Ableton 9 + RME Babyface + OSX 10.10 = CRACKLES!

[igneous]

Hi all–just pointing out a debilitating glitch, and seeing if anyone is having similar problems. I get bad crackles every ~60 seconds when taking audio in through my RME Babyface to Ableton. It ruins my ability to do recording projects. I've dealt with it for years but can't anymore.

-This happens even when my CPU usage is below 5%. I usually don't get crackles even when my CPU usage is above 40%. To problem only occurs with Babyface audio input.
-It's not just my RME Babyface. When I input into Logic, it works flawlessly. It's Babyface + Ableton.
-After looking all through the various "Ableton/RME crackle" posts on various forums, I think it might have to do with using them together in OSX 10.10. When I last tried to update my Macbook it had some serious kernal issue, so I don't want to upgrade to a new OSX.

Any advice? People experiences similar problems?
thank you!!!

[Stromkraft]

Any advice? People experiences similar problems?

No! As in never. If the Live audio engine uses 80% it might happen. 5%? Nope.

I should note that I never used 10.10. I went from 10.9 straight to 10.11. There are nor valid reasons to stay with 10.10 that I know of.

macOS 10.12! Don't want to upgrade you say? Just eat it. You know RME made specific drivers for macOS 10.12? Just do it or live with this.

[locojohn]

Yes, it can happen. What is your audio buffer size?

[igneous]

Appreciate the responses!

@locojohn I've tried changing the buffer size. I like it at 64, and my computer should be plenty strong. Macbook Pro 2.5GHz i5 with 8GB RAM and SSD. Crackles with CPU usage at 5% is ridiculous, I think the problem lies elsewhere.

@Stromkraft thanks for the prodding to update my OS. Again, the last time I updated my OS it bricked my computer and I had to reinstall from TimeMachine, but I'll try again soon and update here.

If anyone has any other tricks, tips, or ideas I'd appreciate it.

[login]

And does it behaves well at 128 buffer size?

[Stromkraft]

@Stromkraft thanks for the prodding to update my OS. Again, the last time I updated my OS it bricked my computer and I had to reinstall from TimeMachine, but I'll try again soon and update here.

I should advice you to make a clean installation, not just a simple upgrade. More work but worth it. As usual you need to de-authorize any plug-ins tied to your computer, check if any other apps you use needs updating and so on.

[ikeaboy]

I had a similar problem with a similar set up, and I put up with it for nearly 2 years of dancing around it. Multiface 1, Retina Macbook Pro and glitches that pulled me out of a nice headspace every 9 bars or so.
I tried everything including getting a very helpful technician at Ableton to remotely use my computer and we came up with nothing and they couldn't replicate it at their end. One difference is my problem persisted when using the internal soundcard. It also persisted with Vsts and AU disabled and persisted with a clean user profile.
So I did a clean install and everything was fine until I installed Pace license protection. (strange it persisted with the user profile change in that case) The frustrating thing is I couldn't find forum threads on a similar problem anywhere unless I went back years, so it seems to just be my setup.

[Stromkraft]

So I did a clean install and everything was fine until I installed Pace license protection.

Damn…

[igneous]

Hey @Stromkraft or anyone else, do you have any advice/links on doing a clean install?
I have a mac, and am wondering if you used TimeMachine to drag in all the old files (music, photos, videos, etc) from the old system into the new OSX? And then I suppose redownloading all the apps? Some apps I got (legally) through a one-download-only deal in university, not sure if I'd be able to redownload. Any advice would be appreciated–it seems like my best bet to solve my audio glitches.

[Stromkraft]

Hey @Stromkraft or anyone else, do you have any advice/links on doing a clean install?
I have a mac, and am wondering if you used TimeMachine to drag in all the old files (music, photos, videos, etc) from the old system into the new OSX? And then I suppose redownloading all the apps? Some apps I got (legally) through a one-download-only deal in university, not sure if I'd be able to redownload. Any advice would be appreciated–it seems like my best bet to solve my audio glitches.

My advice is to do a clean install of macOS 10.12, not 10.13 yet unless you're absolutely certain everything you use is supported fully in 10.13.

Basically:

Find a machine with the macOS 10.12 installer*, like a friend's or on your own machine if you have downloaded it before on your Apple account, and make a 8GB (at least) USB stick to boot from. Try diskmakerX 6 first. If this works fine.

I've had some issues with Diskmaker X lately, but could have been my stick. If you find you can't use this read the article How to make your own bootable macOS 10.12 Sierra USB install drive at Ars Technica for info on an alternative app and also how to do it manually.

Prep work before installing:

• Back up everything (Data, preferences, apps) and verify the external archive
• Seek out installers for apps you know you will want to use and make sure you get updates that work with macOS 10.12 "Sierra". Likely some apps will need replacing. Many will work anyway but may need special treatment. Users are the best source for info how to overcome limitations like that.
  
  Many apps will continue to work if you copy over the app itself from the backup's Applications folder. Sometimes you may need the preference files as well.
  
  Don't forget hardware drivers for stuff like printers or controllers and MIDI and audio interfaces. Likely you need to find newer versions compatible with macOS 10.12, sometimes you can get around using old drivers with SIP turned off (for installation at least).
• You'll likely need container data from apps like Calendar/iCal, Mail and so on and this may involve exporting and re-importing info in some cases. This can actually be something of a headache to get right**.
• You need to untie licenses connected to hardware in most cases, like iLok, Waves or what not.
• Find all serials for apps you have licenses for and keep these at hand. I'm lazy so they are usually in my Mail database and if so this should be done before starting the installation.
• Make sure you're not out of Live installations. AFAIK an OS update or re-installation on the same machine does not use another authorization even if you go trough one. But I'd like to have the margins on my side.

Only when you've done all the necessary prep work, use the instructions in the article "How to Perform a Clean Installation of macOS Sierra" on how to boot and install a clean OS.

Then install all available macOS updates, reboot and install all of your apps in your priority order. Then move over your data manually, if you're as motivated as I've been two times the last four years, and make sure everything can be found and works as expected.

*If you can't find one, a ready made image can be written to your USB stick with Disk Utility. I'd advice against getting an OS from someone you don't know though. Best source is always Apple.

**One way to make this step less time consuming is to first back up this mint new OS so you can go back faster to this fresh state if some goes sour, then use the macOS Migration Assistant to transfer over the old data from your backup.

After this, optionally go into your Library folder: [user home]/Library and move your preferences folder to the desktop, as preferences that are corrupt is a common source for issues (more so in older systems I'd say). You don't want to bring the issues over to the new clean system, as that beats the purpose of the whole operation. So tread carefully and do that initial backup.

Then start up all of your apps, update to the latest version, that you need to use and that were acting up before and make sure they have the settings you want and works as expected. After this move over the preferences for the apps that did work before and that are important for you, from the old migrated preferences on the desktop. This will maintain your settings in these.

If there are apps you don't really use anymore, just keep them off the new system. Focus on what you actually have been using.

For all the rest of your apps assume they can recreate their preferences and let them be, but keep the preferences around for a while. Sometimes you realize much later you need something.

This was from the top of my head. I might have missed some aspect as I'm quite tired now. Just ask if something is not clear. Make sure you do backups, clean your schedule for day or so and go all in.

[ikeaboy]

So I did a clean install and everything was fine until I installed Pace license protection.

Damn…

My sentiments exactly.

[Stromkraft]

Someone reminded me on facebook that one reason (that I forgot about) for that I run projects in 48kHz instead of 44.1kHz was to solve a crackle-related issue some years ago. I do think this issue might have disappeared with macOS 10.12, but I also shifted computer and the problem was gone years ago since I took up 48k, so hard to tell really.

If you're not running in 48k this might be worth a try. This may not be relevant for Windows users and I suspect this issue that I had could have been a CoreAudio issue. I'm not sure, however.

[ikeaboy]

Someone reminded me on facebook that one reason (that I forgot about) for that I run projects in 48kHz instead of 44.1kHz was to solve a crackle-related issue some years ago. I do think this issue might have disappeared with macOS 10.12, but I also shifted computer and the problem was gone years ago since I took up 48k, so hard to tell really.

If you're not running in 48k this might be worth a try. This may not be relevant for Windows users and I suspect this issue that I had could have been a CoreAudio issue. I'm not sure, however.

That's worth a shot, thanks!

[igneous]

Hey again–following up.

This problem has persisted for me, with Ableton 10 and macOs Mojave 10.14.2, and even getting a new Macbook Pro.

Stromkraft, I appreciate your thorough response and advice. I reinstalled my system onto another laptop a few months ago, but I just used a TimeMachine backup (as opposed to manually carrying over files), so I'm not sure that I really cleaned up anything that could be causing the problem. My understanding is that it's probably some driver, somewhere on my system.

My plan now is to just sell my Babyface, and buy a good old fashioned Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Wishing everything the best with their audio interface woes

[fishmonkey]

so did you try a clean install?