You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

📰 Newsroom Update

Billie Eilish is Apple Music’s Artist of the Year for 2024. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Music v 1.2.4.3 playback is warbled garbled flanged sounding

I am having a very strange problem. I have 2 old Macs with iTunes. My track plays fine.

When I play it on my newer Macbook with Music, parts of the song with a synth sound warbly and garbled, like it is being run through a flanger. Most of the rest of the track plays normally. Weirdly, it transfers this sound to my iPhone when I sync it. If I send the track from the old Mac as an MP3 in a text message, it has the same warbly garbly issue.

I have tried the AIFF, MP3 and AAC versions of the track and they all do the same thing. Has this happened to anyone else? I tried searching for solutions but didn't find one.

MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Mar 30, 2023 7:14 AM

Top-ranking reply

Robert Keith1 Author

Level 1

13 points

Posted on Apr 17, 2023 5:30 PM

I figured out the problem, but it doesn't really explain why tracks play differently on new Macs vs. old Macs.

I recorded a bunch of tracks using a 30 year old MXR Stereo Chorus pedal. While this sounded fine on my 2015 Mac, the new Macs played the same tracks with warbly, fluttery sound.

The solution was simple. I had to go in using the phase adjustment utility tool in Ableton and adjust individual tracks on a new Mac. Some tracks needed 0 width to sound normal and some sounded fine at around 20-30% width.

Why old Macs sound fine and new ones play with phase issues is very strange.

View in context

Music v 1.2.4.3 playback is warbled garbled flanged sounding

Similar questions