TOPIC:

Hello, I need tech support. I killed almost a complete day here trying all possible solutions to get UMIK-X and SHD to work but miniDSP devices no longer output any sound from Windows.
I attached 3 short videos which illustrate my issue:

1. "SHD does NOT work over USB" - when I play any audio over miniDSP device, Windows shows it works, but SHD plugin shows there is no audio on input.
2. "UMIK-X TOSLINK out does NOT work" - when I connect Toslink cable to SHD from UMIK-X, again there is no audio on input. This exact setup worked a week ago (I checked against configuration screenshots I made for a tutorial). maybe I changed to other USB ports or messed with some drivers, but it worked fine before. 
3. "UMIK-X microphones work over ASIO" - at the same time, the same UMIK-X does work as a microphone. Only the audio OUTput from miniDSP drivers (ASIO, Java or any Windows audio) does not work.

Here are more details:

• The SHD still plays audio perfectly when it is connected to other input devices. The problem is in miniDSP Windows driver.
• Dirac Live v3.3.3 does work! even when no other program in Windows can output sound over SHD, I can check levels and run the complete Dirac calibration on SHD over USB. So Dirac somehow circumvents miniDSP drivers and therefore it can output audio over USB to the SHD.  I have a suspicion that SHD stopped working either after Dirac Live calibration or when I tried to output audio with Java driver in REW.
• I made complete reset of SHD. The problem exists with miniDSP UAC2 driver v5.2 and then I also installed previous v4.82. Tried different USB ports, uninstalled Asio4All.
• While experimenting with different USB ports I got to the point where SHD was not recognized at all by Windows 10. Uninstalling all disconnected audio devices eventually helped. I even got a bit of sound over USB our of the SHD (it showed input signal in the Plugin), but then a moment later it abruptly stopped and again I have no sound and no audio on input level meeters in SHD Plugin.
• I used SHD over USB just a week ago and for a long time earlier, so it used to work on this computer.
• I did install Voicemeeter a couple of days ago, but it was never configured to use any miniDSP device at all. I will try to uninstall Voicemeeter next...
• Previously Asio4All did not work for me to output sound over SHD (USB connection) when I tried to use UMIK-X without toslink cable to SHD. Maybe it was the first symptom, but I even uninstalled Asio4All now, it still does not work.

Any suggestion appreciated, but ideally there should be some fix in the drivers for this insanity to not happen to anyone again.

Is there a way to see if some software is using the device in some exclusive mode? ASIO driver usually has no problem connecting to SHD or UMIK-X, plus windows shows that it is playing audio to SHD as usual, just no sound comes out.

I narrowed it down even more. See attached video: 

• If I restart my computer, for the first few seconds the sound out of miniDSP driver works as usual. In the video you see how I press "Test" 3 times. The first 2 work not only in the video but over speakers (Input levels in SHD Plugin show incoming sound)
• The 3rd "Test" already broke down - Windows thinks the sound works, but SHD Plugin no longer shows incoming sound and speakers remain silent.
• (I kept the video as short as possible to keep it under 2MB limit, but the sound is gone after that point)

Note that I now uninstalled all virtual audio devices, so there is nothing but connected, working audio devices. During this test UMIK-X was not connected at all.
I am 99% sure that if I output audio over UMIK-X Toslink, it also behaves the same, so it is not SHD specific issue. Something is messed up in the UAC2 driver? (and the problem persists when I uninstalled v5.2 and now use v4.82).

If there is some debugging driver version or log files I can get, I am happy to test something. I have all miniDSP equipment set up for REW subwoofer calibration and nothing works

SDX wrote:

Hello, I need tech support. 

Bear in mind that this is a user community forum. If you want to contact miniDSP support then you need to do so via the Support button at the top right of the screen. As per the text in bold immediately above your first post.

Ultrasonic wrote:

SDX wrote:

Hello, I need tech support. 

Bear in mind that this is a user community forum. If you want to contact miniDSP support then you need to do so via the Support button at the top right of the screen. As per the text in bold immediately above your first post.
 

Thank you, I am aware of that. www.minidsp.com/forum/software-support/3...posting-a-query#3271

SDX wrote:

Ultrasonic wrote:

SDX wrote:

Hello, I need tech support. 

Bear in mind that this is a user community forum. If you want to contact miniDSP support then you need to do so via the Support button at the top right of the screen. As per the text in bold immediately above your first post.

 

Thank you, I am aware of that. www.minidsp.com/forum/software-support/3...posting-a-query#3271

LOL! That's a post from over 10 years ago that I've honestly never read! I would suggest that it might, just possibly, be out of date...

Ultrasonic wrote:

LOL! That's a post from over 10 years ago that I've honestly never read! I would suggest that it might, just possibly, be out of date...

That moderator post is pinned at the very top of www.minidsp.com/forum/software-support  so my guess is, it is valid and I did follow what it says.  I prefer open discussion to closed support tickets when such case can potentially help others with fault tracing in the future.

SDX wrote:

I prefer open discussion to closed support tickets when such case can potentially help others with fault tracing in the future.

 

Whilst I agree totally with the principle this is not how support works here now. If you want meaningful support from miniDSP you need to use the Support ticket system.

As for the validity of the post you referred to, note that the text in bold I mentioned contradicts it. My bet is that the support ticket system didn't exist when the post you found was written. Out of interest I've just checked through a few other support sections and have yet to find it anywhere other than the Software section you used. I suspect it simply got missed when I'd guess other similar posts were unpinned or deleted.

OK, according to you I managed to find a bug in the forum instructions as well then
I just contacted support to be sure.

Have you had a response from MiniDSP support?

I'm having a similar problem and am interested in whatever solution they provide.

Hi Dave,  I got a response from support with some tips but so far nothing actually addressing the software problem.

If you can, describe what happened to your configuration - did it work previously (mine did)? did you install or update any audio devices that may have caused driver issues? Did you repeat the same test as I showed in the 2nd post video (after each restart I do get sound for a few seconds)? Anything else that may help support to pinpoint or reproduce the issue?

You can also send in your support request in case things move slow, only so far just1 day has passed - I would give it some time.

Hello:

My MiniDSP 2x4HD is working now. 

I faced one hurdle that, once addressed, seemed to allow things to work properly. My laptop came with two apps (HP Audio Center and HP Audio switch) that I didn't know about and had never run. They didn't show up in "Settings" and appeared to be unaffected by any changes made to the Sound settings. After I found and disabled them, the problems I had encountered went away.

I don't know if that was what had been causing my troubles with the MinDSP 2x4HD, but --- what ever it was --- it's been addressed so that the MiniDSP is working fine now.

Following up this. After multiple attempts and trial and error using support suggestions (which was nice) I got everything working. Not super reliable, but it may be my computer's fault.

My best understanding is that the problem was in fact in too long USB cables or general USB port issues form the AMD chipset.
The best tips I have in case of such issues is: try using USB cables without any extensions (max 2 meters, only this can be a crippling limitation in practice), try different USB ports and try connecting a USB hub in the middle. Sometimes USB hub can help, even though usually it is better to use direct USB 2.0 ports.