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

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

Hi, I have the same problem with IMAC FD. It 'sure Mavericks 10.9.2 will solve the problem?

Thanks

Just to pile on to the thread; no solution here.

Purchased iMac 2.4ghz i5/ 16GB RAM/ 3 TB Fusion Drive in December 2013

Audio turns to full on distortion after 5-10 minutes of use with RME UCX USB interface.  Audio is stable using iMac internal speakers.

Audio seemed to work ok when I boot from an external drive.

Running 10.9.1.

Returned the machine to apple today as nobody could give me a legit answer on a solution (not apple support, not retail store, nada).

So you can't downgrade to an os that is earlyer then the version that came on your machine (so Mountain lion didn't work). I installed 10.9.1 on an external drive, that fixed it. I also talked to focusrite (the makers of my interface) they said that apple is working on a fix for fusion drives that will be included in 10.9.2. Though this isn't deffinet, as we can see apple has screwed up before.

Is to late I bot and i have same yours problems hope they will change me

Thanks for this info.   I thought the problem was to do with my Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 USB audio interface and have sent them an angry email.  I didn't realise that it was to do with my new 2013 FD iMac.

I cannot work at the moment and cannot wait for the software fix.   If I buy a thunderbolt audio interface like the Apollo16 will this defintely work?

What really confuses me though is why the soundcard in my Access Virus synth works without pops/distortion? This is what I am using at the moment and it is fine (although it has no inputs so it it is a limited work-around).  It is 6 years old so it defintely isn't USB 3.

Thanks

Paul

My old UA-25 EX works pretty well with just an occasional glitch and I'm sure it is USB 2.  I have the Fusion Drive so I would think any interface would be a problem even this one.  A Motu and a Focusrite both had terrible noise.

Waiting for an OS update to fix the mess.

Pablo Logic wrote:

 

Thanks for this info.   I thought the problem was to do with my Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 USB audio interface and have sent them an angry email.  I didn't realise that it was to do with my new 2013 FD iMac.

 

I cannot work at the moment and cannot wait for the software fix.   If I buy a thunderbolt audio interface like the Apollo16 will this defintely work?

 

What really confuses me though is why the soundcard in my Access Virus synth works without pops/distortion? This is what I am using at the moment and it is fine (although it has no inputs so it it is a limited work-around).  It is 6 years old so it defintely isn't USB 3.

 

Thanks

 

Paul

Yes, ges8ges, I should have mentioned that I get the odd pop with the Virus as a soundcard but nothing like the constant distortion I get with KA6.  I have Traktor S4 kontroller and I will try using that as a soundcard later today and report on that.  I cannot be certain but I guess that its soundcard and the one in KA6 are the same given they are both made by NI so it would be interesting to see (hear!) if the same problems pertain.

This situation reminds me of when I bought a mid-2012 MBP and the Traktor S4 kontroller at the same time only to find out the the S4 coouldn't handle the USB2 port in the MBP and the soundcard distorted.  It took NI months to sort a fix but not as long this though.

Can someone reassure me that after spending nearly £3000 on a souped-up iMac that this problem is fixable through an update, and that I will not be stuck with a duff computer?  I have 1 day left before I can return it the store.

late 2013 iMAc 1TB FD 32GB RAM 3.5GHz i7 processor and KA6 soundcard

I'm encountering issues with my Apogee One.

 

Tried to record my voice on Garageband the result was an audio region with the lowest audio quality ever recorded - buzzy, glitchy and with the highest latency ever matched.

 

I encountered issues using Skype too - I use the Apogee internal mic to chat.

It works at first but then, on the other side, they can't hear me anymore so I'm forced to switch to the internal iMac mic.

 

On the whole it seems the input has issues as the output works fine - I plug my earphone to the Apogee and hear well everything.

 

Sometimes happens that the entire audio (input and output) freezes after using Apogee internal mic - at that point I restart the mac.

Today I got an eMail from an Apogee Tech Support Specialist:

“Hello,

Unfortunately, Fusion Drives have been giving audio devices from all manufacturers issues.

Good news is that the Apple 10.9.2 update is supposed to resolve these issues.

We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Let's see what happen...

Strange enough to say, I'v had a late 2012  10.8  Imac with Fusion that has been running perfectly without any glitch for about a year & kept working properly even after the first Mavericks upgrade  (I'm mainly using Logic9 with Focusrtie 8i6  USB2, much clasical strings recording).

But later (last week) the whole system crashed when I connected it to the new iMac,  late 2013 edition  FD 16GB and 10.9.1. I guess we should all pray for a quick venue of the Messiah, 10.9.2 

Hi,

Started reading about audio issues only after ordering a new iMac (doh!), so last night I tested things out to determine if it needs to be sent back or not. After reading all your troubles I am glad I opted for the SDD option.

• NVIDIAGeForceGTX780M 4GB GDDR5
• 3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-2X4GB
• 256GB Flash Storage
• OSX 10.9.1
• Motu 828 mkII USB2 audio interface
• Cubase 5.5.3 Full version
• Cubase 7 Elements trial

I've tried playback of existing audio projects, and creating new projects recording new audio an I cannot find any issues as yet, all seems to be behaving. Even better than I thought as Cubase 5.5.3 is quite old but seems to work, which hopefully saves updating for a while yet.

The ONLY issue I found after a few hours was when plugging in one of my SATA external drives which lives inside a USB2 icybox enclosure. What I noticed right away was the sound coming though my Motu out my speakers, hard drive spin noise. Identical to what I used to get when plugging external hdd's into my PC laptop whilst the laptop was powered by PSU to the mains. As soon as I used to remove the PSU from the laptop the noise dissapeared. Obviously there's no way of trying that out with an iMac.

So no I'm not using the FD, but I am using USB2 for audio with USB2 hdd's.

Are there any other specific tests I should be trying?

OS X 10.9.2 is out!

from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1725: "

• Fixes an issue that may cause audio distortion on certain Macs"

Dear community members, please provide feedback if you have installed this updated, what was your issue,

and did it was solved by the update.

As for me, I ended up spliting my FD, so I will have to refusion it.

Thanks to everyone for the great info sharing.

Yo-C

Together we stand divided we fall

Installed 10.9.2 last night.

My original issue was audio dropping out.  Gear that I am using: MOTU 828 (original, FW and USB), iMac (late 2013), Fusion Drive.

Didn't get a chance to do extensive testing, but the little that I managed....looks like the update fixed the issue!!  WOO HOO!  So happy, SO relieved.  Will report back if I encounter any issues.

Good luck to everyone else!!

Mark

I installed 10.9.2 yesterday and now all my troubles seem so far away...