Usb-c from phone audio crackle

wiz1der wrote:I heard back from Akai support - just sharing here for anyone else. Hopefully this gets sorted in a future update. I was researching and I'm not 100% sure but I think it is due to Android OS outputting 48k sample rate.

They offered me a free plugin or expansion pack lol.

"After further feedback, it appears that there is an in-compatibility problem when sampling from Android devices over USB-C. Whilst we expect USB-C sampling feature to work on most phones, due to the wide variety of devices available, some may not be fully compatible.

We’re actively collecting feedback and sharing this with our development team to review this behaviour. Until this is addressed, you can still use an analog audio connection to record from Android devices.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

Fingers crossed!

Lampdog wrote:I think it's big enough where it wont be ignored, just gotta wait on the fix.

Yeah I was thinking about it earlier. They're advertising as recording from a phone as a feature and it's a bit of a problem if many devices can't do it. However it's also maybe out of their control? Though if it is to do with sample rate then hopefully they can pop a system setting in that changes it to match. If it's to do with power draw then maybe they can pop a disable option in. I suspect it's to do with sample rate though.

I can't complain though, this is my first ever sampler hardware and I've got it to learn and have fun, which so far it is definitely giving me!

Lampdog wrote:FIRST EVER SAMPLER?

EVER?

Congrats on that. A great pad banging world awaits you.

I have sampled from my ipad using the included cable many times already and only a few times I got crackles. Mostly crackles came from samples in memory, even some of the default samples were affected.

Not all samples, still, I’ve made some fun stuff on it so far.

Yeah! First ever. I have messed around a bit in Ableton, and done some super generic keymapoing stuff but it's a total blindspot in music creation for me. When I read about this being released I was intrigued and I just kept thinking about it. I'm sick of computer screens and I get obsessed with tweaking so something I can take away and play with and sketch and just learn about this new-to-me way of making music can only be a good thing. 41 years old, head of a university music dept. And won't stop learning until the day I die

Hi there !

Same issue with the firmware 1.3.0 with my google pixel.

I've also noticed that the MPC uses the phone's battery to charge itself. That might be the source of the audio crackling

Billy777 wrote:Hi there !

Same issue with the firmware 1.3.0 with my google pixel.

I've also noticed that the MPC uses the phone's battery to charge itself. That might be the source of the audio crackling

Yes it seems to be a common issue. I think it will either be the power or a sample rate problem within android. If you report your issue to akai, it will help us all out. And they gave me a plugin of my choice, too!

It is a rate mismatch, or block-size (frame size) mismatch. without question. internally the machine is fixed at 48000 192 (or maybe 128) iirc if your slave device isnt capable of the same rate as the internal device is set to you end up with the noticable clicking and popping. Op is correct in his assumption. perhaps that phone cant do as small of a frame size as the mpc itself or its just detecting and setting the settings incorrectly.

You can wait around for a patch—or even a hardware revision—to clean this up, but in the meantime, the real fix is a UAC2-compliant galvanic isolator. It’s not Akai gear, and I’m not name-dropping brands, but if you know your signal chain, you already know where to look.
My bet? Firmware eventually smooths it out—but let’s be honest, this isn’t just a quick tweak. You’re talking layered permissions, power negotiation, and handshake control buried inside Android’s USB stack. That means cooperation from Google and every OEM in the chain. Not exactly a fast lane.
Until then, if you actually care about a clean signal and not that low-level electrical grime creeping into your samples, isolate the line and keep your audio path honest.

beekoop wrote:You can wait around for a patch—or even a hardware revision—to clean this up, but in the meantime, the real fix is a UAC2-compliant galvanic isolator. It’s not Akai gear, and I’m not name-dropping brands, but if you know your signal chain, you already know where to look.
My bet? Firmware eventually smooths it out—but let’s be honest, this isn’t just a quick tweak. You’re talking layered permissions, power negotiation, and handshake control buried inside Android’s USB stack. That means cooperation from Google and every OEM in the chain. Not exactly a fast lane.
Until then, if you actually care about a clean signal and not that low-level electrical grime creeping into your samples, isolate the line and keep your audio path honest.

Its not ground noise. It's a sample rate issue/clock issue.

I tested Mediatek and Snapdragon chipset phone, they works fine. Samsung Exynos chipset phone disconnected usb-c after 3 sec.
I had same issues with Koala Sampler, this fixed Samsung in Oneui8.0 firmware update.
I waiting for Akai Support answare.

My Pixel 9 Pro XL is hella noisy. Spent the last week trying to source something locally that would clean it up.

Ended up trying out the trial for USB Audio Player Pro yesterday and am amazed at how well it cleaned things up.

Still testing but looks good so far.

Yes same issue here using a Samsung S22 Ultra and having sample rate mismatch issues causing audiable glitching. Trying to sample from the Koala Sampler app the input sounds horrible. The issue must be that Koala sampler app on Android is fixed at 48 kHz.

Nevertheless, Akai should have sorted this by implementing a setting to change between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz. Hopefully we get an update that addresses this issue...