Audio problems with new iMac Fusion Drive

Hello,

I don't think the Fusion Drive is the problem... And if it is, isn't it possible to separate the two drives?

My iMac will be here next Monday and I am scared my audio interface (Scarlett 2i4) will have the same problems. Focusrite released today an update for Mavericks which solves the problem. So you might want to ask/wait for a firmware update...

I really hope this isn't a hardware problem as I have waited so long for this iMac and will be very disappointed if I have to replace it/send it back.

Have you contacted Apogee? I think that's the first thing to do. As I said earlier, Focusrite just released an update that fixes the problem.

I don't think it's the Fusion Drive. I've seen people with no Fusion Drive complain about it as well... Honestly I think we just have to wait for updates.

I understand, I am in the exact same situation.

I want to call and cancel my order and opt for a 256 SSD. The thing is I don't know yet if the update fixed the problem or if I would have had the problem in the first place.

Yeah, I think I'll just wait and see...

What about "splitting" the Fusion Drive?

Can't say what the issue is but I have the Late 2013 i7 with the 256SSD. I have been playing music through a "Dangerous Music Source - USB device" and haven't had any issues...

Hopefully they accept to change my order, I think SSD + external storage sounds more reliable.

I have the same problem. This is my second Haswell iMac (3TB FD) that doesn't work properly with my audio interface. I've also tried another interface over thunderbolt/firewire without any luck.

I'm sending both iMacs back tomorrow for a refund.

I canceled my order and opted for a 256 SSD. I will buy an external hard drive dedicated to music production.

Did you tried to use your audio interface with GarageBand?
I have a friend that had problems with his interface after updating ML to Mavericks.
He uses Audacity audio software and had problems with delay while recording.
So he tried to record with GarageBand and worked perfectly.

OP's Soundcloud audio sounds like his audio interface is playing back at a different sample rate to his computer.
I can mimic that sound on my RME Fireface 800 by setting it's sample rate differently to an incoming clock signal and not letting it lock.
It's a digital clock mis-match.

I also have to chime in with issues pertaining to Mavericks. I now get glitchy pops and clicks from iTunes, after installing Mavericks.
Hopefully this'll be fixed with an RME driver update.
I don't have a Fusion Drive btw... SSD + data drive here in my MBP.

Having the same exact issue ...

Im really upset. I'm having the same issue with my new imac I just got last week and I bought the firewire/thunderbolt adapter yesterday just to come home and find out that the sound goes off and randomly mutes and does the same exact thing you posted on soundcloud. I personally don't think it's the fusion drive, the sound from youtube also goes away as well. I just hope that apogee and apple are doing this just for us to upgrade to a new interface. I also went to the apogee website and found this

http://www.apogeedigital.com/knowle...-to-firewire-adapter-work-with-duet-firewire/

Same problem in both Mountain Lion and Mavericks on Focusrite 2i2

Yes. Really disappointed with the audio issues on my new Imac. Never had this much trouble with an Apple product. It started with Mountain Lion and Garageband 11. Started recording fine then it was cracks, pops just all of a sudden making the recordings unusable. After 2 long phone calls to Applecare I was told that other users had complained and there was some problem with audio and the 3TB Fusion Drive that the technical team were working to fix. But couldn't say when it would be fixed (!). They suggested I update to Mavericks and GB10 but I'm having the exact same problem. Also problems with the playback through my Focusrite 2i2 in spite of running class compliant mode. Really frustrating. Bought this mac for film and music production and Fusion drive was recommended to me for this purpose. Sending it back.

You might want to check these threads:

http://www.gearspace.com/board/music-computers/877537-potential-audio-problem-new-imacs-8.html

https://discussions.apple.com/message/23340148#23340148#23340148 (especially the last pages)

Apparently if you boot from an external drive it works OK, which could be a solution in the time being. I'm sure there will be an update on this issue soon.

I'm getting my iMac tomorrow (256 SSD) and getting really worried.

I just started a thread before seeing this thread.
I don't have a fusion, mine is a regular 3TB. Also I'm not using audio the same as others on this thread are but I thought I would reference my problem here anyway.

My new iMac has an odd symptom. The volume becomes softer then restores to regular volume after about a minute. So the cycle is about 2 minutes of regular volume then a softening for about a minute. And this cycle just keeps repeating itself the whole time I am playing something. Its not a wild swing but certainly noticeable enough with narration that I'm just about to reach for the volume control when it magically returns to regular volume. This only happens with the internal speakers. With externals connected or when air playing to the TV the volume remains consistent. I'm on 10.8.5.

Audio problems on a new Imac with fusion drive

@Maomaomao Thanks for getting back with the suggestions and thread links. Once I muster up the patience to turn on the Imac again I will have a go.

Add me to the list

I thought it was just my imac. I have a 3terabyte fusion drive. This absolutely sucks to pay such an exorbant amount of money and
"It just DOESN'T work". I feel like I am dealing with an overpriced Microsoft product.

I know the forums can be filled with whiners but this whine is legit when 200 dollar net books can get USB right.

This thread is a perfect example of why you should get an SSD instead of a Fusion Drive.

[[ This thread is a perfect example of why you should get an SSD instead of a Fusion Drive. ]]

ABSOLUTELY right.

The solution for music creation/production is really quite simple:
If you have a fusion drive that is giving you problems, UN-FUSE the drive manually.

I believe that in most cases, this will solve the problems outright.

I'm wondering if the video-production people are experiencing the same problems...

Maomaomao said:

You might want to check these threads:

http://www.gearspace.com/board/music-computers/877537-potential-audio-problem-new-imacs-8.html

https://discussions.apple.com/message/23340148#23340148#23340148 (especially the last pages)

Apparently if you boot from an external drive it works OK, which could be a solution in the time being. I'm sure there will be an update on this issue soon.

I'm getting my iMac tomorrow (256 SSD) and getting really worried.

Click to expand...

I read the entire first thread and the Apogee rep said in his first post that it is not in all likely hood a Fusion drive issue but an issue with Haswell and USB.

As some others stated earlier, it turns out that the Fusion/SSD/HDD theory was likely a red herring, or at least some separate issue. The issue we're dealing with causes a degradation of the signal into distortion, and occasionally dropouts or software glitches. This is a USB issue currently affecting many makes and models of USB audio interfaces on these newest (late 2013, "Haswell") computers only.

Click to expand...

I just got a 2012 Mac Mini with the Fusion drive so I hope he is correct.

An easy test might be to create an external boot disk rather than "breaking" the Fusion drive at first. Boot from the external drive, eject the Fusion drive, and run the audio program to see if the issues continue.

Total agreement with the post directly above.

But I'll reckon that -very few- of those experiencing the problems with fusion/audio production will try this.

Instead, they'll just gripe and complain to the effect, "I paid a lot of money for the fusion drive, it should work!", and keep fighting with the problem...

In my case the fusion drive IS the problem, now I use an external drive to run osx which is terribly slow and there is no problem with using external audio interface at all.