Distorted sound in Session Keystudio

[happyburst]

I've recently bought and installed Session Keystudio onto my HP dv6529em laptop, Athlon 64x2 1.7Gh 2Gb RAM, GeForce 7150M/nforce 630M, running Vista 32.

It took several attempts to get the software successfully intalled with all the relevant drivers - I followed the website walk-through to the letter, including updating my video drivers. It's now installed and working - for a few minutes!

The problem is that after a few minutes of a new session, the sound starts to distort, like it's clipping. It distorts all sounds in all modes - preview, record, playback. I've tried all the suggestions in the Troubleshooting section of the electronic manual, nothing works.

Could you please help? Thanks, Michael.

[JA]

Are your speakers/headphones connected to the Micro USB interface? Have you tried connecting the Micro to different USB ports?

[happyburst]

Yes speakers are connected to the Micro. I tried all three USB ports, the problems still the same. I went into Micro properties and opened the Latency tab. It's fixed at 256, but when I tried to change it I got the message 'A device attached to the system is not functioning'. Does that help?

[happyburst]

I tried playing music tracks (WMA) stored on my laptop through the USB Micro, and I get the same distortion. So I deselected it and went back to the laptop's inbuilt speakers - no problem. So I guess the problem lies with the Micro??? I've had this thing a week and spent way too much time already trying to get it to work... Plug and play it ain't!!:

[JA]

I would recommend contacting tech support for your region (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=company.lang) to troubleshoot this issue further.

[rockbass]

I would recommend contacting tech support for your region (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=company.lang) to troubleshoot this issue further.

Hey JA, I am experiencing this same problem...Happyburst, I feel your pain!! You find a fix yet?? Thing is, last night for a good hour or 2 and then earlier today for another 2 hours, everything was fine...But now, it begins to distort every time I open the program within minutes. I have restarted, swapped ports, tried to change the settings back and forth between the Micro and my regular speakers, and sometimes this fixes the problems for a few minutes but always goes right back. When I switch my playback to my regular speakers, it still plays out of the micro, which I found a bit odd, but there was at least clear sound!

I have contacted tech support for my region and can't seem to get a response back! What do I do then? I'm almost up to $300 bucks in M-Audio gear and can't use it...So what is my next step? I love what I have heard in the few moments it works, but must say that while I am normally a really easy going person, my frustration level is nearing the max...Hope you can point me in the right direction. I got to the point where last night, I actually ordered a new computer with XP home edition it, will that help remedy some of these issues? Thanks for your help.

-rockbass

My computer specs:
HP AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.30GHz
3.00 GB Ram, Windows Vista 32 Bit (Service Pack 1...Even with SP1, it worked yesterday! lol)
NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Realtek HD Audio
500+ GB hard drive space

[JA]

rockbass, have you selected the M-Audio USB ASIO driver in Session? Have you tried all USB ports? Have you disabled USB power management (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=ae09a9643ff150162e0a7dc7ad4a8ab8)?

Please copy and paste your IRQ list into a reply. Press the Start Button+R to open the Run Dialog Box. Type: msinfo32 > OK > Hardware Resources > IRQs. Copy & paste it into a response. This will help us in further troubleshooting your issue.

[naasson]

Hi JA and all, I've been having the exact same issue and it's driving me nuts! Can't get rid of the pops and distortion and I've tried many things now, including optimizing windows, disabling USB shared IRQ's, using different USB ports, reinstalling Session. It says my Micro is up to date also. ASIOdriver is selected, too. It seems like 'something' keeps interfering while I playback a song. Sometimes it's better, sometimes horrible!

I'm writing alot lately and just want this issue solved once and for all! Please help!!!

I'm running Session on my HP laptop.
It's an HP Pavilion dv6700 notebook PC with Vista
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
3 GB RAM with plenty of Harddrive space
SP 1 with 32 bits

Let me know if you need any more info, be happy to give it to get this fixed!
Thanks so much!!!

Naasson

[WhybuyMA]

It appears that i'm not the only one about to throw this microphone and session through the window. I'm Furious.

[JA]

Naasson, have you tested on all USB ports? Does increasing the buffer size from the Micro Control Panel improve performance?

Have you disabled your Ethernet, Wireless, modem, and built-in audio to see if performance improves? These devices often interfere simply by being active in the background.

[naasson]

Hi JA, I tried all of those things and still not improving. In fact, lately it seems like it's getting worse! It seems like something is interfering with Session's ability to process fast enough, cause sometimes when there's alot of tracks, it starts to drag, like it has a hard time getting through certain parts. As far as the distortion, it just happens at random times and takes anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to go away.

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[trevorc]

why is it that the first response from m-audio is to disable something else on the computer? I am having the same problem. tech guys in my region have suggested I don't use wireless keyboard and mouse, I bought wired versions. then ram might be too low, I upped my ram to 2gb. The problem with the sound continues plus i keep getting a "data invalid" message. I am wishing i had not bothered with this key studio, session and the cursed micro.

[JA]

If you set the Micro as the system default playback device and test playback from a program like Windows Media Player or iTunes, do you hear the same distortion?

If you have a lot of tracks and effects, and Session starts to lag when playing back, it sounds like your computer is struggling to keep up. Try setting the buffer size at 512 from the Micro Control Panel before launching Session. If you still experience the problem, quit Session, increase it to 768, then test Session again.

What version of Session are you running? Do you have the latest version 1.7.5? http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers&f=1011

[trevorc]

I still keep getting the message about invalid data. Is there some software code missing?

[JA]

Trevor, open the run dialog box and type: msconfig

Go to the Startup Items tag and un-check the M-Audio Task Bar Icon Application. Apply the settings and restart. When the computer reboots, check to see if the Micro control panel recognizes the device as connected, and if not, make sure the M-Audio driver is loaded as described in these guides:

For Windows XP (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=9ca08110011b53bc7c088cda91d578da)

For Windows Vista (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=041ea6d030a9089239a5ad8114b1b52b)


If you need further assistance, please provide more information about your system as requested in this thread (http://forums.m-audio.com/showthread.php?t=57); this information will help troubleshoot your issue. What OS and service pack are you running? What version of Session?

[naasson]

Hi JA, I went ahead and installed the latest version update 1.7.5 like you recommended, and wow, what a difference! After a week of playing and recording and all the usual things I do in Session, only ONE incidence of distortion! The rest of the time was clear, undistorted sound, finally! Even when I playback the loop samples, NO distortion!

What I think made all the difference was using the Standard Graphics mode for my laptop. When I try to switch to the Advanced mode, however, I DO have the same distortion problem like before. So I just keep it in Standard. But it's made all the difference in the world and I've made great progress in the last week! Thanks so much for the update and all your help!

The only issue I do have still is that 'lagging' when it hits parts of a song that uses alot of tracks, so not sure still how to solve that.

But thanks again! =)

~Naasson

[JA]

To reduce the delay (latency) while playing the software instruments, lower the buffer size (latency) from the M-Audio Micro Control Panel before launching Session. Try setting it to 512 samples.