No audio (at startup) with Windows 10 + MOTU

Got it. I’ll look for that one tonight and let you know. Hopefully this will become a “known issue.”

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I also use motu mk3 and had similar problems. Did you try an other USB port? That strangely solved my problems.

Yes. I tried every port on two computers and the problem persisted. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

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Unfortunately that did not solve the problem. So I tried a Focusrite Thunderbolt Clarett 2pre interface, and it worked in terms of startup, but it turned out to have a driver which is not quite ready for Thunderbolt 3 (which is what I have on my new computer), so the audio is very glitchy, with lots of pops and crackles. I’m going to try a UAD Apollo Twin mk2 Solo tomorrow (I already have an Apollo Quad 8 channel interface but it doesn’t leave my studio.) I anticipate that this should solve my interface problems. One thing I have learned this week is how important functional drivers are, especially when using Windows.

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True and a clean, clutterfree Windows version.
I have a windows 10 version, stable enough, installed Windows Tweaker to close the updates and then disabled most of the background processes that eat up CPU.
Work great. But… If I dare to have a program updated I most definatly get problems LOL.
My motu isn’t perfect afterall. Sometimes cracks (reset the driver connection solves it) or sometimes not recognised.
It’s still risky pioneers business.But I would never look back :slight_smile:

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You probably have already done this but I figured I would mention it anyway. Did you disable the built-in audio hardware on the laptop, either through the BIOS or through the device manager? Perhaps the external audio device and internal audio device are creating a conflict?

Matt

I would not be so quick to merely blame the drivers. Careful with that “rationalization machine” we call the human brain! It can follow many a red herring to mistaken assumptions! :wink:

To ensure you do not waste your investment in those three Ultralite’s, give MOTU tech support a call. They are always very helpful, even if it sometimes takes a few calls to figure everything out. They are all good, but I seem to work with Travis the most.

617.576.3066
9am - 6pm ET, Monday - Friday

At least you’ve eliminated that Windows “sounds” haven’t been messing up your audio by forcing the sample rates to change, what with disabling the MOTU Audio Wave for 64 bit driver.

Terry

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did you try to Uncheck the “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” box on your motu , in Windows sound control panel ? and maybe also : uncheck the “Give exclusive mode applications priority.” ?

I was having tons of audio problems with my new windows 10 laptop and my Focusrite interface. I blamed the Focusrite. But I finally discovered that it was the windows audio driver that was causing the problem. There are 3 windows audio driver options in my device manager. Two are labeled. One is not. I finally chose the unlabeled one and it’s worked perfectly ever since.
Terry L

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Thank you. No I didn’t try those things, as far as I know. What are the default settings? Anyway, I will make a note of it then try later.

After all was said and done I got a new computer and a new interface, and all of the software works glitch-free now. Many trials and errors and problems omitted but here’s what I had to buy:

New computer: Dell XPS 15 Touchscreen Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 4 - Costco Item #1136134 https://www.costco.com/Dell-XPS-15-Touchscreen-Laptop---Intel-Core-i7---4K-Ultra-HD---4GB-NVIDIA-Graphics.product.100336318.html

New interface: the Apollo Twin Mk II | Thunderbolt Audio Interface http://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/apollo-twin-mkii.html

Please note that, according to Universal Audio, the only Thunderbolt III connector that works with these two computers together is: StarTech.com Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter http://amzn.to/2vPN59r

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Hi all,

Old topic but recent problem…

I have had the same issue yesterday night before the show. W10, Motu ultralite Mk3 USB plugged.

No error message, Cantabile 3 meters reacting normally to incoming midi but no sound from the Motu box (nothing moving in it’s display either)

As @LAPianist, restarting engine, Switching to Asio4all and so didn’t make the trick…

The new info here (@brad) is that I could rely on an old setup made with Brainspawn Forte which was fortunately still installed in the computer and have thus been able to save the show even if not totally accurate with the sounds.

@brad, Forte had no problem to connect to the box!
So possibly not a Windows/Motu Driver issue but a Cantabile one.

Cheers.

Igor.

Hi again,

Looking into it at home before another show tonight… Works now.

It seems, there has been (simply) a mess with the global output volume.
I think a zero output volume setting have been saved alongside with Cantabile driver level setup making any configuration, boot and reload permanently silent.
It’s a thing a could not see in the rush on stage yesterday.
Maybe due to an update to version 3583 which made change to this in the low level setup.

Happy it works because for tonight, I don’t have any “almost equivalent” Forte setup.

Igor.

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I periodically have a similar problem, also with W10, MOTU Ultralite Mk3. Start Cantabile, no errors, but also no sound. If this happens, some random combination of power cycling the MOTU and restarting the audio engine seems to fix it.

Neil

Thanks Neil for your input.

Strange things with mk3. After allot of asking around and Motu support nagging, i figured it out it was a problem with the soundcard. Bought an mk4 and never got any problems again.

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Do you have any solid references anywhere that indicate it’s a known problem with the mk3 ? Wondering if I should upgrade too…

Neil

When it came time to look into replacing my rack computer with Focusrite/FireWire, I too tried MOTU. I had many problems I blamed on the driver. I sent it back and wrote a bad review on Amazon. I wound up with RME Babyface Pro and have had no problems. I also have a Komplete Audio 6 that’s OK and a Behringer UMC404HD that is amazing for the cost. The downside of the Behringer is running monitor for sax and flute. It’s just easier with the BabyFace and TotalMix. I’ve always thought of Behringer as a software company that sells hardware. Their driver for the UMC seems rock solid. The box itself isn’t very flexible for live use (which also makes it simple to operate if you aren’t one of the corner use cases).

Me too! Good interface to be sure but very pricey, not a MOTU user so far, RME and Audient here …

Dave

I had behringer also but it’s not as performant as the Motu. It operates on single USB also but i wouldn’t recommend this, i once had a distaster show because of it lol :stuck_out_tongue:

Neil the only reference i have is my experience.
I contacted Motu but they refered to a local repair center.

This is my email with complaint.

Hi Motu,

I’m a user of motu for years and have mk3.

I reinstalled on a new laptop and some old problems return and again some new:

1 - I cannot get any signal flowing through Cue Mix, I’ve set focus to the channels, but whatever I try, there’s nu signal sign coming out of the software, nor does it affect the signal or volumes etc. It does work because I can select the headphones from the menu.

How can I fix this, I already reinstalled or even downgraded to the older version of the driver. No use…

2 - Seems that the ASIO driver has lots of bugs, sometimes crackels happen after a while (on my previous laptop). I recently discovered that the synth VST I use gave also crackles, so I complained the developper. I installed ASIO4ALL, and my problems are gone with that driver !!! Only way I can get the motu driver working is by setting to 1024 latency. All lower gives crackles. I’m not even sure it affects the latency time,feels like the same respons time to me, the low or high settings…

3 - Old ghost problem reapears: After a while USB port 1 at the right is shut off, motu is still recognised as driver in de DAW but the DAW doesnt wanna play…

Switching to USB2 on the left solves the trick (all right usb don’t work anymore). Strange enough: this is a new laptop and that problem was on the old one also!!! Only way to resolve this is to reinstall windows or restore to a point before the prob.

This way the soundcard is unreliable on stage, worse, it’s unusable! I cannot change the settings or asio driver gives problems.

My config:

  • downloaded latest motu drivers

  • w10 i7-3820qm 16 Gb ram

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