Need a bit of help with Windows audio drivers
so, I'm a Mac user, but use a mini windows PC for an installation piece.
My old PC has developed a flakey power socket, so I bought a new one (a small AceMagic from Amazon. Alder Lake N97, Windows 11 Pro).
When I ran the Max patch I noticed that the audio from the headphone outs included a lot of little dull popping sounds, so I bought an M-Track Duo for a hopefully improved audio experience.
I've installed the M-Audio drivers, downloaded from their site.
I've tested the M-Track in the Windows audio settings panel, and it's working ok.
The audio is indeed improved - when I can get it to connect to Max!
(NB I'm really unfamiliar with Windows drivers and so on)
I've gone through the available drivers in Max Audio preferences, and occasionally one has worked, but then it won't work when I restart Max. Instead I get error messages when I select a driver or turn audio on.
Audio Driver results:
ad_asio M-Audio M-Track Solo and Duo ASIO -
MSP/ASIO: error loading ASIO driver for:/
MSP ASIO: Error -1 loading driver M-Audio M-Track Solo and Duo ASIO
(Audio Driver menu jumps back to None).
(with the following drivers, I have the M-Track selected in the Input- and Output- device menus. The results are sometimes different if I select eg Speakers (USB Audio and HID).
(Also, when I turn Audio on, the little M-Track interface app tells me "Hardware connected" and "streaming".)
ad_directsound & ad_mme:
No error messages, audio turns on, but no output.
ad_portaudio MME & ad_portaudio Windows Direct sound:
No error message when selected. When audio turned on -
adportaudio_start: error Unanticipated host error from portaudio opening stream
Sometimes when audio is turned on, and moving the live.gain fader up and down, the live.gain meters show level changes. Sometimes they don't.
Can anyone suggest what the problem is, and how to fix it? I've fiddled around with what settings I can but am now utterly lost!
thanks. David
[edit] I just downloaded and tried the MPC app that came with the audio interface, and that works just fine. It seems to be an issue with Max?
Audio drivers were the main reason I switched to Mac many years ago. Back in the days the Steinberg ASIO drivers were the way to go. But they had to be installed separately. But I am sure there are others here who have more recent experience with Windows.
I am not win 11 user, but on win 10, one should set system sound
to built in hardware, and let Max use external interface exclusively.
check buffer setting in m audio settings app.
m audio is last choice when it comes to interfaces for me...
common problem with built in hardware is grounding.
removing earth wire from power supply usually helps
to remove ripple and hiss.
In case grounding is the issue a DI-box with ground lift should help as well.
set system sound
to built in hardware, and let Max use external interface exclusively.
ok, done that. But no change.
check buffer setting in m audio settings app.
A tiny little app! Buffer size is256, same as i/O vector setting in Max.
Also tried installing FlexASIO. And tried ad_portaudio Windows WASAPI.
Still getting error messages.
And MPC Beats and BFD Player apps that came with the interface) work just fine with the M-Track. Which suggests (?? I could be wrong) it's something to do with Max.
common problem with built in hardware is grounding.
These Mini PCs use wall-wart type external PSUs, so AFAIK there's no mains grounding.
@JANM thanks for the DI suggestion. In this setup though, I was originally sending audio out through the headphone socket (Meh. But it worked pretty well on the older mini PC I was using). And sending that to a couple of powered speakers. It was because of the odd low frequency pops (fpoopffs?) I was hearing that I decided to add a small audio interface to the setup.
Like I said, that works fine with other apps (well, the 2 i tried) on the PC, it's just Max that won't connect to it properly.
So I dug out some interfaces from other projects (a Presonus and a Focusrite), installed the drivers, and they worked perfectly with Max.
So I guess it's some naffness in the M-Audio drivers. Hey ho. Odd that it works ok with other windows apps though.
I'll check if the M-Track works ok with Max on Mac, and then (hopefully) use it with one of those projects where I don't need Focusrite quality.
There is also the Behringer UFO202. In Europe it sells around 20€. Maybe that's an option.
mm, i think I have one of those sitting at the bottom of a box of odds and sods. Do you happen to know (before i start digging) whether or not Max will work with Behringer interfaces on Windows?
I haven’t tried this one on windows unfortunately. Just in general I had better experiences with Behringer than M-Audio when it comes to drivers. (in budget devices)