Problems with Audiotrak MAYA44USB & OS X Tiger 10.4.6

[Andrew]

Hi,



I've been using Ms Pinky without any problems for some months now. However, about two weeks ago it stopped working. I tried everything possible but I can't get it to work anymore.



Description of my problem:

About every minute there is a strange sound coming out of my mixer: http://andi.gutepage.net/KRACK.mp3

It is the same sound I can hear if I set the buffer size to a really small number, but I've always used 256 and it has worked fine. I now also tried bigger numbers up to 3072 and this does not make any difference.

I also tried a different computer, an iBook G4 1,3 GHz, also 10.4.6, same problem.

I downloaded the 10.4.6 Combo Update from apple.com and installed it as dlpinkstah suggested somewhere, nothing has changed.



What else to say? I use BinkyToy, here are some screenshots:

http://andi.gutepage.net/KRACK1.jpg

http://andi.gutepage.net/KRACK2.jpg



Oh, I got an eMac G4 1 GHz and as mentioned in the track title a MAYA44USB. I now ordered an ESI U46 DJ, perhaps that one works.



Perhaps something more about the moment when it all stopped working: I tried out PinkyPluggo with Ableton Live which didn't work, there was perfect input but no output... I then changed the latency in Ableton Live to get it working (which i didn't) and after that the sound was there. It is also there if i send a test tone from Ableton Live, so it is not a problem only in BinkyToy.



I think I somehow changed something with the MAYA44USB in Ableton Live which is saved somewhere, perhaps in the interface itself but I don't think that's even possible. But as the problem also occurs with another computer I really don't know what this is.



Perhaps someone can help me



Thanks for reading this, I love Ms Pinky and I need it back...

Andrew

[dlpinkstah]

I downloaded the 10.4.6 Combo Update from apple.com and installed it as dlpinkstah suggested somewhere, nothing has changed.



I got an eMac G4 1 GHz and as mentioned in the track title a MAYA44USB. I now ordered an ESI U46 DJ, perhaps that one works.



Perhaps something more about the moment when it all stopped working: I tried out PinkyPluggo with Ableton Live which didn't work, there was perfect input but no output... I then changed the latency in Ableton Live to get it working (which i didn't) and after that the sound was there. It is also there if i send a test tone from Ableton Live, so it is not a problem only in BinkyToy.



I think I somehow changed something with the MAYA44USB in Ableton Live which is saved somewhere, perhaps in the interface itself but I don't think that's even possible. But as the problem also occurs with another computer I really don't know what this is.

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles with the Maya 44 USB and OSX 10.4.6.



I am currently running OSX 10.4.6 (from the Combo Update) on my 1.25 GHz PowerBook G4 with 1.0 Gig RAM. I am using the Maya 44 USB via an Aggregate Device created from a combination of the Inputs + Outputs of the Maya 44, clocked on the Inputs. I have been running BinkyToy with a buffer size of 128 samples. With all this, the Maya 44 + BinkyToy appears to be working perfectly! I certainly don't get any extraneous noises coming from any of the four outputs, and the latency is very low. Funny-- I'm actually starting to like this little sound card..



What I would recommend is that you use the Aggregate Device Editor in Audio/MIDI Setup and delete any Aggregate Devices that you may have created that include the Maya 44. Then, re-create a fresh Aggregate Device for the Maya 44 Ins/Outs following the instructions in this article:



http://www.mspinky.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=356



Next, you will also need to use the Maya44 Control Panel.app (version 1.02 or higher) and re-set all the proper levels. It's especially important to LOWER the input levels on the Maya44 because they are unusually sensitive and there is significant danger of over-driving the inputs and causing distortion. I found that after updating to 10.4.6, I had to re-set all the levels inside the Maya 44 Control Panel.app because they were lost during the OSX update process.



Just for kicks, I also tested the Maya 44 with Ableton Live 4 and Pinky Pluggo. It works fine, but if I set I/O buffer size in Ableton to anything less than about 180 samples it starts to behave very badly. The audio starts dropping out periodically, and Pinky Pluggo starts to stutter. Not good. But with I/O buffer size larger than about 180 samples it seems to work just fine.



So I'm sorry I really don't know what the problem is with your Maya 44. If you try the things I suggest and still don't get good results, it may be that your Maya 44 USB is damaged or defective.

[Andrew]

Hi dlpinkstah,



thanks a lot for the long reply but I already tried everything you suggest. It has to be my soundcard, lets see what will happen with the U46DJ.



Bye

Andrew

[Andrew]

Ok after one day experimenting (and freaking out) I found out that the problem definitely is Mac OS X 10.4.6. Yes, and the standalone updater does not help.

I don't know why it is working for you dlpinkstah but I tried two different computers with 10.4.5 and 10.4.6 and both times 10.4.6 had these noises while 10.4.5 worked perfectly fine.

So for anyone who didn't update yet: Never change a running system



EDIT: Ok perhaps the problem lies in the localization, my OS X is German, perhaps that's the reason...