OS X - Word Clock Distortion & Delay Issue

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:18 am

Ok, here's my issue.

I'm using Guitar Rig 3 & NI Rig Kontrol 3 to record guitar into live. I also use a Samson C01U USB condenser mic to record into live on separate occasions.

i set my prefs in live to -

Rig Kontrol IN
Mac Built in Audio OUT

OR

Samson C01U IN
Mac Built in Audio OUT

- and get these strange sound glitch issues.

basically it sounds like some kind of digital distortion & delay effect - major crackling occurs and the sound seems to split into 2 - one part being delayed from the actual recording...if that makes sense.

i don't believe it's a latency issue, as I've tried different settings extensively to no avail. the distortion is entirely different than the familiar latency pops & snaps.

a few things of interest that i've read - and what i'm basing this assumption on - is that the digital word clocks between os x built in audio and gr3 are losing sync. this would explain the delay effect i'm hearing. i'll post an mp3 the next time it happens for reference.

the SAME issue occurs when recording audio from the Samson C01U USB condenser mic into live. SAME weird distortion.

basically i'm having major problems because i can't record from RK3 or my mic without the distortion happening during the takes.

has anyone else had this problem with live or heard about any issues w/ word clock sync using multiple devices on the mac?

my specs are

mac os x 10.4.11
powerbook g4 1.5ghz / 2gb ram
live 7.0.5
guitar rig 3
rig kontrol 3
samson co1u usb mic

thanks so much!!:)

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:19 pm

is no one else out there having this issue?

dom · Post by **dom** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:04 pm

Hi bluskreen,

correct, this can happen when using different audio drivers/devices for input and output as they're not digitally synchronized.
I suggest setting up an aggregated device in the audio/midi utility in osx and toying around with the settings, esp. the resampling option.
This also does not work all the time but apple tries to get the drivers in sync this way and it may help in your case.

Cheers,
Dom

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:01 am

hi dom,

thanks for getting back! i've tried using an aggregate device as well & experience the same issues. I've tried all possible settings in the aggregate device editor in os x, there are settings to choose a "clock" and checkboxes for "resample" on the inputs, as you mentioned. i've tried changing the clocks to built in, rig kontrol, and the CO1U, as well as different combinations of the resample check box between the inputs, but no fix. any suggestions?

thanks again,
-t

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Sat May 31, 2008 9:16 pm

I'm still having this issue. I'm unable to properly record audio in ableton. I can't use my CO1U USB mic, or my Guitar Rig Kontrol to record. I'm going to be working on a big project soon - help!

thanks!

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:06 am

i'm still having issues w/ this - even when using only the rig kontrol 3 as the input & output in live. it's becoming quite unusable - it seems to be a problem that randomly comes & goes. for instance, last night i recorded a bunch of full 5 minute guitar takes in live & didn't have any problems - then today i had major glitching, stuttering, & crackle.

also, when i try to adjust the latency slider in live while using ig kontrol 3 as the in & out - I get major CPU spikes & overall system slowdown & freezing. even fine adjustments in the latency slider in live take forever to actually register. this does not happen at all when using built in audio - just the usual crackle i mentioned before. i'm wondering if there some issue w/ the ni usb driver?

i'll keep this going over at ni as well - hope it can be resolved somehow - it's getting really frustrating...!

tamtam · Post by **tamtam** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:17 pm

you know about the recent airport driver update audio dropout issues?

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:19 am

hi tamtam,

thanks for your response. yeah, i've read about that issue. i still have the problems eve in airport is off:(

bluskreen · Post by **bluskreen** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:55 am

here's an audio clip from a recent rehearsal recorded using the Samson C01U as audio input in Live.

http://bluskreen.com/temp/crackle2.zip

Keep in mind that I tried using Audio Hijack Pro w the the SAME Samson C01U hardware to record audio, I consistently did NOT have the issue. I actually switched from recording in Ableton to AHP because of this problem. It seems to only happen when recording in Live.

Anyone else having similar issues out there?

pereira.frederico · Post by **pereira.frederico** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:31 pm

Hi. I have similar problems using Guitar rig 3. Cracks, Pops, and 1 second frezzes...
I am using Audio 8Dj and GR Kontrol 3, I output from GRK to Audio 8Dj, with a buffer size of 250 I can manage the latency...its not perfect, but bearable. I cant hear no strange distortions. Either way, the cracks and frezzes make this setting unusable.

Unfortunately I have no suggestions for you.

Sturdy Pete · Post by **Sturdy Pete** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:59 pm

I am experiencing exactly the same sort of crackleyness [edit: as in the mp3 posted above] with my Novation X Station, even if both input and output are selected as the X Station. It tends to happen sporadically, not so much as to make the X Station useless, but enough to be annoying. I've not tried recording anything yet, it happens during playback through the X Station outputs, and doesn't seem to be affected by changing buffer size in ableton.
Air port on or off makes no difference, the crackling carries on quite happily.
Sometimes i find that changing sample rate to 44.1 and then back to 48kHz fixes the problem, but usually not for more than 20 seconds or so. As far as i remember this didn't happen when i first got the X Station about 2 months ago.

I haven't tried making an aggregate device yet - or for that matter using software apart from ableton with the X Station.

macbook core 2 duo, latest osx / live versions as far as i know. Hope this issue is fixable!

I've also noticed that ableton sometimes gets in a twist about what sample rate its using, playing back tracks written at 48khz with a sample clock of 44.1 - everything slowed down just a tad. This is fixed by swapping sample rates as above. seems to happen if i've had the xstation plugged in for midi but remained using core audio in/out in ableton. This is probably unrelated though.