Quicktime on Mavericks outputs stuttering audio.

Hi Rich, I posted this a while ago you might have seen it but here it is again on the off chance it may help you:

"I've been having the same issue which I believe now could be a latency problem as I use a DAW (Saffire Pro24) with in my setup on my iMac. I have only noticed the issue in Safari version 7.0 and Quicktime version 10.3, works fine in Quicktime 7.6. This issue does not happen when using internal speakers. Could be audio drivers for a specific DAW that might be causing the issue? or maybe a Firewire issue as the DAW I use is FW?

Anyway I managed to solve the problem on my setup by opening up the Saffire Mixcontrol app and I initially changed the sample rate from 44.1 to 48khz which made it clearer but the interferrence was still there. I then went into the settings of the app and changed the latency from 'Short' to 'Very Long' and bingo, clear sound once again :-) This works for Safari and Quicktime 10.3.

I also tested through another DAW, that being a TC Helicon Voicelive Touch hooked up via USB and all worked fine."

Anyway hope it helps in some small way and hope you can solve your issue.
Kirby

Hi Kirby,

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

However, I already found out about the latency trick some time ago. But I like to keep the latency as low as possible and I hate it that I have to switch to a high latency setting whenever I want to listen to a Soundcloud soundclip in Safari. And then change it back to a lower latency setting when I go back to working in Studio One Pro. Strangely, switching to 'Very Long' usually does the trick, but not always.

It seems to be a problem with Safari 7, because when I opened these same soundclips in Firefox this morning, there were no crackling problems whatsoever. Even when I went to 88.2 KHz and 'Short' in MixControl.

Richard

Absolutely it is a problem with Safari/Safari Quicktime plugin/Quicktime Player. All other browsers/players work fine with HTML5 video. The frequency/latency workarounds are limited and sometimes only work for a short time before the crackles start again.

I read in another thread, which I don't have to hand, that some video/audio problems have been cleared up in the 10.9.2 beta, albeit opinions vary. I will cross my fingers but not hold my breath.

Between this and many other issues that are starting to mount in Apple's software, things are all going a bit Microsoft.

Colin

For those of you that use a Focusrite Sapphire 14 firewire interface the following are two ways to fix the problem:

1. Open your Mix Control and change the Firewire Driver Latency from short to medium or higher.

2. The following fix was given to me by Focusrite Support guys. Open system preference sound panel and click on the "Input". As long as this window stays open with "Input" selected, the stuttering will be gone. If you close that window, stuttering will be back. (I know this is a bit weird)

I was told by Focusrite that they are working together with Apple on a fix and it should come in the form of a OSX update.

Thanks. I had never heard of fix 2 and indeed it works (as long as I also select 'Saffire' in the input panel). A weird workaround, but I definitely prefer it over changing the latency.

This should be easy to fix, I guess... I'm glad to hear they're working on it.

I think that fix is mentioned somewhere earlier in the discussion. I have found that it works perfectly for about 5 minutes and then slowly crackles and pops start to re-appear. I have got to the stage where I simply avoid Safari and Quicktime. Bit of a sad indictment really given they are core Apple applications.

We have now gone back to Mountain Lion on both computers -it was just too much trouble to work with Mavericks as it is. I hope things will be fixed soon, both in audio and video. We don't even know whether we would buy the new Mac Pro if things remain the same...

The solution is to use QT7. I have focusrite octopre's pro10s and an LS56.I also had the same issues which have been cured by following the post on page 2 of this thread by Deborah Terreson. Many thanks to you Deborah. Im new to the forum and i hope its ok to repost here

Deborah Terreson

Stuttering sound and re-conversion is the system trying to make heads or tails of formats it has no codecs for. Most of what we use now is NOT of Apple's creation other than the .mov format, and that is a container for the audio and video!

You need to rebuld the libraries of codecs and DO NOT USE QuickTime Player X! Apple is going all gung-ho with security since the migration to the 'cloud' and computers are expected (eventually) to be online all the time. It's security, security, security, and since the QT technology IS a Core Component, it's becoming all firewalled (hence a lot of video formats not working on the QuickLook)

Stick to QT 7.6.6, it will run and accept all the codecs since it is not the 'officially' nested QuickTime player anymore.

Here is a list I'm putting up all over, since I've gotten my install of Mavericks to run flawlessly with all of my video.

Start with QT 7.6.6. - http://support.apple.com/kb/DL923

Get Perian, and install it. - http://perian.org

then VLC, - http://videolan.org

DivX - http://divx.com - and the

Flip4Mac package from Telestream - http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac/

This is what I've put into my system and so far I've gotten every file to run just ducky, even my oldest videos.

In System/Library/QuickTime

ApleIntermediateCodec.component (should already be there)

AppleMPEG2Codec.component (optional if you paid for it)

DivX Decoder.component

Flip4Mac WMV Advanced.component

Flip4Mac WMV Export.component

Flip4Mac WMV Import.component

In your Home/Library/QuickTime/

AC3MovieImport.component

Perian.component

For AC3 sound that is in most .mkv files, you need the A52Codec.component, here:https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34821905/A52Codec.component.zip - unzip the file and put the component into the System/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/Components..

Go back to your Perian settings and in the Audio Output button, set it to 'Multi Channel Sound' - Ignore the message Perian puts up and select it.

By doing a 'Get Info' on your files and where it says 'Open With', default them to the QuickTime 7 and set it so it is the default for all the files of whichever type you use. It should work perfectly. So far I've gotten ALL my old videos to play and not a one has wanted to reconvert, even my older .mov files.

Regards,

Deb.

No problem at all Iain, thanks for reposting this..

ONLY change is that the A52Codec.component has a new home - Can be found HERE: https://code.google.com/p/subler/downloads/detail?name=A52Codec.component.zip

So if you're posting this workaround beyond the forums and sharing it in other communities - please don't hesitiate to - do not forget to update the main message with this correct address.

Regards,

Deb.

Ninja edit to add: It also may not be necessary to go to the DivX site to get their codec.. Some have reported no issues without it, as was noted, Perian contains those, but as it is no longer in development, whereas DivX still is, I thought to add it. You may not need, it but it doesn't hurt and I've yet to have any conflicts with the cosecs I have installed..

Thank you very much. Changing to 48 kHz in Saffire MixControl fixed all of my issues, though I am not sure what ramifications I have introduced to my home recording setup. For now, this fixes my stuttering audio in Vimeo, and it fixes stuttering audio coming from certain flash music players.

Same here, also using Saffire Pro 24.

But hey if VLC can do it right why can't Apple ?

It doesnt bode well if Apple can't even get their stock media players right out the box does it ?

I use VLC and Plex to play media bc I'm fed up of waiting for Quicktime.

Sure I worked out it wasn't converting right and switched to the video output to 48khz, but I don't want or should have to do that everytime!

Plus if you don't remember to switch to 44.1khz you start making stupid size audio projects in your pro audio programs.

Come on Apple this is just lazy pfff.

If Apple cannot stay on top of their media apps, that is going to make a lot of audio and media ppl move back to other platforms. The main reason I use Apple is for browsing media, easy backups and aggregate sound options they provide otherwise cheaper options do it just as well.

Guys, for those of you using Focusrite Saffire FireWire interfaces, Focusrite have issued a BETA update for Saffire MixControl that is reported to fix the issue with QuickTime: Saffire Mix Control 3.4b1

Fixed issue that might cause glitches using QuickTime on OS X Mavericks

- Fixed issue that might cause distortion on second ADAT port and loopback using Liquid Saffire 56

- Improved sample rate switching

You have to register to be able to download and use the beta releases and obviously it's at your own risk http://beta.focusrite.com

I'm going to install later and will report back.

Re : Saffire Mix Control 3.4b1

Thanks for this. Installed it this morning and so far so good. HTML5 Videos in Safari sound fine as do Quicktime files. These were the two main problems for me. Early days so will keep on eye for anything strange but fingers crossed.

Hi guys,

Glad to hear the beta is working for you.

If you do run into any issues or have any feedback on the beta, get in touch at beta@focusrite.com.

Best regards,

Neil Marron

Focusrite Audio Engineering

So, there would be a per peripherical brand solution ? I though it would be an internal apple / mavericks problem and solution… then i should mail UAD for my apollo and see if they plan to update a fix… looks weird for me but if it works…