Sound issue with JP8 synth on Analog Lab 3

[AndyRH]

It could be that using the headphone socket on the laptop is the source of the problem.

The Focusrite 2i2 would be a good unit to try out. I use the 2i4 and it's worked perfectly for me through desktop monitors and headphones - so much so that I use it as my main soundcard for other things such playing games and watching videos.

[retrophonics]

Thanks AndyRH

[retrophonics]

Good News!!!
1 issue resolved!
Last night I discovered that I had a Nvidia HD sound driver on my laptop and that was the driver seemed to be playing all my synth software music? despite the fact that I had installed Asio14all driver which was strangely showing as the music driver and not the Nvidia.
Anyway I uninstalled the Nvidia driver and discovered I had no sound at all!!
However strangley after a very large schedualed Windows 10 update was installed, it re-instated it's own HD Windows sound driver.
After the long update was completed, i tried out Lab 3 (which I've now updated to full CollectionV6) and to my amazment, ALL my Arturia Lab 3 sounds play with no distortion and all very clearly.... Also very interestingly, the CPU level meter on bottom right of Lab3 screen, remains very low throughout every sound and not going off the scale as before...
So to sum up, it seems either there was a conflict between other sound drivers and the HD Nvidia sound driver or the HD Nividia driver was not compatable with Lab3.
Wow ..seriously complicated!
Now I just have to resolve the issue of static electrical background noise when my laptop is charging when I play through speakers.
I've ordered a Focusrite 2i2 audio interface, so I'm hpoing this may resolve that issue? 
Happy days!

[AndyRH]

That is good news! You got there in the end 

Also, let us know how you get on with the Focusrite 2i2 - it has its own ASIO driver which works better than the ASIO4All (well...for me anyway).

[retrophonics]

Will do Andy RH. Hoping 2i2 box comes today, so if it resolves the buzzing noise , I'll be a very happy keyboard player!

[LBH]

Good this  is resolved.

I assume your NVidia can't make any conflict, but you can try to disable that for a while, just to be certain.

Perhaps t was'nt a conflict as such, but apparantly it was about NVidia, and could have been discovered doing the above suggestion.  You could'nt have used it if it was disabled. Troubleshooting is a good thing to perform. Correct informations is good to be able to troubleshoot.

So you specificatins is okay, and an external soundcard is'nt a requirement.

I wonder about the noise. It can be a bad connection. A USB soundcard will use another route. Hope it will work, if something is wrong. Keep in mind that some sounds have emulated noise added.

Hope you'll enjoy playing now.

[retrophonics]

Will do Andy RH. Hoping 2i2 box comes today, so if it resolves the buzzing noise , I'll be a very happy keyboard player!
Thanks LBH for all your help.
My AI has arrived so I will set it up tonight and see what happens with the laptop  charging noise issue.
Thanks again guys

[retrophonics]

My success was short lived 
Plugged in my new Focusrite 2i2 AI, downloaded the correct Asio drivers and installed them, uninstalled the old original drivers, fired up Lab 3 and it CRASHED and crashed and crashed. Fired up Ableton and it crashed as well.
Went back and disabled the asio drivers and Focusite software and managed to get Lab 3 up but the sound was awful, like a kind of distorted pulse when I played any patches.
I uninstalled Lab 3 then re-installed but no change, I did same with the Focusrite but no change then tried to revert everything back to when it all worked yesterday but no success.
I have been through countless asio, buffer, driver, focusrite, windows & lab3  settings but no joy.
Last thing I did was to uninstall and reinstall the Focusrite drivers etc and everything shows up as it should in Device Manager and Lab 3 but then Lab stalls, freezes and the only thing I can do it turn the laptop off then on to unlock it.....
Obviously my issues have been narrowed down to either sound driver or sound card, as my laptop played Lab 3 without issues yesterday when I uninstalled the NVidia HD sound driver and just used the windows sound driver with asio one4all driver and then did a long Windows 10 update...
After reading the troubleshooting page  on Focusrite, seems there is a process to follow when installing this unit and driver and that it's asio driver conflicts with the asio one4all driver which must be removed first. I'm sure I did that but will check later after work and follow their installation process.
All very frustrating having freezing/crashing/distorted sounding Lab 3..   

[AndyRH]

This is getting to be a real pain for you 

The Focusrite driver needs to be installed before connecting the unit - I hope you did that. (Check to see if you're installing the 2nd Gen driver from the website, which should be "Focusrite USB ASIO 4.36.5")

One thing I could suggest now is to completely disable ALL other sound card drivers via the Device Manager in the Control Panel, and also to make sure the ASIO4All is uninstalled. That way you can ensure that any audio will only be going through the Focusrite 2i2.

[retrophonics]

Thanks Andy, seems I'm cursed not to play Arturia synths
Yes I'll do what you suggest, that sounds good advice.... cheers...
I think in my haste to get it up and running, I may have connected the hardware before downloading and installing the software, Windows may then have installed it's own USB drivers and then that started unstabling the whole sound thing on the laptop. I also made the error of not uninstalling the asio one4all driver which I now know was a mistake..
So my plan tomorrow morning is to start from a blank sheet of paper... uninstall ALL sound drivers and focusrite software etc and follow your instructions and those also on the Focusrite Troublehooting page and hopefully see if that sorts out the problems.
Frustrating thing is that I now know my laptop is well capable of playing Arturia Lab3/Collection V6 but the process of setting up the correct sound card and driver is an absolute nightmare.
Interestingly on the Focusrite Support page it does say that there are no issues running the F.S. 2i2 on Windows 10, so it's just a matter of sorting out the complex issue of sound drivers etc...
There is me thinking software synths were the way to go! But I've gone so far and invested so much, there's no going back now... 
Will keep you posted on this long running saga 

[AndyRH]

Keep us informed of the situation.

Something additional to my previous post - when everything is up and running, make sure that the Focusrite is made the default sound device in Control Panel.

Something else to suggest is to download and use CCleaner before trying the reinstallation - it's an app that helps to clear out junk files and old registry info. - and it has a free version.

[retrophonics]

Good idea and thanks again 

[AndyRH]

Something else I just remembered...

The Focusrite driver doesn't work properly on computer start up if you've set your computer power settings to allow for Hibernation.

To switch Hibernation off:
Start Menu --> Search --> type cmd   
Right click the entry in the search results and choose the "Run as Administrator" option.
Type at the prompt (without quotes)  "powercfg.exe -h off"
Close the cmd window then reboot your computer.

[retrophonics]

Hi Andy,
Well after 3 hours this morning of uninstalling, re-installing, following your instructions, following Forcusrite support instructions.....i have now come to the following conclusions...
Using any asio driver causes my Lab3 sounds to distort
Using the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 usb driver, causes my system to crash every time I try to load Lab 3 or Abelton, it also freezes my laptop in other programmes
Tried to use one4all asio driver and it distorted my lab 3 sounds to the point of being unuseable.
I uninstalled all asio drivers & unplugged 2i2 box, then reinstalled my Windows audio sound driver and then set Lab 3 audio settings using Windows audio and Speakers (high definition audio device) I'm now right back to where I started...  Lab 3 works with some sounds but distorts with others...and I still have electrical sound interference when playing through speakers
Conclusion...
The asio focusrite usb driver & Scarlett 2i2 is not compatable with my Dell laptop and the basic asio driver will not play Lab 3... Can't explain it...now I have a focusrite 2i2 that is of no use to me, when it should be??
I give up! I've nothing left to try nor any more patience left or money ...
THat's it for me as regards using soft synths for live gigs   

[AndyRH]

The Focusrite should be compatible - it's your laptop that's probably at fault. There may be a problem with your Windows installation.

Before giving up, try the following:

1) Run CMD as an administrator and type (without quotes) "sfc /scannow" and let it run.
This would tell you if windows files are corrupted and will attempt to repair them.
Reboot the computer.

2) As above but type (without quotes) "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth"
Reboot the computer.

Then try installing the Focusrite drivers etc.


Sorry, but I'm starting to run out of ideas and at the moment I can't think of anything more.

(If the above doesn't work, as a very last resort maybe reinstall Windows? If you do this, you can do a repair install where you can keep your apps and files.  https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html)