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

Dec 11, 2013 7:47 AM in response to The Art Of Sound

Hello Everybody,


I got my 4th iMac last night. The 3 earlier ones were Late 2013 3TB FD 27" i7's. This one I dropped the fusion drive and put in a 1TB SSD. I will be setting it up today. I'm not expecting any problems based on earlier reports on this forum. I will be testing it with a cheap FW interface and a Apogee Jam USB2.


I did talk to Apple and tried to pull some info out of them that I could share here. They keep there cards very close to there chest. What they did say is engineering is definitly aware of the problem and is working on it but still has not issued a report. So as Art of Sound has stated many times on this forum when you call in the CSR may be totally unaware of the problem.


Best of luck to everybody and I will report back soon,


DeadPhish

Dec 11, 2013 9:56 AM in response to NoelEiffe

NoelEiffe wrote:


Even many of the email notifications are coming in blank. Sometimes clicking the page number again on the nav will redraw with the message text showing, but not for all messages.


Yes, this is a long standing and very annoying bug in the forums that seems to come back with a vengence every so often.... Not much you can do other than make a new post to a thread and then you will often see the missing posts... from that thread.


Maybe one day it will get properly fixed (Note: It's another company and not Apple who wrote and now maintain the forum software)

Dec 11, 2013 2:15 PM in response to Deadphish42

So I got fed up on Apple maybe finding a fix and asked my senior support contact who was assigned to my call to either arrange for my machine to get an SSD fitted at an Apple store 50 miles away (which I would pay the difference for) or get a replacement machine with either an SSD or 7200 rpm HD. This was his response:




Good morning **********


I do understand your frustration with this issue and I am genuinely sorry it is taking such a long time for a resolution to be found.


In this case there is a software issue with your computer and as such we cannot provide a hardware repair as no hardware component is actually faulty. The resolution for your issue in this case will be in the form of a software update.


As mentioned I do appreciate your frustration with the time delay to have these issues resolved. If you wish to make a formal complaint you can do so in writing to:



Apple Customer Support
Hollyhill
Cork;
Ireland

This is Apples final decision on this case. I am also the highest point on the support line with which to discuss this decision. Should you wish to speak with another supervisor please call us on 0844 209 0611, however the same decision will be upheld.


You may wish to speak with our Aftersales team to look into the possibility of a return and replacement, however this is not something I can deal with directly. They can be contacted on 0845 600 1683.


Again I’m very sorry for any inconvenience caused and I genuinely do wish to provide a quicker resolution for this issue but a replacement hard disk is not something we can provide at this time.


Best regards,

So me being me wasn't going to take that as an answer, I was seriously hacked off with that response as I have bought 2 new soundcards (firewire and USB) and both gave me the same drop outs, crackles and general hassle you get from having a 2013 iMac with a Fusion drive. I have also spent a small fortune on new firewire and thunderbolt cables just to rule that out. I called aftersales who are based in America it would seem and explained the whole situation again, I used the words 'not fit for prupose' and 'preventing me from doing my job'. The girl I spoke to had to check with her manager a couple of times but eventually, she agreed to give me a full refund - not a replacement. I have since ordered a new standard configuration 27" iMac with 7200 drive which arrived this afternoon and guess what? It works perfectly! No crackles, pops, stuttering, crashing - even the flashing firewire light I thought might have been a driver issue has gone. Working absoutely perfectly and I couldn't be happier.

Dec 11, 2013 2:24 PM in response to atacDIGITAL

atacDIGITAL:


Firstly..... WAY TO GO mate! I am really glad you stuck to your guns and got the service you expect from Apple...


Secondly, as many of us guessed (and have since learned) The 2013 iMac with FD issue really isn't a hardware issue at all.. but a software issue relating to the FD controller software it seems.. and the email you quoted from, does seem to confirm this once more.. so thanks for posting it up...


Finally, really glad to hear your new FD-less iMac is working as it should without any issues! That's the best news of all....


Thank you for taking the time to report back... That is truly appreciated here!


Cheers!


Nigel

Dec 11, 2013 2:33 PM in response to rasmusmarshagen

I have a new 27" iMac w/ SSD, 32GB RAM, 3.5GHx i7 and a new Apogee Quartet. Maestro 2 freezes constantly making it essentially unusable. Quartet ocassionallly crackles and pops or is no loger recognized as an audio input/output.


I worked extensively with Apogee Support. One theory was that since I had upgraded via Migration Assistant form a 2010 iMac and Duet FW without ever uninstalliing DuetFW or Maestro, that there might be some residual Duet FW files, etc. I did find duetDameon running in Activity Monitor as well as a few other hidden files and saved settings that I removed. Since doing this I have not experinced sound quality issues or I/O issues.


I also set Maestro with no App Nap and set all users/files to Read & Write. No help.


Today Apogee Support replied with:

"Thank you for the system profile report. In looking at your kernel logs, as well as your detailed description of your symptoms, it looks like you are having the same issue we are seeing with a lot of customers with the new 2013 macs. This hardware specific issue does not occur on Mac computers produced prior to Fall 2013. It appears to be affecting USB audio interfaces from other manufacturers as well as Apogee's. Our Engineering Team is working diligently with Apple to get this resolved as soon as possible."



Over $5k invested. Not happy.

Dec 11, 2013 10:25 PM in response to NoelEiffe

NoelEiffe wrote:


KS: Fusion drive?




K5 wrote:

I have a new 27" iMac w/ SSD, 32GB RAM, 3.5GHx i7


I'm betting this is going to be the USB2/3 issue given the Quartet uses USB2.. and his iMac has USB3 ports...


However, the USB2/3 issue isn't as clear cut as the FD issue because not everyone suffers from this issue, even when using the same external USB2 hardware... and drivers... I believe there are other factors in play that causes this issue and it can be various different combinations of OS/software/hardware...that is at the root of this issue..but this is just speculation at this point in time... based on the various reports I have been sent or read.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

clipping sound on new iMac when Logix X is running

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.