Q: Mac OSX Mavericks 10.9 firewire audio problem on RME Fireface 800, MOTU 828 Mk II and Apogee Duet on late 2013 iMac i7

All I can say is that I have asimilat problem with a Presonus Firestudio runnig through the firewire-thunderbolt adapter, on an new iMac (Late 2013), with the Fusion memory.

It worked fine before the Mavericks upgrade - even through a FireWire Hub. Now it cuts out after a minute or so.

I've installed the latest Presonus drivers today.

I'm still no nearer to solving this problem. Did you find a solution?

I am having the same problem with my new CTO iMac, Mavericks and Edirol FireWire interface. It's mavericks fault, we have to wait for update. Too bad since I am involved in music production.

I'm having the same issues... I have the newes imac with 3.5 ghz i7 and 3T fusion drive.. Took it last sunday 11/17 so the apple geniuses can take a look at it and with hopes of getting it fixed (cuase one of the apple people told me over the phone "what is there that can't be fixed?? .... Make an appointment at the apple store and we will resovle the issue") .... apple fails again. They did all they could..  at the end the "Genius" got a hold of anohter "genius' just to tell me that they weren't gonna be able to fix the issue there at the very moment.. and eventually I would have to wait for a firmware updated from apple  or to get a new USB Duet 2 ... So here I am patiently waiting with a $2500+ computer just sitting collectin dust... still recording with my old macbook 2.4 core 2 duo... slow but works ...  all I can say is wait and hope for the best.  

I had the same issue with PrismSound Orpheus firewire interface. The stuttering audio often appeared 3-5 minutes of playing in either iTunes, Safari, and even Logic Pro X. The issue ALWAYS occurred when playing audio/video with Quicktime Player, but NEVER occurred when I use the space key to play audio/video with Preview.

After longtime search, I became certain that this issue was associated with the latest upgrade to OSX 10.9. The temporary remedy is to open your Application folder, right click on the applications that you often use, and check the "Prevent App Nap" option. I did so to Chrome, iTunes, Safari, and Logic.

The issue seems not to appear again, but if I play anything with Quicktime Player it will come again (unfortunately there is no "Prevent App Nap" for this app).

I do hope Apple will release a fix to this soon.

Jyst to add my experience. I have a Presonus Firstudio, New iMac with Fusion drive. Before upgrading to Mavericks, no problem. Worked a treat.

After Mavericks, the sound cuts out after a few seconds. I tried the Precent App Nap, trick, but without success. Sound output through the headphones socket - no problem.

I have the exact same issue with my Apogee Duet USB and a brand new CTO iMac 21" (Late 2013) i7, Fusion drive 1TB.

Audio pops, clicks and gets choppy after 5-10 minutes or so.

I've completely reinstalled my OS, flashed the duet firmware, reinstalled the drivers, issue persist.

I also have a MacBook Air Late 2010 running Mavericks, no issue at all with my Duet.

Is everybody that has the issue have a fusion drive ?

We need a fix ASAP for this issue !

SAME ISSUE:

I'm using MOTU 896MK3 (Firewire Only).  Got a Late 2013 iMac (27 inches), connected MOTU using Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter.  It worked perfectly fine until I upgraded to Mavericks!

Youtube / iTunes / Logic all stop playing audio after 1-2 minutes, following a digital noise.  The latest driver from MOTU doesn't help at all.

Will try the Prevent App Nap trick.

Yup, that's the same: worked fine with 10.8 and the Fusion drive. So it's pretty clear that the issue is with Mavericks and the Fusion drive.

Surely Apple are addressing this? Surely?

Same than Petegorilla , I got the edirol FA-101 and I got issues when using Ableton and letting Itunes on, there is like an audio routing conflict , and ableton won't play the sound on my soundcard. There is so much workaround with Maverick that it brings me back in time, when I was using windows vista. Vista being the trigger for me to switch to apple. I wish sometimes some programmers with musician roots or background , will start to make an OS dedicated to music Use.

I heard you shouldn't download any new drivers because Mavericks already has them.  (In layman speech)

Currently own a MOTU 828mk3 firewire only interface and running Mavericks 9.1. Similar issues to those posted here. Also, I was able to connect through a 800fw HD to 400fw connection to the MOTU. Seems to work for a few minutes before cutting out. Also, as a side note my LaCie 0 raid array lost connectivity. I had to back up all of my files on my old laptop and drop the raid configuration until Apple get this straightened out.

Same problem here, Mac mini and motu 828 mk2. No response from support

I've read in other forums that there are two issues that is causing this problem of chopping audio and freezing interfaces.  One has to do with USB 2.0 /USB 3.0 issues in OS.  The other seems to be an issue with the Fusion drive.

The fix for the fusion drive issue that has been shared online is to either:

Option #1.  Don't use the fusion drive and create an external boot drive clone (either SSD or standard HD) and use as your primary drive (completely surpassing the internal fusion drive).

Option #2.  Split the internal fusion drive.  From there you can use them as two separate logical drives.  Load your OS on one of the drives (SSD or HD).   http://www.macworld.com/article/2015664/how-to-split-up-a-fusion-drive.html

Before, you do any of the above, make sure that you backup your current system setup.

I just received my imac (2013) with 3TB fusion and I plan on trying option #1.  I bought a 3TB external USB drive which I plan to clone after I have the machine running.  Once I clone the internal drive, I will test how the machine runs from both the internal fusion and the external to prove if this addresses the audio clipping/stopping problem.  Hopefully, Apple will find a fix for this.

It is really a dissapointment that a brand new $2500+ machine and software was not tested to perform something that my 2008 MacBookPro and my home built Window XT machine (circa 2003) did without issue.  I wished that I would have checked the forums about these issues before I purchased the machine. 

You can do some searches online and find even more detail discussions on this topic.

Message was edited by: Juice5280