everytime i turn on my computer, my audio interface gets a voltage spike, is this normal?

[ni guang xin]

everytime i turn on my computer, the input level meter on my interface overloads for a second

(this thing has been bothering me for years, never found a good answer on the internet for some reason)

if my speakers are on before i turned on my mac, or when i don't turn off the speakers before

i turn off my mac, the speakers would a loud pop sound (because of this, i never turn speaker on before computer)

when my iMac is on, and i unplug the interface, connecting to laptop, the interface would again spike

is this normal? is there another way around? will this damage my computer ???

[fisherking]

do you shut your mac off? i almost never do that, i let it sleep. but if you're powering on, make sure your speakers are OFF first.

never unplug/plug in your audio interface when your speakers are on... as you can see, not a good idea. quit logic, turn off your speakers, then uplug or plug in your interface.

[ni guang xin]

I turn off my Mac everyday lol! 

[wonshu]

I have two separate powerstrips that I switch off completely when the machine is not in use:

One for the monitor controller and speakers and one for the computer, drives and other peripheral.

The speakers get turned on last, like @fisherking says. That's how the pros do it. 😉 

[fisherking]

7 hours ago, ni guang xin said:

I turn off my Mac everyday lol! 

why? you can just sleep it, then wake it when you need. and an occasional reboot is useful (it 'flushes' the ram, among other things). 

anyway, most people i know (pros, non-pros), sleep their macs (or sometimes shut down). just a suggestion, of course.

[wonshu]

I want devices to be off. Off off. :-)

[analogika]

6 hours ago, wonshu said:

I want devices to be off. Off off. 🙂

Then get yourself a computer from 1972. Everything since the 80s has at least a buffer battery running the clock and some basic settings. 

[wonshu]

I suppose.

[fisherking]

who cares, really? turn it off, leave it on, let it sleep. we can (and should) do what we want with the computer we own.

more on-topic; the OP can amend their behavior, and should no longer experience audio spikes. how we use our macs when we're using them matters...

[analogika]

11 hours ago, fisherking said:

who cares, really? turn it off, leave it on, let it sleep. we can (and should) do what we want with the computer we own.

more on-topic; the OP can amend their behavior, and should no longer experience audio spikes. how we use our macs when we're using them matters...

Back when I worked in service ("Grandpa, tell us stories of the olden days!" I hear you cry), we had customers who kept their desktops on power strips and switched them off whenever they weren't using them. This would prematurely deplete the buffer battery that maintained boot settings and ran the system clock, eventually causing problems and startup delays until we replaced it. 

I understand the desire to have machines "off" off, but it's really not been a Good Idea™ for decades now.