Intermittent Audio Dropout - CPU Load?

I recently purchased a new MINI (2.3, i5, 2GB RAM) and I am totally disappointed with the performance. Specifically, I am fed up with the terrible audio stability. I have a MOTU Ultralite MK3 Hybrid and generally use the Firewire interface, but this problem also happens when I'm just using the internal audio. I've never experienced this before on any of the MINIs I've had (this is my third) nor on my old G4. Now, on what should be the best of the lot, I can hardly stand to listen to anything while trying to do anything else on the computer. Even simple things like opening a JPG in Preview causes the audio to cut out when the file is being opened. Virtually every move interferes with the audio and causes a dropout. It is worst of all when using any kind of browser and trying to have a YouTube video play in the background while surfing on another tab. I used ot be able to do this all the time without dropouts on my last Mini, but this thing seems to have a serious CPU bottle neck and I don't know where to even begin to try to find out what's going on. I'm really heart broken by this because I am not working and spent money I can't afford to replace my last computer and now I'm stuck with this junky thing that can't even play an MP3 and open a JPG at the same time. It's like the whole process of dealing with multiple threads has been trashed somehow. What happened with these new MINIs? Am I the only person having this problem? Why can't my computer deal with ANY kind of multitasking without crapping out on the audio? It shouldn't be like this. It wasn't like this before.
PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks,
Ugo.

Well, if that is the case, I can't say how disappointed I am with Lion. When you say "all the tasks", let me clarify and say that I'm not trying to run 10 things at once (although I used to be able to do that). The best examply is simply playing an audio file while trying to open a JPG in Preview. Is it really pushing the system to expect the audio to be undisturbed by the act of simply opening an image file in a small, basic application like Preview? Is 2 GB of RAM really too little to do something so simple?
RAM isn't all that cheep for someone who doesn't have an income, so, before I go spending that money, I need to know that it is going to address the problem and I am not sure that RAM really is the problem given that the issue is occuring under such simple, (theoretically) non-taxing circumstances.

Similar Messages

Intermittent audio dropouts

This week I upgraded to a late 2008 3GHz 8 Core mac pro from a dual 2.3 G5. At the same time I upgraded to Snow Leopard. I am using USB Harmon Kardon soundstiks.
I have noticed that when playing video content in QT or VLC, occasionally the audio will stop. Most of the time I can go into system preferences and click on soundsticks and the audio will return. Sometimes it takes more than one attempt. I do not know if this is a hardware or software issue.
The processor load is negligible. I have run all updates, repaired permissions, run disk warrior and other maintenance apps. All of my standard tricks do not seem to be working.
I have limited experience with the Intel machines. My lack of monetary fortitude made me a bit late to the party:-)

Yes, I have done all of that. I even tried to set defaults in open firmware only to discover the Intel machines do not have that functionality.
When I upgraded to the intel machine I also discovered that my USB FCP keyboards drivers were no longer supported. I switched to an older bluetooth Mac keyboard and mighty mouse. I do not know if these could be the issue.
I have noticed that when the audio dies during media playback I still have audio for system alert sounds etc. The audio is not being lost on a specific application though. It is being lost on both QT and VLC. I have yet to view one of my long format productions in FCP to see if it will play without audio dropout.
Unfortunately the symptom seems to be completely random and cannot be reproduced at will. If I play a piece of media it might drop audio during the beginning, and the next time it might wait 15-30 minutes before dropping audio.
This makes troubleshooting a bit more problematic. Because I still have the system alert sounds, I tend to think it is a software/OS issue rather than hardware.
I use a seperate firewire diagnostic hard drive for the majority of my troubleshooting. This drive has a current system on it, TTP, Disk Warrior, Drive Genius, iDefrag, and of course disk first aid. It didn't help. Permission repair was accomplished while booted from the disk under test. Other than that, all tests were accomplished from the diagnostic drive. All indicate a strong Pass.
I don't know if this is a snow leopard issue or a conflict with other software. When I purchased this computer it came without a system installed and only one bare 500GB drive. I did a fresh install of Snow Leopard and a migration from my old drive. I am almost at the step of accomplishing a fresh install of the system and manually installing all 250GB of my software. This would be a serious pain. I would really rather avoid it if at all possible. Unless there are other ideas, this is where I am headed.
If this seems to be my best option, then the question remains, should I stick with Snow Leopard or go back to leopard for the system?

Airplay audio dropouts, stuttering with Mavericks

I have intermittent audio dropouts with Airplay to an Airport Express and/or a Pioneer speaker with Mavericks. Sometimes these are brief, sometimes the music quits for seconds, sometimes it just sounds like crap. And sometimes it works perfectly. Apple closed a bug report I submitted on this, claiming it was my network. I don't buy that, since my wifi network always tests at above 20 mbps upload, and Airplay only needs 1 mbps for one device, 2 mbps for two.
Are others experiencing these sorts of problems?
Note that this is **not** Airplay video streaming, just audio. And I'm not using Mountain Lion like my profile says LOL.

Use Apple's Wireless Diagnostics as a tool to examine your wireless environment.
You can determine for yourself whether wireless interference is likely to be a causal factor preventing reliable music streaming. To do that, hold an option key while you click your Mac's Wi-Fi icon, and choose Open Wireless Diagnostics...
The following authentication dialog will appear:
Authenticate with your Admin password, then click the Continue button in the following:
The network analysis and diagnostic tests will take several minutes to complete:
When it completes, if your wireless network is functioning properly the following will result:
If something is amiss, supposedly the results will be different and you will be presented with helpful information.
Assuming your connection is "working as expected" select Continue to summary and click Continue:
Ignore the pre-populated text field, which is provided as a place for you to type in helpful information should Apple ask for it in the course of obtaining technical assistance from them. Apple has no way of knowing where your router is located in your home, and certainly doesn't know if you even have an upstairs bedroom closet.
Click Continue.
The next step will also take a few minutes:
When it finishes, you will be presented with a summary that may or may not be useful to you. Let me know if it is.
The WirelessDiagnostics-xxx.tar.gz file deposited on your Desktop can be dragged to the Trash, or you may wish expand it and examine its contents. It's up to you.

Audio Dropouts on Panasonic AJ-D455's

Are there any of us besides me using a Panasonic AJ-D455 DVCPro VCR who have encountered intermittent audio dropouts when recording to tape?
My problem only shows up when my material is played back on either a 1st generation Panasonic DVCPro deck (e.g. AJ-D450) or a DVCAM deck. In other words, I can record to tape and play back on my own unit and not hear this problem, but other users with different playback capability report audio dropout.
For the record, I'm connected to the VCR via FireWire, and the deck obviously has Panasonic's 1394 DIF adapter installed. I'm not using any kind of A/V breakout system that converts D-A.
Furthermore, Panasonic is aware of my situation and is currently working with me; their response has been excellent.
Whomever can shed any beneficial light on this situation is automatically qualified for a drink on me upon your next visit to Toledo, Ohio. For those of you old enough to remember MA*SH, yes, there really is a Tony Paco's, and we'll go there, if you want!
Thanks!
Phil Mariasy
Allied Media Group, Toledo
G4 dual 800's Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Jerry
Thanks for the welcome, but no, it's not dirty heads. Actually, my AJ-D455 went to a warranty center in Farmington Hills, MI., and had literally every component and boardset swapped with an identical machine, including the head drum assembly, and still produced the same problem.
I'm currently trying to isolate variables in my studio that may be causing this.
The main question I have to the group is how many of us besides me are using an AJ-D455 with 1394 interface? My assumption is that most studios that have this particular Panasonic deck are using Avids, or some other digital I/O box and are interfacing video and audio via SDI and AES/EBU. Maybe I shouldn't be assuming this, but I'm trying to gague how many other studios are using this particular model with Panasonic's 1394 card.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks again.
Phil Mariasy
Allied Media Group, Toledo
[email protected]
G4 dual 800's Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Which will cause a higher cpu load, the sampler instrument or the original audio tracks?

I have some piano that I wanted to loop. I had no problem using the convert track to sampler instrument. My question is about CPU performance. Which will cause a higher cpu load, the sampler instrument or the original audio tracks?

Hi Mesaboogiewes,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
Ableton.com recommends disabling Energy Saver, fullscreen mode, and Exposé. I would recommend putting the 1Gb of RAM, you will find a better result. I suggest going to the Ableton.com website and looking for more troubleshooting issues.
I hope that helps,
Jon

High CPU load in audio conference application

Hi Java Guys and Java Girls.
We are developing an audio conferencing application that is based on the AVTransmit and AVReceive examples, from the JMF 'code samples' page: http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/jmf/2.1.1/solutions/AVTransmit.html
The main change that we made to the examples was to spilt the application in to two threads, one which receives and one which transmits, in order to use the duplexing capabilities of our shiny new (and expensive :-) sound cards - M-Audio Delta 44.
Our problem is one of performance. Even when only one of the channels is working, we get a lag of somewhere around 1 second. When both channels are connected and running, the CPU load jumps up to 100%, and the streaming breaks down in both directions. With only one of the 2 channels open the CPU load is only about 1% - below the tolerance of the measurement.
Interestingly enough, we tried running the UI Example as well, using 2 different TCP ports to get duplexing running between the 2 computers, and we encountered the same problem.
We've been bashing away at this problem for weeks now, and we have tried all sorts of things, but now we are rapidly reaching the edge of sanity. We really need to get this to work, with lag times below 0.25 seconds, and without taxing the CPUs too much.
We would be extremely grateful if you could look at the code that we are pasting below, and let us know if you can see what we are doing wrong.
Thanks very much for your help.
Yours,
Adam Crowther
Martin Piwowarski
PS We are using 2 Athlon 2.0+ Systems, each with 512MB of RAM, running Windows XP Pro, and streaming over a 100MBPs Ethernet LAN, using the on-board LAN adapters.
PPS We put the code here:
http://www.adamcc.ch/jmf/

The problem is not your code, but the stock JMF DirectSound audio renderer.
The audio renderer has its DirectAudio buffer hard-coded to hold 2 seconds of sound. Therefore, if you have any lag for any reason from the audio card driver when sound is starting up, you will have an audio delay of up to two seconds.
My company had to make heavy modifications to the original JMF audio renderer. We set up a 300 millisecond buffer and also introduced code to handle buffer starvation, etc., etc. I would suggest you get the JMF source code and check this out for yourself.
Good luck.

External display at 1920x1200 causing audio dropouts

I've got my Macbook hooked up to a Samsung Syncmaster 245B+ 24" monitor running at 1920x1200 with the Macbook in clamshell mode, I bought the monitor a couple of weeks ago and ever since I've been having problems with audio dropouts, both with the onboard soundcard and my external Presonus Firefox Firewire audio interface.
It seems the CPU is being overloaded at random, usually when there is some kind of graphical happening in a web browser for example. If I load up a page with a lot of graphical elements on it, sometimes the audio cuts out for a few seconds and then comes back, even then it can come back distorted. I can usually force these dropouts by briskly resizing the browser window, which makes the CPU usage level increase somewhat and thus the audio cuts out.
I first of all put this down to the Macbook not being able to display at this resolution sufficiently, but I have seen no other complaints from people running a 24" external. What's even more concerning is that I can switch the external down to lower resolutions (ie 1024x640) and still get the audio dropouts, which should not be happening as the Macbooks own display runs higher than this and I never get a problem when using it that way.
I've tried creating a new user account and the problem persists. Tried repairing disk permissions (although I knew it would make no difference) to no avail. I suppose the next step would be a complete reinstall of Leopard, but obviously would like to avoid this.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem could be? Do you think it's just the Macbook in general not being able to handle this monitor or a specific problem with mine?
I hope I can get this sorted, it's really off putting having music dropouts while I am working...
TIA,
Alex

Next time is happens, try unplugging the external monitor, but only the external monitor. Leave everything else plugged in, including any peripherals, like the Personus and also any attached USB devices. If the problem persists, then start unplugging the peripherals one-by-one.
Generally a display should have no bearing on sound since the GPU (X3100) is completely separate from the CPU where sound is managed.
You haven't said anything about your MacBook's configuration but maybe there is an insufficient amount of RAM for the number of processes running. That's another possibility.

60GB song audio dropouts

I just got a black 60GB Ipod and it works great except for intermittent (1 or 2) audio dropouts during the first song played. I have 53 GB of 320k MP3 files loaded.
I wonder if the large song sizes (average 9 MB) causes the buffer to choke during the initial loading (first song played). The problem does not happen on subsequent songs.
Any comments ? Should I return it ?
Thanks

I play the MP3's also on my SONOS based system on my home audio system. I definitely can tell the difference between 320k and 160k MP3's on a high end system.
I reset the iPod and called Apple tech support. If it happens again in 5 days I will return the iPod.
Don

How do you spread CPU load over more cores?

Hi
I recently bought a macbook pro quadcore i7 because my 2007 macbook couldn't cope with the demands of Logic when using it rewired with Ableton Live, and had lots of CPU overload messages.
I am really disappointed that having spent so much money to overcome this problem, it has only slightly improved the amount of overload messages. I read the article below about how to spread CPU power over the cores, now I have 8. I still can't figure out though how to control which channels are using which core and spreading the CPU load to cores 5-8 which don't seem to be being used. Any ideas?
Can I rewire from ableton to different cores?
In my project, the 2nd core keeps overloading whilst the others are down. Is it to do with aux channels, master channels, buses etc?
Or should I upload my memory to 8GB RAM?
Thanks
Steve
Here's the article:
About core activity
Logic breaks tasks down into threads that can be assigned to a single core for execution. It's not possible to split a single thread across multiple cores, although a single core may run multiple threads at the same time. This is one reason that you may sometimes see uneven load distributions across the available cores on your computer. If one thread is very processor-intensive, the core running that thread may show much more activity than the cores running less demanding tasks. This is the main reason that you may get "Core Audio Overload" warning messages even though some of the cores on your system may not show significant activity.
To monitor Logic as it uses the cores on your system, double-click the CPU meter in the Transport area.
A window displays a meter for each core.
The same concept applies to channel strips as well. Each channel strip—and all plug-ins it contains—is processed by one core. If you are using many processor-intensive plug-ins on a single channel strip, the core running it may show heavier activity. This is especially true if you are working at high sample rates (88.2 kHz or higher).
Redistributing core loads
If you find that a single core has much higher activity, use these strategies to redistribute the load.
In the example below, there is a single Software Instrument channel strip with plug-ins routed directly to Output 1-2. The channel strip for Output 1-2 has a large number of plug-ins.
In this example there is activity on two cores: the left core is handling the Software Instrument while the next core processes the Output 1-2 channel strip. You can use routing capabilities in Logic to distribute the load to more cores without changing the sound, as in the next image.
The resulting signal chain is Inst 1 > Aux 1 > Aux 2 > Out 1-2, as shown in this table:
Channel strip
Input
Output
Inst 1
Bus 1
Aux 1
Bus 1
Bus 2
Aux 2
Bus 2
Out 1-2
Also, the first four plug-ins have moved from Output 1-2 to Aux 1 and the remaining four plug-ins to Aux 2.
After adjusting the volumes to the respective channel strips appropriately, the result sounds identical, but now the load is distributed among four cores instead of two. You can use this concept to redistribute plug-ins from Audio channel strips, Software Instruments, Auxes, and Outputs (as in this example).
In the image above, there is still a very heavy load on a single core, even though it's using the routing described above. Notice the Inst 1 channel strip is selected. When a Software Instrument track is selected in the Arrange window, Logic enters "Live Input Mode". In this mode, Logic turns on every plug-in in the channel strip's signal path so the channel strip can be played live from a MIDI controller. All of this must be handled by a single thread and therefore just one core. It's a good idea to keep a track that uses an Audio channel strip selected in the Arrange window, unless you're actively playing or recording to a Software Instrument.

OS X Snow Leopard introduced Grand Central, where the OS will distribute the load better to more cores, however it takes time for software to adapt to these changes and make a rewrite of the codebase and test it out, Apple's included.

Kernel_task running above 500% CPU load on my Macbook Pro running OSX 10.9.4

I recently upgrade my Macbook Pro to OSX 9.0.4 and the system is running sluggishly slow, Activity Monitor showing kernel_task always running above 500% CPU load, system fan always running loud at startup but laptop is not overheating. Below is the EtreCheck report, hoping if anyone can help me fix this issue, much appreciate it. Btw, I have done the SMC reset, but nothing has helped.
EtreCheck version: 1.9.13 (49)
Report generated 16 August 2014 2:30:27 pm AEST
Hardware Information: ?
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro10,1
1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4 cores
8 GB RAM
Video Information: ?
Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: (null)
Color LCD 2880 x 1800
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 1024 MB
System Software: ?
OS X 10.9.4 (13E28) - Uptime: 0 days 0:17:38
Disk Information: ?
APPLE SSD SM256E disk0 : (251 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 250.14 GB (103.87 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
USB Information: ?
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Thunderbolt Information: ?
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ?
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ?
[not loaded] com.digidesign.fwfamily.driver (8.0.3f1) Support
[loaded] com.digidesign.iokit.DigiDal (8.0.3f1) Support
[not loaded] com.digidesign.mbox2.boot.driver (9.0f4) Support
[not loaded] com.digidesign.mbox2.driver (9.0f4) Support
[not loaded] com.digidesign.usb.elevenrack.driver (1.0.1) Support
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.8 - SDK 10.4) Support
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.8) Support
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.8 - SDK 10.3) Support
[loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.8 - SDK 10.6) Support
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.8 - SDK 10.4) Support
Startup Items: ?
Digidesign Mbox 2: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Digidesign Mbox 2
DigidesignLoader: Path: /Library/StartupItems/DigidesignLoader
PACESupport: Path: /Library/StartupItems/PACESupport
Problem System Launch Agents: ?
[loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.trial.plist Support
[loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.upd.plist Support
Launch Daemons: ?
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[running] com.cleverfiles.cfbackd.plist Support
[running] com.digidesign.elevenrack.helper.plist Support
[running] com.digidesign.fwfamily.helper.plist Support
[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support
[running] com.paceap.eden.licensed.plist Support
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist Support
[loaded] PACESupport.plist Support
Launch Agents: ?
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist Support
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ?
[failed] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist Support
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist Support
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist Support
[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist Support
User Login Items: ?
iTunesHelper
SmartDaemon
BitTorrent
uTorrent
Knock
Autodesk 360
Internet Plug-ins: ?
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 55 Check version
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Support
Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
Flash Player: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support
googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
Safari Extensions: ?
AllMyTube
Searchme-2
iTube Studio
Audio Plug-ins: ?
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins: ?
Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
3rd Party Preference Panes: ?
Digidesign Eleven Rack Support
DigidesignMbox2 Support
Digidesign Mbox 2 Pro Support
Flash Player Support
MacFUSE Support
Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X Support
Time Machine: ?
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ?
      4% WindowServer
      4% Google Chrome
      1% cfbackd
      0% AppleSpell
      0% Activity Monitor
Top Processes by Memory: ?
213 MB Finder
156 MB Dock
156 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent
123 MB WindowServer
115 MB Google Chrome
Virtual Memory Information: ?
4.43 GB Free RAM
2.21 GB Active RAM
414 MB Inactive RAM
971 MB Wired RAM
527 MB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs

The kernel is using excessive processor cycles. Below are some possible causes for the condition.
Throttling
When it gets high temperature readings from the hardware, or a low-voltage reading from the battery, the kernel may try to compensate by interrupting the processor(s) to slow them down and reduce power consumption. This condition can be due to:
☞ a buildup of dust on the logic board
☞ high ambient temperature
☞ a worn-out or faulty battery in a portable
☞ the malfunction of a cooling fan, a temperature sensor, a voltage sensor, or some other internal component
Note that if the problem is caused by a sensor, there may be no actual overheating or undervoltage.
If the computer is portable, test with and without the AC adapter connected. If kernel_task hogs the processor only on battery power, the fault is in the battery or the logic board. If it happens only on AC power, charging is causing the machine to heat up. That may be normal on some models. CPU usage should drop when charging is complete.
Apple Diagnostics or the Apple Hardware Test, though not very reliable, is sometimes able to detect a fault. For more thorough hardware testing, make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
If nothing is wrong with the hardware, then whatever you can do to improve cooling may help.
Installed software
User-installed software that includes a device driver or other kernel code may thrash the kernel. That category includes virtualization software, such as Parallels and VMware, as well as most commercial "anti-virus" products. Some system-monitoring applications, such as "iStat," can also contribute to the problem. You can test for this possibility by completely disabling or removing the software according to the developer's instructions, or starting in safe mode. Note, however, that disabling a system modification without removing it or testing in safe mode may not be as easy as you think.
Corrupt NVRAM or SMC data
Sometimes the problem is cleared up by resetting the NVRAM or the SMC.
External display
Connecting an external LCD display to some MacBook Pro models while the lid is open may cause this issue. If applicable, test by closing the lid or disconnecting the display. You might get better results with a newer LED display.

Audio Dropout Adobe premiere pro cc(2014) "adobe player"

I'm having the following problems with my adobe premiere pr cc 2014. I'm in the middle of a big documentary for Dutch Television. Because of the really buggy adobe premiere I can't work. The director gets frustrated and we can't work fast. I need to restart frequently but still the problem persist. Whenever I hit the space button to play I get audio dropouts and the software freezes and doesn't work well.
-Audio dropouts, they happen randomly and quite often. It happens on a relatively powerful macbook pro r (2.7 ghz i7, 16gb ram, ssd hard drive, usb 3.0 external hd.
- Bins take ages to load with thumbnails. Instead we see the grey square. It keeps on happening throughout the editing session.
- Multicam, when playing timeline, sometimes it doesn't stop when prompted and it keeps on playing for a random amount of time.
I really need help. I can't seem to find the previous version of adobe anymore. Can I please have the previous version and can you convert my current project to work with the previous version. Help me please, Help me please!!, Adobe help. Help your client!Mitch W@

Hey Mitch, Thanx for your reply.
I don't it's false. The reason for that is whenever I get that "audio dropout" event, adobe reacts really slow and I can't edit fluently.
I've been busy the whole day trying to figure out what the problem is. I contacted adobe support and the remotely accessed my computer and see for themselves.
We opened the activity monitor to see what's happening. Monitoring system memory revealed something interesting. The free memory dropped low after working for 20 minutes. when the "swap used" reached 5gb I got an "audio dropped" event. So we purged the memory with the terminal application.
I restarted my computer and reopened Adobe premiere pro CC and started editing. After a few minutes it gave me an audio drop event again. Whenever I get them, premiere reacts slowly.

160 Gb Classic - Audio dropouts, gaps on gapless albums with apple lossless

Dear All,
Since getting my new iPod Classic 160 Gb iPod Classic, I am experiencing audio dropouts that last between one and two seconds. They aren't frequent, occurring maybe one every hour or two of audio playback. They appear to be very random. If I play back the same track after having a dropout, it plays fine and doesn't happen again in the same place. This doesn't appear to be connected to my moving or shaking the iPod around, as it will happen when I am sitting down and perfectly stationary. Also, I don't think it is related to a bad earphone connection, as I a have played the iPod with several pairs of new and/or high quality earphones. More info: Most of my files are Apple Lossless and content is primarily regular music albums. Of note, this is the second 160 Gb iPod I've had with the same problems! The first one I brought down to the Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo and they replaced it in the blink of an eye after I explained the same as above.
Prior to the 160 Gb Classic, I have owned 1st, 3rd and 5th generation iPods (plus a 2nd gen. Nano and shuffle). The 5th gen. 60 Gb was playing the exact same audio files and never had any dropouts.
I have reset the Classic and reinstalled all my music files (with the most recent ipod software 1.0.2 and running iTunes 7.5) twice now, but the problem remains. I am now thinking of taking one of two possible routes of action. a) go back down to the Apple Store and try to get another iPod replacement (and hope and pray that it doesn't experience this problem) or, b) change all my music files to something like 192 kbps and hope (and pray!) the iPod can handle the smaller file size without the dropouts. At the moment, I am leaning towards going down to the Apple Store as it would actually be the less time consuming of the two for me.
What do you wise people out there think? Exchange iPod or downsize my audio files? Or, does anyone have another suggestion or recommendation on how to resolve this issue? Thanks for any assistance.
To add to this, I have also noticed that several of my gapless albums (DJ mix CD's like those by Global Underground), no longer play consistently "gapless". Sometimes it will pass smoothly between tracks and other times there will be a small pause/gap. No doubt, I have checked the gapless album box and selected yes, in the album get info section for all of these albums, but still problems remain. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Again, my previous iPod, 5th gen. 60 Gb had none of these problems with the same files. I am really happy with the 160 Gb capacity of my new classic but feel a bit let down with these problems I'm having.
Regards,
Peter B.

Thank heaven! I thought I might be the only one.
My situation almost exactly mirrors your own. My first 160GB classic suffered from sudden dropouts, apparently random and almost impossible to replicate in any predictable fashion. For example, I'd start playing an album and would hear a one or two second dropout in the second track, but in attempting to replicate the situation exactly (as in, powering down the iPod, powering it back up and starting over from the first track of the album) I'd find that the fault didn't recur. Restoring and reloading made no difference at all.
So I took it in to the Apple Store and had it replaced, loaded the replacement up with music and was dismayed to discover myself facing the same problem. I too have had several iPods which were loaded off this same library, and none of them ever gave trouble in this fashion.
I think the issue might just be the size of the files in our libraries. The bulk of my files are at 320kbps, and you mentioned yours were mostly Lossless - could it be that the classic has problems dealing with large files? It's a very frustrating issue, since the audio quality of my classic is so much better to my ears than that of my previous iPod 5G.
I recommend that you take the iPod in and take them to task about it. That's certainly what I'm going to do - I really don't want to re-encode all my music, especially considering that I bought this iPod due to the burgeoning size of my library, and re-encoding would defeat the point. Plus, since it has better sound it sort of deserves to be loaded with larger files. I just hope this isn't an irremediable issue, which I'm starting to suspect it might be, since your iPods were obtained in Japan and mine in the UK. I'll continue posting as this unfolds, and I hope you'll do the same.

Lion audio dropouts with external speakers?

Since I installed OS 10.7.3 (upgraded from 10.6.8), I get audio dropouts whenever I use external speakers. I use my Mini (purchased a year ago in Feb 2011) connected to my TV for Skype, Netflix, and listening to iTunes, so this effectively eliminates my ability to use it. I don't get dropouts if I use the internal speakers, and it doesn't seem to matter whether I'm using iTunes to play something resident on the internal hard drive or watching something on Netflix streaming over wifi, or whether I have wifi or bluetooth on or off. The external speakers are run through an HDMI cable connecting the computer and the TV.

Updates applied, at least one of which caused reccurrence of my audio dropout problem (I'm guessing iTunes is the culprit):
iPhoto Update 9.2.2
GarageBand Update 6.0.5
Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.10
Application Loader 2.5.1
Safari 5.1.4
iTunes 10.6

OSX Lion QuickTime Internet Plug-In causes high CPU load

I have OSX Lion installed.
Now I have a CPU load between 80 to 130% caused by the Quicktime internet plug-in if I watch my ip-camera with Safari. Also I get no Audio out of my ip-camera anymore. In SnowLeopard everything was fine, Safari CPU load at 30%. What is wrong ? Can anybody help me ? It is an Y-Cam Knight SD and a MacMini core 2 Duo.
Karsten Preussner from GERMANY

I had this same problem and couldn't get it to work at all. I tried to install the 3IVX plugin listed here and it didn't do anything. So I uninstalled it.
Then I thought to try my Macbook Pro and see if it was working on that computer, sure enough it was. I checked the HD/Library/Quicktime folder and it only had 4 items in it, whereas on the Mac Pro (that was not working) had 19 itmes in there. So, I moved all 19 out to a new folder and copied only the ones that were in the MBP. When I opened Safari IT WORKED!!! NO MORE PLUGIN FAILURE.
So, I must have just had too many old things in the quicktime folder that was causing it to fail.
Here is a screenshot of my HD/Library/Quicktime folder contents. The top folder shows the 4 items that should be in there (Perian is optional) and the bottom window in the screenshot shows all the stuff I previously had in there which caused the failure.
So If you are having this plugin failure, try removing all but these essentials from your HD/Library/Quicktime folder. It worked for me!

CPU Load problem

I have an iBook G4 800 Mhz processor - 512Mb ram...
and i'm trying to run ableton live - but the cpu load is too great - and i keep getting glitches in my audio stream - plus it has a cpu meter that goes up to like 86% - 92% when i'm only running 2 tracks which shouldn't be hard for the comp to do...
would a 1Gb ram chip do the trick? or am i wasting my time and i need to get a powerbook? also are there any tricks to lessening the cpu load?
thanks for ur help!

Hi Mesaboogiewes,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
Ableton.com recommends disabling Energy Saver, fullscreen mode, and Exposé. I would recommend putting the 1Gb of RAM, you will find a better result. I suggest going to the Ableton.com website and looking for more troubleshooting issues.
I hope that helps,
Jon

Intermittent Audio Dropout - CPU Load?

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