Clicking Sound in Audio - Audio Clock Issue maybe

mimoLive
#1

Hello I am using a 2010 Mac Pro 12 core with 64 gigs of ram and a Nvidia gtx 1080 ti that has been flashed for Mac… I am using the black magic HMDI input card to get my DSLR cameras into my system. I am using a Motu 112D to take the digital AES audio from the mixing control room (pro audio studio) they are using pro tools.

We are all set at 48khz and 24bit

What were trying to pin down is a constant light clicking sound that were not sure where it is coming from. The audio is in sync and does not drift. One of the techs thinks that we are actually hearing the audio clock. Another tech suggested that its a buffering problem… And if we could somehow set a longer buffer then it should be ok.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated… Thank you!!

1 Like
#2

I don’t have an answer to this one, but I think I know the “click” you are talking about. It is a single “tick” or “snap” sound which happens every 5 or 10 seconds (roughly). I always assumed it was specific to something in my system.

In general, I isolated it to some specific USB devices, and potentially the USB Bus, although some other USB devices did NOT make that sound.

I also have used devices that pass audio as HDMI via thunderbolt, and haven’t encountered any clicking, this is why I’m suspecting USB somehow.

On one system, a Blue Yeti Mic, and a Logitech webcam mic, both USB, and both “clicked”. While a Logitech conference mic, also USB, did not.

For me, I could make it “go away” by switching audio input devices until I found one that didn’t have the click.

I hope that helps in troubleshooting somehow.

#3

I have the same issue with USB devices

#4

Interesting. I do suspect a clock issue somewhere with USB devices. It does “sound” like a clock issue.

#5

I have the same issue with the audio coming into mimoLive from a RØDECaster Pro.

#6

We found it to be after a specific System update a few months ago, probably about the time this post was made.

After some research, we decided to use one of the solutions provided which was to connect the audio interface through a thunderbolt hub… not a USB-C hub… but a thunderbolt one. The hub obviously has USB ports to connect the interface.

We also found the USB Scarlett interface to not have the problem, but the other two that we have did have the problem.

#7

@Achim_Boinx @Oliver_Boinx are you addressed this issue?

In my case, still happens, with a brand new Macbook Pro 16", OSX 10.15.7 and ML 5.8

USB Soundcraft Notepad 12FX mixer

#8

The current state of our knowledge is this:

The new Macs with T2 chip seem to have an issue with USB audio interfaces. It doesn’t seem to have issues with USB 3 audio interfaces. However, there seems to be something we could do to mitigate the problems because they seem to disappear when you insert Loopback into the workflow.

Can you please check if that is also the case for you? Download the free demo of Loopback from https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/ Then, set up a Loopback virtual interface so that the sound from your Soundcraft Notepad first goes into Loopback and then use the virtual interface in mimoLive to get the sound.

#9

@oliver
I had the same issue with my ex-macbook pro retina 2013 and High sierra…

#10

We have fixed a number of issues related to clicking sound in audio over time. The issue from way back with the MBP Retina 2013 should not be present in mimoLive 5.8. Can you confirm this?

Although the issues have the same effect, the one case is on the input side of mimoLive (which is the issue with USB and T2), the old cases were on the output side.

#11

@Oliver_Boinx i’ll try the loopback fix and I will report back

#12

@Oliver_Boinx the Loopback fix seems like fix my clicking audio issue (MBP 16" 2019)

Thank you !

#13

Good to hear. This means that at some point we will be able to fix this in mimoLive.

#14

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) BIG SUR 11.2 with X32 mixer USB and I have the same “clicking” sound problem. But I try to send audio to Roland VR-4HD and return from Roland VR-4HD by USB and the “click” sound problem resolve. But I need more audio options that the X32 offers in USB for recording and audio for monitors and stage.

#15

We have the same Problem with Soundcraft 12MTK. I see the clicking disappear for a little time if change the audio Buffer size. To fix this i use a Yamaha 01V96i. The difference between the desks are the yamaha comes with a separate Audio extension for the OS.