Korg Forums

jeebustrain

OK, so I think I have a pretty perplexing issue. So a couple months ago, I built a new DAW running Windows 7x64 & Sonar X2 Producer to record with.

I have a separate firewire interface for recording audio (2x Focusrite Saffire Pro40s, connected in the recommended method with a recommended FW card). The Kronos USB connection is being used for midi only.

The problem is that whenever I'm trying to multitrack audio (either recording or playback), I'm getting the dreaded skipping/dropouts that are usually associated with an incompatible FW chipset. I would also occasionally get this while playing software synths. I've gone through everything on the machine, top to bottom (even swapping out the FW card), and nothing seemed to have an effect. I could see in the Sonar CPU meter that all 8 cores would momentarily spike right as the dropout occurs. My 15 years of working in the IT industry was telling me that there was some sort of driver or other device that was causing this issue.

So I started to dig into drivers and other peripheral devices. I started disabling things in device manager (nic, usb devices, etc), trying to find what was causing it. Yesterday, I finally figured it out. This only occurs when the Kronos is connected to the PC via USB. If I unplug it, the machine is rock solid. I updated the USB drivers to the latest that were posted a couple weeks back (1.6 I think?) and they had no effect. I even tried manually disabling (one at a time and then both) the KRONOS devices in the device manager. No effect. I tried different USB ports on the PC (even plugging into a separate PCI USB 2.0 card that I pulled out of an old machine) and it had no effect. The only thing I have not tried is a different USB cable, but I plan on trying that tonight when I get home.

I'm currently running 2.0.6 of the OS.

It seems that if this was some sort of defect, that I probably would have read someone else with this same problem on the forum by now. I'm hoping it's not some sort of defect with my specific Kronos. I don't recall ever having this problem before, but then again, I haven't had it wired up to a machine with a FW audio interface before.

I figure worst case I could just use midi cables instead of USB, but I'd like to avoid that if I could (would need to pick up yet another USB midi adapter since all the other ones I have are in use).
_________________
::: Korg Kronos 88 ::: Alesis Fusion 8HD ::: Kurzweil PC361 ::: Roland V-Synth ::: DSI Prophet 12 ::: DSI OB-6 ::: Korg Prophecy ::: Moog Micromoog ::: Yamaha CP-30 ::: Alesis Andromeda ::: Moog Sub37 ::: Sequential Prophet 600 ::: Korg MS2000BR ::: GSI Burn :::

My Music

SanderXpander · Platinum Member Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 7860

I'm assuming you've tried the Kronos on a different USB port/hub already?

Comrad_Durandal · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:03 pm Post subject:

You do know that there is a MIDI interface on the Saffire Pro40s, right? Just plug the beastie into one of those MIDI INs, and you should be able to set up your DAW to receive its MIDI command info from there. Windows doesn't seem like it was ever designed with Pro Audio in mind, which is why it never entered my mind to even attempt to use a Windows PC - only Mac. However, there are studios who swear by Windows (versus sweat AT Windows...*grin*) so there has to be a fix for your issue if what I suggested isn't feasible.

jeebustrain · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:11 pm Post subject:

jeebustrain · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:21 pm Post subject:

SanderXpander · Platinum Member Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 7860

miden · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:51 pm Post subject:

Only a simple suggestion, but have you disabled System sounds, and not set the FW as the system default sound driver? It does sound fairly typical of an IRQ conflict going on.

jeebustrain · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:51 pm Post subject:

jeebustrain · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:00 pm Post subject:

jeebustrain · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:01 pm Post subject:

btw - thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm really hoping that this is just something stupid that I'm overlooking.
_________________
::: Korg Kronos 88 ::: Alesis Fusion 8HD ::: Kurzweil PC361 ::: Roland V-Synth ::: DSI Prophet 12 ::: DSI OB-6 ::: Korg Prophecy ::: Moog Micromoog ::: Yamaha CP-30 ::: Alesis Andromeda ::: Moog Sub37 ::: Sequential Prophet 600 ::: Korg MS2000BR ::: GSI Burn :::

My Music

miden · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:14 pm Post subject:

I use Sonar X2, running through a Firefly 302+ (FW) plus the Korg USB midi drivers. The Firefly also has midi, but I figured I might as well use the midi drivers customised for the K, and other associated software Smile

I would love to have a better fw i/f but needs must and at the time I could afford no more Sad

but to be fair it has proven pretty solid so far even if a bit basic!!.

I only give this info because I am having no issues at all, and I am using essentially the same methodology (albeit different I/F).

So I might suggest it is something going on with your system there somewhere. You of course have ASIO assigned in the driver section on Sonar? Yeah I know it is a basic question, no offence meant Wink

but I always try to look for the simplest reason, before "looking in the freezer" Very Happy

jeebustrain · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:24 pm Post subject:

Timodeous · Joined: 15 Mar 2011 Posts: 16

I have a FW-1884 (Tascam) and Kronos and TritonExtreme are both running via USB in Win64 and I have had really good luck using them this way. Do you have a TI chipset? Are you running it in legacy mode? I have had some issues with IRQ conflicts upon reinstalling everything, but sometimes I have to reinstall drivers a few times and uninstall them. I have had luck uninstalling all drivers (Tascam, Korg and Windows FW) then install FW legacy driver, restart, Audio interface driver, restart, then Korg driver, restart. Also I make sure all instruments/interfaces are off, then after each reboot, I turn on the associated device. Hope you figure it out!

jeebustrain · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:37 pm Post subject:

Comrad_Durandal · Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:02 pm Post subject: