Fixing choppy audio or dropped frames

Choppy audio and dropped frames usually come from the same root cause: something else is competing for CPU or GPU time that the foreground instance needs.

Check for other running instances

Open Settings, then Instances, and close anything you're not actively using. A background instance left idle still reserves resources unless you've explicitly freed them.

Confirm core pinning is set correctly

Settings, then Performance, then Core Pinning. The foreground app should have dedicated cores rather than sharing the same pool as background instances. If you only run one instance at a time, this is less likely to be the cause, but worth a quick check.

Update your GPU driver

An outdated GPU driver is a common source of audio glitches specifically, since audio and video decoding often share the same driver path. Check for updates through your OS's usual channel (Windows Update, Software Update on macOS, or your distro's package manager on Linux).

Test with a different app

If the problem only happens in one specific app, it's more likely that app is doing something unusual (rendering at an unusually high internal resolution, for example) rather than a Emulade-wide issue. Try a lighter app to confirm whether the problem follows you or stays behind.