Fast Track c400 drivers are crashing my computer

[JohnMurdoch]

Friends,

It might be helpful to understand some context. Richard initially asked for help on the M-Audio Legacy Forum--making the completely understandable mistake of thinking that M-Audio tech support was the place to go for support for a product with "M-Audio" stamped all over it. It was only after posting to Avid's Facebook page that he got a link here--to say that this is a less-than-well-advertised forum for support for FastTrack audio devices is an understatement.

Second, Richard is not using ProTools. He's using Cubase. So asking him about his ProTools optimizations, or asking him to reinstall ProTools isn't going to do him much good.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by JohnMurdoch

Friends,

It might be helpful to understand some context. Richard initially asked for help on the M-Audio Legacy Forum--making the completely understandable mistake of thinking that M-Audio tech support was the place to go for support for a product with "M-Audio" stamped all over it. It was only after posting to Avid's Facebook page that he got a link here--to say that this is a less-than-well-advertised forum for support for FastTrack audio devices is an understatement.

Second, Richard is not using ProTools. He's using Cubase. So asking him about his ProTools optimizations, or asking him to reinstall ProTools isn't going to do him much good.

We've got that he is running Cubase, can we please stop going over stuff already covered. Asking him to do (most) of the Pro Tools optimizations makes perfect sense, if you followed along the thread I tried to explain several reasons why.

Darryl

[JohnMurdoch]

Richard,

I responded to your post on the M-Audio Legacy forum, and also on Facebook. I see you've finally provoked some kind of response here.

May I chime in?

The Sandra report may be helpful. In particular, I notice that you have another audio controller installed. Which audio controller is specified as the default on your system? (To find out, use Control Panel | Hardware and Sound | Sound | Manage Audio Devices.)

You may find that you have multiple playback devices--for reference, on my HP notebook I have four (including my FastTrack C600). Select the Playback tab, find the FastTrack device (it will be named "Output"), and specify that it is the default playback device. In the same way, select the Recording tab, find the FastTrack device (named "Input"), and specify it as the default device.

What I would then do is reboot the computer. Not "restart"--turn it off, and then turn it back on. When you have restarted, do NOT launch Cubase. Instead, launch the audio Mixer applet from your System tray (lower right corner of your screen--the right-hand end of the Start bar). The icon looks like a little speaker--left click, and then click on the little icon at the top of the popup menu that appears. That will display the Output properties dialog.

Select the Advanced tab on the Output Properties dialog. Select the Default Format you wish to use (your Cubase settings will likely tell you whether you want 44100 Hz or 48000 Hz, and you'll know whether you want 2 channel or 6 channel output).

Click on the Test button. Do you hear chimes playing across your speakers in the order of their channel numbers? (You should.)

Note the check box labeled "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device." You're using an ASIO device driver, and your version of Cubase *may* require exclusive control of the ASIO interface. If your problems continue you may want to check this box, so when Cubase is running other applications (Windows Media Player, system sounds, etc.) will not be audible.

[JohnMurdoch]

Richard--

One more thing: you're running a notebook computer. Under no circumstances should you let that computer "sleep" or "hibernate" while the FastTrack interface is connected--it will hang the connection, and you will not be able to restore it without a cold boot (all the way off, all the way back on) of the computer. You should examine your power settings, and create a power setting that turns off the video display, but never, ever, ever hibernates or sleeps. (Not one of my favorite features about the FastTrack C-series, but a lesson I learned the hard way.)

[YYR123]

Go Murdock - what took u so long ??

[pitchwest]

I have disabled all other audio drivers from my Manage Devices. I've had c400 set as default play back and input/record most of this time.

What I would then do is reboot the computer. Not "restart"--turn it off, and then turn it back on. When you have restarted, do NOT launch Cubase. Instead, launch the audio Mixer applet from your System tray (lower right corner of your screen--the right-hand end of the Start bar). The icon looks like a little speaker--left click, and then click on the little icon at the top of the popup menu that appears. That will display the Output properties dialog.

The output properties are look fine. Jack information though says: No jack information available. Under supported formats, none of the "encoded formats" work. The "sample rates" test plays but I don't hear anything.

I really appreciated all the help here guys. Here are some things I know. It's not a problem with Cubase. This issue is here before I turn on Cubase. I am very good at deucing. If I boot up this computer it doesn't send audio to C400. If I restart it, it does. Once it's been restarted, I can us it no problem. I just don't want to restart every time. If I don't restart and start Cubase (which auto configures drivers each time, correcting the issue) it's forced to restart through BSOD; claiming it's a ksthunk.sys problem. Or, instead of restarting I can just unplug c400 and as soon as I plug it into the other USB port, I get audio. That's pretty much acceptable to me. It's still a pain and shouldn't have to be that way. I have this crazy feeling that, somewhere in the booting up process, my computer is assigning where the audio goes before c400 is awake. Once my computer has establishes that it goes to c400, it's not recognising the hardware as that particular c400, though it recognises the hardware and software.

I'll take all your advise and walk though the steps though. Let's solve this.

[JohnMurdoch]

The Jack Information group box should say "No Jack Information Available"--the C400 isn't connected to one of the audio jacks (like the 1/8" TRS headphone jack, or the HDMI jack).

I agree entirely that this has nothing to do with Cubase. If you start your computer, and run the Advanced test on the Audio Device property (Output) dialog, and hear nothing, that's purely an issue of your computer not talking to the C400.

Out of curiosity--do you have an AC adapter for your C400? Or are you powering it using the USB connection?

The reason I ask is that I kinda like your theory that the computer is not recognizing that the C400 is there at bootup. If the audio driver was hanging on startup, you would not be able to swap the USB cable to a different port. That you CAN makes me pretty sure the audio device driver isn't hung--it hasn't been loaded.

If you don't have the AC adapter plugged in, dig it out of the box and connect it--then try the boot procedure again. (I have the C600, which will only support two channels of input and four (?) channels of output on the USB cable. Since I'm always using 6 channels of output, I always use the AC adapter.)

[pitchwest]

I truly believe that plugging it in and running it before I boot up would cure my problem. The C400 doesn't have that option.

[pitchwest]

Does anyone have any ideas who else I could ask. This problem really sucks! My make shift method of solving this isn't fool proof.

[pitchwest]

Originally Posted by pitchwest

Does anyone have any ideas who else I could ask. This problem really sucks! My make shift method of solving this isn't fool proof.

I've opened a thread on a Win7 forum. I'll let you know if I find and answer.