Specs, DAW Computer, Opinions

[fretworn]

Yeah, but I can’t upgrade the friggin RAM on the Mini.

Im curious now if GGD is causing performance issues on top of the Neural plugs.

What happens when you run everything in Rosetta?

 

[Whizzinby]

I dunno. I'm just not fully convinced that RAM is your problem.

I'm thinking that If I can run multiple JVM instances with memory hog databases and multiple browsers with hundreds of tabs open on my M1 with 16GB of RAM, and experience no problems; then you really ought to be able to run "average" demand audio processing with what you've already got (which is the same hardware as me).

I agree, but I’ll be damned if I don’t have to deal with this every time I started adding more than a handful of plugs. It ends up making me cut short the the mixing/mastering stuff because the audio starts glitching, and I get midi sync errors. (which to the best of my knowledge is just performance related as the computer starts it’s self destruct sequence from the overload)

 

[Whizzinby]

What happens when you run everything in Rosetta?

Never tried it.

 

[fretworn]

Never tried it.

You should try it once or twice… I used to run Logic in Rosetta to deal with non-native Apple Silicon, software conflicts (Native Kontact Kontroller)

But I put it back after Native said they fixed it.

 

[jellodog]

@Whizzinby Just keep in mind that the first time you run an app under Rosetta, it takes longer for it to start up because the x86 binaries initially have their instructions translated to ARM instructions on the fly. After that they should start faster.

 

[Whizzinby]

I can’t rule out user error (I’m an idiot) but I don’t know if this is “excessive” or not, or poor routing…

Kontakt running GGD on the drum buss.

Two instances of Darkglass, one on each bass track. (Was trying @SeeD’s idea of having one track set clean, and one track set slightly dirtier) This all feeding to a bass bus.

Guitars. A clean bus running the SLO plug. And ambient bus running another instance of the SLO. Then a dirty bus running Nolly.

So basically 6 sims total before mixing.

Once mixing I generally add ProQ on the guitar and bass busses. (So 4 total on this project)

I’ve been running Soothe2 on the guitar busses, so three instances. (Maybe I could route all the guitar buses to another uber guitar bus to only run this once?)

Then I’ll run Neutron on all the individual bass and guitar buses. (So four instances)

Then I run Ozone on the master bus.

I have no idea if that’s too much shit for a project, or normal. It certainly doesn’t seem to want to run all that smoothly.

 

[jellodog]

@Whizzinby What do you see when you open Activity Monitor and sort by % CPU, and then after that by Memory? Either your culprit will be in there, or else it should be obvious that it's death by a thousand cuts.

 

[fretworn]

I cannot comment on the NDSP plug’s performance…

But I run in Neutron4 on at least 4-5 stereo tracks.
Ozone10 sit on the Master bus.

No issues

 

[jellodog]

@Whizzinby I know we've discussed this before in this thread BUT:

Did you try different buffer settings in the end? It's not clear from the discussion how much you experimented with that setting. Unsuitable buffer allocations can and do result in stuttering.

 

[Whizzinby]

@Whizzinby I know we've discussed this before in this thread, and Sascha said it wouldn't affect playback... BUT:

Did you try different buffer settings in the end? It's not clear from the discussion how much you experimented with that setting. Unsuitable buffer allocations can and do result in stuttering.

I just ran the project with activity monitor going. At peak the CPU utilization is 35% (65% idle) and the RAM utilization is around 9GB. So that doesn’t look bad, but I’m getting some clicks, stuttering, and this error starts popping up at different times.

Here are my buffer settings.

 

[jellodog]

Okay. Time to up that buffer. Just start by doubling it and seeing if there's any noticeable difference. It will increase latency, but if you're not recording, then that doesn't matter so much.

 

[fretworn]

yup; 256, 512, 1024

 

[jellodog]

Wait a minute? Why is that such a weird sample rate? That could relate to an inadequate buffer size, though.

 

[fretworn]

Wait a minute? Why is that such a weird sample rate? That could relate to the buffer size, though.

I was wondering the same thing

 

[fretworn]

Wait a minute? Why is that such a weird sample rate? That could relate to an inadequate buffer size, though.

Is it a conflict between the scarlet and logic?

 

[jellodog]

Is it a conflict between the scarlet and logic?

I'm wondering if the Scarlett isn't even set up correctly as an input / output device for Logic to consume.

@Whizzinby You should also open the Audio Midi Setup app and check the configured sample rates in there for your Scarlett in case they're misconfigured. May even be worth removing and re-adding the device; sometimes that helps.

 

[jellodog]

I'm even more convinced that this is totally solvable and the M1 is more than enough for Whiz.

 

[mavrick102000]

I'm even more convinced that this is totally solvable and the M1 is more than enough for Whiz.

I'm running a mid 2015 Macbook Pro with 16gb of ram with a bunch of inserts and never even a glitch

THat odd sample rate has to be coming from the scarlett setup.

Whizz you want to set that to 44.1K under Audio/Midi on your mac mini

 

[jellodog]

Also try another USB cable if just upping the buffer size doesn't work.

 

[mavrick102000]

Adding to JelloDog's post.

An odd question, but just checking... You don't have one of those cell phone chargers you set the phone on top of on your desk do you?

If so make sure any USB cables don't come too close or lay on top of it. It will act like an antenna and take the current in, that's bad for audio and other electronic components at each end.