I grabbed my Yeti Pro to record voice work and sound effects only to find Audacity keeps dropping the audio and the audio that was recorded had a week signal and was crackley. I found a work around by using the +48v setting on my iRig Pro. 

The following are details on how I got to the work around.  

Troubleshooting Step 1: Does the Issue persist with Garageband? 

Yes. Audio dropped, had low levels, and had a weak signal. Garageband also gave me the error the bit rate sync was off and instructions to check the conflict between Garageband and the external device. 

Troubleshooting Step 2: Does the Issue persist with built in microphone? 

Nope. The built in microphone records just fine with both Garageband and Audacity.  

Troubleshooting Step 3: Check for software and firmware updates. 

High Sierra is up to date and blue designs.com doesn’t have any firmware or drive updates for Mac that I can find.  

Troubleshooting Step 4: Does issue persist with an older version of Mac OS?

No. I tested the Yeti Pro on a Mac Mini running macOS Yosemite 10.10. There were no errors in Garageband and the audio sounds fine. 

Conclusion

The issue is the a result of my upgrade. For some reason High Sierra macOS Sierra 10.13. no longer supports the chipset for my Yeti Pro.

Is my Yeti too Old? 

It occurred to me that my microphone is about 8 years old and maybe it had something to do with the age. I did a search online and I found some confirmation on the Apple Forum. It turns out older Yeti Pros had issues starting with OS X El Capitan 10.11.

Older and newer Yeti Pros can be distinguished by the markings by the USB port. New USB ports have the letters U S B printed by the port while the older  microphones do not.

Work Around

Good news! I don’t have to throw my microphone away. The Yeti Pro is a condenser microphone. That means it will work with a +48v preamp, also known as phantom power for us older recordings guys.

If you follow my blog, you know I’ve been working with the iRig Pro (click for more info). It turns out the iRig Pro has a +48v setting for condenser microphones.

I just need to connect the Yeti Pro to the iRig with the XLR cable then turn on the +48v power. I get a strong signal in both Garageband and Audacity with no errors. The only drawback is the built in headphone out does not with when using the Yeti Pro with phantom power

Please note that I’m am using the iRig Pro because I have it readily available but any direct box, mixer or preamp that supports +48v phantom power with work. Hope this helps someone.