Information on 2013 iMac FD issue / USB2-3 Issue and Driver Incompatibility issue

If I were making my living doing this, I'd spend the $120 for a 3TB drive or $60 for a 1TB drive and create a boot drive with everything I needed on it before I'd consider splitting the Fusion drive.

Ok,

I got the same problems as described in this discussion.

Today I Called the Apple Care centre in Holand. They don't know anything of this problem. They told me to complain at the Audio Interface Manufactures. I tested USB and fire wire (TB) also with my TC Electronic Konnekt 8(FW/TB) and an Focusricte Scarlett 2i4(usb). All the problems as mentioned in this forum came around.

But the guy from the store did not understand this problem. They were not very helpfull and even a little bit stupid. I told them about this threat, but they still... etc. etc.

I hope the next version of Mavericks will solve all this problems. it's ridiculous that they don't know and don't want to know about this problem. SHAME ON APPLE!!! (happy bithday by the way)

Thanks for all the kind of stuff on this pages. I will let you know when, and how, my problem will be solved.

Tjeerd.

iMac late 2013 i7 27inch 3.5 GHz 8gb RAM 1 TB Fusiondrive 4gb Video

Make sure you report it to Apple via their reporting structure. If enough of us do that, then the customer service representatives WILL know when we call...

https://www.apple.com/feedback/imac.html

Bob

Hi all,

It has been most interesting reading about everyone's issues and headaches....misery loves company right??? I find it oddly comforting to know that I'm not the only one experiencing this pain! Anyway, after reading numerous threads, I think this is the best one to make my little contribution:

Computer: 27" iMac (late 2013), 3.5GHz i7, 1TB Fusion Drive, 16GB RAM. Got this computer about a month ago (just before Christmas).

Audio Interfaces: MOTU 828 (original) (firewire only, I use TB-FW adapter) & MOTU Audio Express (firewire and USB 2.0)

MIDI Interface: MOTU MIDI Express128

I am using all latest MOTU drivers.

Here's the interesting thing: I do NOT get any clipping, audio distortion, or digital noise that others have complained about. My one and only issue is audio dropping out (any application: iTunes, Logic Pro X, Safari internet videos, etc.). I would be playing a song in iTunes and after a period of time (and this time period changes from occurrence to occurrence, sometimes it's 2 mins, other times it's longer), the audio just stops while the application playing that audio continues on playing....just without sound.

Temporary fix: by checking (or unchecking) the "Enable Core Audio Volume Controls" check-box in MOTU Audio Setup restores audio. Changing the value ofother parameters would also fix it temporarily - such as changing the sample rate - but the easiest way is to simply toggle the “Enable Core Audio Volume Controls” checkbox. This is only a temporary fix as audio would eventually drop again.

Things I've tried/tested:

- Use MOTU 828 via Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter: issue as described above occurs.

- Use Audio Express via TB-to-FW adapter: issue not as severe as described above, but audio clicks intermittently.

- Use Audio Express via USB: issue not as severe as described above, but audio clicks intermittently.

- Use Audio Express via USB connected to a USB hub: intermittent audio clicks. I’ve tried using both a powered USB 2 hub as well as a powered USB 3 hub, same result.

- I’ve also booted up from an external HDD: problem persists.

I've been in touch with MOTU - and they've been most helpful - and this is what they have told me: "

There is a Core Audio bug with the Fusion Drive on the new iMacs. Unfortunately, this is not just a MOTU issue, but ALL audio interfaces across the board are having the same problem. Everyone is currently awaiting a fix from Apple."

SO....I believe my remaining options are:

- wait for 10.9.2 and hope for the best

- return my iMac and get one with an SSD or HHD (no guaratee that would solve my issue)

- get TB hub (no guaratee that would solve my issue)

- split my FD (no guaratee that would solve my issue)

- get new MOTU Thunderbolt interface, which in theory, should bypass USB issues.

Given that I've tried booting from an external HDD and that the problem still persists, can I assume that it's NOT my fusion drive that's causing my audio to dropout? I know Nigel has mentioned that ALL computers with fusion drives will encounter audio issues - and a quick shout-out and kudos to Nigel for his tireless efforts in helping us - can I safely say that for my particular problem, that it's caused by the USB2/USB3 issue?

(Let me tell you why I think this: as I was testing the Audio Express plugged directly into a USB port on my iMac, the audio dropped the moment I pulled out my (qwerty) keyboard which was plugged into the USB port directly next to the one that my Audio Express was plugged into!)

Thanks everyone for reading and let's all hang in there while this gets sorted out.

Mark

Oh...and I've already reported to Apple....via their Feedback website.

Hi again,

I splitted the Fusion drive into a SSD and a HDD.

All problems are gone now.

Definetly a Fusion Drive issue.

Really disappointing IMO. Would've chosen the 256 GB SSD version if I knew that stuff before.

Thanks for pointing out the three issues so clearly.

I have a late 2013 iMac without FD and a Korg Kronos X workstation which also acts as an audio interface. Audio transmission is a disaster. As Korg drivers a supposed to work with Mavericks, I think it's save to say I am suffering from issue #2.

Now it crossed my mind I could buy an additional Firewire interface. I would then connect the audio and midi outputs of the Kronos to the interface which I would then connect to the iMac thunderbolt input via an adapter. Would this make sense? And if so, is there any interface which could be recommended for it's running stable with late 2013 iMacs and Mavericks?

Thanks in advance fo any help!

I have a 2013 imac with a fusion drive and 10.9.1 have the same problem with my focusrite 18i20 which a usb 2 interface.I ami thinking of swapping it out for the focusrite saffir pro 40 which is the same thing only it is firewire, If did this would it be more likely to solve this problem? I have heard complants about the firewire to thunderbolt adapters aswell.

Also i see that 10.9.2 beta has been passed along to developers. hope this means it will be released soon.

thanks

~Jonathan

As long as you have the fusion drive, I don't think this will help. I had a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP with the firewire to thunderbolt connection and it was useless with terrible noise and cut-outs.

I've got an external boot drive now but am waiting for an OS update to fix the FD problem.

cabin neighbors wrote:

I have a 2013 imac with a fusion drive and 10.9.1 have the same problem with my focusrite 18i20 which a usb 2 interface.I ami thinking of swapping it out for the focusrite saffir pro 40 which is the same thing only it is firewire, If did this would it be more likely to solve this problem? I have heard complants about the firewire to thunderbolt adapters aswell.

Also i see that 10.9.2 beta has been passed along to developers. hope this means it will be released soon.

thanks

~Jonathan

I also have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 with firewire to thunderbolt, new imac with 3gb FD and have the same drop out problems every few minutes... If I go into mix control and switch the sync source to SPDIF and then back to Internal that fixes the problem for a few minutes but then it drops again... So to answer Jonathan, I don't think the usb is the problem and switching to firewire/thunderbolt is not a solution...

What if i downgraded to 10.8.5?

If i use and extranall drive to boot my computer can i still work from the fusion drive at the same speed as if i were booting from the fusion drive? will booting be the only thing that is slower?

Hi, I have the same problems as you.

Buy an imac late 2013 with fusiondrive. imac came with Mountain Lion and upgrading to Mavericks and these problems appeared.

I use a Burson DAC and the noise was unbearable, so I went back to Mountain Lion and then install was perfect.

The only problem is that with Mountain Lion, if I upload frequency 44.1khz to 48, 88 or 96khz clicks and pops are heard using itunes, vlc, quick time etc ... but if I use Audirvana the sound is perfect.

The problem is some kind of incompatibility with the new imac OSX.

Apple should give a solution!

No, it seems you lose the Fusion Drive advantage when booting from an external drive.

cabin neighbors wrote:

If i use and extranall drive to boot my computer can i still work from the fusion drive at the same speed as if i were booting from the fusion drive? will booting be the only thing that is slower?

So last night I spent a few hours spliting the fusion drive into ssd and hdd, installed mavericks 10.9.1 still had the same exact problem. I used the ssd as the boot drive. So now I'm going to try downgrading to 10.8.4, which is the minimum requirement for logic x. It makes sence that it would be less buggy. I'll let you all know what I find.

-Jonathan