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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

Mar 15, 2014 3:56 PM in response to derKlecks

I have just bought a brand new MacBook Pro 2014 with 512 GB SSD drive using audio kontrol 1 with ableton live 8 where I have the popping and crackles. I just updated to 10.9.2 and it helped a bit when I watch youtube vids where there is only a bit of crackling and popping, but i didn't help in Ableton massive pops and crackles. I might aswell throw this laptop out since it was bought for music production. It helps a bit lowering the buffer size, setting it to the lowest amount of samples. But there is still crackles. This is so so bad. Does anybody know for sure if this is a software issue with Mavericks or if it is hardware related?


I am just unsure about if I should return the machine, since I have paid 3.000 € for a machine which should be good for making music, but it is worthless!


Thanks for your time...

Mar 15, 2014 4:15 PM in response to mmncs

I'm on a late 2013 model MBPr as well.

Some interfaces are still useless after the recent 10.9.2 release.

Some people on this and other discussions are having success with Focusrite, Roland, Tascam and Motu.

All of these manufacturers have addressed Mavericks/new hardware issues with firmware/driver releases.

Apogee is a mixed bag.

Other manufacturers: who knows? I spent a month trying to explain to Behringer how their beautiful new U-Phoria line is not working with my new Mac (works well with my 2009 MBP, with the same OS)

The good news is that Apple Engineering is now on the case.

See here

Mar 16, 2014 5:53 PM in response to derKlecks

Just a quick update...I'm running a mid 2010 MBP with mavericks 10.9.2 get the EXACT same issue with audio degrading in quality over a period of 5 or so minutes...


All stock system hardware, and though i'm not a technical genius as far as Macs go, I believe I wouldnt even have a fusion drive in this machine, therefore that cannot be the issue as many are stating.


I use an Apogee Duet 2 interface with Ableton 8 and this problem is identical to many other people with "haswell" macs and anything involving fusion drive claims.


Created a backup on the only external hd I had laying around which is a 1tb western digital that is rather outdated now...and tried running my carboncopycloner backup and still had slight audio dropouts but not nearly as bad as before, however my system ran pretty slow trying to load off a slow external disk.


The only solution I havent tried yet was a recommendation to switch all music files and projects and temp files or anything related to audio production to the external and load everything off that and the rest of my system off the internal HD. Can anyone confirm if this will help, or are there more reliable solutions in the other 40+ pages of this thread? I have a label release coming up soon and this whole ordeal may cause me lost revenue...


One last question however, could this possibly be a problem with Apogee's drivers in mavericks, or is it a known issue in mavericks software all together?

Mar 16, 2014 7:34 PM in response to altron64

Good questions altron, I am a day away from returning this 2013 iMAC, which for 2 months has been a nightmare, and a fortune. I've done a lot of things, but have not tried booting from an external drive. I have a new Neumann microphone and Focusrite Scarlett, which sit here uselessly.


I have a LaCie backup, which has been backing up the new MAC since I bought it. How would I go about launching the computer from this external drive? It has backed up everything including the system. I would like to try to launch from the Lacie, and use Garageband operating from the Lacie.


I think I should be able to do this fairly easily, although I've been kind of stuck thinking that the next step was either to deprogram the fusion drive...or get a refund on this machine and instead buy a G5 Power PC. Having owned 2 Power PC Macs over 20 years, I've never had problems remotely close to this.


I would appreciate anyone's help in walking me through these steps.

Mar 19, 2014 10:19 AM in response to derKlecks

My ApogeeOne seems to work fine now on OS X 10.9.2, I don't encounter any relevant issue - no glitches or latency - and everything seems smooth to me.

I'm working on a theme for a movie and I'm tempted to download LogicPro X but I'd be better wait for 10.9.3 - I just hope it 'll be realeased soon.



... by the way, changing subject, I'm setting up my page on SoundCloud where I've uploaded very few demo-tracks, everything is a work in progress - page included - so don't be too cruel with me 😉


here's the link:

soundcloud.com/giuseppe-vadala


oh, and if you wish to take a look at my blog... but it's entirely in italian

macsolomac.blogspot.com

Mar 20, 2014 6:59 AM in response to Vadalino

OS: Software OS X 10.9.3 (13D17) AI: Apogee Ensemble




Is back to half broken again.


When Opening Logic 10.0.6 (or 9.1.8) and instanciating the standard 1st Audio track and record enabling the track, THE INPUT DISPLAY FREEZES.



the only thing that SORTA fixes this is to toggle the Audio Input Device....


After doing this graphics un freeze, but still has a brief pause before kicking in.

Mar 21, 2014 11:23 AM in response to djwilliefl

I've been using Logic X and Apogee Duet on a mid-2010 MBP running Mavericks with no problems. Was very nervous about getting a fusion drive iMac, but Universal Audio tech support assured me it would be OK if I got the Apollo.


I'm happy to report that I got my brand new iMac yesterday. 32GB of RAM and a 3TB fusion drive. The Apollo installation was smooth and easy and I was working flawlessly in Logic X within an hour of setup. No audio glitches, no distortion, no crashes, nothing but easy and fast workflow. And 10.9.3 is supposed to hook up all the problems others have had.


Am I in the minority on this?

Massive problem with audio interface

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