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

Dec 10, 2013 7:23 AM in response to rasmusmarshagen

rasmusmarshagen,

If you are running Mavericks.. did you install the new, special Quartet drivers designed to work under Mavericks and only for Mavericks?

Quartet for iPad & Mac Software Installer - OS X 10.9 Mavericks

Dec 10, 2013 7:24 AM in response to Pancenter

Pancenter wrote:

An addendum to my post above.

Even though USB is generally an inferior protocol for streaming audio, companies that know how to write quality drivers (MOTU and RME come to mind) can make the hardware work. Other companies that use the operating system drivers can have varied performance as the drivers can change each version of the operating system, including incremental upgrades.

Dec 10, 2013 7:40 AM in response to The Art Of Sound

Art Of Sound,

Yes I'm on mavericks, and that's the one I'm struggling with. It's not possible installing earlier versions, the "continue" in the installation box gets greyed out. So that's part of the frustration, only having one version to try out. Now I'm really putting all my faith in apogee somehow being able to give me some beta version I could try or something!

Dec 10, 2013 7:44 AM in response to rasmusmarshagen

ras,

You'll need to create a Mountain Lion installation disk on a thumb drive to do this. You'll also need to back up all of your user data, apps, etc. on an external drive. Then you would boot to the ML disk, erase the iMac internal drive, install ML, and finally migrate your user data and apps from your external backup.

It's a pain, for sure, but it's possible.

Dec 10, 2013 7:47 AM in response to rasmusmarshagen

rasmusmarshagen,

Ah.. then as Pancenter said, I am quite sure Apogee will release updated versions if it is an issue relating to their drivers and software...

Are you in touch with them and have you explained your issues to them? If so, what did they say?

If not....

I've found Apogee to be one of those companies that are very proactive in regards to customer support so I highly recommend you get in touch with them if you haven't and see what they say.... as they will work with you to resolve your issue.

Pancenter

Level 6

14,782 points

Dec 10, 2013 8:38 AM in response to rasmusmarshagen

rasmusmarshagen wrote:

Now I'm really putting all my faith in apogee somehow being able to give me some beta version I could try or something!

Don't you think it would be helpful to bApogee to let them know?

http://www.apogeedigital.com/company/contact.php

Dec 10, 2013 11:19 AM in response to Pancenter

I really hope your right and that they will update their software soon!

I do have an active support ticket, where I've explained my situation to them and am now waiting for a second answer after doing some obvious trouble-shooting with resetting the unit etc.

Just so eager to be up and running with recording, it's funny inspiration is more inclined to show up when there is something hindering you!

Thank you for the quick responses guys, really appreciate it!

Dec 10, 2013 11:57 AM in response to rasmusmarshagen

I just got off the phone with apogee. The technical support rep basically said that it is an Apple problem and their team is talking with Apple but that they aren't working the issue other than that. The rep knew of no issues with their software and he said that other manufacturers are also having issues so they are in a wait and see mode. He said that the best advise he could give me was to use an older iMac. Very frustrating...

Pancenter

Level 6

14,782 points

Dec 10, 2013 11:57 AM in response to rasmusmarshagen

rasmusmarshagen wrote:

I really hope your right and that they will update their software soon!

I do have an active support ticket, where I've explained my situation to them and am now waiting for a second answer after doing some obvious trouble-shooting with resetting the unit etc.

Just so eager to be up and running with recording, it's funny inspiration is more inclined to show up when there is something hindering you!

Thank you for the quick responses guys, really appreciate it!

Good luck, please let us know if you hear anything.

You did mention the unit runs fine until their software is installed.

Dec 10, 2013 12:09 PM in response to Deadphish42

I just got off the phone with Apple Tech Support and they fixed my problem, but we couldn't figure out what exactly fixed the problem.

I'm using Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 USB, Logic X, iMac Late 2013.

things that could have solved problem:

re-installed latest drivers

rebooted computer

played music in iTunes

tried recording in Garageband

working now, I will post again if it stops working....

Dec 10, 2013 12:14 PM in response to Deadphish42

calling Apple Tech support solved my problem, they were very helpful.

Dec 10, 2013 12:14 PM in response to rasmusmarshagen

For anyone interested in the USB2/USB3 issue... there is an older but still relevant article found here...

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/06/usb-3-0-backwards-compatible-in-theory-but -some-audio-drivers-arent-cooperating/

As you will see not only has this issue been around since early 2012, it affects both Win and Macs.. for much the same reasons... and aplies to all sorts of different USB devices as for example...

http://support.elgato.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid= 4670

http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=1454&Action=support&SupportID=5605

http://superuser.com/questions/482179/usb-3-0-ports-backwards-compatibility-prob lems-with-2-0-devices

Dec 10, 2013 12:14 PM in response to Deadphish42

800-275-2273

Dec 10, 2013 12:17 PM in response to timman6127

tinman,

What is your problem and which Mac/year/conguration do you have?

Also which Apogee device do you have and how is it connected to your Mac?

Dec 10, 2013 1:16 PM in response to The Art Of Sound

Well, I tried again with a different powered USB2 hub into the iMac, but no love there. I still can't quite wrap my head around whether this is driver, FD or both. But since the Line6 driver appears to be working without issue, yeah, it certainly does seem like the driver is as much an issue as the FD. I still think I've got the double whammy and am twice cursed.

I sent my capture to my sr eng at Apple last night (who's back tomorrow) and also ordered a TB-to-FW adapter and will see if I can squeeze some life out of my old Ultralite 1 which does sorta work some of the time but sometimes hangs turning on. I guess that will provide more measure of the FD issue here and maybe I can get some recording done for a change.

Thanks again for the sanity...

- n

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clipping sound on new iMac when Logix X is running