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Massive problem with audio interface

Hi there.


I recently bought a brandnew iMac 27" Haswell i7. I encountered problems with my Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 audio interface. These are buzzing, clicking and noise immediately or after 3 minutes or so. I tried everything, re-installed the driveres several times, nothing, really nothing worked.


Then I bought an RME Babyface audio interface - and guess what? It's the same problem. I also have a massive sound noise after some minutes or the recording channel in Garage Band drops completely.


What is wrong here? I already tried using a different power plug, tried all USB ports, turned off WiFi, HDD sleep mode, etc. Nothing worked.


Do you have an idea?


I appeciate your help,

Adrian.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 25, 2013 1:29 PM

Reply
762 replies

Feb 1, 2014 8:55 PM in response to Gabotb

I did exactly this and the issues did not go away. As I and others have said, the FD is one part of the problem. The other is USB 3 on the Haswell Mac. Apogee and others have released fixes for the FD issue, but we are all waiting on Apple to fix the USB 3 issue. I have since then exchanged again for the I7 iMac and eagerly await the official 10.9.2. If you really want an iMac and the performance benefits that brings, I would head on back to the store and change it again while you still can. I also saved the additional $600 I had spent on the MBP.

Feb 2, 2014 12:49 AM in response to derKlecks

similar problem here. running the latest 13 inch mbpr and ableton live software, mavericks obvsly.


experiencing crashes only with external soundcards attached. it happened with a usb interface (NI audio 2 dj) and with a echo audiofire 2 (firewire through thunderbold adapt.)


keyboard and trackpad got unresponsive after the crash with the usb interface as they run on the usb buss I suppose.


This is interesting: If i m running usb or firewire interfaces plugged in to my thunderbold display at home - i get 0 problems. it just works 100%


so what does this tell us? is the hardware of the macbook defective?

but why does the FW interface crash then when attached to the computer directly and not if attached to the display?


this is extremely frustrating. basically my job is using this machine on stage and i cant use it. i m back to my 2007 macbook now running 10.6, thinking about getting a USED machine which was before mavericks and haswell - think these are the issues and what i would like to know:


WILL THERE EVER BE A FIX FOR THIS ON THE LATE 2013 MBPr??

Feb 2, 2014 7:36 AM in response to undershift

Thank you undershift.

The fact that the Thunderbolt display has that much influence is very interesting.


Could it be that the TBD is taking over or changing the clock source somehow?

(You can see this in Audio MIDI Setup utility)


I sent the email below to my assigned Applecare tier-2 supervisor and to the support managers at Behringer last night:



I have a discovered a new clue that may or may not be relevant to the audio interface issue.


When in Audio MIDI Setup utility, all of the correctly working inputs and outputs show the Clock source as “Default”.


The non working interface shows the Clock source as: "BEHRINGER UMC Interna…"


According to Apple Audio MIDI Setup instructions:

Leave the “Clock source” pop-up menu set to Default, unless you’re using an audio device that sends its own timing (clock) messages.

But here’s the catch: there is no pop-up menu. There is no way to change the clock source, I am only able to see what the source is.

Audio MIDI Setup Version 3.0.6


Of course, this does not explain why the interface works on my older Macbook Pro running the same operating system (10.9.1)


Relevant?



Macbook Pro Retina late-2013

2.6Ghz i7, 16GB Ram, 1TB Flash, Nvidia

Behringer U-PHORIA UMC204

Feb 2, 2014 4:50 PM in response to BiggusDikkus

I just received and have setup a imac 27 with 3.5 i7 16 gb ram a 3tb fusion drive on mavericks. Having serious audio issues with interfaces. Also running logic x. It seems the internal audio works fine without pops, clicks, distortion etc. problem began when trying to run a firewire solo interface through firewire adapters to thunderboldt. Audio worked at first and after a minute or 2 completely cuts out. Assuming that it was an outdated interface and/or the firewire adaption was not good, I purchased a NI Komplete audio 6 USB interface. This when things got painfully interesting. Anytime system audio was routed through interface, signal worked for a few minutes then slowly degraded from a few pops and clicks to full on distortion, clicks, stutters, to a completely unusable distorted stuttering sound. After unplugging and rep lugging in interface, the problem seemed to go away, burr emerged after a couple minutes, everytime. This happened in every application. My only fix for working was to keep system audio on internal speakers, and route logic to interface, with this setup, logic seemed to work with no problems through interface. Although this is unacceptable considering I still need system audio to route through interface to have what I consider a usable computer. After lots if research and testing I'm putting a little faith/hope that the problem is the fusion drive. Although it seems I could be wrong considering that it seems there might be problems with running USB 2 interfaces into the USB 3 port. I have decided to return the comp to apple and reorder the same configuration but with the 3 tb 7200 raid drive instead of fusion. If this does not solve problems, then I will seek out an interface that is either USB 3, or thunderboldt, although not really sure what the options are there. Just trying to get a basic setup that runs system audio and logic to an audio interface to my two krk monitors. Come on Apple!!! This is basic stuff and shouldn't be such a headache. It seems apple is not looking out for us audio people anymore. I'm losing faith in apples ability to products out that just work. I'll report back on my findings with imac without the fusion drive. I hope apple and the interface developers are handling this problem.

Feb 2, 2014 5:53 PM in response to derKlecks

I just received and have setup a imac 27 with 3.5 i7 16 gb ram a 3tb fusion drive on mavericks. Having serious audio issues with interfaces. Also running logic x. It seems the internal audio works fine without pops, clicks, distortion etc. problem began when trying to run a firewire solo interface through firewire adapters to thunderboldt. Audio worked at first and after a minute or 2 completely cuts out. Assuming that it was an outdated interface and/or the firewire adaption was not good, I purchased a NI Komplete audio 6 USB interface. This when things got painfully interesting. Anytime system audio was routed through interface, signal worked for a few minutes then slowly degraded from a few pops and clicks to full on distortion, clicks, stutters, to a completely unusable distorted stuttering sound. After unplugging and rep lugging in interface, the problem seemed to go away, burr emerged after a couple minutes, everytime. This happened in every application. My only fix for working was to keep system audio on internal speakers, and route logic to interface, with this setup, logic seemed to work with no problems through interface. Although this is unacceptable considering I still need system audio to route through interface to have what I consider a usable computer. After lots if research and testing I'm putting a little faith/hope that the problem is the fusion drive. Although it seems I could be wrong considering that it seems there might be problems with running USB 2 interfaces into the USB 3 port. I have decided to return the comp to apple and reorder the same configuration but with the 3 tb 7200 raid drive instead of fusion. If this does not solve problems, then I will seek out an interface that is either USB 3, or thunderboldt, although not really sure what the options are there. Just trying to get a basic setup that runs system audio and logic to an audio interface to my two krk monitors. Come on Apple!!! This is basic stuff and shouldn't be such a headache. It seems apple is not looking out for us audio people anymore. I'm losing faith in apples ability to products out that just work. I'll report back on my findings with imac without the fusion drive. I hope apple and the interface developers are handling this problem.

Feb 2, 2014 7:32 PM in response to Robert Martin 1

Hi - Just wondering how you werew able to get your Alphatrack to work with Mavericks (if that was indeed what you accomplished) New here and could not find your original post about this, but I believe that's what you said.

Using Apogee Duet 2, and untill I read your post I thought I was out of luck. I suppose I am going to get my hand slapped foe being off topic on this, but I am desperately hoping you have the secret sauce..

Thanks

Hoby

Massive problem with audio interface

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