Choppy audio recording

[MikeDub]

Hi all,

New to Auria but not new to DAWs.
I purchased Auria and a Focusrite 18i8 to work with my ipad3.

Took the 18i8 out of the box, plugged it into the ipad with the cck and made a few test recordings.
Before arming the track, the audio sounds fine. Once the track is armed, the audio gets choppy, and records choppy.

I have not installed drivers on the ipad, or anything else.
Not sure if my problems sample rates or what.
I know I sound like a noob, but I'd like to hear from any users for some assistance in getting this worked out.

Many thanks,
Mike Dub

[Rim]

What sample rate are you using? The 18i8 doesn't work with a 96K sample rate. Also, what your record latency set to in Auria's settings? I suggest 256 or larger.

Rim

[MikeDub]

Hi,

In the settings, if I turn the record monitor from off to on, the choppy recording stops. Not sure what this means.

[Rim]

It's possible that you're experiencing a bug in the coreAudio system that affects iPad 2 and 3 models when using a USB interface. This bug is minimized by using the following settings in Auria:

Record Latency: 4096
USB Soft Start: Off

Try these settings, and see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, something else may be going on.

Rim

[jazzy1]

hi! Just wondering why the 18i8 doesnt work for 96k recording with Auria??

I'm about to get the 18i8 for ipad recording....any naysayers?

[Antzy]

What about this: I've got Scarlett 18i20 and it records just fine but just the playback is choppy and stuttery. When I switch the Scarlett off it plays back just normally through the iPad's speaker/headphones. What is happening?

[MikeDub]

@antzy...
I have this happen as well....

[Rim]

96k playback from an iPad over USB is not always easy. If you're trying to use a USB interface on an ipad at 96K, I recommend the following settings in Auria's settings page:

Record Latency: 1024 or larger
Disk Buffer: Large

We don't know why the 18i8 doesn't work at 96K. It's possibly something with the firmware. We'll keep you updated if this changes.

Rim

[Antzy]

I tried 44.1k and 48k but the playback is still choppy and stuttery!?

[Rim]

Antzy, does this happen with all Auria projects, or just a specific one? Could you try it with a new project? Also, try rebooting your iPad (hold down the power button).

Rim

[Antzy]

I thought it was only in that project as I did a couple projects after that without any problems until now again.

It's strange - I just had finished one project with 10 tracks+FX (without problems) and right away when I started a new one I could here strange noise and crackling nothing even recorded yet. I had one stereo track in the project to begin with and as I started playing it back through Scarlett 18i20 the audio gets choppy and stuttery again. I immediately raised the buffer level to try if it helps out, but no change. Now I also see the disk meter gets higher. Still only one stereo track without effects in the project.

Things got even stranger when I hit arm record on one track - the stuttering suddenly stops. But, now when I monitored my input signal the delay was huge (maybe 1-2 sec.) with the buffer setting still 512. I had the lowest buffer setting in the previous project and could monitor all the tracks with FX without any significant delay. I thought, no big deal, so I recorded the song without monitoring. In the half way in the song the recording suddenly stops and I get notification that my disk buffer is full. I switched it to large and could finish it. I still couldn't play the recording back again without at least one track record armed. The recording played back with the same delay that I could hear monitoring the input signal (1-2 sec.), so it also recorded the delay.

Just like before, as I unplugged the Scarlett, the project played back nicely without any chopping and stuttering without any tracks armed, but the delay was still in the recording as it had occurred already in the recording phase. I also tried to record one track with the iPads internal mic to the same project and it recorded fine without any delay.

What's happening here, Rim? I rebooted the iPad a couple of times and killed all apps and it didn't affect.

EDIT: I'm recording @ 44.1k.

[Rim]

If you're using an iPad 2 or 3, this is a known issue with coreAudio. I've let Apple know about this bug a while back. Let's hope they fix it soon. The only workaround is to go into Auria's settings, set your record latency to 4096, and disable USB Soft Start.

Rim

[Antzy]

Alright. Let's try that. Thanks!

EDIT: And yeah, iPad 3 here.

[Katherine_Focusrite]

Hi everyone,

I have tested the 18i8 and 6i6 and find them to be currently working in Auria at 96k, sometimes requiring troubleshooting steps for CoreAudio.

I did also find that the 18i20 is now not passing at 96k on the most recent firmware 586 update in the Scarlett MixControl 1.6b3 Beta version. As this was working previously when I tested it a while back I believe this is a new issue in the beta and I have already reported it to Development so I suspect that would be remedied soon. Those of you who use the 18i20 and have not updated to the beta Scarlett MixControl 1.6b3 may want to wait until that is a full non beta release.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to assist you.

Best regards.