derKlecks

Q: 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

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Q: Massive problem with audio interface

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  • by AlexGowers,

    AlexGowers AlexGowers Jan 14, 2014 1:12 PM in response to TitusQ124
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 1:12 PM in response to TitusQ124

    Thanks Anthony the beta helped get a marginally more stable device.

     

    There are still the same issue but they are much more infrequent. I have a MacBook Pro 15inch haswell with a Maudie fast track ultra which worked great with 10.9.0 it only broke with 10.9.1. It's half fixed with 10.9.2 beta

     

    The beta is defo more buggy than the real releases though so beware guys.

     

    Apple still haven't fixed the problem though. I still get buffer undefined clicks that have nothing to do with the buffer size but now ever 20-30 mins so useable but some takes are rubbished.

     

    It's introduced a new error for my setup where the sound glitches and stalls then it slips in time to then have a huge latency. Fixed by switching buffer sizes but annoying still. This new bug only happens 1-2 hours but is kind repeatable using certain plugs for prolonged periods. I kinda wish they had left some of this stuff alone. Or at least detect the usb hardware and prevent the new code running which must be a change to save battery.

     

    Who know when 10.9.2 will finally arrive but the current beta posted here is a fixed albeit a flaky one that will leave you feeling a little bit nervous about the fix being 100% done with official update.

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jan 14, 2014 1:21 PM in response to AlexGowers
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 1:21 PM in response to AlexGowers

    With the beta update installed, you may not even be able to update to the final release of 10.9.2 and may need to do a full reinstall to run it.

     

    Be careful with Beta OSX software if you don't know what you are doing.

     

    Good luck

     

    Pete

  • by TitusQ124,

    TitusQ124 TitusQ124 Jan 14, 2014 1:25 PM in response to petermac87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 1:25 PM in response to petermac87

    This is something I didn't know, and no I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm a songwriter who bought Logic Pro X and an Imac to basically help with a few projects, it's all kinda gone wrong since then.

     

    Who else is using the beta here? And having success?

  • by TitusQ124,

    TitusQ124 TitusQ124 Jan 14, 2014 1:27 PM in response to Joel Bechtolt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 1:27 PM in response to Joel Bechtolt

    Is the combo the same as beta? I'm totally "non-tech head"

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jan 14, 2014 1:32 PM in response to TitusQ124
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 1:32 PM in response to TitusQ124

    Any 10.9.2 release is a beta as Apple have not yet released the final update for the public.

     

    Pete

  • by TitusQ124,

    TitusQ124 TitusQ124 Jan 14, 2014 1:35 PM in response to undrob
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 1:35 PM in response to undrob

    "Not what I was expecting from an iMac whatsoever." Totally with you there, however, I blame focusrite also, there is very mixed information on their site. I'm a layman here so when I saw that they exclaimed apple and focusrite were compatible I thought "hey, great!" and that was good enough for me. What I didn't realise was the rest, the nitty gritty. Partly my fault mostly theirs I feel. Not everyone who buys their equipment, forking out a pretty penny for the gear will be experts in this. A lot of us are just starting out.

  • by McNezza,

    McNezza McNezza Jan 14, 2014 1:53 PM in response to derKlecks
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 1:53 PM in response to derKlecks

    My understanding is you can upgrade a beta to a final release when it arrives.

  • by BiggusDikkus,

    BiggusDikkus BiggusDikkus Jan 14, 2014 2:15 PM in response to McNezza
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 2:15 PM in response to McNezza

    I loaded beta, experienced no benefit with my Behringer UMC204, and reverted back to 10.9.1 via recovery drive no prob.

  • by Lance Mcvickar,

    Lance Mcvickar Lance Mcvickar Jan 14, 2014 2:37 PM in response to BiggusDikkus
    Level 1 (100 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 2:37 PM in response to BiggusDikkus

    Perhaps this has been stated already but try recording to an external usb 3 hard drive or thunderbolt, you should not record audio to your system drive. My guess is that the fusion drive shuffles around the audio during playback between the two system drives tha tcreate the fusion drive and perhaps Mavericks has some a bug as well. But really its best to record the audio on its own drive.

    Also turn off spotlight for your external audio drive by selecting it in the privacy tab in spotlight system prefs, then add your external drive by clicking the plus sign, this keeps spotlight from indexing the drive when recording new files you can alsways turn spotlight back on when not recording to index your new files. Also make sure app nap is selected tyour audio app from napping.  I have pro tools 11.1 and it works fine on my setup but I have a mac pro with an ssd for a boot drive, not a fusion drive. I feel your pain, good luck.

  • by TitusQ124,

    TitusQ124 TitusQ124 Jan 14, 2014 3:50 PM in response to McNezza
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 3:50 PM in response to McNezza

         Cheers for the link to beta, seems to have sorted everything out, no bother here now. To the guy using Behringer, EVERYTHING I've every owned by them barring a DI box has been utter gash, really. 

  • by L0owL0ow,

    L0owL0ow L0owL0ow Jan 14, 2014 11:19 PM in response to McNezza
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 11:19 PM in response to McNezza

    Thanks a lot !!!
    It works great now with the 10.9.2 !!! It resolves all the noise problem !

    So happy to find that my iMac is not useless now !!

  • by hankboomer,

    hankboomer hankboomer Jan 15, 2014 2:46 AM in response to derKlecks
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2014 2:46 AM in response to derKlecks

    very interesting discussion, i bought new imac in december 2.7 hgz, 1T fusion drive and 16 RAM ... the system recognize my sound card (Presonus 22 VSL) but cannot deliver any sound, correction, i can barely hear something behind cracks which sounds like my voice ... i bought this imac and this card for recording purposes as long as a condensator mic ... i tried my good old Fast track inteface and it is almost the same so what i will do this week end is to bring back from the basement my 2007 imac and try the presonus

     

    i read many things around forums :

     

    explanation 1 : it could be because of the USB 3 (presonus is USB 2) ... i dont think that is accurate because i pluged and recorded with a Line 6 POD XT.

     

    explanation 2 : the fusion drive thing .. well, i am not familiar with IT and systems but as long as i paid something more expansive i imagined this would be a robust and reliable option .. which is obviously not if confirmed

     

    do you guys confim the fusion drive has to be splited (i have to go to an apple store to find out how the **** i can do that) ? or do you thing this Beta version of mavericks will solve this **** problem ?

     

    i am very disapointed, like many of people around this forum i bought this expansive devices for sake of reliability and trust on a brand which is used a reference in recording stuff ... it seems i was all wrong

  • by SweFrank,

    SweFrank SweFrank Jan 15, 2014 2:46 AM in response to L0owL0ow
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2014 2:46 AM in response to L0owL0ow

    Excellent guys!

     

    I bought my first Mac ever two month ago. 27 inch 1 Tb FD. I didnt work together with my existing USB connected Line6 device (all the issues that you have described above) so I went and bought an Apogee soundcard that I thought would certainly solve it all. Sadly as you all know that didnt make any difference. So I had to keep the PC which works perfectly and only using the Mac for mail, Safari and minecraft.

     

    I will now install the Beta version and see what happens.

     


  • by hankboomer,

    hankboomer hankboomer Jan 15, 2014 2:58 AM in response to SweFrank
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2014 2:58 AM in response to SweFrank

    Swefrank, what kind of Line 6 do you have ? i have a POD XT that was nit working good with Reaper software (i tried and abnadonned) and went back with Garageband (tanx god i didnt buy logic

     

    but with garareband the  POD XT is ok, no latence ; i plug it directly in the imac USB

     

    my issue and concerne is with the exetrnal card ...

     

    it such a pity to be obliged to go back to you PC man !!! cant you ask apple to refund you ??? they failed obviously

  • by SweFrank,

    SweFrank SweFrank Jan 15, 2014 4:17 AM in response to hankboomer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2014 4:17 AM in response to hankboomer

    Hankboomer,

    my setup is Pod X3 Pro (acting as sound card) USB connected to the Mac and Cubase. I can understand if the driver for the Line6 is not compatible since Line6 dont support it any longer. So I got the Apogee instead (which didnt do any difference).

     

    But with this new information and upgrading to new OS Beta version, the Line6 might actually work. We'll see.

    However, I think will be using the Apogee as soundcard and the Line6 as input for the different sounds I will record (vocals, bass, guitar etc).

     

    I have not experienced any latency problems on neither setup (PC or Mac). The only thing is the dropouts and distortion that you all mention here. And those I have for both Apogee and Line6 soundcard.

     

    It certainly is a pity this situation but. My idea was to have a stable music production setup. But, I cant imagine that it wont be solved so I will keep all the devices and try figure out a solution. Im in no hurry really. I havent tried partitioning the disk yet or anything as I have seen some do. But if upgrading OS seems to be working for you all then I will do the same.

     

    The phrase "it just works" that I ve been hearing for 15 years....I think we can throw that away now.

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