USB Audio Interface - Audio dropout, Vista64

[Skummel Maske]

This seems to be a rather odd issue. I'm using the Native Instruments Rig Kontrol audio interface, and most of the time it works perfectly. However, when I let my computer idle for a while, maybe about 5 minutes or so, the sound drops out until I restart Windows. The RK itself still works when the sound is gone (there's a small lamp that glows when I'm playing), so it seems to be software-related. There's no screen saver or anything activated.

After googling the issue I went over the power settings, and made sure the power plan was set to high performance and the usb hubs didn't go to "sleep" to save power. This hasn't helped.

Also, I've been using the computer actively for hours without the sound dropping out, so I feel certain that it's the idling that does this.

Any suggestions here?

[prophetik]

when you come back from idle, does windows play any sound? or is it only rig that doesn't work? check to make sure you don't have more than one audio driver installed, and if you're using asio drivers try reinstalling with the newest version.

[Skummel Maske]

I've got the newest version of the ASIO drivers, and I reinstalled them first thing after I first discovered the problem. There's no sound output at all. I'll leave the Cubase mixer open and wait for it to happen again, so I can see if it receives any input.

I've got drivers for the onboard HD sound module installed, although I've disabled them. It uses the RK as standard sound device automatically. I have noticed that it takes a while for the sound to "activate" whenever I open an application as well (as in, this happens all the time, not when the sound dropout problem appears). E.g. after closing Cubase earlier, I opened an mp3 in VLC, and it took 25 seconds before the sound activated.

Edit:
Confirmed. There's neither input nor output when it's in that state. It also seems to make Cubase crash, but if the interface it's using suddenly disappears, I guess that's kind of natural.

[prophetik]

xp sp3? if so, it doesn't ship with working drivers for hd audio. you'll need an addon.

[Skummel Maske]

The drivers are for Vista64, and the onboard audio does work when I activate it and plug it in.

[prophetik]

hmm. this sounds like something to post in the NI bug forums. they're pretty active over there, all told, so they should be able to help you out.

i'm not familiar with the interface, so my help is limited.