I'm using the Ozone with a 12" Powerbook, 1.5 gigs, PowerPC version obviously.

Trying to record guitar tracks w/ my Gibson ES-335, I get popping/clicking sounds randomly and it's driivng me insane. I thought M-Audio made products that didn't do this.

Let's see, the hard drive is a 7200RPM 100 gig. I tried switching guitar cables, but nothing. The levels are fine, there is no clipping. But the clicking that rears its ugly head is driving me nuts.


Can anyone help?

Thanks

Clicks means something digital is at the source of the issue. Either your buffer settings are too low (low latency, high CPU strain) or you should really use an external drive for audio files… As You give a different hard drive in your set up description I don't know if the 7200 is internal or external now.

Also, how many tracks are on the go at the same time?

Hi, thanks for the reply. The hard drive is internal. I had the original drive swapped for a 7200rpm 100 gig model. Also, the application in question is Garageband.

When I'm working in Garageband I have made it a habit to lock all tracks I'm not currently working on. Even still, if I create a new project and just have the guitar track I can still hear it.

I don't think it's high CPU strain. no other applications are running. You think maybe there's a conflict while using the bluetooth keyboard? The fact that the wireless is enabled?

I don't see where in Garageband I can set specific latencies.

Thanks again. I am so ready to throw the Ozone out the window.

Or your digital sync source is set incorrectly. There should only be a single master for the digital sync source.

How much RAM do you have?

I suggest getting an external 7200rpm firewire drive for audio files. OSX will allway use part of your system disk for virtual memory. when you open Garage Band and and any virtual instrument or effect more virtual memory is needed. OSX may delay the recording/playback to handle it's house keeping.

I also have a Powerbook, I had pops and clicks until I added a dedicated audio drive, and tweaked the DAWS bufferes if need be.

My RAM is maxed out at 1.25 gigs. You really think an external drive will help? I guess I can give it a shot.

However, I see nowhere that I can "tweak" the Ozone's buffers. How do I set the digital sync source in Garageband?

Yeah, I'm a nOOb. But I really thought the Powerbook could handle this. I play on and off and you know, it may be my imagination, but I think maybe 10.49 had something to do with it.

I e-mailed M-Audio support and they suggested reparing permissions (which I did after the 10.49 update) and they also suggested turning off wireless and bluetooth. Wireless I guess I don't have a problem with turning off, but NO WAY I should have to turn bluetooth off. I use my bluetooth keyboard so I can get far away from the LCD monitor and avoid "machine" noise.

Well,

It looks like it's a problem with the Ozone. Here are the troubleshooting steps I've taken:

Changed latency from medium to low to high in the Ozone control panel. Still I get clicks and pops
Hooked up an external firewire drive (3.5 inch 7200 rpm). Tried changing latency settings again with the ozone control panel.
Turned off wireless. Turned off the dashboard.
Changed audio preferences in Garageband from max simultaneous audio tracks to minimum delay playing live.
I tried three different guitar cables.

This thing is a dud.

Also, my Powerbook is maxed out with 1.25 gigs of RAM. 1.5 gig processor. 100 gig 7200 RPM drive.

Also, when recording a guitar track EVERY other track is locked.

I think Metro SE is right, this sounds like a sync issue. Check the settings in the Ozone control panel against the settings in the Audio tab of Audio MIDI Setup (Utilities Folder). Can't quite say what the settings should be exactly but try switching them around. The bottom line is: there should only be one digital master clock coming from either the internal clock or the Ozone. If there is two clocks going at the same time they won't match properly resulting in these annoying clicks. Worth a try...