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Audio Interface Nightmare!

DanJGW

DanJGW

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 16, 2018
3
0
iPhone: 52.924042,-1.496628
Hi, since 'upgrading' to High Sierra I've not been able to use my Focusrite 6i6 sucessfully. I have called on Focusrite support but they are (correctly I think) blaming the OS rather than their interface as the interface has been fully tested and working under H.S.
What is happening is that I am getting pops and clicks and then after about 5 minutes the audio degrades quickly into a bit crushed distorted nightmare.

Observations.

The fault is rectified instantly by either changing the sample rate to something else and then back, changing to built in speakers and back or anything similar with causes the audio to reconnect in some way.
In the bundled software that comes with the interface everything is locked down, stable and correctly set up (remember this worked perfectly until the update), settings in Audio/MIDI settings are fine etc.
I'm at my wits end as I don't know what to do, any ideas? I'm trying to record music and it's basically impossible at the moment for me.

Mac (21.5-inch, Late 2009)
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac10,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 3.06 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 12 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM101.00CF.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.52f9
 
hmmm. not sure what to suggest; maybe try uninstalling/reinstalling the focusrite software? and reboot... (am better at these things when i'm in front of the mac). good luck...
 
OP wrote:
"I'm at my wits end as I don't know what to do, any ideas? I'm trying to record music and it's basically impossible at the moment for me."

The answer, really, is quite simple:
DOWNGRADE to the last version of the OS that was still working for you.

What is it about High Sierra that you absolutely have-to-have?
If it's "a working computer" with your hardware -- well, you don't have that now, eh...?

Again...
... just go back to the previous version of the OS that was WORKING for you.

At some point, Focusrite may upgrade their drivers/firmware/something to get the 6i6 working with HS.
Until they do, if you want to keep using it, use it with a version of the Mac OS with which it works.

This seems to be a very common problem in the realm of audio recording, regardless of who built the hardware or wrote the software...
 
Fishrrman said:
OP wrote:
"I'm at my wits end as I don't know what to do, any ideas? I'm trying to record music and it's basically impossible at the moment for me."

The answer, really, is quite simple:
DOWNGRADE to the last version of the OS that was still working for you.

What is it about High Sierra that you absolutely have-to-have?
If it's "a working computer" with your hardware -- well, you don't have that now, eh...?

Again...
... just go back to the previous version of the OS that was WORKING for you.

At some point, Focusrite may upgrade their drivers/firmware/something to get the 6i6 working with HS.
Until they do, if you want to keep using it, use it with a version of the Mac OS with which it works.

This seems to be a very common problem in the realm of audio recording, regardless of who built the hardware or wrote the software...
Click to expand...

what happened to the idea of fixing things, instead of moving backwards? my production partner & i are both on HS and not having this issue (apogee interfaces). perhaps it's... fixable? and the OP can move forward? eventually, we'll all be running HS, or what comes after that (or after that, ad infinitum). anyway, just my thoughts, of course.
 
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fisherking said:
what happened to the idea of fixing things, instead of moving backwards? my production partner & i are both on HS and not having this issue (apogee interfaces). perhaps it's... fixable? and the OP can move forward? eventually, we'll all be running HS, or what comes after that (or after that, ad infinitum). anyway, just my thoughts, of course.
Click to expand...


You’re right, but on the other hand you have companies like SSL that, for no apparent reason, haven’t upgraded their MADI extreme driver since 2011! Last time an OS 100% worked with their card was Mavericks. Since then it’s been a royal pain. There’s no way I’m running Mavericks in 2018, and yet I LOVE my Alphalink interface. My solution for going “forward” was to use my old MOTU 896, which works like a charm in Sierra (or High Sierra for that matter). My SSL is just sitting there now, totally useless thanks to a company that simply doesn’t care.

Sometimes it’s not fixable unfortunately.

Anyways...sorry for this little OT rant, I do feel a bit better now ;)
 
Morpheo said:
You’re right, but on the other hand you have companies like SSL that, for no apparent reason, haven’t upgraded their MADI extreme driver since 2011! Last time an OS 100% worked with their card was Mavericks. Since then it’s been a royal pain. There’s no way I’m running Mavericks in 2018, and yet I LOVE my Alphalink interface. My solution for going “forward” was to use my old MOTU 896, which works like a charm in Sierra (or High Sierra for that matter). My SSL is just sitting there now, totally useless thanks to a company that simply doesn’t care.

Sometimes it’s not fixable unfortunately.

Anyways...sorry for this little OT rant, I do feel a bit better now ;)
Click to expand...

i hear you; it's like my friend who has an expensive firewire audio interface... in the drawer. but that's still a seperate issue from software that should be working, and simply (or not so simply) requires troubleshooting.

if i was in front of the OP's mac, i'd probably figure it out. still, yes... some things will not work with newer OS's... and that's how it's always (sigh) been.
 
Latency issues? This is why audio guys love the old school lightweight operating systems because their music apps had better direct access to hardware.
 
ProTools has quite a record for not supporting "the latest software releases". Just one example.

Sometimes the only solution (as I mentioned above in reply 7) is to "go back" to a version of the OS that WORKS WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.

DAW hardware and software seems to be particularly susceptible to "breaking" with new OS releases (on the Mac).
That's why it's imperative to throughly TEST a new version of the OS BEFORE you "commit to it", lest serious problems arise.

The best way to do this is to build a new copy of a new OS on an external drive, which you can then boot up and do test runs on. Only when you KNOW it will work, will it be time to upgrade your "main boot drive" ...
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Yeah but you're not Giorgo Moroder ;)

Of course there are great apps that completely bypass how macOS's latency issues but not all of them.
Click to expand...

no, am not giorgio moroder. yet i still make my living making music (as do my collabs). and am not having latency issues (logic X 10.4 and mac os 10.13.4 beta). there are so many variables here (the daw, the interface, the os, etc) that it's a mistake for any of us to make 'absolute' statements.
 
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SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Latency issues? This is why audio guys love the old school lightweight operating systems because their music apps had better direct access to hardware.
Click to expand...

That’s quite an assumption. Then again I’m not Giorgio Moroder so what do I know...

Having said that I don’t have latency issues on Sierra, just like I didn’t have latency issues on snow leopard. OP’s problem seems very likely related to a driver problem, but since we, audio guys, have all different setups, different pieces of equipment and obviously different “drivers”, it’s hard to isolate the problem.

@OP: of course focusrite is blaming the OS, call Apple and they will blame focusrite... ;)
 
System alert sounds are sampled at 44.1kHz, if you are recording at 48kHz weird things occasionally happen try System Preferences, Sound, Sound Effects tab, untick Play user interface sound effects.
 
Morpheo said:
That’s quite an assumption. Then again I’m not Giorgio Moroder so what do I know...

Having said that I don’t have latency issues on Sierra, just like I didn’t have latency issues on snow leopard. OP’s problem seems very likely related to a driver problem, but since we, audio guys, have all different setups, different pieces of equipment and obviously different “drivers”, it’s hard to isolate the problem.
. ;)
Click to expand...


Exactly. OP has a different set up so it makes zero sense to post 'I don't have a problem with my set up.'

When someone posts their problem and set up it is only helpful is people understand his configuration and post about it.

BTW, I was actually quoting an Arstechnica article about older operating systems.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...mac-users-still-rely-on-16-year-old-software/

'You could describe OS 9 as a thinner operating system than modern-day Windows and OS X. "I've heard it said that OS 9 is just a loose jumble of libraries stacked under a file browser," says Kaiser. "That's really not too far off. The kernel, if you can call it that, is nearly non-existent—there's a nanokernel, but it's better considered as a primitive hypervisor. There is at best token support for memory protection and some multiprocessing, but none of it is easy and most of it comes with severe compromises."

It's definitely flawed, but these problems happen to also make it super fast and responsive. Even my 700 MHz iBook G3 flies when I boot it into OS 9 (as does my 300 MHz PowerBook G3 on OS 8.6). OS 9 feels noticeably snappier on a G4 machine than El Capitan does on a new Core i7 Mac with SSD storage. Audio people love this. They claim that the latency on their virtual instruments and recording and monitoring gear in OS 9 is miles better than anything else.'
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Exactly. OP has a different set up so it makes zero sense to post 'I don't have a problem with my set up.'

When someone posts their problem and set up it is only helpful is people understand his configuration and post about it.

BTW, I was actually quoting an Arstechnica article about older operating systems.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...mac-users-still-rely-on-16-year-old-software/

'You could describe OS 9 as a thinner operating system than modern-day Windows and OS X. "I've heard it said that OS 9 is just a loose jumble of libraries stacked under a file browser," says Kaiser. "That's really not too far off. The kernel, if you can call it that, is nearly non-existent—there's a nanokernel, but it's better considered as a primitive hypervisor. There is at best token support for memory protection and some multiprocessing, but none of it is easy and most of it comes with severe compromises."

It's definitely flawed, but these problems happen to also make it super fast and responsive. Even my 700 MHz iBook G3 flies when I boot it into OS 9 (as does my 300 MHz PowerBook G3 on OS 8.6). OS 9 feels noticeably snappier on a G4 machine than El Capitan does on a new Core i7 Mac with SSD storage. Audio people love this. They claim that the latency on their virtual instruments and recording and monitoring gear in OS 9 is miles better than anything else.'
Click to expand...

haha. OS9. find any audio pro running OS9. besides, latency is really low on my macbook pro; not sure how much lower it needs to go. but would not trade the features and functionality of a 'modern' OS and logic X 10.4 for an OS from 18 years ago (just as i wouldn't go back to a picture tube TV).
 
fisherking said:
haha. OS9. find any audio pro running OS9. besides, latency is really low on my macbook pro; not sure how much lower it needs to go. but would not trade the features and functionality of a 'modern' OS and logic X 10.4 for an OS from 18 years ago (just as i wouldn't go back to a picture tube TV).
Click to expand...

But, you know, cooperative multitasking, unprotected memory, type 11 errors, extension conflicts...... those were the days!... ;)
 
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Morpheo said:
But, you know, cooperative multitasking, unprotected memory, type 11 errors, extension conflicts...... those were the days!... ;)
Click to expand...

extension conflicts... and conflict catcher! i SO don't miss that. and i love all the new things i can do in logic 10.4, and with my mac.
 
fisherking said:
extension conflicts... and conflict catcher! i SO don't miss that. and i love all the new things i can do in logic 10.4, and with my mac.
Click to expand...

Hm... just saw this today (Sept. 19, 2018). I'm having something not unrelated? I'm looking for any confirmation, not so much a fix, at least not yet. I have a new iMacPro (June) on 10.13.6 and I keep getting double Audio Driver icons in the Sound Prefs. I know the "phantom driver" has appeared when either I got no audio, or I get cracking, no pitch, like digital clipping, instead of audio. I've had this happen a LOT while using Sibelius (Ultimate 2018.7) as I've been doing much of my work in the app, but I have also run into this a few times while using DP 9.51.

When I 1st got the machine I went through HELL with the double icons consistently - even when playing YouTube videos, and ended up swapping out the 1st machine, and a tech from MOTU mentioned back in June that the extra icon was "a known OS issue" but the double icon didn't really matter. That didn't explain the cracking or absence of sound! I thought recent OS updates and new MOTU drivers would handle the issue, and it seemed to at first, but no longer. I'm getting it again.

I find the only and best way to get rid of it is to do a total cold restart with unplugging my UltraLite MK4 before rebooting. I'm not fully taking the time to troubleshoot this right now as I'm under deadline, this is more "anecdotal," maybe I don't have to do a full cold restart with unplugging the interface, but I know that has worked every time.

I'm more curious if anyone is getting this behavior. Thanks!
 
joelfriedman said:
I find the only and best way to get rid of it is to do a total cold restart with unplugging my UltraLite MK4 before rebooting. I'm not fully taking the time to troubleshoot this right now as I'm under deadline, this is more "anecdotal," maybe I don't have to do a full cold restart with unplugging the interface, but I know that has worked every time.

I'm more curious if anyone is getting this behavior. Thanks!
Click to expand...

i have a MOTU Midi Interface, not quite the same there, but, i would get double icons in audio midi setup. turned out to be the cable. it was intermittently dropping the connection and kept enumerating the device differently, even though it was the same device.
 
Interesting... it's all new, but that could be it. Or not! :) It also might explain the "digital clipping" audio. Hm... Thanks. Still curious if anyone else is experiencing this.
 
I have recently had some problems with a Scarlett 2i2, when I upgraded an old machine, the device had been working fine and still worked using my MacBook Pro, but was as flakey as heck on a Mac Mini and this was attached to the Mac via a USB hub that had been working very reliably for the past two years. I had been testing some other equipment on this machine and this seemed to be where everything went strange.

In the end I shut it all down, turned off all hubs/drives/devices and reset the Non-Volatile RAM. Basically shut it down, reboot and held down Option-Command-P-R and let it cycle 5 times then released the keys. The system rebooted, I switched on the hub my Scarlett 2i2 is attached to and now it was working as it used to.

It may not help but it is worth a try. This has always worked for me when I suspect driver problems, it must reset all the settings for the class-compliant devices and allow them to attach correctly.
 
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