Ableton Forum

Hi all,

I am writing to report a problem I've had with my new audio interface which has stumped me. Using my Edirol Ableton FA-101, when I am playing audio, when I drag mp3s into the session I get a nasty crackling noise. The crackling is only while i initially drag the mp3 - once I let it go into a clip slot, or redrag it, its fine.

I am Live 7 running a new Macbook (white 13") with a clean OS X Leopard installation, with 2GB RAM. The problem is intermittent, but eventually happens every time. Sometimes it crashes Live entirely if I continue to drag the file for a second or 2.

The problem also happens with .m4a files. It does NOT happen with WAVs or AIFF files. Also it doesn't seem to happen if I drag in an mp3 while a previous mp3 is already being loaded.

I also own an Edirol FA-66 interface. I tried the setup with this, and it worked fine - no crackling. I also tried using the FA-101 with my old macbook running Live 5 - it also worked fine there.

One thing I noticed - in the control panel, the FA-101 says sample rate is 48k. But the FA-66 (which works fine) says 41k. Maybe this something to do with something? Except that, for normal audio playback, the FA-101 is working just fine.

So it seems to be a problem with the FA-101 and Live 7 running on Mac. Has anyone else experienced something like this? Thanks for any help!

I have resolved to go back to my FA-66 interface until Live 8 comes out, hopefully the problem will be fixed then. But would love to keep using the FA-101 if I can get rid of this crackle.

Thanks for any help!

Except for this problem, I really like the Edirol firewire interfaces.

Hi Electrolabs,

I too have this problem, but with my FA-66.

My guess is that it is related to the fact that for .MP3's, Live has to convert them into .WAV files in the Decoding Cache. As you say, once loaded you don't get the crackle again becuase the WAV version of the MP3 is in the Decoding Cache already. And it doesnt happen dragging in .WAV files.

I did try increasing my audio buffer size in the Live preference. This worked for a while but then I started getting the same problem. See if it helps you though.

It woouldnt be such a problem if I knew all the tunes I was going to DJ live, but sometimes that isn't possible. And maintaining a decoding cache with all your Mp3's as WAV's will lead to storage problems.

I'd be grateful for any help on this one also!

Cheers
Nick

Hi guys.

I use the FA-101 and I had a similar problem. I think it depends on the Sample Rate knob that is on the device itself. Try switching to 96 Ghz and then turning off your MACBOOK. Don't restart it just simply shut it down and try again. In the audio preferences for LIVE it should be set automatically to 96 as well. After I did that it worked fine with me. Also it is possible you need to format the computer.

Cheers.

Adey

Well, I nailed the problem down to firewire. I tried a USB based audio interface and the didnt suffer the same audio clicking problems. Shame, as my Edirol FA66 is a good piece of kit. Will still use it for recording as it has good pre-amps. But have now got a Novation NIO now and everything is working perfectly. And the bundled software is pretty good too.