Audio distortion with D2's and Audio 8

Hello NI users, I just recently purchased two D2s and have them chained together, with one going into a USB port on my laptop (Early 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 13", 2.7 GHz i5, OS X 10.11.5, Traktor 2.10.2 9). I also have an Audio 8 (driver 2.8.0) going into another USB port on the laptop. While the setup works for the most part, randomly I will get serious audio distortion that also slows down the tempo of the track playing, like something is having a difficult time processing the audio. After about 5 seconds it goes away and the tracks return to normal.

While my first inclination was that it was the Audio 8, which I realize is a legacy product with no further support, I had been using this Audio 8 and this laptop with an X1 controller with zero issues for months. So my next guess was that it was the laptop itself, because it has a lot more processing going on now with handling the two D2s. But this laptop is fairly decent by modern standards and I'm pretty sure a 2.7 GHz Core i5 is capable of running Traktor, an Audio 8 and 2 D2s. Is it possible the Audio 8 simply can't handle the audio stream with two D2's plugged into the laptop?

FYI, everything is on the latest firmware and software, and I've tried multiple different USB cables and switching the ports that the gear plugs into on the laptop.

 

bump

 

Update (not that anyone seems to care anyways lol) - I sold my Xone S2 mixer and decomm'd my Audio 8, replacing both with a Denon DN-X1600 which is now acting as Traktor's audio interface. I am still getting the random bursts of slow, crunchy distortion when using the D2s. So at least I've eliminated the Audio 8 as the issue. Only possibilities now are the D2s or the laptop. Does anyone else experience this problem with two D2s and a 13" MacBook pro Retina?

 

I would say it is more likely to be one of the many CoreAudio issues that are affecting users with El Capitan and not the D2's as they are just midi controllers - they should not affect the audio quality.

This has some further information: https://support.native-instruments....4429-OS-X-10-11-El-Capitan-Compatibility-News

Karlos

 

Thanks Karlos - and you might be right - though it's strange that I didn't have any issues on El Capitan when using my X1, it was only after switching to the D2s that I noticed this. Will wait and see what comes of the Core Audio issue.

 

the push is also just a midi controller but i had serious problems with my db4, audio al distorted, this when connecting to a d2 )hub and no problems when i plug in the push directly in my laptop...so stranger things..but that aside..

 

So you are saying that the issues were caused by using the USB hubs on the D2's?
I'd have to try something with my D2's as I haven't used the hubs on them but I'll try find time to do it.

It would be disappointing not to be able to use the D2 hubs as intended.

I'd also check to see which USB port on your Mac is the shared port as not all ports are equal.

Karlos

 

Might be worth a try. Have you tried changing different usb ports or swapping cables?

 

D2 hubs work just fine for me. I've used them several times recently while using the latest beta on my Mac Mini. I went from the closest USB port to the card reader to the left D2, from here one port went to the left CDJ-2000NXS, the other to my right D2, and from this one I liked to my right CDJ-2000NXS. I even plugged a USB stick with tracks on it into the spare port without issues. My cables used are all Chromo Series from Lindy (which reminds me I should probably buy some more ...).

Oh yeah, regarding your distorted audio (any regulars here are probably sick of me asking everyone this, but here goes), open up your Console App and select "all messages" on the left, then type "IOAudioStream" into the search bar ... If you get any results please see if they match up with times where you've had audio issues. If they do then you've got the same issue that I was having in Mavericks, and many others have reported in Yosemite and El Capitan.

 

I'm going to have to check mine for the audio distortion.

 

Yep, setup like this: A&H db4 directly to the pc, d2's chained to pc and the push and or the arturia sparkle in the d2 hub caused the db4 to crash to a point i had to reset it, took me a long time to find out what the problem was because i presumed the push or the sparkle could not be the problem, no i have the push connected to the pc direcly and the problem is gone...its only with those 2 maschines, i have the f1 and the xone k2 and usb sticks connected to the hubs..

 

Wanted to update this... after upgrading to the most recent Traktor (2.10.3 i believe) I have not encountered the audio distortion issue. This is after 3 or 4 sessions of 2 hours each. Good job NI!