Q: Massive problem with audio interface

2013 iMac 1TB Flash Drive

OS 10.8.5

Constant audio drop outs using Apogee Duet. I have to unplug and replug several times to get the system to recognize it. Sometimes when it is connected, Audio Prefs doesn't even recognize it and it shows up as "Unknown". When I click Audio Prefs before I get in, I get the spinning beachball and it takes a while for it to open. I have been in touch with Apogee but to no avail. It seems to work on my 2013 Macbook Pro, but I haven't tested extensively. It seems to get tripped up if I'm working in Ableton and get a Facetime call or if I try to use Youtube / Soundcloud. The system gets noticebly slower. When I switch back to Ableton, Duet is recognized (sometimes not recognized at all) but I cannot play anything inside the project window.

Not sure what to do at this point

WORK AROUND:

So far it's working.

SEND EVERYTHING THROUGH SOUNDFLOWER

So far so good, will run some audio whilst I go out and see if it's still good when I get back... if it works I think I'm going to have to propose to you.

I spoke too soon, back to distortion. Infact it's made it worse... before if I just swapped back to standard audio output and then back to my soundcard it would temp fix it... now the distortion stays

Sorry : (

It's still working for me. However, I only had repeated sound dropouts. My comp still doesn't recognize Duet in sound prefs, but it still works when routed through Soundflower. Not sure why that is because it makes no sense.

I too am having this same issue on my new iMac 2013 3 TB fusion drive and mbox pro 3 connected via FireWire 400 to a FireWire 800 adapter to a 800 to Thunderbolt adapter. The audio keeps dropping out from a few seconds to a few minutes consistently. My imac came running Mountain Lion and I experienced a few pops and clicks, it was ultimately ignorable but there was also increased latency with real instrument recording. After testing the mavericks drivers for the mbox pro with my old MacBook Pro with no issues, I upgraded my iMac. The clicks and pops are gone, but the audio now drops out.

Have yet to try the prevent nap app fix, but will do so tmw, will also call apple and avid to see what they can do for me. I have read about others without fusion drives having issues too.

Hi, I am having problems as well. New late 2013 27" Imac I7 16GB Ram 1TB Fusion Drive. Huge latency issues and distortion in sound while I try to record guitar using POD UX2 LINE 6 interface. Spoke with apple care and tried mutliple things and nothing helped. They are looking into this with an engineer and are suposed to get back to me. I see many people are having very similar problems and all are running mavericks (as do I) and have the Fusiom Drive. I installed the interface on my 2010 MacBook Pro running mavericks and no problem at all, at least nothing I could really hear. Latency not an issue at all on the MBP. One of the things I start to heavily doubt is the USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0. The interface is 2.0 and Imac 3.0 (2.0 compatible). I have seen comments from people running on a USB hub and it helped them but comments where also if you didnt have the FD. I now here also see people that have their interface via FireWire Thunderbolt so that makes me believe it has not got to do with USB 2.0/3.0?? It is driving me mad.

Same problem here, i own a Allen & Heath ZED 12FX and a MacBookPro 9,2 with a normal SSD. Cracks and noise right from the start in Cubase. Music played from itunes, internet, etc is working fine. Apple please resolve this bug. I think the problem is in the USB Audio Codec.

Update: Tried the prevent app nap solution with no luck. Am currently downgrading my iMac back to mountain lion with internet recovery so it's more usable, but call apple after it's finished to see if they can help at all. It seems like there's an issue with the way that external audio interfaces, or anything that replaces the internal audio is dealt with internally. A fix for this will likely be in a future firmware update, and who knows when that'll come.

Did splitting the drives fix these issues? I'm considering returning my iMac with Fusion Drive.

As I've written a couple times before...

Yes. Splitting the drive into 2 partitions "fixed" the issue.

You won't get any of the benefit of the Fusion Drive until apple issues a fix, but at least you'll be able to work normally if you decide to keep your iMac.

I feel like people are having a couple of different problems and I don't know if they should all be in this thread.

I think there are some who are having intermittent popping and clicking on their audio interfaces and that's the extent of their problem.

The there are others like me that are having a specific issue with audio interfaces using iMacs, running mavericks, with fusion drives. Our problems is that Audio works for 10 seconds to 2 minutes and then dies in a series of high pitched beeps and pops. For people who have this problem and are (like me) holding out hope that Apple will eventually be able to solve this problem, YOU CAN SOLVE THE PROBLEM BY SPLITTING THE FUSION DRIVE AND USING THE HD (not HD + SSD).

Having done this, I have no other issues with my audio interface.

I know booting off an external drive solved the problem for me.  I have a one week old i7 maxed out with a 3T Fusion drive running a Focusrite Liquid Saffire.  My audio would just cut off after about a minute.

I cloned the drive and boot up off an external USB3.  No problems what so ever.

I do just as much Video and Photography as I do music.  The fusion drive is noticeably faster with Final Cut and Aperture.

Focusrite said that a fix is coming but dont know when

I did just that and returned to Apple with no issues, after 20 days got replacement 27 iMac this past Tuesday, and guess what?   Same problem - nothing has changed :-(

Same problem on 2 late 2013 Maxed out i7s with 32GB and 3TB drives.   So you're saying that connecting an external USB 3 to boot from takes care of the audio at least until Apple comes up with a fix?

What tools did you use to clone the drive and how do you boot off of an external USB drive?

Thanks

I used Carbon Copy Cloner by www.bombich.com but any one will do.  I followed their instructions to making a bootable disk.