Audio disappears, reappears after tweaking clock source
 

Has anyone experienced this on any system, ever? My details below.

In OSX, iLife, any non-DIGI app. (digital performer, garageband, iTunes, previewing mp3's in Finder, etc.) audio will occasionally, suddenly cut out entirely. My fix has been: switch clock source (either in Audio MIDI Setup or in digital performer) to Word Clock, then back to internal. This re-kick-starts it. I need to do this every 10-20 minutes.

ANY help, comments appreciate. DIGI support not helpful (they don't officially support my computer yet, so...).

Macbook Pro 2.2ghz core 2 duo
4 GB RAM
10.4.9
PTLE 7.3.1cs4
Mbox 2 Pro
boot disk: internal
scratch disk: ezquest FW400

Re: Audio disappears, reappears after tweaking clock source
 

Just a guess, but it sounds like you might have a faulty firewire cable. Try replacing it and see if the problem with your audio dropping out persists. Make sure not to exceed the recommended length of 4.5 meters (keep as short as possible).

Re: Audio disappears, reappears after tweaking clock source
 

I believe we were as helpful as we could be. According to the info I have, our support tech spent significant time with you and had been told by you that you were using a 1.6ghz Core Duo Mac Mini during the troubleshooting process. Is this not the case?

If you *are* using the MacBook Pro in your post then, yes, it's untested and unsupported and there may be issues with it that we are unaware of until the testing process completes. From the notes I have in the record, our tech threw the book at this, so it does seem like there may be issues with this particular model Mac related to Digidesign hardware. I see we already had you try a new firewire cable. The only other thing I could recommend is removing all plug-ins from your plug-ins folder, trash prefs, restart and try again - it may be related to a corrupt or incompatible plug-in. Also, testing under a new administrator account may also help to see if it's something specific to your current account causing the problem.

Re: Audio disappears, reappears after tweaking clock source
 

True, that. Digi's tech support is among the very best in the business, and this was no exception.

We did use my mac mini to troubleshoot. I thought we'd fixed it on that system, but the problem returned the following day. Since I am now trying to find a way to make it work with my unsupported Macbook Pro, which I'd prefer to use anyway, I am hoping to find ANYONE who has come across the same issue on ANY system. What causes this, if not a bad cable? How was it fixed? How does an incompatible plugin cause the phenomenon in both Digital Performer, iTunes, Finder and Garageband?

To me it's as if all of these are "fighting over" audio with DAE and/or the Mbox FW driver. I just don't have a smarter way of describing it.

Thanks for your individual attention.

-scot