Hi all,
I'm using a new computer and pd outputs crackling noises as soon as anything is sent to a dac~. It's pd vanilla, zexy as only external. The new computer runs Windows 11, i7 64bit. I tried several audio interfaces, all produce the same issue. Even with the simplest one osc~ patch for testing. I tried all different audio settings (sampling rate, ...), nothing helped. I reinstalled pd. Still no change. The problem is not the patch or the audio interface. Are there known issues with Windows 11? Any other ideas? Thx for helping.

@meditz "Delay (msecs)" too small for the soundcard?...... a size of 80 should avoid dropouts.
But if you are using ASIO then that can be reduced to 2-3 msecs.

Miss-match of the block size? between Pd and the soundcard?.... Pd has a block size of 64 and often that is called the "Buffer Size" in the soundcard driver configuration.

If you are using ASIO it is recommended to use Asio4all........ https://www.asio4all.org/ ....it will also be able to also use the on-board soundcard and any soundcards that you have connected to the computer.... so you can use them all at the same time in Pd (and in any other program).
David.

@whale-av Thanks. asio4all did help with the onboard soundcard. However my external audio interface doesn't output anything when I select asio4all. The device is selected and shows to be active in the asio4all control panel, but I can't get any sound out. I managed to reduce the crackling choosing ASIO 2.0 here though, but not eliminating it entirely.

@meditz You will get there.... but it is rarely easy or obvious.
In Asio4all you have what would be called on a Mac an aggregate device.
So when you select Asio4all in Pd you should be able to communicate with all of the soundcards present.
It is likely that the onboard soundcard is at the top of the list in Asio4all.
So [dac~]..... or [dac~ 1 2] and [adc~] or [adc~ 1 2] would be that card.
If the next soundcard in the list has 4 outputs they will be [dac~ 3 4 5 6] in Pd.
Etc.
David.