rig 3 is open and being used to record audio tracks into PT 8 M-Powered.

There are no specific error messages being generated by the Pro Tools application or in my system event logs. Again, I did not have these problems when using Pro Tools 7.4 M-Powered, only after upgrading to Pro Tools 8.0 M-Powered.

I'll be happy to provide more detailed information regarding my system specs and troubleshooting efforts, if requested. Any assistance in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated as I'm excited about using Pro Tools 8.0 M-Powered rather than being forced into reverting back to Pro Tools 7.4 M-Powered.

This is my first post on this forum, so hopefully I haven't overlooked any appropriate etiquette. Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.