1 Topic by popsicle (edited by popsicle 2022-08-02 13:44:37)

  • Registered: 2022-05-13
  • Posts: 21

Topic: [solved]RME UCX II Recording Clicks errors & playback headphone clicks

Hi All,

I'm having problems with my new UCX II.

I've just spent a month mixing a record for a client with my new UCXII, and the UCXII worked fine for mixing on my Neumann KH120A's. Now I'm trying to record and I've run into several problems with the UCXII.

1. Recording clicks
2. Playback clicks in my Audiotechnica ATH-M50x headphones on Ableton Live and macos audio ie spotify, mp3's, youtube etc
3. Turning off the UCXII crashes the USB Bus rendering all devices on the bus unusable (bluetooth kb mouse, hd, etc)

My setup is 2017 iMac 27" running macOS Catalina 10.15.7.

Troubleshooting I have done so far:
- Total Mix > Options > Reset Mix > Total Reset
- unplugged all usb devices from mac except the UCXII
- unplugged all thunderbolt devices from mac
- unplugging all connections to and from the UCXII except the headphones & guitar input (when recording)
- setting latency rates up to 1024samples
- setting sample rates 44100 thru 96000
- reinstalling the ucxii driver
- installing the latest ucxii firmware
- using the supplied USB-B cable
- using the supplied USB-C cable
- using a Monster Cable Performance USB 2.0 Audio Cable USB-A to USB-B
- using a 2021 Macbook air with freshly rebuilt macOS Monterey 12.4 and freshly installed UCXII driver
- plugging the UCXII power supply into a different power point


Problem 1: Recording Clicks
Here is an example recorded at 44100Hz.
First riff is recorded using Warm Audio WA73 into UCXII Input 8.
All subsequent riffs recorded into UCXII Input3 set to 'Instrument' in TotalMix FX
https://www.dropbox.com/s/adgol886zmwrw … .wav?raw=1

Second example recorded at 96000hz
Riffs recorded into UCXII Input 3 set to 'Instrument' in TotalMix FX
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oqyja1r5o7qx8 … .wav?raw=1

Problem 2: Audiotechnica ATH-M50x Headphone clicks
I have not recorded these clicks as they only show in the headphones.
They do not show on any meter in Total Mix FX.
If I loopback the Master channel and record into Ableton Live, the clicks are not on the recording where they are present in the headphones.
They kind of sound like the clicks in the above guitar examples.
Clicks were present when plugged into iMac 2017 and MacBook Air 2021.
I even tried unplugging the UCXII entirely, no computer, nothing plugged in, and the clicks were still there occasionally.

Problem 3: Turning off UCXII crashes the USB Bus on my iMac 2017.
This problem is really irritating as I lose any ability to control my computer as the mouse and keyboard stop working, all external HDDs are ejected.

Solutions?
I'm hoping to figure out what is going on with this box.
Have I got a dud?
Should I send the box back?
I can't record with this box, and cant mix on headphones due to the clicks making me think I have clipped mixes.

Thanks, Pops.

2 Reply by popsicle (edited by popsicle 2022-07-21 03:52:44)

  • Registered: 2022-05-13
  • Posts: 21

Re: [solved]RME UCX II Recording Clicks errors & playback headphone clicks

Anyone got any ideas on what might be wrong with my UCXII? Anything I can try before sending it back?

Thanks, Pops

3 Reply by popsicle (edited by popsicle 2022-08-01 00:17:38)

  • Registered: 2022-05-13
  • Posts: 21

Re: [solved]RME UCX II Recording Clicks errors & playback headphone clicks

Hi all,

I had a technical expert friend come over this weekend to troubleshoot the issues I was having. We went through all the problems I am having.

Problem 1: Recording Clicks
After much troubleshooting we discovered that one of my guitars, a genuine fender mustang, has a very small "static electricity" problem when touching one of the screws holding the pickups. A hard problem to troubleshoot because it doesn't do it when connected to an amp, or my previous interface. My tech thinks it's something to do with how the RME inputs are made, he had some idea about why, but I wasn't technical enough to understand it, but the solution he thinks is to add shielding under the pick guard, so we will try that.

Problem 2: Audiotechnica ATH-M50x Headphone clicks
We couldn't get the clicks to go away, no matter which computer they were connected to, including his windows machine. Interestingly we tried two other sets of headphones and they did not have the same problem. Both the Sennheiser HD 25-1 II's 70ohm and the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro's 250ohm did not exhibit any clicking. We couldn't get the ATH-M50x's to make the clicking on other sources (iPhone via adapter, Focusrite Pro40, Sansui Amp) so we just put it down to the ATH-M50x not being a good match for the UCXII. I'll just end up buying some new headphones to workaround this issue.

Problem 3: Turning off UCXII crashes the USB Bus on my iMac 2017
We rebuilt my computer with a fresh copy of OSX 10.15.7, completely reformatting the HD and starting again. This has solved the crashing USB Bus.

Hopefully if someone else is having a similar problem they will see this post.

Thanks, Pops.

  • From: Norway
  • Registered: 2021-06-21
  • Posts: 445

Re: [solved]RME UCX II Recording Clicks errors & playback headphone clicks

You should put [solved] to topic. Nice informative posting and follow up!

ADI-2 DAC, ADI-2 PRO, DigifaceUSB, UCXII, ARC, HEGEL.h80, KEF.ls50, HD650, ie400pro _,.\''/.,_