What causes this sound lag in Logic?

[globet]

I have the CPU meter turned on and it's far from overloading. However, when I press a MIDI input, the sound has about a .5 second lag. When I open another project, the .5 second lag disappears. What's the issue here?

Edited January 7 by globet

[des99]

Likely, plugin-induced latency.

[globet]

What's a solution to this issue? Turning off all the plugins? 

Edited January 7 by globet

[des99]

Latency is a fact of life when working with DAWs, digital audio, and plugins, and you should understand what it is, what causes it, what latencies a DAW can compensate for, and what latencies will delay the signal, along with the various tools and strategies there are for working with it.

The easy thing is - if you have plugins which are delaying the signal, remove them (turning them off will do nothing), or use Low-latency mode, when tracking to avoid things going out of sync - or replace them with different plugins that don't induce a large latency.

[Alan Shields]

Hover your pointer over each plugin slot (populated, of course). I should give you a read out of the latency for each respective plugin. A few milliseconds should not be too much of an issue but a large number might indicate the culprit. 

Also, check your Latency compensation settings.

Alan.

[globet]

I've fixed the issue, but I don't know why this fixed it. It's necessary to know what caused it.

While I was trying to adjust the faders in unity for all my tracks in the project, this latency/lag issue came up. All movements as well as sounds within the project comes with a .5 second lag.

I've fixed the issue by opening a clean project and then importing everything over.

[globet]

7 hours ago, des99 said:

Latency is a fact of life when working with DAWs, digital audio, and plugins, and you should understand what it is, what causes it, what latencies a DAW can compensate for, and what latencies will delay the signal, along with the various tools and strategies there are for working with it.

The easy thing is - if you have plugins which are delaying the signal, remove them (turning them off will do nothing), or use Low-latency mode, when tracking to avoid things going out of sync - or replace them with different plugins that don't induce a large latency.

Would you agree with the 8 tips in this video?

 

[Dr.Socrates]

There are only three tips in the video (the eight seems to be the number of the video in a series, rather than the number of tips in it) 🙂

Another thing to think about is that you might want to reduce the use of heavy latency-causing plugins in the earlier stages of your projects, while still recording. For example, instead of using an adaptive limiter in the early stages, you might just lower the gains (e.g. using the gain plugin). Then, when mixing and mastering, you can start using the adaptive limiter. 

Also, one thing that I think has not been mentioned above (sorry if I missed something) is that you might want to not turn on input monitoring, since this also causes latency. 

 

[globet]

4 minutes ago, Dr.Socrates said:

There are only three tips in the video (the eight seems to be the number of the video in a series, rather than the number of tips in it) 🙂

Another thing to think about is that you might want to reduce the use of heavy latency-causing plugins in the earlier stages of your projects, while still recording. For example, instead of using an adaptive limiter in the early stages, you might just lower the gains (e.g. using the gain plugin). Then, when mixing and mastering, you can start using the adaptive limiter. 

Also, one thing that I think has not been mentioned above (sorry if I missed something) is that you might want to not turn on input monitoring, since this also causes latency. 

 

That’s correct. 3 tips.

[JakobP]

10 hours ago, globet said:

Would you agree with the 8 tips in this video?

Since it's only 58 seconds, I watched it... And no, I wouldn't agree on it in general. The three tips are lowering the buffer size, raising the sample rate, and using low latency mode. Basically, if you're using latent plugins, you won't even notice the small difference the buffer and sample rate settings make. Only thing that really helps is Low Latency Mode (where the latent plugins get bypassed), or removing the latent plugins from the project. 

[globet]

22 hours ago, globet said:

I've fixed the issue by opening a clean project and then importing everything over.

How come this fixed the lag issue in my old project? 

[globet]

This is the current Audio Devices setting:



Suggestions? Would avoid using Low Latency Mode as we would still like to use the Sends. Also would like to have an immediate MIDI response.

Edited January 9 by globet

[oscwilde]

Why is the UA device not assigned for both out/input?
Take a look t this video if you hven't already seen it:

 

[globet]

1 hour ago, oscwilde said:

Why is the UA device not assigned for both out/input?
Take a look t this video if you hven't already seen it:

 

That's a good point, missed that one. What about I/O Buffer Size and Recording Delay?

[Mania]

You can also try: 'reset channel strip' on STEREO OUT. Just in case something got stuck there. (You had a latency inducing plugin on there then later removed it but latency stayed) 

[oscwilde]

5 hours ago, globet said:

What about I/O Buffer Size and Recording Delay?

Depends on the Mac/project/plug-ins...
Follow the video and then experiment with buffers etc. until you find the "tipping point" where artefacts start to happen. Back off from there and you'll find the "compromise".
As @des99 and others have mentioned, latency is a fact of life with digital audio systems - and there's no "eliminating" it, but you can minimise it. Once at that point, it's a case of working around things (disabling/bypassing plugs, or introducing pre-delays, bouncing/freezing, a.s.o.)

[JakobP]

3 hours ago, oscwilde said:

disabling/bypassing plugs

Fwiw, this makes no difference at all...

[oscwilde]

7 minutes ago, JakobP said:

Fwiw, this makes no difference at all...

With LLM....sorry that wasn't clear.