clipping sound on new iMac when Logix X is running

I just got the new iMac that was released two weeks ago yesterday. All I did was set it up with Logic X, Main Stage, and Aperture all from the app store. nothing else was put on it. I opened up logic just to check it out and see how much faster the performance would be. I just wanted to give it a quick test and played some apple loops I immideatly noticed it was making a clipping sound randomly. The meters were not peaking everything was in the green and if you turned down the gain the clipping just got quiteter. I called apple support thinking it was a hardware issue. They had me do some trouble shooting like playing the same loops through quicktime and the clipping persisted. they also had me play a youtube video to see if I could hear the clipping. It wasn't as noticible but it was there. Apple decided that it would be a good idea to reformat the computer tomorrow and start over. Sounded fine to me seeing how I didn't have much installed yet. I did a little more trouble shooting on my own after I got off the phone with apple. First I made a copy of three apple loops and put them on my desktop then restarted the computer. Then after a fresh restart and nothing running I opened one of the apple loops off the desktop with quicktime player and it sounded great no clipping. Same with You Tube. I then opened Logic Pro X. Did nothing with it but minimize it. I then went back to quick time player and tried to play the loop again. This time the clipping was back. Same with You Tube.

My conclusion for some reason when logic is running the audio makes a random clipping sound no matter what audio program you play the audio through. (Clipping sound comes out of the internal speakers as well as headphones)

All of my software is up to date.


I am running:


27" iMac

3.5GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3


If anybody has experienced this same problem or has any recomendations they would be greatly appreciated.

I am going to reformat in the morning and try and start again.

I will post my results


Thank you,


Aaron

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 8, 2013 11:22 PM

Reply
998 replies

Nov 12, 2013 9:47 AM in response to The Art Of Sound

Hi Art of sound,


Just one quick comment on problem #1 (rice crispy effect) you stated that the problem only existed on the on board sound. I agree with a question. Do you consider airplay to be on board sound? I just wanted to throw that out there because the issue did persist on my machine with no AI hooked up playing a loop in GarageBand on a late 2013 iMac w/FD. With the loop still playing I sent the audio out to my Apple TV and same snap crackle pop continued.


I will be sending my third machine back for replacement this week. Not because I think a replacement will work any better. I'm doing it so that my warranty date starts on the day the computer is working as it should. I told Apple I would be ok with keeping the machine I have as long as they would start my warranty on the date the issue is resolved. They said they couldn't do that. So I guess I will just be rotating computers every two weeks until a solution is found.


I will post my results with the next replacement as soon as it comes in.


Good luck everybody,


DeadPhish

Nov 12, 2013 10:17 AM in response to Deadphish42

i just did a bit more of testing as i had been quite brief earlier..

i find this quite interesting, not sure if it matches up with the experiences i've read earlier in the thread..


so i started with my apogee interface disconnected.. tried spotify, itunes, audio and video in safari and logic x. no isses at all, all programs running at once, switching between them etc.


then i connected my apogee card again, tried all apps again - no issues at all - until i started logic again. completely dead. i tried disabling and enabling core audio, select a audio device and back again, disconnected the apogee card and connected it again.. logic is still dead.. meter are moving etc, but no sound output.


i find this interesting, because that is not how it behaved the other day when it was really bad. when the sound died then it died in the whole system.. now it still works in other apps even when it's dead in logic..


i find it a bit curious, because at first i thought my ACTUAL issue is with the apogee driver as right now i can't provoke the problem with the internal card (didn't even try that before my first post). but when it actually dies in logic specifically, i again start to suspect apple, but still doesn't act like what i've read earlier.. core audio obviously still works on a system level as other apps than logic still produce sound, but not within logic itself.


i will try with my monitors as well (used headphones now) when i get a chance, they might show the issue clearer than my headphones which are fairly cheap..

Nov 12, 2013 10:31 AM in response to fishmax2912

fishmax,


Sorry to hear this..


Maybe it's time to contact Roland's support directly and make them aware you are continuing to have an issue despite using the new drivers... I suspect the problem will still be related to the USB3/USB2 incompatibiltiy issue... for some USB2 devices... and so hopefully they will work with you and help fix the problem.

Nov 12, 2013 10:39 AM in response to The Art Of Sound

kenny,


I believe the reason the issue starts once you fire up Logic is not because of Logic itself but because it 'activates' certain CoreAudio routines along with the AI's drivers which then 'brings down everything" so to speak...


Having said that it could be some very weird Logic issue but I suspect not to be honest.


The clue being it happens for you using the Apogee and that it doesn't always crash the internal Audio... and it could be that CoreAudio is crashing to different degrees and that could result in various side effects on different levels.. Usually, when I have seen similar things in the past it has come down to an AI Driver tripping up CoreAudio which then results in a full or partial crash of the Audio Subsystems... which seems to be what is happening to your setup.


Of course, this is just supposition on my behalf... but based on past expeirences.. that would be my best guess.

Nov 12, 2013 10:51 AM in response to The Art Of Sound

The Art Of Sound wrote:


kenny,


I believe the reason the issue starts once you fire up Logic is not because of Logic itself but because it 'activates' certain CoreAudio routines along with the AI's drivers which then 'brings down everything" so to speak...



This is true, Logic interfaces with core audio at a much higher priority plus it also access both audio Input and Output. Once the Input routines are are active sample rate and Logic audio/MIDI sync are dependent on the audio Input sync being accurate (and steady). If input sync is lost audio will go down.

Nov 12, 2013 10:53 AM in response to fishmax2912

fishmax,


It could be the differences between USB3 implementation on the new iMac compared to the retina... or it could be a difference in available power via the USB3 bus bewteen the two Macs...... Again, it's hard to say.... but yes, a call to Roland and to Apple would seem to be the best action to take.


Note: Have you tried making sure the only USB device plugged in to your imac is the Octa and testing?


The mismatch in audio rates is typically a driver/setup issue and has been noted in the past.. with various different audio devices on various different Macs and OS X versions... so I suspect your issue may be unrelated to the ones being described here but again, who knows!


Good luck...

Nov 12, 2013 11:03 AM in response to The Art Of Sound

i get that logic runs on different prio than the rest of the system, so i'm starting to think i don't actually have the problem of clicks and pops on the internal sound card.. but it sounds to me as if everyone with the fusion drive does have that problem, so would be weird if i didn't.


what i did notice now tough after sitting in logic for a bit was that at first no issues (like i wrote above), but then clicks and pops started happening, more and more, and then finally it just died. just to clarify, when i say clicks and pops, i mean it sounds exactly like running the interface with a too small buffer. it's just that it doesn't matter what i set the buffer to, it happens anyway.


i'm running logic on the internal interface now to see if it will start clicking as well.. so far it seems not, which leads me to believe my problem is my apogee card and not the machine..

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clipping sound on new iMac when Logix X is running

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