Loud Buzzing after 20 minutes

Turny

Hi,

I use Traktor Pro 3 with an S4 MkII Mixer and a Radial ProAV2 DI, I've recently had a recurring problem of loud buzzing after about 20 minutes of playing, if I close Traktor and relaunch it, the buzzing goes away, but it happens again roughly 20 minutes later. I recently changed my laptop to a HP Envy x360 , which is the only change in my setup since the noise started. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

Nick Blanc

Could be power related. New computers (better said, new installations of windows) often have some sort of power saving enabled (especially laptops), which in turn doesn't go well with audio. You could try the following:

• Energy saving
• Any energy saving option should be deactivated in favor of continuous operation.
• Open Control Panel ▸ Power Options ▸ Create a power plan ▸ High Performance and set the computer sleep time to ‘Never’.
• Once set-up, go to Change plan settings ▸ Change advanced power settings ▸ USB settings and disable the ‘USB selective suspend settings’.

Now keep in mind, this will impact the battery performance.

Nick Blanc

Could be power related. New computers (better said, new installations of windows) often have some sort of power saving enabled (especially laptops), which in turn doesn't go well with audio. You could try the following:

• Energy saving
• Any energy saving option should be deactivated in favor of continuous operation.
• Open Control Panel ▸ Power Options ▸ Create a power plan ▸ High Performance and set the computer sleep time to ‘Never’.
• Once set-up, go to Change plan settings ▸ Change advanced power settings ▸ USB settings and disable the ‘USB selective suspend settings’.

Now keep in mind, this will impact the battery performance.

PK The DJ

What's your ASIO buffer size? You've made no mention of this setting but it's crucial to set it high enough to avoid audio glitches, but low enough to avoid latency.

What's the DI box for?

Turny

Hi Nick, Thanks for this, that makes a lot of sense, I've changed the settings so hopefully, it will solve the problem.

Nick Blanc

Glad to help. If the problem doesn't go away, PK The DJ's answer can help. Also try to avoid USB hubs. I've had the problem of random complete audio dropouts (not glitches, but silence), due to plugging my interface in a hub by accident (was switching around USB cables). Windows has its own way of prioritizing audio when using a hub.

Turny

Back again!

Playing last night and after 90 minutes the loud buzzing was back!! Closed Traktor and restarted then it ran fine for 45 minutes then the buzzing was back again! Restarted and run til the end (45 mins)

some thoughts..

Should the USB port connector be the one with the thunderbolt on it? I've been using one that doesn't have it.

Could it be the laptop overheating? Although it happened previously in a cool environment.

Could it be the DI box failing - the last one I had just broke whereas this one seems to work fine when it all comes back on, which suggests it's not the problem.

PS. I also just posted a question about not seeing the track overview bar in any of the mixer modes??

Thanks all

Turny

Update...

I left it playing this afternoon and after a couple of hours Traktor froze, none of the faders worked and the buzzing was loud and constant , the only step forward was that disconnecting the USB cable at the laptop and instantly reconnecting it brought Traktor back to life immediately and the track carried on playing and the buzzing was gone!! Weird, but at least I didn't have to shut Traktor down and re-start. Any suggestions welcome - Thanks in advance