Q: Massive problem with audio interface

I have a 2011 Mac Mini with a standard drive and Mavericks 10.9.3, I sometimes get a regular fast clicking sound when playing back in Quicktime 10.3 through an Edirol FA-101. iTunes, Audacity Logic Pro X are fine. It doesnt always happen. I dont have a fusion drive.

Hi,

I recently bought a Macbook Pro Retina 15" with Mavericks OSX 10.9.3 pre-installed. The first thing I did was connect my MBP to my Korg Kronos keyboard via USB (using one of the onboard USB interfaces, i.e. not via an USB hub) and installed the Korg Midi drivers.

After installing Ableton Live 9, I configured the audio in and output to use the onboard Korg Kronos audio card. So far so good, until I played an audio clip: hiss, cracks and the occasional audio dropout. Tweaking the buffer size to 128 samples seemed to help temporarily.

Eventually I decided to reinstall my MBP and gradually install applications and perform tests while making backups in between to ensure I can recover the last workable situation. I did NOT install the Korg Midi and the results improved dramatically (MIDI is handled via separate MIDI USB interface/cable).

After starting Ableton I performed an audio test by clicking the Tone button to sound a test tone. As soon I heard cracks or audio dropouts I quitted and restarted Ableton until to tone was stable. Once the sound was stable the audio in and output stayed stable regardless of the amount of audio clips I played.

Since yesterday, I replaced my USB hub with a USB 3.0 hub and now the audio stays stable in Ableton without the need to restart the application.

So lessons learned here so far, I think:

- Do not install additional drivers if you do not need to

- Use a recent USB 3.0 instead of an old USB 1.0 or 2.0 hub

I hope this helps you guys to alleviate this nasty problem..

Dear Cestma55,

Contact M2Tech for support about the HiFace TWO.

They have sent me a firmware upgrade which have resolved the uninterruptible plackback issue.

Kind regards,

Osvaldo

I never thought of that. I'm not sure what the USB of the Korg Kronos is, 2 or 3. I don't know if that is part of the issue along with or apart from unnecessary MIDI drivers. My problem does seem to be solved with the most recent OSX update, but I'm not sure — haven't had much time to play around with it. I do sometimes record audio from the keyboard via the keyboard's USB output. I have never once had MIDI issues through its USB port direct to the Mac.

There is  USB2 on the Kronos and Kronos X. USB2 supports 480Mbs.

Thanks for pointing out the Kronos has USB2, I wasn't sure.

Hi,

I have a late Imac with a 3TB fusion drive and an EDIROL U-25 interface.

Update to 10.9.3 didn't fix the following issue:

After a few minutes of recording I get roughly 1 second of latency and I have to reset my audio preferences.

Well, it works again after the reset, but it is really, really annoying and I cannot work properly that way.

Any ideas why it drops out after a few minutes of working perfectly fine?

Thanks

Just installed 10.9.4 on the late 2013 iMac 1TB Fusion drive and the same issue with my Echo Audio 2 sound card connected via USB 2, not working at all. Basically my computer and sound card are totally useless for music production.

This is beyond parody now, has anyone heard back from Apple about the existence of this thread, I have sent numerous support requests to them about the problem, and never heard anything back.

The notes for the beta release always gave me hope as it mention fixes for audio drivers.

Are we now supposed to sit back and wait for Yosemite and hope that fixes the problem?

Try this. In the

Logic Pro X > Preferences > Audio...

main menu, set the following:

I/O Buffer Size: 1024

Recording Delay: 2056

Recording directly from my Korg Kronos, direct USB from the keyboard to the iMac, I was able to play and record audio from that keyboard for over 5 minutes with pristine quality. With lower numbered settings I got mixed results. The Recording Delay was a wild guess, I did not incrementally work up to it.

I have the late 2013 27" iMac fully tricked out and with a 3 TB fusion drive. I've been having the same problems as everyone else. I was playing with the above two settings until something worked. Hopefully it will continue working!

HI,

i just ordered a 27 inch iMAc, maxed out with a 1TB SSD.

I noticed the imac doesn't have an audio in jack and figured i'd shop for a good USB Audio Interface.

But then i came across all these USB audio interface issues on the new iMac.

This is incredible to me because iMacs are often used by creative people and lots of musicians.

For me audio is VERY important. I record music and i record sound for animation and video.

Are the USB audio issues resolved? What was resolved? What was the problem?

Is it wise to choose for a Thunderbolt Interface?

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanx

The biggest problems seem to be with people who have the fusion drive, like me. I record audio directly from my Kronos Keyboard from the keyboard's USB port to the iMac's USB port. Just yesterday I had issues and so I played with the Audio preferences for audio. The settings don't seem to matter but I had to change them a couple times and then things became stable.

Logic Pro X > Preferences > Audio ...

and then change and Apply Changes to I/O Buffer Size and also Recording Delay. Even changing these and then putting them right back and Apply Changes seems to do the trick for me. It is an odd thing that defies logic.

It is less likely that you will have any issues because you don't have the Fusion Drive. Just try it and see what happens. I have the "worst" machine for this and I am able to get good results. Here's an audio recording of a little piano solo from Logic that I just made yesterday as recorded through USB from the Kronos:

http://nostolencatpictures.com/2014/07/10/the-sad-little-princess/

No artifacts, no extreme clipping, no digital weirdness. It works, but when I have such problems I just change the audio settings and the problems go away. Your mileage may vary and hopefully you will not have the reported problems at all. Do update Logic and Mavericks.

I thought it was the Fusion Drive, but I get the same problems booting to another volume and also on my MBP which doesn't have a Fusion Drive.

It's a definite software issue in Mavericks.

The crackling and static varies from app to app. Logic is generally OK, but QuickTime X and anything like internet streaming is awful.

The only odd thing there is that the Korg Kronos is USB 2. But what works works. I agree that I would not install drivers unless they are necessary, if it works don't fix it!

I don't think you should have any problems. From my experience, the USB Audio issues were a software issue with Mavericks and the Fusion Drive. An update to the Mavericks software took care of the the problem for me. In addition, you have a Fusion drive, so you should have not issues regardless

OKay thanx guys. I guess i'll have the latest update installed or it will be installed when i start things up/ configurate.

glad i went for a SSD anyway. And should i run into usb related issues i guess they can be resolved.

can't wait to try that sucker out.