Dreadful, recurring "Robot distortion"

[bakeraudio]

I've seen many posts about this, but no real solution yet. I'm getting the nasty robotic sounding digital distortion when recording anything into my 003 rack/Pro Tools 8.0.5.
I'm at my witt's end with this because I've tried all of the recommended fixes that I've seen to no avail. At startup everything is fine, but after 5-15 minutes it starts. I can temporarily fix it by changing buffer settings or restarting, but it always comes back. I have used the same system with no problems in the past. Can anyone make sense of this? Please, any help would be great. God Bless!

[zedhed]

The fact that "At startup everything is fine, but after 5-15 minutes it starts" & "I have used the same system with no problems in the past" suggests to me a hardware issue.

The first thing I would do is ascertain whether this behavior happens in sessions at 44.1, 48, &/or 96kHz.

Try a new FW cable.

Does it happen no matter which physical inputs you are using on the 003?

Check FW card/drivers in computer

Is there another computer with PT installed that you can plug the 003 into? If not I would get the 003 checked out by a technician.

It may also help to give us more info on your recording signal process from start to finish. Is there any other hardware incorporated into the signal chain?

Also wouldn't harm to post a Sandra report.

- Please - Use SiSoftware's Sandra Lite application to generate a full system profile:

www.sisoftware.co.uk

Under SiSoftware Sandra, click on "Download & Buy" to download the free Sandra Lite version or purchase other versions. After installing Sandra, click on the 'Hardware' tab and run the 'Computer Overview', then copy and paste into your post here on the DUC.

[bakeraudio]

I'm gonna do some checking on most of that this evening, as I'm posting this from my phone.
To answer a couple of your questions; it does not matter which physical inputs I use, the problem remains. Also, no other external hardware.

Two things I did just think of... I had been using an ADAT preamp unit, and no longer am. Clocking issue? Also, I just switched to a firewire expresscard, and am using legacy drivers.

I will check the rest a little later. Thanks for the reply.

[zedhed]

Originally Posted by bakeraudio

Clocking issue?

In Pro Tools>Setup>Hardware, is clock source set to 'Internal'?

[bakeraudio]

Yes, it is.

[zedhed]

Originally Posted by bakeraudio

Also, I just switched to a firewire expresscard, and am using legacy drivers.

Hmmm...so when you said that you have used the same system with no problems in the past, was that before the expresscard? BTW what brand is expresscard.

Wouldn't harm to go into Control Panel>Device Manager>IEEE1394 Bus host controllers>Double click on the expresscard controller>Driver tab>Update Driver>Search Automatically (whilst connected to internet).

If it installs a new driver test 003 in pro tools. You can always roll back the driver if it doesn't help.

So I'm now assuming this is a laptop PC.

[bakeraudio]

Ok, great. I'll try that and see what it does. Thanks for all your knowledge. Seems like you've sorted out some issues in your time.

[zedhed]

I've had some success and some not so.

Anyway let us know how you get on. If that doesn't work, the next step is to post a Sandra Report.

Now I'm off to bed it's 3am here in this part of the world

[bakeraudio]

Well, enjoy your sleep and I will let you guys know what happens.

[TOM@METRO]

Back when I was running 8.0.3 with the (then) beta 64bit driver, I had the robotic issue. The fix for me was to install a TI F/W controller and use the TI driver with it. I still use this card to this day. (Belkin)