Sound issues pops and crackles - observations

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Like a few that have posted on this a few times, I sometimes get the pops and crackles depending on the area and plane I am flying. I have responded in a few posts about this here and in a few other forums. NickN has chimed in a few times on the subject, but to no avail in getting to the bottom of it. One thing that does seem to be a common thing for those that get this is that we all seem to have Asus Mobos. I have a Maximus Formula. I have searched google on this and have even seen a few posts regarding those that have XP, which I have, that when updating to SP3 they had some sound issues with HD sound.An few observations I have noticed when the sound gets weird.1. When ATC is talking sometimes it will make a sound like it is skipping or studdering. Kind of like when car CD players skip when going over a bump in the road.2. Sometimes I get this loud static sound while ATC is talking and I have to hit the Q key twice and that clears it for a while.3. When first starting FSX and clicking on the Aircraft, Location, Weather, and the Time/Season to make changes, when I click on the first buttom to select the aircraft I want, I get a loud click, but then when I click on the second button to go into the Location Menu, instead of getting a loud click I get a low thud sound. Same happens when I click on the other buttons to access the other menus.4. Last night I left the sim running all night when parked at an airport. Today when I turned on the monitor and exited the flight and went into the main menu, the funny low thud click sounds disappeard. Every button I clicked on produced a loud click.Judging by what my sim is doing with sound I am stumped.Has anyone had these type of issues and gotten to the bottom of them?What settings are you using for sound acceleration? I have the onboard Soundmax card that came with the board and have tried a few different settings but none seem to make much difference. I also ran the DXDIAG sound tests but they all came back normal.I look forward to any input you guys can give in things to look for and settings to check.Thanks in advance - Sean

[Guest Alphahawk3]

Like a few that have posted on this a few times, I sometimes get the pops and crackles depending on the area and plane I am flying. I have responded in a few posts about this here and in a few other forums. NickN has chimed in a few times on the subject, but to no avail in getting to the bottom of it. One thing that does seem to be a common thing for those that get this is that we all seem to have Asus Mobos. I have a Maximus Formula. I have searched google on this and have even seen a few posts regarding those that have XP, which I have, that when updating to SP3 they had some sound issues with HD sound.An few observations I have noticed when the sound gets weird.1. When ATC is talking sometimes it will make a sound like it is skipping or studdering. Kind of like when car CD players skip when going over a bump in the road.2. Sometimes I get this loud static sound while ATC is talking and I have to hit the Q key twice and that clears it for a while.3. When first starting FSX and clicking on the Aircraft, Location, Weather, and the Time/Season to make changes, when I click on the first buttom to select the aircraft I want, I get a loud click, but then when I click on the second button to go into the Location Menu, instead of getting a loud click I get a low thud sound. Same happens when I click on the other buttons to access the other menus.4. Last night I left the sim running all night when parked at an airport. Today when I turned on the monitor and exited the flight and went into the main menu, the funny low thud click sounds disappeard. Every button I clicked on produced a loud click.Judging by what my sim is doing with sound I am stumped.Has anyone had these type of issues and gotten to the bottom of them?What settings are you using for sound acceleration? I have the onboard Soundmax card that came with the board and have tried a few different settings but none seem to make much difference. I also ran the DXDIAG sound tests but they all came back normal.I look forward to any input you guys can give in things to look for and settings to check.Thanks in advance - Sean

Asus P6T Deluxe....I feel your pain....LOL. SoundMax is out for me. I have another issue that I thought was sound but a kind guy on here gave me a link to a good app to try to find that problem. With my on-board sound I follow you right by the numbers. It does not happen all the time. Now I have just put in this Audigy sound card so I will need a few days to make sure none of numbers 1 through 4 return. My XP for my new build I have already had SP3 on it but I have read the same posts and I don't even want to attempt what some are doing for a fix...if the fix works. But as I am now on sound card and will let you know how it works. If that stuff comes back has to be something in the boards. Regards

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Thanks for the reply. I can't wait to see how your new card works. Worst case I will just change sound cards if #1 - 4 dont come back on your system. Keep me informed on how your new card goes.BTW, as far as the SP3 fix I don't know if I want to attempt that as well.

[Guest Alphahawk3]

Thanks for the reply. I can't wait to see how your new card works. Worst case I will just change sound cards if #1 - 4 dont come back on your system. Keep me informed on how your new card goes.BTW, as far as the SP3 fix I don't know if I want to attempt that as well.

Stayed up all night long putting the sound card through it's paces. No problems you mentioned in your post about the clicks and static and so on. That is good news. It still does not fix my problem of using ATC calls when the ATC screen pops up...or if I just hear other traffic and no screen pops up my system will sometimes give one quick stutter. If I am on the ground doing calls back and forth between ATC and doing a taxi I will get a stutter at sometime during the ATC conversation. Makes no sense to me. And at times I can do a flight using ATC and not stutters at all...but I can also force it into a stutter...90% of the time when I am taxing to the runway and making some sort of turn and contacting ATC I will see that hesitation and then maybe the rest of my flight will be uneventful. Then there are other times i will just be flying and tuned to to the local channel and listening to other traffic and sometimes when ATC call other traffic it gives me a stutter in mid-air. I am becoming fixated on this. It has to do with one of several things....video card...I doubt...SP3...highly suspect....Asus M/B...highly suspect. Let me know if you find anything on your end. Regards

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that this sorted out some of your problems. I think your right about it having something to do with SP3 and I am wondering also if it has something to so with the nVidia drivers. I never had any of this prior to SP3 and I think I also went to the newest nVidia drivers around the same time. Like you I have been getting fixated on trying to solve this problem.1. What sound acceleration levels are you using?2. In FSX in the sound menu I think it is, did you select your sound card to play sounds and voices or did you leave it set on the default soiund player? I switched my to the Soundmax option and it has helped some.3. Do you notice or had noticed more of the pops and crackles with the Soundmax card when you were flying in dense areas? I did a test the other night by flying around KDFW. If I was facing away from the airport no pops or crackles, however if I turn my head and look in the direction of the airport then I get the sound issues.Perhaps I will now consider changing my sound card to the one you got.

[Guest Alphahawk3]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that this sorted out some of your problems. I think your right about it having something to do with SP3 and I am wondering also if it has something to so with the nVidia drivers. I never had any of this prior to SP3 and I think I also went to the newest nVidia drivers around the same time. Like you I have been getting fixated on trying to solve this problem.1. What sound acceleration levels are you using?2. In FSX in the sound menu I think it is, did you select your sound card to play sounds and voices or did you leave it set on the default soiund player? I switched my to the Soundmax option and it has helped some.3. Do you notice or had noticed more of the pops and crackles with the Soundmax card when you were flying in dense areas? I did a test the other night by flying around KDFW. If I was facing away from the airport no pops or crackles, however if I turn my head and look in the direction of the airport then I get the sound issues.Perhaps I will now consider changing my sound card to the one you got.

SounMax is out for me. While my ATC problem is not the sound issue the on-board SoundMax has too many problems..popping..crackling...static....that is now gone. I tried all of the sound settings in game...DXDiag...Control Panel....nothing made a difference. I did notice when turning hardware acceleration off in DXDiag when using the SoundMax the sound would hardly work at all in the sim....lock ups...static...lots of things. When I turn off hardware acceleration with the Sound Blaster my audio woks normal. Asus tech support is closed until February 4th I think then I am going to address this with them...not that it will help as it is just with FSX that I can tell...but I will try. I posted on the Asus P6T Deuxe M/B forum about this but no answers. Regards

[Guest Alphahawk3]

Like a few that have posted on this a few times, I sometimes get the pops and crackles depending on the area and plane I am flying. I have responded in a few posts about this here and in a few other forums. NickN has chimed in a few times on the subject, but to no avail in getting to the bottom of it. One thing that does seem to be a common thing for those that get this is that we all seem to have Asus Mobos. I have a Maximus Formula. I have searched google on this and have even seen a few posts regarding those that have XP, which I have, that when updating to SP3 they had some sound issues with HD sound.An few observations I have noticed when the sound gets weird.1. When ATC is talking sometimes it will make a sound like it is skipping or studdering. Kind of like when car CD players skip when going over a bump in the road.2. Sometimes I get this loud static sound while ATC is talking and I have to hit the Q key twice and that clears it for a while.3. When first starting FSX and clicking on the Aircraft, Location, Weather, and the Time/Season to make changes, when I click on the first buttom to select the aircraft I want, I get a loud click, but then when I click on the second button to go into the Location Menu, instead of getting a loud click I get a low thud sound. Same happens when I click on the other buttons to access the other menus.4. Last night I left the sim running all night when parked at an airport. Today when I turned on the monitor and exited the flight and went into the main menu, the funny low thud click sounds disappeard. Every button I clicked on produced a loud click.Judging by what my sim is doing with sound I am stumped.Has anyone had these type of issues and gotten to the bottom of them?What settings are you using for sound acceleration? I have the onboard Soundmax card that came with the board and have tried a few different settings but none seem to make much difference. I also ran the DXDIAG sound tests but they all came back normal.I look forward to any input you guys can give in things to look for and settings to check.Thanks in advance - Sean

Check out the Asus P6T Deuxe M/B forum about similar problems with the SoundMax problems people are having and I have not even looked at their other Asus M/B forums. Asus needs to look into this.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

OK, thanks for the heads up, I will take a look.

[Guest Alphahawk3]

OK, thanks for the heads up, I will take a look.

Just to give you an update on sound issues. My SB Audigy is working fine. SoundMax just has something wrong with it. About 2 weeks ago I posted over at FTX and asked what gave an aircraft rolling sound on the runway. No one replied. The reason I asked was because the RealAir Scout I fly makes a lot of shaking and rumbling sound on takeoff. At YMML it made no sound rolling down the runway. I just thought it might be something about YMML. It is not. I have tested the plane at over 30 airports with the SB Audigy and it is the same at all airports. With on-board SoundMax it changes at different places...strange...but I am through with SoundMax. Regards