Some progress on my Apollo x6 working without noise in DAW using Win 10 x64

Been over a month trying to get this crazy problem fixed, working with UA/have a ticket with them with no success after lots of back and forth, checking the typical optimizing windows 10 settings, disable this/that, etc. A person at the retailer I bought the x6 from who seems to know his stuff gave me a bit of a breakthrough today and that is my DAW works with the ASIO driver now without issues if, and only if, I set the sample rate to 88.2 or 96(higher sample rates might work but didn't test). Set it to 44.1 or 48? I get the problem back which is noise in the audio. Now I've read on this forum many times of WDM drivers having issues with the apollo but given I'm using ASIO with my DAW and it's not working with 44.1 or 48, but working fine with 88.2 and 96, any one have any fixes where they got 44.1 and 48 working with the ASIO driver? Sure seems to be an odd problem with only certain sample rates working correctly.

Note in Windows, I checked the WDM driver for UA, checked properties, and it's set to 32 bit 44.1. I also have realtek on board audio on the laptop disabled to take it out of the picture.

Thanks for any insight.

walrus890 said:

Been over a month trying to get this crazy problem fixed, working with UA/have a ticket with them with no success after lots of back and forth, checking the typical optimizing windows 10 settings, disable this/that, etc. A person at the retailer I bought the x6 from who seems to know his stuff gave me a bit of a breakthrough today and that is my DAW works with the ASIO driver now without issues if, and only if, I set the sample rate to 88.2 or 96(higher sample rates might work but didn't test). Set it to 44.1 or 48? I get the problem back which is noise in the audio. Now I've read on this forum many times of WDM drivers having issues with the apollo but given I'm using ASIO with my DAW and it's not working with 44.1 or 48, but working fine with 88.2 and 96, any one have any fixes where they got 44.1 and 48 working with the ASIO driver? Sure seems to be an odd problem with only certain sample rates working correctly.

Note in Windows, I checked the WDM driver for UA, checked properties, and it's set to 32 bit 44.1. I also have realtek on board audio on the laptop disabled to take it out of the picture.

Thanks for any insight.

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Someone on this Forum had success with this
https://give.academy/downloads/2018/03/03/ODeusASIOLinkPro/

I have not worked with it myself so I've no idea how well it works, nor do I pretend to know how to set it up. But I guess it couldn't hurt to try
Good luck on your journey!

Try this https://uadforum.com/support-troubleshooting/45413-i-found-solution-get-my-apollo-work-windows-without-pops-cracks.html

Cymbeline said:

Try this https://uadforum.com/support-troubleshooting/45413-i-found-solution-get-my-apollo-work-windows-without-pops-cracks.html

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Please be careful if trying this.

The question remains why thousands and thousands of users have no problems and yet a small number do, all with the same software. Work with support so they can figure out what’s going on.

UniversalAudio said:

Please be careful if trying this.

The question remains why thousands and thousands of users have no problems and yet a small number do, all with the same software. Work with support so they can figure out what’s going on.

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I love how you are insinuating
1: It's my own fault.
2: It's only a few users who experience this.
3: Act like support will solve this.

Now the facts:

You are hired to promote UAD products. And you don't want people talking about big problems with their product on this forum. I annoy you for doing exactly that.
You are fully aware this has been an ongoing issue for years already without any answer nor solution from UAD.
It's not 3 users who are affected. Many, many users are affected. Every day someone new posts the same issue. Post after post, thread after thread, day after day, year after year.
Every single audio interface i've owned over the last 10 years worked perfectly fine. And they ranged from budget to expensive machines. The Apollo is the first to give me problems.

Telling us to stop posting about it here and contact support instead is as nasty as it gets. You KNOW support can't solve this. You absolutely know that.
The only solution me and many others have is trying to find a solution together on the forums. Talking about it, trying to get it to work through obscure software like above. With potential dangers like malware.

I bought a 1800 euro machine that doesn't work with Windows. Well excuse me that i'm on your forum trying to help myself and others getting it to work.
Just like everyone else i tried support and they were completely useless, as you are fully aware of.

I can't believe this elitist behaviour. It simply annoys you there is a big group of people who have a problem with their Apollo and you won't want them here. Crazy.

I’m not insinuating anything. I’m merely stating that a small percentage of our Windows user base is having issues and that funneling data to support is how those issues are most likely to get addressed. This is the best most positive course of action.

Cymbeline said:

I love how you are insinuating
1: It's my own fault.
2: It's only a few users who experience this.
3: Act like support will solve this.

Now the facts:

You are hired to promote UAD products. And you don't want people talking about big problems with their product on this forum. I annoy you for doing exactly that.
You are fully aware this has been an ongoing issue for years already without any answer nor solution from UAD.
It's not 3 users who are affected. Many, many users are affected. Every day someone new posts the same issue. Post after post, thread after thread, day after day, year after year.
Every single audio interface i've owned over the last 10 years worked perfectly fine. And they ranged from budget to expensive machines. The Apollo is the first to give me problems.

Telling us to stop posting about it here and contact support instead is as nasty as it gets. You KNOW support can't solve this. You absolutely know that.
The only solution me and many others have is trying to find a solution together on the forums. Talking about it, trying to get it to work through obscure software like above. With potential dangers like malware.

I bought a 1800 euro machine that doesn't work with Windows. Well excuse me that i'm on your forum trying to help myself and others getting it to work.
Just like everyone else i tried support and they were completely useless, as you are fully aware of.

I can't believe this elitist behaviour. It simply annoys you there is a big group of people who have a problem with their Apollo and you won't want them here. Crazy.

Click to expand...

UniversalAudio said:

I’m not insinuating anything. I’m merely stating that a small percentage of our Windows user base is having issues and that funneling data to support is how those issues are most likely to get addressed. This is the best most positive course of action.

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Here is what support tells you about this problem (as you are fully aware of):

"Thanks for your Feedback, due to the limitations of the Windows WDM drivers these really do not have the necessary parameters to do proper realtime audio playback or recording over Thunderbolt. "

Stop telling us to contact support! They are aware of this problem for years and as tons of people here have written, they are not going to help you. It obviously isn't in UAD's interest to release a working driver. God knows why.

I realize my posts are bad for sales. And every time someone posts about the same problem, a potential buyer moves to something else. So of course you're downplaying it.
But i don't care. Really, i don't. I just want my 1800 euro product to work. And since UAD offers no support regarding this issue we have to do it through obscure software and other hacks.

As I have explained here and in direct messages, the more tickets that are submitted on a given issue, the more data/power there is to draw attention to it. This is regardless of whatever response you’ve gotten from support. I am on your side.

I don’t care about sales, these products sell themselves. And I know it feels like because it’s happening to you, it must be happening to everyone or even a majority, but it’s not. It’s a TINY fraction.

So let’s work together to make support as aware as we can about these issues.

Cymbeline said:

Here is what support tells you about this problem (as you are fully aware of):

"Thanks for your Feedback, due to the limitations of the Windows WDM drivers these really do not have the necessary parameters to do proper realtime audio playback or recording over Thunderbolt. "

Stop telling us to contact support! They are aware of this problem for years and as tons of people here have written, they are not going to help you. It obviously isn't in UAD's interested to release a working driver. God knows why.

I realize my posts are bad for sales. And every time someone posts about the same problem, a potential buyer moves to something else. So of course you're downplaying it.
But i don't care. Really, i don't. I just want my 1800 euro product to work. And since UAD offers no support regarding this issue we have to do it through obscure software and other hacks.

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Hey [MENTION=45791]Cymbeline[/MENTION]

First off, I understand your frustration and I hope you get your issue resolved. Just to be clear, are you having any issues with ASIO drivers in your DAW, or is this just for WDM drivers to use Apollo for non ASIO Windows apps and system sounds?

The reason I ask is that it is not uncommon for professional audio devices to only support ASIO on PC, and not offer WDM drivers at all. These devices are still considered "windows compatible". For example, AVID HD and HDX audio interfaces do not support WDM, and don't even show up in your Windows audio environment. That is one of the limitations of Windows compared to a Mac. Mac relies on a single Core Audio driver that works with both with OSX system sounds and your DAW. With PC, Microsoft offers WDM drivers, but they have too much latency to use in a DAW environment. This is why Windows DAWS rely on ASIO drivers, which were actually created by Steinberg, not Microsoft.

I know this doesn't solve your problem, but I hope it puts some perspective on your situation. And I hope you can at least use your Apollo with your DAW to create music while you hammer out your WDM issue!

UniversalAudio said:

As I have explained here and in direct messages, the more tickets that are submitted on a given issue, the more data/power there is to draw attention to it. This is regardless of whatever response you’ve gotten from support. I am on your side.

I don’t care about sales, these products sell themselves. And I know it feels like because it’s happening to you, it must be happening to everyone or even a majority, but it’s not. It’s a TINY fraction.

So let’s work together to make support as aware as we can about these issues.

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No, i don't think it's happening to majority. I simply see thread after thread, going back several years with many people reporting the same problem. You in fact are the one who is pretending it hardly affects any users.
As far as i can tell it's the number 1 problem with the Apollos.

If UAD was interested in fixing it, they would've, a long time ago. They clearly are not.

If a company like that can't write a Windows driver in all those years then it's simply not on their to do list.
Again, contacting support does nothing. Never has, never will. So you can stop mentioning it.

I wrote their reply to me. Do i need to paste it again?

Joe Porto said:

The reason I ask is that it is not uncommon for professional audio devices to only support ASIO on PC, and not offer WDM drivers at all.

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I find this extremely uncommon. I've literally never encountered this in 20 years of using pro audio interfaces on PC. Every single interface I have ever owned, and I've had a ridiculous number of them, have all had flawless WDM drivers.

UniversalAudio said:

The question remains why thousands and thousands of users have no problems and yet a small number do, all with the same software.

Click to expand...

Respectfully, I have trouble believing this. It's difficult to find a single PC user who doesn't have this problem. I've been scouring the board for literally anyone with a system that delivers perfect WDM performance so I can mirror their build. My post to that effect got zero replies. In all my proactive searching, I've found exactly one user who doesn't seem to experience Windows audio crackling to any degree, unfortunately it's with an older board that doesn't support the current generation of processors. Compared to the countless posts from users with WDM crackling, calling this a fringe issue seems a bit disingenuous.

When support apparently replies with this: "due to the limitations of the Windows WDM drivers these really do not have the necessary parameters to do proper realtime audio playback or recording over Thunderbolt," it would seem WDM issues are the expected behavior.

Not that uncommon in the professional audio world, but perhaps I should have said "not unprecedented". Avid HDX is still an industry standard and does not have WDM drivers. Neither does Focusrite Rednet.

Now, I'm not making excuses for UA. If anything, UA needs to be more clear regarding their WDM support. The reply that [MENTION=45791]Cymbeline[/MENTION] received regarding WDM support should be communicated in the online specs under Windows compatibility as "ASIO compatible. WDM drivers not fully supported for real time audio".

Joe Porto said:

Not that uncommon in the professional audio world, but perhaps I should have said "not unprecedented". Avid HDX is still an industry standard and does not have WDM drivers. Neither does Focusrite Rednet.

Now, I'm not making excuses for UA. If anything, UA needs to be more clear regarding their WDM support. The reply that @Cymbeline received regarding WDM support should be communicated in the online specs under Windows compatibility as "ASIO compatible. WDM drivers not fully supported for real time audio".

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I hear you, not unprecedented is fair. That being said, I can't really wrap my head around why so many companies can make WDM work but UA, an industry leader selling at a premium price point, cannot.

Thanks for the replies.

In regards to that software a few of you have suggested, thanks for posting that Hoenerbr and Cymbeline, it's good that it worked for some it appears, but I went to the site of that software and I'm having trouble understanding how it works/what it's doing/not doing so I'm hesitant to use that, especially the post of the code that might have some malicious code embedded. With all the software I have on my music laptop and the fact I play out professionally with it often, getting some ugly code on my laptop/having to rebuild from a backup in a worst case scenario is something I don't want to risk.

In regards to the ASIO vs WDM, in my case, all I care about is getting the ASIO end working. It's just bizarre to me how ASIO with my DAW works perfectly on 88.2 and 96 but not 44.1 and 48. This is a very narrow/specific problem. I think TB3 at this point can't be blamed as if it were a TB3 issue, all sample rates would be problematic.

UniversalAudio......this seems to be an issue that appears that more than a few people have dealt with, with WDM and apparently ASIO as I'm experiencing, while I'm a patient guy/I'm following your suggestion to keep working with UA tech support, and overall they've been responsive, I'm a bit surprised UA tech support didn't have me try this simple sample rate test early in the game as I'm going on working with them for over a month now on this issue without a mention of it. Especially given the fact I have a Apollo Twin Duo USB that works great with this laptop for over a year now(tech support was aware of that day one on the ticket), that indicates to me my laptop is easily able to handle real time audio and it's something more specific to sample rates, that's a very specific issue. It took a sharp individual at the retailer I bought my x6 from to try changing the sample rate the other day as he mentioned to me at least one other person who bought an apollo from them had the issue so I'm sure it's not just me and the other individual out there with ASIO sample rate issues. And I'm guessing UA tech support heard of this issue with sample rates before?....certainly would be a quick test/save customers like me lots of time before trying out more time consuming tests. I mentioned this matter on the sample rate yesterday/Friday to UA support so I trust this will change the path of troubleshooting, puts things in a very specific place in what/where the problem is in a much more specific place, at least logically, that's what I would think.

SG1 said:

Respectfully, I have trouble believing this. It's difficult to find a single PC user who doesn't have this problem. I've been scouring the board for literally anyone with a system that delivers perfect WDM performance so I can mirror their build. My post to that effect got zero replies. In all my proactive searching, I've found exactly one user who doesn't seem to experience Windows audio crackling to any degree, unfortunately it's with an older board that doesn't support the current generation of processors. Compared to the countless posts from users with WDM crackling, calling this a fringe issue seems a bit disingenuous.

When support apparently replies with this: "due to the limitations of the Windows WDM drivers these really do not have the necessary parameters to do proper realtime audio playback or recording over Thunderbolt," it would seem WDM issues are the expected behavior.

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This is exactly how i see it.

Also this "contact support to solve it" thing is ridiculous when all there is needed is a working driver for Windows machines. Drew makes it sound like UAD has been collecting info from the very few users who experience this so they can find a solution.
This is complete nonsense. The product is shipped without a working Windows driver. That's all there is to it.
Pretty much every other audio interface out there doesn't have this problem. Again, no idea why UAD refuses to make one or even talk about it.

Whatever the case is, "contact support so they can work with you to figure it all out" is an absolute waste of time.

We already know the problem.

Let me try one more time.....

“Making noise” is how change happens. The noise is users contacting support and voicing their concerns. Support gets enough of these and they contact Product Management. PM works on the driver. Got it? Makes sense? Good.

Alternative? Continuing to NOT do the above and nothing gets worked on. Bad.

There are a lot of users that are not on the forum as well. I have a colleague on Windows with no issues (apollo x6 on a z370 mobo I think). I’ll ask him about his setup and post it.

UniversalAudio said:

Let me try one more time.....

“Making noise” is how change happens. The noise is users contacting support and voicing their concerns. Support gets enough of these and they contact Product Management. PM works on the driver. Got it? Makes sense? Good.

Alternative? Continuing to NOT do the above and nothing gets worked on. Bad.

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I'll make sure to mail them every day from now on. I'll tell 'm you sent me.
Thank you.

UniversalAudio said:

Alternative? Continuing to NOT do the above and nothing gets worked on. Bad.

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You mean like all those years UAD has been aware of this and didn't care?