Massive problem with audio interface

Same issue here on 1 week old Late 2013 iMac 27" with 1TB Fusion Drive.
Skype audio distortion and Mavericks crashing.

Apple Care Tech support know nothing about this!!

Tried different headsets, problem only apparent with USB headsets.

Issue not there when I boot from clone external drive, so looks like the Fusion drive/drivers.

Installed Latest Mavericks Beta Build 13C62 and that seems to have solved the issue, audio is now clear and it hasn't crashed yet.

I'm encountering issues with my Apogee One.

Tried to record my voice on Garageband the result was an audio region with the lowest audio quality ever recorded - buzzy, glitchy and with the highest latency ever matched.

I encountered issues using Skype too - I use the Apogee internal mic to chat.

It works at first but then, on the other side, they can't hear me anymore so I'm forced to switch to the internal iMac mic.

On the whole it seems the input has issues as the output works fine - I plug my earphone to the Apogee and hear well everything.

Sometimes happens that the entire audio (input and output) freezes after using Apogee internal mic - at that point I restart the mac.

I'm encountering issues with my Apogee One.

Tried to record my voice on Garageband the result was an audio region with the lowest audio quality ever recorded - buzzy, glitchy and with the highest latency ever matched.

I encountered issues using Skype too - I use the Apogee internal mic to chat.

It works at first but then, on the other side, they can't hear me anymore so I'm forced to switch to the internal iMac mic.

On the whole it seems the input has issues as the output works fine - I plug my earphone to the Apogee and hear well everything.

Sometimes happens that the entire audio (input and output) freezes after using Apogee internal mic - at that point I restart the mac.

Today I got this email from an Apogee Tech Support Specialist:

“Hello,

Unfortunately, Fusion Drives have been giving audio devices from all manufacturers issues.

Good news is that the Apple 10.9.2 update is supposed to resolve these issues.

We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Let's see what happen - fingers crossed.

when will 10.9.2 update?

Apple will not commit to a date, so you have to wait for however long they take, after speaking to an engineer I returned my IMac as he said it could be 2 weeks or it could be 6 months, also he told me that they were hoping to have a full fix for FD macs, but still no guarantee, he also went on to say the full fix may be included in 10.9.3.

So up to you guys what you do, but for me I got a full refund and purchasing a new one with a 512gb SSD (",)

Peace out

I experience quite the same nihtgmare since last week pffffffff what a waiste of time !

There's plenty of us, hoping, waiting.. No way to fix this unless Apple does a better job !

When is 10.9.2 available ?

I wish I had returned mine when I had a chance. I just kept thinking they would get a fix out soon. Surely it won't be six months!

Glen Orpheus wrote:

Apple will not commit to a date, so you have to wait for however long they take, after speaking to an engineer I returned my IMac as he said it could be 2 weeks or it could be 6 months, also he told me that they were hoping to have a full fix for FD macs, but still no guarantee, he also went on to say the full fix may be included in 10.9.3.

So up to you guys what you do, but for me I got a full refund and purchasing a new one with a 512gb SSD (",)

Peace out

ges8ges wrote:

I wish I had returned mine when I had a chance. I just kept thinking they would get a fix out soon. Surely it won't be six months!

i read on one of the threads somewhere.....lol may even be this one.

anyhow somebody was lucky enough to get apple to exchange their 3 month old imac for one with a different drive, so maybe it's worth giving them a shout, explain your unhappiness in their product and lay it on thick 😉

on the othe hand, wait for the update, i tried the beta but still got pops and cracks, but audio didnt go off, so yeah it was kinda fixed, 6 months well for those of you waiting i really do hope not

I have the same audio problem with my haswell imac i7, 3tb fusion drive. I have a external usb audio input that i bought from amazon. its a little cheap 10 buck usb audio card, at first i thought that would be the problem cause its a cheap usb external card make all that crackle sound after 1 minute of clear sound. Then i jump back on amazon and order a more expensive audio card call iMic by Griffin, same exact issue, clear sound for one minute then all crackle sound. Now pass my return period 😟

I returned my late 2013 imac i7, fusion drive for one with 256GB flash drive.....the problems are all gone. It works flawlessly!

I heard that there were two kinds of problem with new iMac:

- problem with fusion drive: i tried the 4th 10.9.2 beta and everything was working well so I'm just waiting for the official update.

- problem with audio interface plugged throught USB: this issue comes from the driver, so the manufacturer has to release a software update and I read that Apogee did it in January for it Duet USB and everything works fine after for the users.

So I guess all these issues are software related, not the hardware, which is good news by the way.

As Apple released 6th beta for Mavericks this monday (4 days after 5th beta), I think we can expect a public release next week or at the beginning of March.

Does anyone still have audio issues with iMac Fusion Drive and Apogee Duet Firewire with 10.9.2 beta?

Hi, good news !

Is there any way I can reach to 10.9.2Beta and try it out?

Do I nhave to be a special member, guest or so?

Hello all. I received my imac 3.5 i7 16gb 3tb fusion drive two days ago and like all of you have experienced the same issues. I tried my imac with 4 different audio interfaces usb and firewire. I used a roland studio capture (which is brand new), apogee duet, native instruments audio 8 and the internal firewire soundcard in my ecler evo 5 mixer. NONE of them worked on my fusion drive imac. Every single one of these interfaces work with my beat up old aluminum 2007 macbook pro. I've also reached the conclusion that it seems to be the fusion drive being the issue. Luckily, I'm definitely in the return period for my imac. I contacted Applecare twice to which they have no clue about this issue according to them. They told me to take it to the store to run a diagnostics check. The hardware all checked back fine according to them and they too have never heard of this issue. All they said they could do is give me a refund. I can't believe that Apple would sell me a defective product and just be like, "Well, do you want your money back?" They seem to think that ALL their products are absolutely perfect. I'm very frustrated and disappointed to say the least. I asked them to make it right. All they said at the store was that they are going to test it with an audio interface which is on the apogee one which is all they have in the store to test it with in order to at least give me some form of compensation for selling me a defective product and wasting my time in trying to fix my computer and take it back to the store. After leaving my imac at the store for them to test I called Applecare again to explain what I had done. They did pass me over to a sales person who offered to give me a $150 discount on my next purchase which was somewhat decent. According to them they can't replace my computer with an SSD drive, they have to replace the exact same thing I ordered. I am going to see what the store says about the imac tomorrow but I'm definitely NOT going to keep that imac. I would like to get one with an SSD and hope it doesn't have any issues. Can anyone confirm that the SSD does not have any issues? I just want a new computer that "just works" as it's supposed to. I'm really shocked that hardly anyone at Apple knows of this issue and frankly I would think that something so defective at such a large scale, affecting anyone who wants to work with music on a fusion drive hasn't started a class action lawsuit. Again, can anyone or a few of you please confirm that your new SSD imacs don't have issues with audio interfaces? I know my beat up, slow old 2007 mbp can handle audio interfaces, it just can't handle the cpu intensive tasks anymore.

Hi Brad,

Yes, I can confirm that my interface (Motu Track 16) works after I replaced my Fusion Drive iMac to a new with 1 TB SSD.

I had a long discussion with Apple about my audio interface problem, and finally I was able to return my iMac with Fusion Drive, even if my Mac was three months old by then. It seems that Apple doesn't have a strategy to spread information about these kind of problems within their organization.

Just to give you some more background. My iMac with FD came with Mountain Lion, and the Motu interface worked ok. But, because I also use Final Cut Pro X and that I upgraded FCPX to the latest version (and converted all projects) on my MBP I had to upgrade my iMac to Mavericks. FCPX require Mavericks to run. My Motu interface didn't work for more than 15-20 seconds when it was connected to the iMac with FD and Mavericks. I tried the beta that some nice people in this thread sent a link to. The Mavericks beta solved the main problem with the interface, it didn't stop working. But I had clicks and pops that made it kind of useless for use in Logic Pro X anyway.

I was stuck because I couldn't go back to ML due to that FCPX required mavericks and this was the reason I was offered to return my iMac even that the normal return period of 14 days was passed with three months.

Best of luck to all you guys in this thread. My advice is that you should return the FD iMac if you can, and replace it with an iMac with a normal HD or a SSD.

/Leffe

Correction: FCPX 10.1 does require Mavericks. 10.0 runs on ML.

//Leffe