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Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:33 pm
by Martini
Hi Guys

I'm hoping someone here may be able to offer some advice.

I currently have an Edirol FA-66 connected to an iMac via FW800. Since upgrading to OSX Lion, I am getting a random "clicking" sound being output when audio is being played back.

Any tips/hints/help/friendly advice? Roland claim the Edirol is Lion compatible.

Luckily this is not my mission critical machine, but I'd hate to have to go back to Snow Leopard just because of this problem. But like most audio guys, once I noticed the noise, there is no way I can live with it. ~x(

Re: Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:16 pm
by Gian
check you dont have networking turned on , on the firewire port

Re: Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:42 pm
by lonearranger
Do some research into speedstep. This is a power saving tech that changes CPU speed depending on the load. Had a similar issue with pc a few years ago.appears you may need utility software, see here

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/21 ... 0&tstart=0

May also be possible via terminal command.

You could check it by using lots off plugins to push up your CPU usage and see if it continues.

Cheers

Re: Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:09 pm
by The Tasmanian
I'd re install Snow Leopard if it was me -
There are a few pro audio people i have heard with problems with Lion in the audio world.
Always, It is a wise idea to wait to upgrade your OS when a brand new one comes out, let others go mad and wait for the Lion upgrade.
Or pull your hair out and be a Guinea Pig for every one else.
I only suggest this from 20 years experience with Mac's in a professional situation - and their wiz bang new OS's
Professional working studios, and film editors, NEVER do a brand new OS upgrade for exactly these reasons - so they don't lose money on downtime.
Same with PC's - the first versions are put out for R&D by the public, as they scramble to fix the bugs on the next update(s)
Maybe this first version of Lion should have been called Pussy?

Re: Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:24 am
by Drumstruck
if you're using word clock check the connections / cables - I had a similar random clicking when I had 3 ADACs daisy chained (BNC). Reconnecting the cables fixed the problem.

Re: Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 6:21 pm
by Martini
Thanks for the tips guys.

I've tried everything I can think of, including the suggestions mentioned here. No fix.

I'm glad this is not a mission critical machine!

Re: Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:13 pm
by ChrisW
What bit rates etc are you using?
Nothing to do with LIon, but my iMac wont do 96Khz/24 bit over firewire. It'll do 44.1khz all day long however.
Other than that I can only echo Chris T.
Back when I was doing film and tv I made the mistake of upgrading computer products in tight time windows one or two times. Always a disaster.
One time I had to submit some music on a Monday morning. During the previous Friday I decided to run picture inside Pro Tools, which led to me buy a new piece of hardware, which led to me having to upgrade the software, which meant some plug-ins no longer worked etc, etc....
It took two whole days to sort the mess out and I finally started work on the music late on Sunday evening.
So now I'm vary wary of upgrades and new software.

Re: Clicking noise - firewire out

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 8:12 pm
by Martini
44.1khz.

All my important machines are still running Snow Leopard, luckily (is that the right word here?) I really only use this Lion machine for iTunes playback.

Saying that, I've just downloaded an update to the "Perian" Quicktime plug-in and the problem seems to have gone away. However, the Perian release notes do not refer to any audio fixes...

Fingers crossed. %-(

Everyones input has been most appreciated.