# getDSPClock returning large non-zero dsp clock values immediately after channel creation
**URL:** https://qa.fmod.com/t/getdspclock-returning-large-non-zero-dsp-clock-values-immediately-after-channel-creation/23633
**Category:** FMOD Engine
**Tags:** csharp, unity
**Created:** [November 13, 2025, 6:27am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/getdspclock-returning-large-non-zero-dsp-clock-values-immediately-after-channel-creation/23633 "2025-11-13T06:27:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mattish](https://qa.fmod.com/u/Mattish)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2025, 6:27am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/getdspclock-returning-large-non-zero-dsp-clock-values-immediately-after-channel-creation/23633/1 "2025-11-13T06:27:28Z")
FMOD Engine Core API 2.03, Windows 11, Unity 6000.0.28f1
I was unable to find specifics in the docs, however after creating/releasing several channels which reuse the same `SOUND`, I find if I attempt to query `CHANNEL` immediately after creation, it can return large “incorrect” dsp clock values. “incorrect” here being clock values which look stale from reuse, as many seconds worth of samples are reported.
Error checking omitted from examples:
```csharp
system.playSound(targetSound, targetChannelGroup, paused: true, out Channel channel);
channel.getDSPClock(out ulong channelDspClock, out _);
```
`channelDspClock` in this case sometimes will return large values.
As `CHANNEL.getDSPClock` first parameter is:
“DSP clock value for the tail DSP (`FMOD_CHANNELCONTROL_DSP_TAIL`) node.”
, I attempt to add a fresh DSP as the tail node.
```csharp
system.playSound(targetSound, targetChannelGroup, paused: true, out Channel channel);
system.createDSP(ref dspDesc, out DSP dsp);
channel.addDSP(CHANNELCONTROL_DSP_INDEX.TAIL, dsp);
channel.getDSPClock(out ulong channelDspClock, out _);
```
However, I still can sometimes get large values from `channelDspClock`.
Is this due to the nature of `system.update`requiring flushing these values? Once I have seen a single `FMOD_DSP_READ_CALLBACK` fire for any channels DSP the values returned are “corrected”
---
### Author:  [@jeff\_fmod](https://qa.fmod.com/u/jeff_fmod)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/getdspclock-returning-large-non-zero-dsp-clock-values-immediately-after-channel-creation/23633/2 "2025-11-19T00:04:22Z")
> [@Mattish](#):
>
> Is this due to the nature of `system.update`requiring flushing these values?
Yes it is, DSP cleanup is one of the things handled by [`System::update`](https://fmod.com/docs/2.02/api/core-api-system.html#system_update).
> Should be called once per ‘game’ tick, or once per frame in your application to perform actions such as:
>
> - Panning and reverb from 3D attributes changes.
> …
> - [DSP](https://fmod.com/docs/2.02/api/glossary.html#dsp) cleanup.
If you reuse a `Channel` in `system.playSound` it’s going to use the same underlying DSP objects, so immediately calling `Channel.getDSPClock`, before `System.update` had a chance to run, is going to give you a stale clock value.