Questions & Answers

Digital Distortion with iO station 24c & Pro Tools

+1 vote
1,469 views
asked Apr 13, 2021 in ioStation24c by davidlindner (190 points)
I just got the iostation 24c, using it with pro tools. I get digital distortion all the time. I may have found a way to get it to work, but it's a big hassle. I have to change the play back engine in pro tools to the mac speakers, then back to the iostation. Then it seems to work. I had been using the AR12C and never had this problem, but had to move it elsewhere to use.

I tried changing word clock settings, but the iostation doesn't seem to allow an external word clock. And in pro tools, I don't have the option under setup>hardware to change word clock while using the iostation.

I love presonus gear, but, So far, not super pleased with the iostation.

6 Answers

+1 vote
answered Apr 14, 2021 by ggyfuplb (160 points)
Hi David,

I have exactly the same issue using the ioStation 24 with Pro Tools. Initially I had to up the HW buffer size to max to get audio happening at all, and I have had the same issues as you since then.

I also get mangled audio sometimes if I stream anything (youtube, soundcloud etc). I then have to change the computer audio output and then switch it back again. I bought this as I thought it would be a more elegant solution than my old Mbox Pro 3 (that used to dropout occasionally and I'd have to reboot pro tools).

This is a big time waster and it would be great if there is a simple solution which I haven't found yet (I've read everything I can find and tried all of the obvious troubleshooting). According to all the Presonus literature it should work seamlessly...
0 votes
answered Apr 14, 2021 by davidlindner (190 points)
Yeah, I discovered yesterday that if I have Mac's "Audio MIDI Setup" window open and change the sample rate there and wait a few seconds, the distorted system audio will go away for using YouTube, etc. Of course, if you do that while using pro tools, Pro tools doesn't like that.

I never had this kind of a problem with the AR12C, I'm confident Presonus can fix this if they desire to do so.
0 votes
answered Jan 20, 2022 by irvinjohnson (140 points)
I have the same problem as you guys. Did you ever find an answer for the problem. This is discouraging.
0 votes
answered Jan 23, 2022 by alexandervanengelen (140 points)
Hi David, i experience the same issue! (M1 mac mini with protools and io station24c) My portable setup.

Digital glitching en distortion when playing audio after some time or sometimes very soon.

Increasing the buffer size helps, but it should not be an issue at all. My other interfaces don't give me this headache.

Presonus has to solve this.

cheer Alex.
0 votes
answered Mar 18, 2022 by rodneysino-cruz (140 points)
Is there a solution to this? So disappointed in the iostation. Never had any issues on my Scarlett 2i2.
0 votes
answered Apr 14, 2023 by laurensprimusz (140 points)
I’m experiencing exactly the same behaviour from my iostation. Did Presonus ever chime in regarding this issue? It’s a bona fide creativity killer and showstopper.
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