External Audio interface - Cracking / Popping

jhall

New Member
Mar 8, 2022
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Hello all,

I am a bit new to ProxMox, though I do have experience with other hypervisors. I am a guitar player, and own most all of the suite of software I need to use on an OS that is less than friendly to get working correctly. Thanks to a recent HW death, I was hoping to virtualize said OS for use with my OS compatible audio interfaces, and I can get it to pass through (seemingly) fine, but audio output is terrible. Samples in Logic Pro and Garageband crackle and pop. I have tried setting the bitrate to 44Khz, but that didn't seem to have an effect. I have passed the USB hub to it (internal motherboard hub) and tried setting it for USB3.

agent: 1
args: -device isa-applesmc,osk="*REDACTED*" -smbios t>balloon: 0
bios: ovmf
boot: order=ide0
cores: 4
cpu: Penryn - <---- (Not Sure if this is optimal. Physical rig is a 9900K slotted in a GB Z390 Designaire, which is quite compatible on a bare metal install)
efidisk0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-1,size=4M
hostpci0: 0000:03:00.0
hostpci1: 0000:01:00,pcie=1,x-vga=1
ide0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-0,size=64G
machine: q35 - <---- (Also not quite sure if optimal)
memory: 8192
meta: creation-qemu=6.1.1,ctime=1644358421
name: OSXVM
net0: virtio=1A:8E:8D:EF:79:EA,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1
numa: 1
ostype: other
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=fd209bb9-9f72-4780-a3c9-3a9cc44bff89
sockets: 1
usb0: host=1-4,usb3=1 <--- (The current device setup)
usb1: host=05ac:828d,usb3=1
vga: virtio
vmgenid: ac35c7ab-182b-442b-8ec7-e914a90efe05

I have heard tales across the vast interwebs that there are some issues with the most recent iteration of said OS, and that using a lower version may help resolve some of the issues, but also conflictingly that audio issues can be solved with some specific boot arguments, though information appears to be pretty sparse for obvious reasons. I was hoping that maybe someone with a bit more experience can point me in the right direction to help me figure out my issue. Any help would be very greatly appreciated. I am interested in getting the core issue resolved, but also in learning the "why" it is broke, or maybe even the best way to diagnose and follow the trail.
 
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USB passthrough has much overhead and might not be quick enough (as in low latency) for audio? Maybe try PCI(e) passthrough of a USB controller or and audio device. If there is still crackling, you might need to enable MSI somewhere.
 
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Thanks, @avw. I will test that out and reply back here.

Edit : That seems to have done the trick! Thank you for the suggestion!

Now I just need to see if I can increase the meager amount of vmem assigned to the VM. I am passing through an RX580, but for when I use the virtual console it would be nice to give it a bit more oomph.
 
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