Do I need an Audio Interface?

[TimeForMusic]

I'm on a Mac Pro with 64 GB of RAM.

 

I've been using the standard Built-in Audio on my Mac (my only option at the moment), and have a very large project with many, many instances of PLAY loaded; some of which have several different instruments loaded in per instance. Obviously, it is a large project, but I need to figure out how to make Logic handle it. My CPU meter has been maxing out and the project will freeze often, causing all audio will die out or cause a system overload. My buffer size is set to maximum.

 

I've heard that a solution to this is to get an audio interface, as the Built-in Audio apparently won't cut it for large projects. Does anyone have some good recommendations (specifically for a Mac Logic Pro X user with many East West QL libraries (HS, HB, EWQLSO, SD2, etc.))?

 

(keep in mind, there's no recording of audio - just playback of software instruments that's being buggy)

 

If you believe that getting an Audio Interface is not the solution, please let me know and suggest an alternative.

 

Thanks!

[Eric Cardenas]

I'm not sure getting a new interface will help you that much in this regard.

I would freeze or render tracks to transfer some of the CPU-load to disk streaming instead.

Or try something like Vienna's VEP to use Play as standalone or on a secondary computer.

[hmowday]

Hi. If it's only playback have you increased the latency buffer?

The higher the number, the less load on the machine.

 

Also, if you are after exception audio from your mac why not running optical out into a good amp.

Even most modern hifi amps have optical in nowadays.

 

I know this is not conventional but just suggestions.