Pro Tools Studio Playback Issues on Windows 11 Laptop

[Smoothcall]

Due to emergency (Delta airlines destroyed my MacBook) while traveling I'm trying to set up a stripped down basic Pro Tools system on a PC (only worked on Mac previously) for editing and playback. I bought a monthly subscription and downloaded and installed Pro Tools Studio 2023.12.1 on a cheap PC Laptop (Acer A515-45 / Windows Home 11 / AMD Ryzen 5 2100 Mhz 6 core / 8GB Ram) just needing something to do minor editing and playback.

The very first thing I did after installation was to try importing some audio to a 48k 24b new session to test the playback, and it is playing back very distorted and slow. The same happens when I just use a Click to test playback. I also tried a session with nothing but 5 audio tracks, all played back slowly and distorted.

Although not an expert, I was guessing it was a clock issue and when I go to the session window the clock section is greyed out and says "Control Panel".

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling pro tools studio, with no change.

Thanks for any help offered! I'm in a jam and need to get this going ASAP...

Oh yeah - also tried importing a 44.1 /16 b wav into a 44.1 /16b session, same result...

[sw rec]

I’m guessing since you’re “on the road,” so to speak, that you’re not using a dedicated interface, but using the laptop’s internal soundcard for an audio device? Windows doesn’t like to “share” hardware between programs…the TYPICAL protocol is to designate your onboard device for Windows sounds so Pro Tools can have exclusive use of the interface.
So, I’m wondering if your onboard sound device just can’t handle Pro Tools? There’s any number of USB interfaces small enough to fit in your pocket.

[Smoothcall]

You're exactly right I was just going to use the laptop sound into some powered monitors, that doesn't work with Windows 11?

[sw rec]

Windows in general (10 and 11) doesn’t work well sharing hardware. I also see an AMD processor, which Avid claims “isn’t supported” (doesn’t mean it WON’T work, just that they haven’t tested them) and only 8gb ram. What do you know about your C drive? Is it an ssd, or spinner, or m.2? Writing to/reading from the system drive is fine with solid state devices, but spinner drives just can’t keep up.

[Smoothcall]

SSD HD with over 100 GB of space

[sw rec]

Do you have a decent usb external you can plug into it, move your sessions to it, and see how it behaves?

[junkgear]

What is the device that is selected in the Playback Engine?
Some onboard sound devices will offer a few options and some work better than others. If you have an ASIO option, I would use that first, followed by WASAPI, which typically works well too.

[Smoothcall]

Wow! Wound up paying for an Avid ASC and found out I had to change the H/W Buffer to the highest setting (1024?) then playback was fine. Decided to get an Sterling Audio interface since it was still kinda sus and it’s working great with the interface!