Audio issues are boring until they ruin a booked session. Walk the ladder from physical layer to software so you do not reinstall everything on step one.
- Swap cables and USB ports; remove hubs when diagnosing.
- Update interface firmware and drivers; reboot cold.
- Close background updaters, browsers with heavy tabs, and screen recorders.
- Test a blank session with one track; if clean, the issue is project-specific.
- Increase buffer; freeze tracks; identify a single plugin misbehaving.
When it is thermal or power
Laptops on beds or dusty desktops throttle CPUs quietly. If xruns appear after twenty minutes every time, monitor temperatures and try a session with power connected and “high performance” mode before you blame FL.
Exclusive mode and Bluetooth sinks
Windows can hand the interface to another app unexpectedly. Disable exclusive-mode experiments while testing, and never route monitoring through a Bluetooth sink you also use for system alerts.
Missing files masquerading as crackles
A truncated sample sometimes plays as a burst of noise. Run a project-wide sample health check or relink dialog before deep driver work.
Plugin-specific regression
If disabling one insert fixes the session, note the version, vendor, and preset. Check release notes; roll back that single plugin before reinstalling the entire DAW.
After it is stable: prevention
Keep a dated change log when you touch drivers, BIOS, or OS builds. Pair it with the CPU and latency guides so you know which knob you moved when the gremlin returns next month.
Related: Latency & monitoring, CPU order-of-operations.