Help fixing Crackling noise on Motu m2 audio interface

[1988fido]

Hi

I will try to keep it short and straight to the point:

0- I have contacted the Motu support for this and they are not helpful nor willing to do live chat/TeamViewer to attempt to solve this. screenshot for proof (ticket still open since 6/Aug/2021)

1- I had this issue for long time and my solution was always format the pc or reinstall the drivers to fix it but since august its not fixing the issue anymore. I put a video of how it sounds

2- basically my headphones are DT 990 Pro 250ohm , they work perfectly on any device ( my own pc, Asus MAximux X hero + my friend gaming pc forgot his mobo + my 12" macbook ) but with the motu m2 it gave me issues after few months and i solved it using #1 format/reinstall etc..

2.5-  I tried all sample rates and buffer sizes etc.. didn't solve it however it made the noise sound change and be more frequent or lets say more noises in 1 second !

3- since august i couldn't solve it that way so I tested the motu m2 on my Macbook 12" and my friends gaming pc and the same annoying sound is there which made me realize its a hardware issue in the "Old Motu M2"

4- I bought a new Motu M2  and guess what ? its the same issue , its there.
I test it on Macbook 12" and my gaming PC Asus Maximus X hero.
only difference between this test and the old one its that I updated windows + bios of my gaming pc also updated my mac OS ofc. which should be the normal for most ppl right?

5- so now I know for sure its not Broken hardware Motu m2 and its not my Computer/motherboard. and formatting or reinstalling drivers don't help.
how to solve this ?

checked youtube etc.. nothing solved it, and even followed their instructions on their website https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/troubleshooting-windows-audio

so only hope I still have its this forums

Capture2 ss to show their software don't report any issues in dignostics.



So guys any new ideas or tricks that I can try to fix this?


if it helps:
Seasonic prime 1000W/ hooked to a UPS APC and even did upgrade to new ups Triplite.(dont remember honestly if I tried without the ups but I doubt its the ups that is cozing all this and I dont want to use this pc without ups)
8700k Stock
mobo settings all stock except xmp ( and tried to reset to defaults didnt help)


Ps:+ even the psu was RX 850W corsair before I upgrade to 3080. so it cant be ups because I tried 2 and cant be psu because I tried 2. and cant be mobo because I tried 3 computers!

[GuiltySpark_]

Have you tried any other headphones in the M2?

[1988fido]

30 minutes ago, rickeo said:

Have you tried any other headphones in the M2?

i dont have other headphones that is 1/4 inch plug. and it was working fine in the past then when this noise started to happen i used to format the pc and it solved it. but then even formatting the pc didnt work.

also new update , I installed the system extension on mac (which wasn't available before) now on my mac it sounds good. so am pretty sure its software issue because its still the same headphones on mac and the same headphones on windows used to work fine and even later dates when started to sound bad a format did solve it


or can be usb power delivery issue with updates/bios etc..
:/ dont know

[1988fido]

just for historic info if someone stumbled upon this.
I made new ticket on Motu m2 to make them notice the old ticket hhhhhhh

they replied with the silliest solutions:

1- i already talked to them before that I did the usb troubleshooting link they gave , its there in the history in the ticket with the other agent
2-
3-its not just a shot in the dark its impossible
"The USB ports are malfunctioning on these PCs to a degree " they are not , 1 brand new computer man with amd X570 Asus ROG dark hero and other is old Z370 that works flawless with their sound card on mic + the headphones issue used to be fixable with reinstalling drivers then i couldnt fix it doing that so i started fixing it with formatting my pc and was working with that solution , then it stopped being fixed by both solutions so its not a freaking motherboard problem its more like compatiblity issue with their garbage software/driver that doesnt follow certain usb power delivery standard which i confirmed once i connected it to my macbook 12" because it works on the laptop but finish the battery within 3-5 minutes of a full battery and my laptop battery health still good the laptop lasts 8+ hours normally.

also my XDo5 Basic (just bought it) Totally works flawless with my pc or with my usb powered hub.
on battery mode and on ext power (means from pc)


4- he want to know if its WDM  os ASIO isolated insident =.=! what can I say , these guys clearly dont know how to troubleshoot. if it was driver issue that only happens with wdm only it would have never worked by reformatting and reinstalling drivers like i used to fix it , and before these 2 solutions i used to fix it by plugging the motu to my monitor usb hub (tried it now it doesn't solve it)

and if it will be solved in asio it would be working flawlessly in many software's and others have issues as some software's use Asio =.=!, but no the issue its there universally in the entire windows.


5- he suggests " I would also consider looking into a PCI USB card from Inateck" joking right? he knows its a gaming pc and he either dont know how intel z370 platform split pcie lanes which is bad and means this guy not qualified to be talking to me to try to troubleshoot it and should just shut it and pass me to someone who knows more. Or he dont care that I lose performance on my gpu when i just connect a pci device that he want me to + he want me to throw more $ on the problem which is not my fault its their garbage product and its over reddit and youtube well known issue am not the only one.




o


here is my video i made for this tech support guy , he asked i try ASiO
so i did and recorded , and i put it here for documentation so anyone have the same issue can maybe help me solve it or know that motu support dont know enough to solve it

 

 

[GoldenSound]

I have a motu M2 and also experience this issue. It seems to be an issue with their driver's buffer management.

Change your buffer size up one notch in the motu control panel then back down (or just leave it) and it'll be fine.
This issue will typically arise when you change sample rate

[H713]

22 hours ago, 1988fido said:

5- he suggests " I would also consider looking into a PCI USB card from Inateck" joking right? he knows its a gaming pc and he either dont know how intel z370 platform split pcie lanes which is bad and means this guy not qualified to be talking to me to try to troubleshoot it and should just shut it and pass me to someone who knows more. Or he dont care that I lose performance on my gpu when i just connect a pci device that he want me to + he want me to throw more $ on the problem which is not my fault its their garbage product and its over reddit and youtube well known issue am not the only one.

 

Keep in mind that MOTU's sole business is building and selling audio interfaces - their support engineers may or may not necessarily be intimately familiar with the architecture of every different computer platform. Additionally, the vast majority of their users are not worried about optimizing GPU performance. I know some of the guys over at MOTU, and I can assure you that they are not idiots. 

 

With all of that said, professional audio interfaces (M2 is more prosumer grade, but my point remains) are somewhat complicated devices. They've got a lot of functionality packed into a little box, and the drivers for them are somewhat complicated (and have quite a few settings) in order to be able to work properly with the wide variety of DAWs that are popular. I've spent no small amount of time tracking down issues in software with interfaces of all makes and models. 

 

I've used M2s, and I wouldn't call them a "garbage product". It's not a Lynx Hilo, RME ADI2 or Prism Lyra, but compared to a lot of interfaces in that price range, they're pretty well-behaved.

[1988fido]

On 1/28/2022 at 12:50 AM, GoldenOne said:

I have a motu M2 and also experience this issue. It seems to be an issue with their driver's buffer management.

Change your buffer size up one notch in the motu control panel then back down (or just leave it) and it'll be fine.
This issue will typically arise when you change sample rate

didn't work, and i have tried that before , and tried every combination almost.


 

 

On 1/28/2022 at 1:18 AM, H713 said:

Keep in mind that MOTU's sole business is building and selling audio interfaces - their support engineers may or may not necessarily be intimately familiar with the architecture of every different computer platform. Additionally, the vast majority of their users are not worried about optimizing GPU performance. I know some of the guys over at MOTU, and I can assure you that they are not idiots. 

 

With all of that said, professional audio interfaces (M2 is more prosumer grade, but my point remains) are somewhat complicated devices. They've got a lot of functionality packed into a little box, and the drivers for them are somewhat complicated (and have quite a few settings) in order to be able to work properly with the wide variety of DAWs that are popular. I've spent no small amount of time tracking down issues in software with interfaces of all makes and models. 

 

I've used M2s, and I wouldn't call them a "garbage product". It's not a Lynx Hilo, RME ADI2 or Prism Lyra, but compared to a lot of interfaces in that price range, they're pretty well-behaved.

for the price you cant beat it. and i consider it way better than many Audio interfaces. but i own 2 motu m2's and I tested on 3 computers

X570 dark hero
Z370 maximus X hero
and macbook 12" ( issue was resolved after using their extension)
so brand new motu m2 behave same way with 2 different gaming computers i would say it is garbage and worth of being called that till its fixed. either software or hardware whatever is cozing it, and their support isn't the greatest when you check earlier posts here they didn't reply For months , till i actually made another ticket to point their attention to the old ticket.

[1988fido]

On 12/6/2021 at 11:46 PM, rickeo said:

Have you tried any other headphones in the M2?

today i got an adapter and I tested on my Bose QC35 II its much better and never do the crackling noise till I increase the the knob too high and its small amount not the same at all with DT 990. so I guess its related to power draw.

also I can reproduce the issue when I am moving the knob and clicking the window sound level to make that windows ping.(on my bose QC 35 II) 

[ShearMe]

On 1/27/2022 at 3:18 PM, H713 said:

Keep in mind that MOTU's sole business is building and selling audio interfaces - their support engineers may or may not necessarily be intimately familiar with the architecture of every different computer platform.

If that's their sole business, shouldn't they test their product to work on lots of different architectures? 

[H713]

10 hours ago, ShearMe said:

If that's their sole business, shouldn't they test their product to work on lots of different architectures? 

I said support engineers. Their design engineers will have tested it on a wide variety of platforms.  Their hardware engineers likely are at least reasonably familiar with most platforms. Familiar with how different Intel generations handle PCIe? Less likely. 

 

The reality is that electrical engineering is too broad for one person to be intimately familiar with all branches, at least in most cases. Very rarely will you find someone who has mastered both analog engineering and computer engineering. When you do, they're really, really expensive, and they get snatched up by companies like HP and Tektronix.

 

Support on a product like this is a pain, because you're running into three different kinds of problems

1) Analog problems related to how the device is connected to other equipment.

2) Digital problems related to how the device is connected to its host computer.

3) Software problems related to how the device interfaces with the host computer and DAW. 

 

For example, I'm quite capable of troubleshooting number one - analog troubleshooting is one of my stronger points. Numbers two and three are way outside my comfort zone, and my troubleshooting process largely involves semi-educated guesswork and lots of googling. 

 

 

[H713]

11 hours ago, 1988fido said:

today i got an adapter and I tested on my Bose QC35 II its much better and never do the crackling noise till I increase the the knob too high and its small amount not the same at all with DT 990. so I guess its related to power draw.

also I can reproduce the issue when I am moving the knob and clicking the window sound level to make that windows ping.(on my bose QC 35 II) 

 

The symptoms you're describing sounds to me like clipping - you're overdriving something, probably (but not necessarily) the headphone amp.

 

Now is the point when I start to wish I had a schematic for the M2...

 

 

[Heats with Nvidia]

On 1/30/2022 at 7:23 AM, H713 said:

 

The symptoms you're describing sounds to me like clipping - you're overdriving something, probably (but not necessarily) the headphone amp.

This is what it soubds like to me, too. This is often possible so you have some headroom to amplify weak signals when you need to.

 

On 1/30/2022 at 7:23 AM, H713 said:

Now is the point when I start to wish I had a schematic for the M2..

One can always dream... Most companies treat schematics like nudes from their CEO, they are NEVER to be seen by anybody.

[H713]

17 hours ago, Heats with Nvidia said:

One can always dream... Most companies treat schematics like nudes from their CEO, they are NEVER to be seen by anybody.

I'm painfully aware, though I would maybe say "distant memory" rather than dream. I've got schematics for most (not all, but most) equipment right up until about 1995. After that it starts getting pretty sparse. 

 

 

[1988fido]

On 1/30/2022 at 10:23 AM, H713 said:

 

The symptoms you're describing sounds to me like clipping - you're overdriving something, probably (but not necessarily) the headphone amp.

 

Now is the point when I start to wish I had a schematic for the M2...

 

 

you can hear the video i made in the first post , its not clipping its the same but less with the bose 35, i have to move the knob to hear it or make the knob on high volume
meaning while am moving around the knob even on low volumes it will make that noise. i dont think its clipping as clipping only when you draw more than it can produce and it happens on low sounds and bose 35 is 32 ohm only + the sound of clipping different from the recorded noise i put in the first post you can hear it.

clipping happened in the past when the device was working perfectly i tried to max the knob and see when it will clip so i hear the different and can recognize it

[sgtbug]

I had the exact same issue with my M2. I found that when I plugged it in using a PCIe USB 3.0 card it worked perfectly.. till it crashed my USB controller and eventually lead to a frozen Windows session.

The hardware on the Motu M2 is probably the best for any budget interface but the (Windows) software/ drivers suck ass. The drivers are just terrible. When using on my Mac it worked so well that I was tempted to keep it anyway but eventually ended up returning it. I refuse to use hardware with such faulty drivers.

If you are a Windows user and can return it, I would strongly advise that you do so and get yourself an interface with proper drivers. The G3 Scarletts are pretty stable, IMO. You can even try Audient ID4 or something.

[1988fido]

On 2/14/2022 at 11:36 PM, sgtbug said:

I had the exact same issue with my M2. I found that when I plugged it in using a PCIe USB 3.0 card it worked perfectly.. till it crashed my USB controller and eventually lead to a frozen Windows session.

The hardware on the Motu M2 is probably the best for any budget interface but the (Windows) software/ drivers suck ass. The drivers are just terrible. When using on my Mac it worked so well that I was tempted to keep it anyway but eventually ended up returning it. I refuse to use hardware with such faulty drivers.

If you are a Windows user and can return it, I would strongly advise that you do so and get yourself an interface with proper drivers. The G3 Scarletts are pretty stable, IMO. You can even try Audient ID4 or something.

i have 2 devices motu m2, not just one , and return is not an option as i used one for looooong time without issues but then started to have some and my solution was to format for a while it worked with that then i couldnt even solve it with format.

2nd motu m2 i bought it to make sure its not a hardware issue as their support wasnt useful that time and the issue happened on 3 computers so i assumed faulty hardware then issue was fixed on my mac dont know how. and stayed on 2 computers even with new motu so its not hardware thing.

i didnt go to my friend house to test it agian on his computer but am certain its still the same. anyway cant return and i use XD05 Basic for my headphones which is 10 times better than Motu m2. 

its cheaper. its portable , it have no issues and drivers are solid 10/10 + many more features. however if you want to add XLR input for a mic i think it will add more cost to be more expensive than motu m2 by at least 70$ so its not the same budget level anymore

[Felardo02]

Hello, in case it helps someone, if you have an asus b450-m motherboard, use the GEN 1 usb port, not the GEN 2. All this time I had it connected to the GEN 2 thinking that it was the correct one and was the main cause of the problems.

 

And, just in case, use a cable shorter than 1.50 meters.

 

I hope someone finds it helpful!