I have been searching all over the net for the answer to this problem, but there doesn't seem to be one definitive answer. Nonetheless, here's the problem.

I have an iBook 700 mhz, 384 mb RAM, 30 gb HD, running OSX 10.2.4. I run out of a Mackie CFX-16 mixer into a Griffin iMic, then into the Griffin powered USB hub, then into my Mac. I am using Ableton Live 2.0, along with Propellerhead Reason 2.0.

When I start recording takes into Live, things go fine for a short period of time. After about 15 minutes or so, takes start distorting upon playback. A sort of digital distortion that sounds like something straight out of 'The Matrix'. Also, if I try to record a take longer than 3 or 4 minutes in length, the distortion seems to be happening quite consistently. It is the entire take that is distorted, not just part of it. I then quit Live, restart it, and try again. It seems to work fine for a little while, then starts again.

I read a post that mentioned the iMic has problems as it is powered by the mac, and that may cause pops and clicks. The info, taken from the Griffin site, recommended picking up a powered USB hub. I bought Griffin's as it is supposedly designed specifically for audio recording. Even with the powered hub in the mix, though, I'm still getting distortion after a little while.

I've been playing around with output levels of my mixer, and input levels in Sound Preferences, thinking I may be overloading the sound card. I still get the distortion after a little while.

Anyone who can solve this TERRIBLE problem for me will be my hero. Any help out there?
Thanks,
Derek

Hi,

I had similiar experience before. I am not sure if there is solution for it. I had a similar setup as yours. I have PowerBook G4 500MHz, OS X 10.2.4, iMic, Griffin's Audio USB Hub, and a analog mixer.

During recording (with Spark ME,) I had constant "ticks and pops" everywhere. I even purchased an Onkyo USB external sound card (much more expensive) and it is still the same thing. However, if I ran this setup on a PowerMac G4 Dual Processors at 1.25GHz, the problems seemd to be much improved, but not totally disappeared. Later, I learned that USB is simply not fast enough to handle high quality audio data. An Onkyo sound card review suggested user need a fast PC to run it well. I guess this is the problem (also applicable to iMic, probably.) The Griffin's USB hub did not help at all.

Or you may try to turn off monitoring during recording to cut down USB data traffic to see if any improvement?

Finally, I gave up and ran in Mac OS 9 with iMic and Onkyo USB sound card. It worked great! No pops and ticks. I don't know if other USB devices such as M-Audio Audiophile USB, Digidesign's M-Box have better peformance? You may also investigate the M-Audio's new Firewire 410. With much higher speed data transfer (through FireWire,) the ticks and pops should disappear.

I also switched to a PowerMac G3 450 MHz with M-Audio's Audiophile 2496 PCI sound card, everything works beautifully in either OS 9 or X 10.2.4 since.

I hope this info will help.

I have an iMac 15" flatpanel 800 (new model no booting into Mac OS 9 .
While wating for Digital Performer 4, for Mac OS X, i'm fiddling around with Cubase SX among others.

With my iMac and MOTU firewire 828 interface I have no problems what so ever with hiss drop-outs & other artifacts.

I can record songs from my tapedeck into Cubase SX as audiofiles.
Take the soundbites/audiodata into Spark, if I want, for further processing etc.

( have maxed out my iMac to 1Gb ram and a Maxtor ATA133 120Gb harddrive )

Althoug Digidesign has that MBOX usb based interface I wouldnt really consider USB for audio or video work.
Mayber when the USB-2 specs become widely implemented it will work better.