MacBook Pros 2018 announced by Apple - "barely more than a refresh"

[editor]

I was bitten by that with my mac mini, but at the time there were not widespread reports about it so I didnt know if it was only an issue with my model of audio interface. I got round it because my interface also has thunderbolt connectivity.

The issue for me is not so much that this bug happened, its how long Apple are taking to fix it. I wonder if the fix will be prioritised now that there are negative articles about it.

Macs are rightly regarded for their excellent audio capabilities but this is a disaster for anyone affected.

For audio professionals the issue may make a Mac difficult to use in recording, and simply unusable for live performances. It isn't clear at present how many are impacted by the issue, as it does not manifest universally.

Apple's T2 proving troublesome for some professional audio interface users

The problem is, it appears that this new chip has introduced glitches on a wide variety of external audio hardware from across the pro audio industry, thanks to a bug in Apple’s software," CDM's Peter Kirn notes. "Issues with the way the new chip synchronizes timing causes dropouts and glitches in the audio stream."

The sound interruptions are frequent enough that users on multiplesupport forums say the new Macs are "pretty much useless" for either studio work or live performances via the affected interfaces. The issue impacts virtually every major hardware vendor and device that connects via the internal USB 2.0, which includes a vast amount of legacy hardware that people don't want to or can't upgrade.

Turn on, tune in, drop out: Apple's whizz-bang T2 security chips hit a bum note for Mac audio

 

[elbows]

Macs are rightly regarded for their excellent audio capabilities but this is a disaster for anyone affected.

Yeah. I was lucky because I was using pro stuff in a non-pro context at the time, so I wasnt utterly derailed by my weeks of usb audio problems before I switched to thunderbolt cable and got round the issue. Double luck for me, misery and stress for others.

I have no doubt at all that some of the shine has gone off Apple when it comes to many pro audio users, due to things like price, removal of ports, and failure to keep the mac pro line fresh. Quite a lot is riding on the next Mac Pro, if they drop the ball on the new Mac Pro then I expect the decline in this area to accelerate.

 

[elbows]

And there were a bunch of audio app 'much lower than expected performance' issues with the 2018 ipad pros too, some of which have been fixed by iOS updates but it still feels like something is wrong there.