nasty digital crackling after g4 processor upgrade

[shaneotis720]

Hey DUC,

Has anyone ever experienced anything similar to my scenario? I am running OSX 10.3.6 on a G4 Digital Audio 533 G4, Digi001 connected to a digital mixer. Pro Tools and all digital audio apps / hardware are running fine. I figured I'd like to take advantage on a speed upgrade so I could get more plugins, etc, so I purchased a Sonnet Encore G4 1Ghz upgrade CPU.

Installation was incredibly simple. Computer recognized the new CPU. I installed, booted and my Mac seemed to be working fine until I booted up any digital audio applications. I would get nasty digital crackling on all 8 channels. This happened in both Logic 7 & Pro Tools & iTunes. Thinking I needed the latest Digi core audio driver, I downloaded that but there was no change. Below, I'm posting a copy of the letter that I've sent to Sonnet to which I have yet to receive a reply. It explains my scenario further. If anyone has anything else to share about this, please let me know. Thanks, Shane

Sonnet,

I just recently purchased the encore st/g4 1Ghz
processor upgrade. Everything went smoothly with the
upgrade until I started trying to use my digital audio
devices. Whenever I boot anything that uses the
digital audio functions in my Mac, I get serious
crackling in my digital IO on all 8 channels. Very
nasty sound. This exact setup works fine with no
crackling and boots in OS9.2.2

Here is my setup:
upgrade from 533Mhz Digital Audio G4 to 1Ghz Sonnet
running OSX 10.3.6
Digidesign Digi001 PCI card (8 channels of optical IO)
various other devices which do not affect the results

I have installed the latest core audio drivers from
digidesign 6.7

I ran the sonnet cache, just in case

Very nasty crackling happens under OSX 10.3.6 in all
audio apps I have tried - Logic 7, Pro Tools, iTunes.

When I put old CPU (533) back into system, and test
the exact same setup under OSX, no crackling occurs.
This ONLY happens when I put the Sonnet CPU back into
the system.

I have troubleshot this extensively and narrowed it
down to the encore st/g4 upgrade card vs. osx

Digital Audio is the purpose for my purchase of this
card. If I cannot use it for this purpose, I will
have to return it. Other than this, other computer
functions seem fine so far. I haven't tested any
other things very much yet, however.

How can we reconcile Sonnet encore problems and OSX /
Digidesign? I bought this card so that I do not have
to upgrade my entire system. Please advise asap.

[helios69]

hi shaneotis720,

i had the same problem a year ago: i tried out two different sonnet g4 encores to upgrade my 466 g4 (digital audio series model like yours) but had digital crackles that i couldn´t get rid of. fact was, that they only occured when i connected and clocked my digi001 from a converter through adat. if i used the digi without external clocking it was fine.
my dealer took the sonnets back and i ordered a gigadesigns and everything worked out then.

good luck!

helios69

[shaneotis720]

thanks helios69!

I will give that a shot! Thanks for the feedback... No word yet from Sonnet. I have a feeling I'm going to have to return it.

Thanks,
Shane