Pro audio glitch with T2-equipped Macs associated with USB 2.0 connections
The dropouts plaguing audio interfaces on Macs with Apple's T2 chip involve an overload of a USB bus running in the slower USB 2.0 speed, according to an Ableton-certified trainer.
The problem happens whenever the T2 tries to sync time and location, trainer Abid Hussain informed CDM. Toggling off "set date and time automatically" in System Preferences will reduce incidents, as will disabling location sync in the Time Zone tab, but neither setting will fix the glitch completely.
At present, the beta versions of macOS don't seem to fix the incompatibility. Listed solutions include buying new gear with Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 connectivity, switching to Thunderbolt on an existing piece of audio gear if available, or buying a powered Thunderbolt 3 hub that has its own USB controller that will be unimpacted by T2 polling of the time sync routines.
The T2 chip controls a variety of Mac subsystems such as boot and security functions. While it has benefits like faster disk encryption, it has already been blamed for multiple issues, including kernel panics, Mojave installation errors, and interference with third-party repairs. It can be found in the iMac Pro and 2018 models of the Mac mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.
For musicians and other people working with audio hardware, the interface bug can render the gear unusable, especially during live concerts.
Read Hussain's full explanation below:
The problem happens whenever the T2 tries to sync time and location, trainer Abid Hussain informed CDM. Toggling off "set date and time automatically" in System Preferences will reduce incidents, as will disabling location sync in the Time Zone tab, but neither setting will fix the glitch completely.
At present, the beta versions of macOS don't seem to fix the incompatibility. Listed solutions include buying new gear with Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 connectivity, switching to Thunderbolt on an existing piece of audio gear if available, or buying a powered Thunderbolt 3 hub that has its own USB controller that will be unimpacted by T2 polling of the time sync routines.
The T2 chip controls a variety of Mac subsystems such as boot and security functions. While it has benefits like faster disk encryption, it has already been blamed for multiple issues, including kernel panics, Mojave installation errors, and interference with third-party repairs. It can be found in the iMac Pro and 2018 models of the Mac mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.
For musicians and other people working with audio hardware, the interface bug can render the gear unusable, especially during live concerts.
Read Hussain's full explanation below:
Unchecking the time sync only reduces the dropouts. You need to also uncheck the location sync in the Time Zone tab, but even then you're only reducing the dropouts. Any time the T2 chip tries to sync, it will overload the USB2.0 bus, causing dropouts. There is no way any musician should go on stage with a 2018 [Mac] and a USB2.0 audio interface directly connected to it. The only solutions are 1) Get a Thunderbolt or USB3.0 audio interface, or 2) Use a Certified Thunderbolt 3 powered hub (not a bus-powered or cheap non-certified hub) - Cable Matters has a solution for $169 on Amazon, but most of those hubs are at least $200-300. Using a certified TB3 hub creates a separate external USB2.0 bus, in which you can run your USB2.0 audio interface. The cheap hubs do not work because they don't run on the TB3 bus, and therefore they don't create their own separate USB2.0 bus, which means you're going to get dropouts.
Comments
If there is no fix on the Apple hardware/software side, I guess it’s move forward or move over.
Oh the dead "Apple isn't innovating" trope. You had to sneak it in there huh?
No excuses. They shouldn't have to buy new gear. A lot of USB 2 interfaces are absolutely great. Some people might actually have to downgrade sound quality for USB-C.
Besides, you shouldn't have to replace your audio I/O because you bought a new Mac. It's one thing to retire devices with outdated connections because modern computers no longer support them, but it's a different matter when they use a still-current standard and work fine with every other computer on the market. Apple hasn't said it's no longer supporting USB2, so I think it's reasonable to expect USB2 devices to work properly.
I've got no objection to more bandwidth, but I'm not losing any sleep over being restricted by USB2.
I'm kidding, of course, but as I wrote that it occurred to me that it's already partly true. One can mount a mixer with processing engine and I/O but no control surface in a rack, and control it wirelessly with an iPad. The talent can even manage their own monitor mixes with an iPhone. It's not difficult to imagine I/O, processing, and storage being external with the computer providing only control functions, delivered over the air. Even Pro Tools has iPad remote capability. Maybe that really IS where we're headed.
That's an area that's improved with newer models. Having a connector on the brick means only the inexpensive cable has to be replaced when it eventually frays into spaghetti.
At the risk of further angering mdriftmeyer, I mentioned in another thread that none of the clients for whom I provide audio post are using Final Cut.
That surprises me because it's now a quite capable editor. I don't know if they use something else because of a resentment hangover from when Apple crippled it in the transition from 7 to X or some other reason, but at least one editor told me he just doesn't like the interface, particularly with respect to how it presents audio. Maybe editors just prefer the old tried and true timeline over the new-and-improved Apple approach.
Which, as you said, is a recurring theme. I happen to like Final Cut and the new ports. I see lots of advantages to Apple's approach. However, it's pretty obvious that many other people do not. That brings up a philosophical question: If a computer on the shelf adds a feature but there's no one there to use it, is it still a move forward? If no one buys the computer, the benefit of the new feature is never realized. And that's assuming the new feature really is an improvement in the first place and not an obstacle to productivity.