Apogee Duet (1) not working on Mavericks

After looking again at the downloads page on apogees website I just noticed that only the duet iOS and duet 2 have recent January 2014 firmware and software updates along with an "important message" relating the USB's on late 2013 macs not being recognized and the duet FireWire does not have that message. I'm guessing they haven't made a patch for that specific interface yet?? And I guess the fusion drive problem was fixed with the 10.9.2 update.

I upgraded the firmware by using my iPad, but the unit is still not recognised by my Mac.

Very disappointing and leads me to never buying any Apogee gear again. It costs a lot and is nothing but a constant ball ache. Apple and Apogee really don't seem to get along and the constant Mac updates just make it worse. The problem gets fixed then a couple of months later there's another issue. Never ending.

Simonotto, you should definitely reach out to Apogee support they'll be able to work with you to resolve your issue. support.apogeedigital.com

I've tried but to be honest I've given up now. The response is pretty poor. Seems to be more of a tit for tat responsibility thing between Apple and Apogee.

I had the same thing when I had the Apogee Duet 1 and should have learnt from that sorry episode. I kick myself for being fooled again.

Waiting months for one of them to pull their finger out just causes delays with my music production. I'm finished with Apogee and going back to the good old Focusrite route.

The recent January 2014 software and firmware updates along with 10.9.2 have worked perfectly for me and my late 2013 imac. No problems have occurred and my imac now recognizes my interface. Weird your still having problems. Maybe you should try this route. Little more expensive than the duet iOS and great quality http://www.uaudio.com/apollo

I managed to get rid of the Apogee unit and have gone back to a Saphire Pro 40. Less hassle.

A real shame that the Apogee gear and Mac don't really care about the issue. My advice is: "Don't buy anything by Apogee".

Shame you continued to have problems simonotto.

The 10.9.2 update fixed it completely fro me with duet firewire and late 2013 iMac (fusion drive)

Apparently not. I cannot get Apogee support to respond to my questions because my Duet is off warranty. It does work with Logic but less well with iTunes. It also causes problem with my system that no one else has mentioned here. For some reason the firewire bus is doing something that causes my 2013 MacBook Pro to fequently boot up with a black screen. 10.9.2 only improved things marginally. And the Maestro Software is pretty useless in Mavericks.

Greg

Guys, it seems like some major Mavericks buffer and latency problems. Some power managment futures, some buffer management futures makes Mavericks great system to serf internet faster and longer but gives ProApp users serious pain in the ***. Apogge guys dont respond too much, just regular stuff like: Apogee dont make drivers, it uses Core Audio service and etc.

It has been like half a year since Maverics and the problems pop up, so i have updated again to see is there any difference and its still bad! Here is my unfinished conversation with Apogee guy:

By: smokensound

I tried to update my system again from 10.6.4 after a half year waiting for problems with audio to be fixed. I've updated to latest version of OS X Mavericks, latest version of logic X and latest version of Apogee drivers for my DUET (firewire). And still its clicking and cracking when music playing in safari and chrome, its still clicks and crackles and STUTTERS (thats new=)) in Quicktime (ver.7 or Quicktime X - its even worse) !!! Omg guys, please found a way to contact Apple with it, this is ridiciolous !!! Sometimes when i alt tab from LogicX to Safari to play some tracks (flash) or watch Youtube, whole system audio goes down, and DUET disconnects from the system, sometimes its just start Stuttering whole system audio signal, and its very much making cracks and clicks when few Audio Programs open (like QT7 + iTunes + LogicX)..

I hear that guys from Focusrite and Digidesing and few other resolved this issue completely in new drivers, and it seems that new system power saving features and some other crap Apple done is the issue. PLEASE DO SOMETHING !!!

Response By: jrocks 4/16/2014 11:27:29 AM EST

Greetings,

The Duet being an OSX class-compliant the driver it utilizes is within the Mac OS. Maestro merely provides control over the hardware and low latency direct monitoring.

If you're working within Logic then opening other apps, particularly video, this would necessitate increasing the I/O buffer size value within Logic> preferences> audio.

Are wireless networking features being utilized? Temporarily turn-off/disable Airport, Bluetooth and wireless networking features to verify whether this affects the issue.

The interim work around for Quicktime is utilizing a sample rate
of 88.2 or 96 kHz on the Duet. This can be
changed within the Mac's Applications> utilities folder> Audio MIDI Setup> audio devices> Duet.

Our Engineer has made Apple aware of this issue and is working towards a resolution.

True Regards,

Jay

Tech Support Specialist
Apogee Electronics, Corp.

Response By: smokensound 4/16/2014 11:44:51 AM EST

Thank you, i know that Apogee using Os X core audio to maintain itself, the problem is that it maintains itself so badly in Os X Mavericks!

Increasing I/O buffer size isn't a solution because it brings noticeable latency when playing software instruments, and just seems unreasonable for 500$ sound card (or Ensemble) and 8-core macbook pro with 16GB ram.

Airport / Bluetooth has nothing to do with it, tested it half year ago when this problems occurred for the first time.

Popping up a Sample rate seems to have some improvements, but its not an option either because at this high sample rates when using so CPU hungry instruments like Kontakt 5 libraries and Synths like U-he Diva all i will hear is clicks and pops, and all i will see is audio overload messages. This is not a solution.

The only solution is to you guys find out what causing so much problems, what has been changed since Mountain Lion, and what makes your (Mac only) premium quality audio hardware completely unusable! And contact Apple repeatedly about this pretty serious issues. It has been half a year for christ sake, do something=)

Only option i see for myself for now is downgrade again to 10.6.8 or buy a new piece of hardware from somebody who writes their own audio drivers =(

My advice would be to get a different interface. All the Apogee gear I've had always has a problem in the long run and makes it a worthless pile of junk for any serious users.

Both Apogee and Mac are not interested in sorting it out. It's been months since my Duet had a problem and the usual high level commenters just continue to give the same old geek techno speak but without any result.

I'm now using Focusrite and life is much better. Apogee *****.

Yep, im thinking about moving on to Apollo Twin DUO. I googled it and people say there is no problen at all, plus it is thunderbolt interface so wide bandwidth and no latency.

New response )

Response By: jrocks 4/18/2014 2:15:10 PM EST

Hello Alexey,

An exchange between our
Engineer team and Apple is currently in progress about the issue. It's
important to note that this isn't isolated to Apogee audio
interfaces. Preliminary reports indicate the OSX 10.9.3. pre-release
developer seed holds promise of resolving this.
In the interest of collecting the necessary data to diagnose the issue. In the Mac's applications> utilities folder> open Console. Under file in the task bar select save a copy as and attach the log to this incident. It maybe easier to take a screenshot of Console> database searches> all messages scrolling down to the current date and time this occurs. Additionally provide a System Profile Report from your Mac with the Apogee connected. To obtain a System Profile Report, select About This Mac from the Apple Menu, click the More Info then System Report button. This automatically launches the System Profiler application.
Once the System Profiler application has been launched please follow the steps below.
1. Select Save from the File menu
2. Keep the format as System Profile
3. Click the Save button and export as your name
4. Compress (zip) and attach the file.
Once your System Profile has been attached, go to the incident and click Add Response to the ticket.
True Regards,
Jay
Tech Support Specialist
Apogee Electronics, Corp.

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I like this last part pretty much=D Nobody wants people to know that their hardware doesn work ))))

Hi all,

I know it's been awhile since this issue has been discussed, by I just ran into this issue on my system recently. I've had pretty rock solid perfomance with my old MacBook Pro running with Duet 2, but when I recently upgraded to a new 27 inch iMac with 3TB Fusion Drive, running 10.9.2, my Duet 2 has not been the same. I've downloaded the and reinstalled the latest January 2014 drivers several times, as well as upgrade the firmware, and regardless i get distortion and crackling on my outputs. It's very unpredictable, and happens more often than not at this point. I use it for both audio work and as a audio output for my video work, and it seems unstable all around.

I know there has been discussion that 10.9.2 was supposed to fix all these issues, but it definitely hasn't fix mine. Any additional info anyone could share beyond what was said in this forum, or do I need to start looking at an RME Babyface, to regain clean audio playback from my 27" iMac?

Syrcle,

10.9.3 was the realease that fixed may of the Core Audio issues. Simply update your Mac, but if you have further questions call up Apogee tech support, they're super helpful in getting you up and running.