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

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.

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

So i solved the problem so far. The problem is indeed the fusion drive that creates problems with every audio interface, in my case Presonus studiolive and RME Babyface. I installed Maverick on an external USB hard drive, and boot the system from the external drive: no problems. So this is the easiest temporary solution so far.

By the way I will contact apple - my iMac is only 4 weeks old! - and report the problem...

I have Towo MOTU 828 MK3 and I have been trying all I can Until I tried this Method I installed a 10.6.8 on an External Drive and Booted up to it using the USB 3.0 and holding down the ALT key to Boot to the External Drive containing the 10.6.8 OSX once booted I can open the the Audio Desk 3.21 Program the Hardware recognizes the Hardware and The Software works Fine Using Thunder Bolt and by using the internal Harddrive of The MacBookPro to hold all audio tracks to edit and errange I get the full speed of all the Hardware the MacBookPro Provides to record edit and master with the CPU power and the Memory of the MacBookPro, and once your done with Editing just reboot with the external Drive disconnected and boot into OS 9.1 and your set So all your using is the External for the 10.6.8 because Mavericks is not Compatible Mac needs to update but since I cant wait because I need to keep recording this has been working fine for me

FYI. I purchased the MOTU 828X 2 weeks ago from Sweetwater. They told me I was the first customer for the 828x. It DOES NOT work with my new iMac. The sound comes in and out. Tried both the Thunderbolt and USB connections. I'm currently dealing with Sweetwater and MOTU on a fix.

Had similar problem with Mackie Onyx Blackbird and the new Imac that was never solved. I thought the 828X thunderbolt would fix the issue. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5487730.

Is this perhaps an Apple problem or a manufacturer driver issue?

27" Late 2013 Imac

OS X 10.9.1 (13B42)

3.5 GHz Intel Core i7

8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB

I have a mid 2012 macbook pro running 10.9.1 through a Motu 828 mk3 Hybrid ,as I had a problem with audio files breaking up on play back recently , I installed the latest Motu driver after which everything went haywire! Normally I have everthing set to go out via the main outs in Cubase but this had actually been reset to analog 1-2, if I reset them to main outs again they were directed to analog 7-8 and there was no output to the main outputs despite being the default output in the Audio setup,however playing audio files from the desktop worked as usual.

Logic didn't work either,the settings didn't change but output was again going to analog 7-8.

I tried reinstalling the driver after deleting all motu audio extensions 3 times and always got the same result.

I have now gone back to an older driver(08/2012) which so far seems to work fine and all my settings are working as expected.

Conclusion therefore seems to be is that the latest Motu driver is flawed.

How is everybody doing now? I own an 'old' Imac (no Fusion Drive) with a Focusrite saffire pro 40 that was working WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS AT ALL on snow Leopard. Some software required me to upgrade the OS, so i did. To Mavericks. Boy what a treat. Yes, the crackling, stuttering and whatnot.
Changing to a bigger audio buffer helps a little to reduce the artifacts, so I think it is a problem in the firewire implementation in Mavericks. I actually use(d) this computer for audio, this is why I never updated before (don't change a winning team). Yes, I have also tried a clean install of Mavericks, same problem.
I am going to downgrade to Mountain Lion.

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.

Welcome to the "party" dhengreg...

MANY interfaces reported not working.

Many theories and temp fixes but nothing conclusive:

Fusion drive

Mavericks

Haswell/Crystalwell

USB3

App Nap

Best advice, try the 10.9.2 beta you'll find on this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5484036?start=0&tstart=0

And definitely go and leave feedback as Eric indicated above.

I almost did the same and may still. For now, I reset the mk2, did the App Nap check box recommendation and so far everything seems to be fixed. I checked no app nap on both the CueMixDSP and the MOTU Audio Setup. I am running a mid 2010 iMac and it kept turing off the SPDIF volume inputs within the CueMix. I noticed this while monitoring the SPDIF practicing with a Kemper Profiling amp. Seems fixed, but we'll see in a few days. I also reported it to apple. I like the look of th focusrite compared to the mk2 so we'll see.

Hi! i have found a solution for this issue. GET A MOTU 828x Thunderbolt. Good Pres, Optical input and outputs. And the best thing is that is WORKING with new iMacs

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.

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

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 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. 😟