I have tried opening Audacity through Terminal (which has been granted Full Disk Access):
sudo open /applications/audacity.app/contents/macos/audacity
This spits out a bunch of error codes:
iMac2019:~ shane$ /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ -\ Data/Applications/Audacity.app/Contents/MacOS/Wrapper ; exit;
Attempting to connect to Audacity failed...retrying
||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Failed to open AUHAL component.||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Error on line 1263: err='-50', msg=Unknown Error
||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| OpenStream @ 8000 returned: -9986: Internal PortAudio error
||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Failed to open AUHAL component.||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Error on line 1263: err='-50', msg=Unknown Error
||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| OpenStream @ 9600 returned: -9986: Internal PortAudio error
||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Failed to open AUHAL component.||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Error on line 1263: err='-50', msg=Unknown Error
||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| OpenStream @ 11025 returned: -9986: Internal PortAudio error
||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Failed to open AUHAL component.||PaMacCore (AUHAL)|| Error on line 1263: err='-50', msg=Unknown Error
(continues for every sample rate)
This is strange because I use other audio apps (Logic/Sibelius) all the time with no issues.
The error appeared to be with PortAudio, so I compiled the latest version and installed it through Terminal. No change.
The big msytery is, what exactly is happening on line 1263? Maybe Audacity is trying to communicate with AUHAL?
Anyone able to shed light on what error -50 might actually entail?
Here is the Audio Device Info output:
==============================
Default recording device number: 3
Default playback device number: 2
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: HDMI to VGA
Host name: Core Audio
Recording channels: 0
Playback channels: 2
Low Recording Latency: 0.01
Low Playback Latency: 0.0103855
High Recording Latency: 0.1
High Playback Latency: 0.0205442
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: Built-in Microphone
Host name: Core Audio
Recording channels: 2
Playback channels: 0
Low Recording Latency: 0.00294785
Low Playback Latency: 0.01
High Recording Latency: 0.0131066
High Playback Latency: 0.1
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: Built-in Output
Host name: Core Audio
Recording channels: 0
Playback channels: 2
Low Recording Latency: 0.01
Low Playback Latency: 0.0158957
High Recording Latency: 0.1
High Playback Latency: 0.0260544
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: Scarlett 18i8 USB
Host name: Core Audio
Recording channels: 20
Playback channels: 8
Low Recording Latency: 0.01
Low Playback Latency: 0.00455782
High Recording Latency: 0.1
High Playback Latency: 0.0147166
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: BlackHole 16ch
Host name: Core Audio
Recording channels: 16
Playback channels: 16
Low Recording Latency: 0.01
Low Playback Latency: 0.00145125
High Recording Latency: 0.1
High Playback Latency: 0.01161
Supported Rates:
==============================
Selected recording device: 3 - Scarlett 18i8 USB
Selected playback device: 4 - BlackHole 16ch
Supported Rates:
No sample rates are supported for any device. This is true even when I remove every external device and attempt to use the internal mic and speakers. Rescanned transport devices. I’ve tried uninstalling Focusrite Control and drivers in case they were creating a conflict (they weren’t). No dice.
Another thing: Audacity will not prompt for mic access. Audacity didn’t appear in the Privacy settings at all. Out of desperation I injected Audacity into the mic permissions, but that didn’t help. Audacity does not show up in the Mic permissions though… I’m guessing, since AUHAL isn’t working at all, Audacity never gets far enough to even prompt for mic access.
Audacity launches, but if I try to play or record, I get a -9997 error (invalid sample rate). I’ve tried every sample rate combination under the sun in Audio MIDI Setup, it’s definitely not that.
Everything used to work on Mojave. After Catalina, Audacity started giving these errors. I have reset tcc.db, I have reinstalled macOS, and I have tried enabling/disabling SIP. I reset NVRAM and even codesigned Audacity myself, but it still doesn’t work!
I have a lot of AU plugins installed, so I went looking for any that might be causing trouble, but auvatool was happy with them all. I’ve removed any unneeded startup daemons or redundant drivers. In Audacity I disabled every effect to eliminate the possibility of a misbehaving plugin. I may even go so far as deleting/moving every plugin in case that makes a difference, but I’m afraid it might affect my work so I’m hesitant to try that.
I tested a fresh install of Catalina on a different drive. Audacity works! But it’s incredibly choppy and sluggish. Plus, it’s no good since I can’t boot it off the drive where I need it, where all my audio work takes place.
Booting Audacity from the other drive (where it works) doesn’t work. I get the same errors.
I’ve seen a couple other users on here report identical problems, but they were never solved. This issue persists on every build, dev and stable, from 2.3.1 onwards (the first 64 bit build). Even with Gatekeeper completely disabled.
Audacity is my primary wave editor, so I’m desperate to get it working again.
Things still to try:
- New user account
- Delete/move all AU (component) plugins
- Compile Audacity myself from source code
- Bite the bullet and do a factory reset, migrate data back afterwards
You can have a look at the full debug report here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k7B3R06F6YN8i_hhtC2Gs5lV6S939Bjb/view?usp=sharing
Computer:
iMac 27" 2019
i5 9600
40GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro 580X
Catalina 10.15.5 Supplemental Update, running off an external SSD
Focusrite 18i8 USB soundcard. There’s also a UAD-2 DSP accelerator connected if that’s relevant.
I’ve done multiple malware scans, nothing fishy in Activity Monitor or daemons.
Let me know if you spot anything that I haven’t!
Cheers
Shane