S4 major audio dropouts and USB errors since Traktor 2 update?
Hey guys
Well after singing the praises of the S4 to everyone and their Mums since I got it I’ve had my first bad experience with it.
After months of gigging with no problems I played out tonight and had a complete nightmare with dropouts every 4-5 seconds. It was completely unusable and I had to give up on the set, loosing a fair bit of money and looking like a complete idiot as I had a crowd around me checking out the S4. I had a look at the S4 diagnostics and it was showing LOADS of USB Data errors. System performance was fine with a few peaks but nothing major.
Not sure what might have happened as it has been flawless so far, the only thing is I updated to Traktor 2 a few days ago (which I haven’t really tested properly, presuming that if anything it would be even more stable, my own fault there).
If anyone has any ideas on this it would be appreciated, I’m pretty gutted right now. I’m running a C2D 2.5ghz HP dv2899ea laptop with 4gb ram and Windows 7 64bit. Like I said nothing has changed except the new copy of Traktor.
I’ve actually got another gig tomorrow night so really need to get this sorted before then. I’m in the process of rolling back to the old S4 software and I’ll check out the beta driver for the S4 now. Out of interest did Traktor 2 come with a new driver for the S4?
As an update, I downloaded the beta drivers and they just uninstalled the ones I had already. I’m presuming then that Traktor 2 installed the beta drivers so I’m rolling back to the old 2.9.4 drivers to see how that goes
EDIT: Actually made it worse…
Trying the windows hotfix now - can’t work out how it’s gone from working perfectly to not at all
I’ve been experiencing a watered down version of your problem. The crackles have around 5-10 minutes between them and the USB dropouts aren’t as frequent. I don’t get them if I set my latency to around 20ms, but that’s just ridiculous.
Nope tried that, disabled wireless, cd drive, ethernet, prioritised Traktor in task manager, cut windows processes to minimal, disabled all usb power management, made sure cpu performance is set to high, installed the windows hotfix etc…
No difference though. It actually plays fine until I start mixing in another track then I start to get loads of dropouts. I just can’t work out what has changed between now and a week ago when it worked fine, other than the Traktor 2 update..
My CPU usage is REALLY low atm, played with the USB buffer but it’s made no difference. Basically not getting any problems other than USB errors. Every dropout shows up as a USB data error in the S4 control panel so I’m 100% it’s a USB problem here.
I’ve actually got a macbook pro on it’s way to me but not until mid May and was hoping to carry on gigging with this laptop dedicated to it, got loads of gigs between now though, can’t even comprehend not being able to do them though…
I’m sure I’m just being defeatest but it’s pretty gutting, feel for everyone else who has been having problems
(Sory 4 my English, folks)
I think i have same problem:
CPU load in task manager = 30%, but traktor shows 100%.
I have:
Traktor Pro 2 + 2.9.8 Beta Driver
AMD Turion 64 x2 tl-58 1900 MHz + 4Gb Ram
Windows 7 Home Basic 64bit
I tried to Install ASIO4ALL2 driver/used Traktor ASIO driver, set 44100 frequency, 2048 samples buffer, use hardware buffer or not, 96000 insted of 44100, 512 samples bufer and so on but NO RESULT Any ideas? Except Macbook…
Now i’m thinking to downgrade to Traktor Pro S4 software and S4 2.9.4 driver…
Does the CPU meter in Traktor go into the reds? If so there don’t seem to be many options besides reinstalling Windows. There is a know problem with TSP2 causing a higher CPU usage than necessary. It’s probably a bug and as far as I heard the culprit hasn’t been found yet.
A lot of people had success with a fresh Windows installation though.
Did you try increasing the latency in Traktor already? I wouldn’t go below 128 samples on any computer really. My Core i5 struggles with 96 samples on OS X with all FX open while recording. No problems though with 128 samples or higher.
MeAngry,
many thanks for your help. I installed Windows 7 special for Traktor a few days ago and i have it on dedicated physical drive.
You have 128 samples with 44100 frequency? May be i should not try to use 96000?
96000 won’t add anything to your sound quality since most commercially available music is recorded at 44,100 (CDs, for example), but will drive up your latency unnecessarily. 44,100 is plenty.
I am truly amazed at the lack of anything said on Native Instruments behalf about all the issues that are occurring with the S4 and Windwos 7. I literally did everything out there to optimize a core i3, 4gb ram win 7 laptop and still get 1-2 audio glitches an hour with TP2 and the S4. I have used this set up for a month now and am seriously thinking I might sell and go to a A&H mixer and X1’s or 1D’s
I haven’t hooked up my S4 to my Toughbook yet, but I will this weekend and see if I can reproduce the Win7 issues. But so far on my desktop I haven’t had any problems, but it is a beast so it’s def not taxing system resources.
BTW I have had the most success with setting my buffers to 256 in ASIO control panel.
My CPU usage is low, no where near the red. Like I said it looks like it’s something to do with the USB connection. I’m getting exactly the same dropouts with Traktor2 and the old S4 software. Tried all the old drivers to no prevail, really lost with this one..they’re happening every 5-10 seconds it’s unbearable.
I’m gonna try some new USB drivers when I get home, got an hour to fix this before the next gig otherwise I’m gonna have to burn some CDs and hope im not too rusty!!
Any mods out there with any light they can shed on this? And please don’t say get a mac
I dunno if you’ve tried it, but have you used different USB cables and tried all the ports to make sure? If you’ve tried it we can go from there. I’ve found that fixes a LOT of problems really quick.
Tried 3 different cables and both USB ports, gonna try a powered USB hub tomorrow. Had to borrow my mates midi controller and use Traktor 3 tonight lol, took me back a few years!
I’m gonna try the s4 with my studio soundcard too and see if that makes a difference, will be interesting if it does
Are you meant to delete the S4 software once updated with Pro 2. Will the S4 run with just the Pro 2 software? (as im thinking of doing a fresh install and using the new software only)
