Q: clipping sound on new iMac when Logix X is running

Hi John

Did u ask for a macbook pro as a replacement for new imac. I am having distortion probs with new imac and fatrack ultra and am thinking of doing same ???

I am relly not sure about the  new imacs now!!!!

Ive had two now and same prob!!!

Just to update.I bought my iMac on Monday and returned it to the Apple Store today (Friday) - no questions asked.

Apple Care over the phone claimed not to know about it. I told them to make a note of my case, to record this URL and the discussions here and that if the staff on the phones were not yet aware f it to raise it with her managers because the issue is presenting itself around the world and people need better and consistent support while the issue is being identified and resolved.

However, a girl at the store when I phoned said she had heard about it a couple of days ago :-)   (Sadly not before I bought it!)

When I got there a guy working in the store said that a colleague in the store had even bought one and returned it immediately for this particular issue! 

For accuracy - the exact model I had was:

iMac 27"
3.5 GHz Quad Core i7
2X4 GB Ram
3TB-Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GTX 780M Graphics card.

Part Number: MF125B/A

Price in (UK) GBP: £2,349.00 ...all refunded with no fuss. I will order new 1TB HD machine online and spread the money over better chip and more ram, 3rd party external SSD maybe...  

Thanks again to Art of Noise for doing such a good job separating sense from nonsense for all of us. Good luck to everyone else in getting their issues resolved.

Thanks for the kind comments Damian, (I just saw your earlier post.. due to the forum bug which on occasion fails to show new posts until you post anotehr post!)

Glad you got your refund without any hassle too!

As for your question regarding if they will fix it? I don't doubt they will.. Its usually just a question of when rather than if, in my experience and opinion...

Cheers..

Nigel

So as expected, I just got off the phone with apple who state that my problem is a Line 6 issue.  This is after sending them audio files and sharing screen grab videos with them and multiple instances of data capture over nearly two weeks.

They based this on the fact that I could record multiple acoustic guitar tracks using the internal microphone on GB without the popping or crackling and without the latency issue.

I made the obvious observation that the internal microphone isn't particularly useful for recording electric guitar or much of anything. 

Their contention is that if it works fine with the internal mic, it must be the audio interface problem.

They were completely uninterested in the fact that I can use the AI just fine if I boot from an external SSD drive with Mavericks on it. 

I think their specific language was that it must be a Line6 issue if it can't be replicated using only apple hardware.

I told them I would be happy to buy an apple AI if they want to sell me one that will work.  Barring that I asked them if they could tell me which AI would work so I could go buy that one.

They basically said the response from engineering is that there is no problem with my machine.  I pushed him on the issue and in the end he said my best bet would be to take the iMac and the AI and a guitar and my MacBook Air with Mavericks on it  (which works just fine) to the Apple store.  Their reasoning was that if the tech could see the issue in the flesh, that maybe they would believe there is actually a problem.

But as far as they are concerned it isn't their problem.  Big surprise there and an obviously disappointing result....

I think this issue needs to be broadcast loudly on every audio and music production forum.  I made the foolish mistake of not fully testing the machine within my first two weeks of owning the machine.  Maybe I'm just bitter at this point, but after escalating it to engineering twice, I have no faith that apple with acknowledge or resolve this issue.

I just wanted to add that despite having a working system myself now after disabling the fusion drive, I figured I still didn't have the system I paid for and that I needed to do my part, so last week I was in a pretty long chat session with apple support.

Not a single time did the guy try to claim the problem was with the external audio interface or ask me to do anything pointless like restarting the machine etc. He seemed to take the issue very seriously, and after saying he had talked to a senior advisor he wanted to have phone support call me up to log the issue properly.

Unfortunately, the call back didn't work out for some strange reason, their system just kept calling me, then having a recorded voice tell me "thanks for calling our support" and then "we couldn't reach you" and hang up. Obviously I answered the phone every time, but still didn't work. So I'll try again.

I think though, because the fact that I could tell them that I had disabled my fusion drive and all symptoms went away might have led them to take it seriously as it is hard to argue with that, it really is a black and white situation without much of a grayzone.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents to the discussion, I have had the same issue for the past month, with 3 different brands of USB interfaces.

I first chatted with apple support, which tried to redirect me to Focusrite support, then escalated to a phone call with a very nice lady who redirected me to a senior engineer. This engineer was extremely knowledgeable and even gave me his personal details to keep in touch directly. He told me that a fix is in the works and shouldn't take too long to be released, hopefully fixing the issue, and that he was as frustrated as I was as he uses his iMac to do music as well, and incurred in the same problem.

So I decided to hang on for the moment and wait to see whether a fix will come out soon, rather than swapping the mac altogether, and will boot from an external HD for the time being, whenever I need to do music production.

It's good to hear that! I also am the not so happy owner of a sparkling new iMac with a FD and I have exactly the same issues as described by many others here. I'm using a Presonus Audiobox 1818 VSL interface.

I came across this link in another similar thread: apple.com/feedback

I don't know if it's been posted in this thread before or if it's common knowledge to most people here. I just thought that the more people report the issue the better.

I just got off the phone with Applecare and was also told that they were aware of the problem and were working on a fix.

I have been watching this thread on a daily basis as I have been having a nightmare with my new iMac 27" with 1TB fusion drive. I have 2 soundcards, a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 which is Firewire and a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 which is USB. The Pro 14 cuts in and out and is pretty much unusable, the 6i6 works only if you disable the fusion drive and run a patch from Focusrite. I put a call in with Focusrite who said they were aware of issues with the iMac and the fusion drive but gave no commitment. I have had SEVERAL calls to Apple support, the first of which got pretty heated as the call handler said it was not Apple's fault 3rd party devices do not work. A couple of weeks later, I have recieved this email which at least proves Apple know about the issue (or issues) and are working on a fix:

Hello *********,

I have received a response from our engineering team in relation to your issue. It appears there is currently a conflict between our software and the Fusion drives in Mavericks. This will be resolved in a future update and I know the engineering team are working around the clock to resolve these issues.

I cannot provide an exact release date for the update at this time, however, it will either be available via software update on your Mac or as a direct download frrom our website.

As a temporary workaround we would recommend using a secondary partition to isolate the fusion drive until such time as the update is released.

If you wish to discuss this further, please don’t hesitate to get back in touch with us.

Best regards,

Thanks Allan... for the update...

...and for others..

Yes, a large number of Apple's Customer Sevice Reps (CSRs) have now become more aware of the issue and more will be updated I suspect, over the next few days...

atac,

Thank you for posting up the response you got from Apple, which appears to confirm what we have been saying, over the last few weeks now!

Cheers..

Nigel

It's quite a relief, I was begining to think I had bought an absolute lemon!

all,

I've been following this thread as a silent observer for the last two weeks, being the 'lucky' owner of a 2013 Fusion Drive iMac myself. Compared to some of your problems, mine seem pretty minor but still it's quite frustrating.

- the problem I have is that recording audio with the built-in microphone leads to crackles/popping in the recording. The same crackles are heard at the receiving end from a facetime or skype call (I don't hear those pops, but the persons I speak to find it quite annoying).

- I don't know whether I would also have the problem using more professional interfaces like you guys, but I don't have them so I can't test.

- This problem does not occur on a reboot, only after the iMac has gone to sleep. I think (my perception) it's worse after the computer slept for more time and strangely enough, it gets better when the machine has been in use for some time.

- I've tried booting from an external HDD and the problem seems not to occur that way.

- a little more than one week ago I received a replacement machine after Apple was convinced this was a hardware problem. I have exactly the same problem though, but (again my perception) not so bad as with my first machine.

Apple also let me know yesterday that they've received multiple reports about this problem and that they're analyzing the problem. They can't however let me know when and if a fix is forthcoming.  This 'if' worries me. I can deal with waiting for a fix as long as it does get fixed. Since I've got still couple of days left of my intial 14 days, I'm in doubt of what to do. I see two options:

1. wait for a fix

2. ask for a refund and order the machine with a traditional HDD

I really like the speed of the Fusion Drive and would hate to see it go but I would also hate to not see a fix in the foreseeable future. Therefore I have two questions:

1. Do you guys figure that my sound problem is indeed the one going to be fixed?

2. How sure are we there will be a fix? Not to be the one that spoils the party but how many of us have problems with these FD's  (probably only a small % of their sales) and how much does it cost for Apple to fix this (probably not a negligible cost)? I would hate that Apple evolves to *that kind* of company but fear the day.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

When I talked to Apple today, I got the impression that it would really be fixed. I think that ultimately the problem will be fixed. I have a iMac 2013 with 3T fusion drive.

RReye,

A fix is certainly 'in the works'....

The only unknown at this time... is when, rather than if..... it will be ready for public release.