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Audio keeps cutting out seemingly at random; solved by unplugging and replugging
Hi everyone,
I don't know what to do here. Audio from my Scarlett 2i2 interface keeps cutting out at random, it doesn't matter what I'm doing. Watching YouTube videos, recording music, in a Discord call, whatever, audio will just randomly cut out. It is solved by unplugging and replugging my audio interface into my laptop, or by changing my sample rate.
This is incredibly annoying, whatever the case. This is a very new thing - I have had the interface for less than a year (got it for Christmas 2021).
Everything I've found has described an issue similar to mine, but nothing exactly matches, and any fixes suggested in those forums did not work.
I have tried:
- Switching USB ports
- Updating the firmware
- Restarting my computer
- Turning off/on phantom power
- Unplugging my dock from my laptop
- Unplugging my microphone and guitar cables
- Disabled power saving mode on the USB port the interface is plugged into.
I don't know what else I can do. I've tried contacting support but came up nil.
Bought a 2i2 3rd gen recently and I had exactly the same issue. The interface worked well for an hour. After that, any source change will trigger either no sound that won't recover until interface is re-plugged or buzzing sound, distortions and other sound artifacts.
I tried other usb ports, 3.0, 2.0, updating firmware, complete reinstall the drivers, changed power settings, removed windows ability to turn power off to USB ports... Nothing worked. If anything, the issue was occurring faster now.
I had something similar happening with FIIO BTR7 (brand new as well). Turns out my problems were directly occurring from the driver itself. For whatever reason, these 3rd party drivers don't play well with Windows 10/11.
Removed the fiio driver and the device worked well.
Now - for the Scarlett -
I connected the interface to my working laptop that had no drivers installed. I also ditched the OG cable in favor of a smartphone cable (usb c to usb c).
The interface is recognized by windows as any device out there. Windows already has drivers to drive this interface - not sure if they are better than the ones specifically designed by Scarlett (probably not), but it does seem to be stable and have no problems with disconnecting.
Have used the scarlett connected to my laptop for 7 hours and absolutely no disconnection.
I will remove the driver from my desktop PC and try with the OG cable. If that works, then for sure the problem is between windows and the driver. And I blame windows on this.
Just dropping in to say I've been experiencing the exact same issue. Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen, Windows 11. Exact same problem you've described. I have a sneaking suspicion this is Windows 11 refusing to play well with third party drivers because there's no other explanation for a 4 year old device to suddenly start having software issues unless an update broke something. Will keep an eye on this thread and update if I learn anything new. At the moment I just have a Powershell script bound to a macro on my mouse that disables and re-enables the device in device manager which fixes it, but is completely unacceptable as a permanent solution.
Hey everyone.
In case anyone is still having the cut out issue...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOk7uZCv5zQ
My 18i20 was constantly cutting out - not ideal for jamming/live situations.
I changed all the power plan / USB setting in previous attempts, but it was installing the legacy Win7/8 drivers that worked.
Wild beans.
Also having the issue on Windows 11. It worked fine until i installed the most recent focusrite update.
For my Solo (3rd gen)
Firmware 1605 Driver 4.119.13
I tried legit everything, and the fix for me was to just use a 2.0 usb port lol. I cant believe it
I have the same problem, and have it plugged into usb-2
I'm guessing by the age of the post it's the 3rd gen. I had the Solo back then, no issues, had the 2i2 3rd gen no issues, and as soon as I upgraded to the 2i2 4th gen, exact same issue here. I workaround it by clicking expose /hide window channels in the taskbar, and then I toggle off Loopback L + R or on if it was off. Fixes it every time. So if it's on, turn it off, if it's off, turn it on. The moment I hit apply my sound magically comes back. I'm at my PC a lot, so it happens about 3x a day.
I started having this issue with my 3rd gen Scarlett 18i20. I tried everything listed in this thread and the one thing that solved it was replacing my 15 ft long USB-C cord with a new 6 ft long USB-C cord. I don't know if it's the shorter length that made a difference, or if the old cord was just starting to go bad and replacing it with a longer cord would have still worked. But I would recommend replacing your cord if you have this issue, and try to get the shortest length that still works for where you keep your interface.
Same problem with a Focusrite 18i20 and Windows 10. Here's what worked ...
I followed this video on the Focusrite website: https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-Windows-for-Audio#:~:text=If%20you%20are%20experiencing%20glitchy%20audio%20with%20your%20Focusrite%20interface,the%20buffer%20size%20to%201024.
I restarted my computer, but the audio didn't stop cutting out.
One of the things I ignored in the video was to reduce the length of the USB cable. I reduced it from 6 ft to 3 ft.
I'm amazed that it made a difference, but it has been stable so far.
Has anyone found a fix yet?