M1 MacBook Pro audio glitch

I am clutching at straws here, but I did get some temporary relief by force quitting a process I observed in the activity monitor when there was severe audio glitching happening.. It repopulated shortly after force quitting, but just an idea. (screensharingd)

I experience the issue when playing music through my Sound BlasterX G6 usb DAC. The sound cuts around every 10 seconds. But when I switch to internal speakers, all is good. It was not the case by the past on my Intel MBP

I have an update as I think I have found the issue in my case. I had my focusrite Clarett connected to my macbook via a belkin hub. It has always been great until recently with no issues. Yesterday I was having such a bad time with the noise issues that this morning I disconnected everything and just had the macbook connected to the Clarett and it was fine! I reconnected via the belkin and the problem came back. So for me the problem was caused by the belkin which only had the Clarett and an external backup drive connected to it (which wasn't being used for the audio work). Even reconnecting an additional work SSD to one of the other USB-C ports and then opening a project from that SSD was okay, but reconnecting via the belkin was an immediate return to glitches and pops. Weird because it has been fine up until a couple of months ago, and the belkin seems to be working perfectly so long as I don't connect the Clarett to it.

Actually I went to the same conclusion last night. After pluging my DAC directly to the mac and not through the USB hub improved the quality drastically. I still have some randome cuts, but they happen way more rarely than before. I'm wondering why though, my hub do not lack energy, it is powered by a 12V alim. I use a KVM and no issues on Window PC.

EDIT: I was wrong, when I started coding in XCode again, the sound became very unstable again.

Thanks to those of you sharing these issues. I have a Macbook Air M1 w/ 16 gb of RAM and have been trying to use it as a mobile recording solution when not in my recording studio. However, when trying to record on the Macbook Air I get static pops and glitches that are being recorded directly into audio tracks regardless of the buffer size selected. I have tried various DAWs (Presonus Studio One 5, Presonus Studio One 6, Logic, Garage Band) and all of them have the same issue. The glitch will occur intermittently and ruins a take or a live recording and is totally unpredictable. This makes the system unfit for use. It will happen whether I am recording 1 audio track or a total of 16 and the glitch will occur across all tracks and be recorded on all of them. I have a Presonus Quantum 26x32 thunderbolt 2 interface that is using the Apple TB2 to TB3 adapter and an Apple TB3 cable. I'm connected directly to one of the TB ports and have replicated the issue with both ports and have also replicated it with and without anything connected to the other TB port (eg. monitor with KVB or power supply). This same hardware setup works excellent on my main PC in my studio which is running on an intel based Win 10 machine that is now 5 years old. Thus, I think the hardware, cable, ports, and whether an external monitor is connected or not via the other TB port can all be ruled out. If anyone has a solution or a similar setup please share. In all honestly, I'm wondering if anyone with an external professional level interface is able to actually record with an M1 macbook air because it seems like the system is underpowered. For example, if I am live recording a track in Logic or Studio One and add a new track while live recording and then arm that track to bring in another microphone into the live session the audio will glitch. This is the only way I've been able to force the "glitch" to occur. This can be done on a 5 year old intel PC without an issue so I'm not sure why the M1 can't handle it. In all my remote recording sessions I've had to pack up my PC minitower and an external monitor because the M1 macbook just isn't reliable. Anyhow, I appreciate anything anyone, including Apple could share on this issue.

There's a desktop client download for M1 users on Zoom, in their download section

for Zoom Meetings. It's just below the description of the main download...not the button but a link in text only, you have to look for it. It helps with audio issues for M1 Macbook pro. Solved my issue with the background noise filters and Original Sound issues.

I was accessing it through my Zoom account, and it was a mess. The desktop app works great.

This is exactly the same issue I'm having! My RME Babyface Pro works perfectly with my M1 Macbook Air (2020) but when I try with my 14" MBP (2021) it glitches every few minutes.

I'm not having the issue with the built-in speakers though, but that doesn't help for me, as I produce music and use my RME all the time.

This issue is a well-known issue with the M1 Macs.

https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=29658

https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=36868

Highly frustrating that Apple hasn't solved this issue with such an expensive and apparently 'Pro' device.

Hey I just had the worst bout of glitching etc sound dropping from youtube, itunes and in my DAW and even standalone Komplete Kontrol.

I would say it became worst with new update 13.4.1

I'm running M1 Mac Mini 8gb, 256gb, 1TB External. just for reference.

I was running through my M-Audio Air 192/6, I love this unit because of it's huge topside volume knob.

I also have a Focusrite Scarlette SOLO. I don't like its form factor quite as much for studio work. BUT.......it totally cleared up my lags, glitches, static. Both at 44.1 standard settings into my monitors.

Whatever is happening on the backend its far better handled with this swap. Unfortunate, but just my two cents. I know we don't all have spare DAC's sitting around but if you do, simple re/re could be worth it.

EDIT: 10 minutes Later. I was running the DAC's from USB-C into the standard USB Port. I think that my sound cards were actually being UNDERPOWERED! the USB-C port gave me a visual indication for the Direct Monitor LED that the Standard USB did not light up.

Amateur move on my part, I have not plugged my M-Audio back in but I suspect it should be fine.

Just wanted to give my anecdotal 2 cents, just to add to hive mind.

I just switched from a Focusrite Scarlett Solo, to a MOTU M6, and my glitching stopped happening.

If possible, test using other audio interfaces, might solve the problem faster than waiting for Apple.

I had exactly this until I changed from using a belkin USB hub to attach my interface. It was driving me crazy as my older 2017 macbook pro gave me no issues. I connected my interface - a focusrite Clarette 4 USB, directly to my M1 macbook, and all the glitch issues just disappeared and have not returned. Bliss! I'm now convinced that there are major problems with audio and certain USB-C interfaces.

I have a 14" Macbook Pro M1 w/ 16 gb of RAM and get constant audio glitches through internal speakers every 10 or so seconds with nothing connected to the Mac except power. I am running 12.3 Monterey. this has been going on since I bought the machine for remote logic recording in 2022. Model is MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) MacBookPro18,3. Apple M1 Pro - 10 cores CPU ad 16 GPU.

Having this issue with my MBP M1 Pro for almost 2 years and none of the updates and releases solve this. For me, reducing memory usage reduces the frequency, but does not eliminate the problem. Also, not fan of turning of apps to run Logic or listen to Spotify. Btw, I see these logs in Console when the event happens.

HALS_OverloadMessage: Overload due to the driver taking too long

Its extremely annoying that a $2500 laptop has audio issues from the 90s. There is nothing superior in your product, Apple, if you cannot get this fixed.

Same here. M2 Mac with Ventura 13.4.

I suspect the problem is caused by the HDMI monitor I have which has some super crappy speakers. Because it's my main display, the OS wants to send audio there.

My external headphones won't connect sometimes. Just today the audio playback started glitching with gaps every few minutes. I didn't have these audio problems with the Mac tower I had in university more than 20 years ago. It's unbelievable. I bought this to edit video and audio.

I can't seem to track down a way to remove my Asus monitor as a sound output device. The minus button is grayed out in the Audio MIDI settings window. I can't find a HAL folder in /Library/Audio/Plugins there are only these folders: Components, MAS, and VST – and they are all empty.

I used the Terminal to show all hidden but still finding nothing.

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

My only workaround is to use Terminal to restart the audio process so at least I don't have to restart the whole rig every time this happens, which is several times per day. It used to be possible to restart this with Activity Monitor, but now you have to use Terminal. UGHHSHHSS.

sudo killall coreaudiod

Same issue

I really detest that we all know the ropes so well regarding all of the possible issues on how one check inputs , outputs , speakers ect !

its an M1 issue

so incredibly upsetting and cannot fix it and have lost valuable time

so bizarre . It just randomly cut out sound . Infuriating