Level 1

5 points

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

998 replies

Nov 14, 2013 12:28 PM in response to fotoexplore

I have this exact problem with my Saffire Pro 40. I'm in this very moment working with the built-in audio device in Logic instead, wich works fine. But I'm waiting desperately for apple to make a fix to this problem since I can't record anything at the time. Disaster...

Nov 14, 2013 12:53 PM in response to richollander

Rich,

No, no idea at all....

The process is, however,

Find out about the issue

Identify the root cause,

Work on a fix,

Test fix to make sure it doesn't mess anything else up on any Mac/OS X combination

Release fix.....

Wait for users to report any further issues...

As you can imagine this could take some time or no time at all.. There is no way to know in advance....

Sorry... I know thats not what you wanted to hear but that is the reality...

Nov 14, 2013 12:56 PM in response to The Art Of Sound

That's kind of what I figured. Thanks for the reply.

Nov 14, 2013 1:09 PM in response to fotoexplore

Foto,

If you do not have a 2013 iMac with a Fusion Drive fitted your internal Audio should be fine...

The internal audio problem seems to only happen with 2013 iMacs that have a Fusion Drive. The current best workaround for this issue is to boot from an external Hard drive until Apple release a fix.

Any issues other than that one, specifically concerning external USB 2 Audio Interfaces.. can apply to any Mac with or without Fusion Drive which have USB3 ports..... and this issue is awaiting fixes from the makers of the various different Audio/midi interfaces themselves and not Apple..

If your Audio interface is a USB2 type and you have a Mac that has only USB3 ports... then try using a powered USB hub to connect it to your USB3 port on your Mac... Make sure it is the only device connected to that hub.

Nov 14, 2013 1:10 PM in response to richollander

No problem Rich.....

...and of course, if I hear any confirmed updates to this, Ill post them up here...

Nov 14, 2013 1:26 PM in response to The Art Of Sound

I have a iMac 2013 with FD and my internal audio works fine.

Nov 14, 2013 2:12 PM in response to The Art Of Sound

The Art of Sound

Actually, I have FD and running Maverics (10.9).

And the internal audio is running 100% with my duet Apogee card disconnected.

This makes me wonder, could really be the FD that creates this issu, after all?

maybe its all about the USB3 port when connecting a USB 2 device. Or something in that path. I have seen that several users talkes about running duet through a USB hub. I havent tested that yet, mayby I should.?!

Nov 14, 2013 2:38 PM in response to fotoexplore

I'm curious is anyone using a fusion drive had their problems fixed by getting the Belkin thunderbolt hub? I know it totally cures my issues with the 7200rpm internal drive model. But if you have FD and your problem is cured with the Belkin hub, it means the problem may not be related to the FD

Deadphish42 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 14, 2013 4:52 PM in response to fotoexplore

Hi fotoexplore,

I was just curios did you have the internal audio problems before you upgraded to mavericks?

When I upgraded my internal audio issues seemed to have gone away also. Unfortunately some other audio software that I use is not yet 100% compatable with mavericks but I'm unable to run mountain lion without the internal audio problems. A bit of a catch 22 for me.

That leeds me to my next question for Art of Sound. I saw that you were doing some side by side testing with 2013 iMacs FD and standard drive. I know its a bit of work but were you going to take the FD imac back to mountain lion to experience the RC effect first hand?

Also a open question to anybody that may have tried. Has anybody booted mountain lion from a external drive on a 2013 iMac and noticed if that clears up the rice crispie effect?

Thank you everybody

DeadPhish

Nov 15, 2013 4:22 AM in response to Deadphish42

I'm trying to clear up the issues a little bit so that the problems don't get mixed.

What I have come to understand is that a lot of people have problem with the internal audio of the new iMacs. Clipping, popping, distortion and for some even dropouts are occuring.

For some people (like my case) the problem doesn't exist within the internal audio but in the external audio of an interface (USB or Firewire).

Known solutions have been:

Booting Mavericks from an external drive
Trying the interface out on an iMac without the Fusion Drive
Running the interface through an Thunderbolt Hub (Belkin Thunderbolt Express)

Correct me if I'm wrong in this post. And PLEASE add more solutions to the list if you know any.

Nov 15, 2013 4:32 AM in response to cerstrand

just a note.. i was pretty sure i had no issues with the internal audio like you, but yesterday i was in logic with only a few midi tracks, and as soon as i started some "additional content" downloads it started clicking and popping like with my external interface. and i mean, there was definitely no proccessor overload, but of course there was data flowing to the FD.

i think the art of sound is right, if it happens on external interfaces it happens on internal ones - it just takes more to provoke it.

Nov 15, 2013 4:37 AM in response to Community User

Ok, It may be so.

Have anyone tried out splitting the Fusion Drive? How much would this compromise the performance of the iMac?

Nov 15, 2013 5:24 AM in response to cerstrand

You can also boot from an external drive with Mountain Lion and the pops/clicks are gone.

- Ric

Nov 15, 2013 5:30 AM in response to richollander

I shall try booting from external drive before trying splitting up the Fusion Drive.

I spoke to my retailer and he said that splitting the fusion drive won't affect the guarantee of the computer.

I will have time to do these tests this weekend so I will post more further on.

Nov 15, 2013 5:33 AM in response to Community User

kenny,

Yes, it just takes more to instigate it via onboard audio.. i.e. you have to place more load on the bus...

DeadPhish,

I am able to recreate the RC effect on the iMac FD even under Mavericks.. It just takes placing more load on the FD and it's bus as kenny was suggesting.

All,

I will be startng 'day two' of my testing today and I am hopeful I will be able to publish my results, for what they are worth, later on if all goes well!

Cheers..

Nigel

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clipping sound on new iMac when Logix X is running