Audio Stuttering in Edit Page but Smooth in Fairlight Page

I'm having a really annoying problem with stuttering/choppy audio in the edit page on a project that is 1080 29.97fps 48kHz 24bit stereo. The video is choppy too. It's so bad I can't actually use the edit page for editing audio. Video is JUST acceptable.

However, as soon as I go to the Fairlight page the audio (and video) is smooth and without the same problems.

All files are ProRes 422 48kHz 24bit.

My system:
Davinci 14.3.0.014 Studio
OS x 10.11.6
MacPro (Mid 2012) 12 core 64GB RAM
NVidia GTX 980 4GB RAM (CUDA)
NVidia GTX 120 (for 2 x 1080 display monitors)
RAID 0 Drive (project & cache) - write 511 MB/s & read 549MB/s
Decklink Studio 2 (Desktop Video 10.9.11)

Things I've tried:
1. Turning on Render Cache (render cache output) = playing blue sections makes no difference
2. Turning on 444 SDI output
3. Ensured clips are same frame as timeline
4. Removed Colour FX applied to video files (only limiter & volume keyframes to audio)
5. Checked - Hide UI Overlays, and Minimum interface updates during playback

It just doesn't seem right. The same clips play smoothly when dropped into a Premiere project. What's going wrong?

Here's some further info.

Diagnostics log:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0hq2mlq1yoprq ... 2.zip?dl=0

Exported project file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f7qb70lq3efic ... 6.drp?dl=0

[Peter Chamberlain]

The GT120 can't generate the UI screen fast enough. The edit page has more demand than Fairlight which you see with that GPU. We have not recommended that GPU use since ... maybe v11.
Try with it removed and if you can try another GPU in its place.

The GT120 can't generate the UI screen fast enough. The edit page has more demand than Fairlight which you see with that GPU. We have not recommended that GPU use since ... maybe v11.
Try with it removed and if you can try another GPU in its place.

Even though I've got the GTX 980 installed with latest CUDA drivers?
So the GT120 is affecting audio playback?
Also, I'm previewing video from a Decklink Studio 2 to separate monitors (via SDI & HDMI) - the GT120 is affecting its performance as well?

The GT120 is really outdated and can slow down the rest.

The GT120 is really outdated and can slow down the rest.

I realise it's really outdated (for demanding graphics intensive tasks) but had no idea it would affect the performance of Resolve as it's hasn't affected the performance of any other App running on my system (Premiere, FCP, After Effects, Logic etc).

Ok, if you believe that's the problem I can remove it and re-test the system. Thanks.

Thanks fellas. That has indeed improved playback enormously.

So, are there any plans to be able to be able to de-couple graphics cards not intended for complex processing from affecting other processes? UI playback is not a concern for me as I'm relying on audio and video preview from a separate device such as a Decklink card.

Sounds like a "feature request". I'd post such a question there...

RS 14.3.0.014 | MiniMonitor | DTV 10.9.7 | Win64 8.1 | ASUS ROG G751JL, Intel i7HQ, 24GB, 1TB HDD, 500GB EVO 850 SSD, GTX965M | Mackie MCU Pro | Softube Console 1 | Shuttle Pro 2

[Peter Chamberlain]

Playing back the UI now needs a much faster card than the GT120. Its not related to image processing, just the speed needed to show all the UI.

Having this same issue on Macbook Pro. Shouldn't be the case...is it because all the clips in EDIT are potentially "open" in cache?

I'm having the same exact issue on my HEDT. Audio stutters in edit page after about 10 seconds of playback. In fairlight page it plays fine. I'm very new to Resolve and am studying the option of moving over from Premiere Pro which I've used for years.

I'm running a 2080ti and TR 2950x, 64 GB RAM, 2TB NVME system drive. By no means should my system be causing these stutters. Very disappointing so far...

My audio runs out of my audio interface (Scarlett 2i4), but I tried running a headphone straight out of my desktop using the Realtek driver and the same exact issue persists.

Tried reinstalling all audio drivers and nothing changed. This issue only happens in Resolve 16 and not in any other NLE or DAW on this machine.

Playing back the UI now needs a much faster card than the GT120. Its not related to image processing, just the speed needed to show all the UI.

I have a 2080ti and the same problem still persists...

Read all the post, tried all the different settings still my edit page audio will play for about a second smoothly, and then will start Shuttering, while working smooth in Farelight. *** I would like to point out that it was working fine in v15. Made the upgrade after Beta was complete and installed the Free Version of the final 16 when this started happening**

My Laptop:
Dell G7
Intel i7-9750H 2.6 Ghz
GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q (8 GB)
Ram 16gb
Win 10 1809

Incase this helps someone:

I had stuttering on every kind of audio file while in Resolve.
I was using a laptop with a discrete Quadro card.
I had to go to BIOS and choose that it always uses discrete graphics.
Not "Hybrid graphics" or "Auto selection".

Now the laptop was forced to always using the powerful Quadro card and so the audio stuttering no longer happened.

Hi there...

...i have to bring this up again. We have the same problem here. Our 3 main editing station are suffering the very same issue. See specs at signature!
No matter what we try, change settings, update drivers, disable audio devices, tinkering bit-depth or sampling rate, using built-in audio from realtek or external audio devices, etc....it is always the same.
Audio playback (worst at edit page) is a nightmare. It is almost impossible to edit because every few seconds the audio switches off. If you're lucky, it comes back after a while, But only to switch off again a moment later.
I'm digging the forums for days now without any success. Adobes Premiere works. All other apps are playing sound without any problems.

Do you have any ideas?

Thanx in advance.

Andreas

P.S.: We don't want to switch back to Premiere. But Resolve is simply not useable as an NLE with that issue.

Hi Andreas,

Replying to your comment in this thread, because it's relatively recent, to ask whether you were able to solve your audio dropout problem?

I'm having what sounds like the same issue, and am out of ideas for troubleshooting. I have tried optimized media and proxies, I've re-wrapped .mp4 files as .mov using ffmpeg and I've increased my PC's memory from 16 to 32GB; I've removed Nahimic audio software from my PC and replaced my Realtek audio driver with the generic Windows driver, all in hope of improving Resolve's performance. But nothing seems to help with the audio dropouts in the Cut and Edit pages.

Similar to some users' reports in other threads, my audio seems to playback flawlessly in the Fairlight page.

James, I had a similar problem now solved, I suspect your GPU is busier than you think, doing something not so obvious, in my case I had 30fps footage in a 24fps project so maybe something similar that's keeping it busy in edit page.

I've the same problem, audio stuttering and by the sound of it also a bit slowed down. Don't know what else to do tried everything. It's also a small project not more then 5 minutes long.
CPU is 5950x
GPU 3090

Hey!

Were you people able to resolve the stuttering?
For me its the song that stutter, and its not my Mac that is buissy. I only had this problem with two songs.
The song stutter after 10 sec even thou there is no video clips in the timeline.
In fairlight it works fine.
Samplerate is 48 000.

What to do?

PCM or compressed?

I had an issue with latest DaVinci Resolve where it was stuttering on playback on all pages except the Fairlight/Audio view.

Turned out to be Project Settings -> Master Settings -> Timeline Format -> my Timeline frame rate was 59.94 fps, but my Playback frame rate was 25 fps. Silly error - but it's odd that it doesn't affect playback on the Fairlight/Audio view.

Not sure if this helps?