RickeG
if you wish , you can read my tips in the tips n triks section
where i explain why crackles occur on a pc or audio interruptions.
this might not be your case..
just something to think about...
if increasing buffers dont help.
but often it can be caused by two main situations.
1. other devices on the same bus (pci/fw/usb)
possibly locking out the sound device.
think of a motorway or freeway.
too many cars and traffic jams can occur.
same with puter busses.
load em up n traffic jams can occur.
2. sometimes recording and playin back from the
same drive as win resides on can give problems.
on some pc's you can get away with it..
but ideally if you read any pc daw set up guides on the net ,
youll see a dedicated hard drive for recording n playback
is recommended. with a good large cache. eg 32 mb.
what happens is on some pc's win can interrupt to do its thing
if recording to the same drive as win is on.
its a traffic issue once again .
cos the one drive is being asked to not only service the
win os but also audio daw activities.
on some systems it only becomes noticeable once
trak counts increase substantially.

if you continue to have probs..
post your puter config n drive details.
also its a good idea to test your drives occasionally to see if they
are up to spec. on certain pc's win has been known to
revert the drive to a lower spec if probs are encountered.
merry xmas mate n to all pg folks.

retired puter engr....powertracks on amd......NICE !
"what is the black art of audio engineering ?"
my silly songs...motagator.com/bmanning
see my tips in the tips section.