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

Jan 7, 2014 5:13 AM in response to Maxesse

Same for me with 10.9.2 - no dropouts but static/distortions every 20-40 seconds lasting for 2 seconds before it goes back to normal.

-act

ges8ges

Level 1

9 points

Jan 7, 2014 5:26 AM in response to Maxesse

That's welcome news. When are they going to release this update?

Guess I'll keep my iMac and wait for the fix.

Maxesse wrote:

Ok, I don't want to spread false hope, but I've been running with the 10.9.2 beta that was posted here a couple of days ago, and I haven't experienced a single drop-out yet. Tried with multiple apps (Logic Pro X 10.0.5, Live 9.0.4, iTunes, Youtube, etc.).

I also purposefully initiated lots of disk activity while playing audio in Logic (ie. Running a time machine backup, or a disk doctor scan) and for the past hour it's been working fine.

If things change will post back of course, for now I'll keep my fingers crossed...

Set up: iMac 2013, 1Tb Fusion drive, Focusrite Saffire 2i2, 10.9.2 Beta, Logic X 10.0.5

Jan 7, 2014 10:33 AM in response to Maxesse

Everything works fine. I just turn on my iMac. I didn't change anything. No difference between the set up from yesterday. Call it an act of God.

So yes, Mavericks 10.9.2 must be the answer ahah.

So glad this s**** is over! Let's go back to work now.

Thank you all for your advices!

Jan 7, 2014 2:05 PM in response to actraiser75

Actraiser75 - do you get static with no audio interfaces plugged in? ie: just when playing audio through your iMac? If so, make sure you lift the ground (3 to 2 prong adapter in the USA) on all the peripheral stuff you are plugging in (powered monitors/power amp, AC adpater for USB/FW device, etc). See if that stops the static....

Bob

Jan 7, 2014 6:49 PM in response to Deadphish42

I concur with previous statements regarding the cure for fusion Dive issues is at hand. My late 2013 27" iMac with:

3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz

32GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4X8GB

3TB Fusion Drive

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5

Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 DSP (Attached via Apple Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter)

Logic Pro X

Reason 7

Live 9 Lite

All working fine so far, previously with this setup I got 5 to 10 seconds of audio and then nothing. Booting from a extrrnal thunderbolt drive took care of the problem, however I am now booting and running the audio app's from the Fusion Drive with no problem, yes!

Don

Jan 7, 2014 9:03 PM in response to Robert Martin 1

Hi Robert - I get the static only via the usb-connected external audio interface. Using the iMac-Speakers only works fine. I will check all connections to the power outlets later though just to make sure its not some wiring problem.

best

-act

Jan 7, 2014 9:18 PM in response to Deadphish42

Ok, so I have both the firewire Duet and USB Quartet by Apogee. 10.9.2 appears to fix my fusion drive issue and now following a suggestion from Apogee, the Quartet appears to work if you set it to 96k and above. Not perfect but usable until the USB issue gets fixed totally. Progress is good... I hope this suggestion helps other Quartet users out there.

Steve

Jan 7, 2014 10:09 PM in response to timman6127

timman6127 wrote:

Ok, so I have both the firewire Duet and USB Quartet by Apogee. 10.9.2 appears to fix my fusion drive issue and now following a suggestion from Apogee, the Quartet appears to work if you set it to 96k and above. Not perfect but usable until the USB issue gets fixed totally. Progress is good... I hope this suggestion helps other Quartet users out there.

Steve

Good to hear things are working out.

Does the firewire Duet work too?

Deadphish42 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 7, 2014 10:18 PM in response to donfromsalt lake city

Hello everybody,

From reading some of the more recent posts it seems as though a cure is at hand for the fusion drive issue on the late 2013 iMacs. Thank you to everybody that has contributed to this thread since I first posted looking for help back in early October of 2013. I opted out of the fusion drive madness about a month ago after three failed replacements and went for the SSD. but have been following the madness daily to check the status. Glad to finally hear some good news.

Good luck and thank you to everyone,

Deadphish,

Pancenter

Level 6

14,782 points

Jan 7, 2014 10:20 PM in response to timman6127

timman6127 wrote:

and now following a suggestion from Apogee, the Quartet appears to work if you set it to 96k and above. Not perfect but usable until the USB issue gets fixed totally.

Steve, was there any explanation as to why USB on the Quartet is working at 96kHz? And who has to fix the USB, Apple or Apogee?

ges8ges

Level 1

9 points

Jan 8, 2014 6:24 AM in response to donfromsalt lake city

Are you using the OS X 10.9.2 beta? If not, why is the FD working now?

donfromsalt lake city wrote:

All working fine so far, previously with this setup I got 5 to 10 seconds of audio and then nothing. Booting from a extrrnal thunderbolt drive took care of the problem, however I am now booting and running the audio app's from the Fusion Drive with no problem, yes!

Don

Jan 8, 2014 7:42 AM in response to Simon Edwards1

Simon Edwards wrote:

>Good to hear things are working out.

>Does the firewire Duet work too?

Yes the FireWire appears to work as.

Jan 8, 2014 7:48 AM in response to Pancenter

Pancenter wrote:

>Steve, was there any explanation as to why USB on the Quartet is working at 96kHz?

>And who has to fix the USB, Apple or Apogee?

No explanation was given why Quartet appears to work to some extent at 96k and above. Apogee just said that they have had good success running it at those higher sampling rates. They were also clear that this wasn't a fix. As to who has to fix the USB issue, the way the rep from Apogee put it is that both Apple and Apogee are working hard to fix the problem together.

Steve

Wound

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2014 8:52 PM in response to Deadphish42

So is the FireWire to thunderbolt fusion drive core audio crash fixed now?

I returned my iMac at end of November...that's great news if it's fixed?

Jan 14, 2014 1:59 AM in response to Deadphish42

I have just talked apple support and they said: (for some reasons my text was invisible)

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clipping sound on new iMac when Logix X is running