External Audio card- can it solve my problem?

Dear All,

I was searching an answer through the forum however despite I learned a lot of very useful tricks I still cannot completely solve the issue, so please forgive me if this question may sound redundant to other threads.

Config:

LOGIC PRO X

SIERRA 10.12.6

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)

Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory: 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Start up Disk:  SSD HD 500GB (used 255GB)

Audio Interface: Alesis iO4

Speaker: iLoud IK Micromonitor

Issue description

guitar with midi pick up, real time recording of 2 audio tracks ( one is naked, the other has some effects + effects plugins) + 1 Midi track

- Latency 

- CPU system overload errors

I cannot remove plugins or reduce the sampling quality, and I cannot increase any further the RAM since this MacBook Pro cannot read more than 16GB.

what about purchasing external Audio card? would it help? 

I would avoid to buy a new macbook (rather wait to have money to buy an iMacPro...but in the meanwhile I can't stop working  

my settings: ref. to attachment 

thanks a lot in advance for your help, and sending good vibes, Peace 

GiGio

Can you change the buffer to 64?

What plugins are you using specifically?

One of them might create latency.

Can you change the buffer to 64?

What plugins are you using specifically?

One of them might create latency.

firstly thanks for your kind reply:

Guitar (audio) - Amplitube 4 

Keyboard - Logic Pro EXS24 

these two are recorded real time together using midi Guitar, then other tracks

Bass (midi) - Kontatkt 5

Drum - Kontakt 5

- I will try to reduce buffer size to 64 as per your suggestion, what's the CONS/PRO of doing so? can you teach me?

thanks

GiGio

The lower the buffer, the less latency you have, but also more CPU strain.

In short:

Low buffer for recording

High buffer for mixing to avoid system overloads.

The lower the buffer, the less latency you have, but also more CPU strain.

 

In short:

Low buffer for recording

High buffer for mixing to avoid system overloads.

thanks, but I have both problems (latency and overload) at the same time during recording...I need another solution.....I was thinking to an Audio card (not interface), but my knowledge is blocked to many years ago when I used to be a PC user

Audio card = audio interface (same thing). 

I see that "software monitoring" is off in your audio preferences... how are you monitoring what you record? 

I was thinking to an Audio card (not interface), but my knowledge is blocked to many years ago when I used to be a PC user

To complement what David said, you already have an external audio card = audio interface with the Alesis io4.

You are probably overloading your laptop because of so many Kontakt instances.

Try using Drummer to alleviate the CPU strain. Bring down the buffer for less latency, reduce the amount of Undo steps in Logic's preferences.

Audio card = audio interface (same thing). 

 

I see that "software monitoring" is off in your audio preferences... how are you monitoring what you record? 

 

Sorry David, usually "software monitoring"  is turned on I was in playback and forgot to put it back during the snapshot

I was thinking to an Audio card (not interface), but my knowledge is blocked to many years ago when I used to be a PC user

To complement what David said, you already have an external audio card = audio interface with the Alesis io4.

You are probably overloading your laptop because of so many Kontakt instances.

Try using Drummer to alleviate the CPU strain. Bring down the buffer for less latency, reduce the amount of Undo steps in Logic's preferences.

thanks Triplets, I thought there are out there some AUdio cards with their RAM and hardware to decrease the load of CPU on Macbook Pro....

I agree and understand by disabling Kontakt I resolve the problem, I can confirm this but it's not a solution, the kontakt sound is way better than what else I found....

so basically I need a better MacbookPro or maybe an iMac to avoid this issues? 

I play on my backtracks live using multiple tracks MIDI/AUDIO it seems also this overloading the system, I can't convert the backtrack into MP3 because based on the musician available I need to be able to turn ON/OFF some tracks (e.g. bass/drum/Key.)

thanks a lot

G

No, you do not need another Mac to avoid this issue.

Choose Record > Low Latency Mode. Does the latency disappear?

Get a Focusrite sound card they are cheap and good! And they don't need driver because they use the class compliant USB protocol or something like this

https://us.focusrite.com/scarlett-range

I agree and understand by disabling Kontakt I resolve the problem, I can confirm this  but it's not a solution, the kontakt sound is way better than what else I found....

You can always bounce in place the drums in Kontakt. That way it only plays back an audio file.

Then if you want to make changes, you do them on the midi region and then bounce in place again.

These are all steps to troubleshoot and to help you get going, and to avoid buying a new computer because of a couple of overloads.