Strange Issues w/ New 2013 MBPR

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Level 1

12 points

Strange Issues w/ New 2013 MBPR

Ok so I just got my brand new 2013 15" Macbook Pro retina, fully maxed out with 1TB SSD and 16gigs of RAM. Going through the long process of reinstalling everything and putting my settings how I like them when I noticed something weird.

When I open up Ableton, under the Audio preferences tab it says it has 19+ milliseconds of Overall Latency. With no audio interface connected, this is just stock with Core Audio. This is weird because my previous gen 2012 MBPR had 7.80ms Overall Latency, with the same settings, no interface, nothing, fresh out the box.

This doesn't make sense to me. I didn't do anything different. And I haven't even installed a single plugin yet. Why does the new gen MBPR have much higher latency fresh out the box? I thought it was supposed to be faster. It boggles the mind.

Any ideas what could be contributing to this? Anyone else experiencing similar issues? Could it be defective? Or does it have something to do with the newer chipsets causing more latency for some reason? I don't get it.

I'm hoping it's just a simple setting I need to change, but really I have no idea what would cause this. It should have just as much latency as the previous gen does but instead it's much much higher.

I've also noticed some weird screen flickering, especially when quitting Ableton. I really hope it's not defective. Any thoughts? Thanks

Macbook Pro Unibody, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Oct 31, 2013 12:38 AM

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Answer 1

hipdeejay Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 5, 2013 11:57 PM in response to hipdeejay

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/880625-2013-retina-macbook-weird- issue.html

As you can see in the link above, other users are experiencing the same issues with this new MBPR. And it's not just with Ableton, Logic also shares this problem.

For some reason Mavericks or the new machines are causing severe audio latency. Any idea? Can't find any other info on this anywhere

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Answer 2

Nov 6, 2013 4:47 AM in response to hipdeejay

I have the same problem on new 2013 15" 2.3 16GB. I have logged a support call with Apple and they are looking into it.

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Answer 3

LowLuster

Level 6

12,105 points

Nov 6, 2013 5:30 AM in response to hipdeejay

Contact the vendor of that software and get updates for the newest Mac OS.

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Answer 4

Nov 6, 2013 5:35 AM in response to LowLuster

It's not only with Ableton Live, the latency issue is in Apple's Logic Pro X as well. It's a problem with the core audio. Doesn't seem to be Mavericks related either.

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Answer 5

LowLuster

Level 6

12,105 points

Nov 6, 2013 5:38 AM in response to djmemewinter

Then return your Mac as defective. You have 14 days from date of purchase to return it No Questions Asked for a full refund.

Or just deal with it as is and hope Apple does something about it.

djmemewinter wrote:

It's not only with Ableton Live, the latency issue is in Apple's Logic Pro X as well. It's a problem with the core audio. Doesn't seem to be Mavericks related either.

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Answer 6

Nov 6, 2013 5:42 AM in response to LowLuster

Thanks LowLuster, that's exactly what I'm doing, waiting on Apple. I just mentioned it above in case other people have the same problem.

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Answer 7

hipdeejay Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 6, 2013 8:57 AM in response to LowLuster

You're missing the point. This problem seems to be affecting ALL of these machines. The new 2013 retinas specifically have some audio latency issue across the board. It's not just 1 or 2 machines. Everyone with this model is experiencing this issue. Something with the new hardware is causing latency issues.

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Answer 8

Nov 6, 2013 9:19 AM in response to hipdeejay

No I do understand, and it's why I went straight to Apple when I spotted it. I'm hoping it'll be fixed with a driver/firmware update. Otherwise I'll return mine. Apple are working on the problem I reported, and the laptop their support guys tested in the lab had a lower latency.

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Answer 9

hipdeejay Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 6, 2013 9:27 AM in response to djmemewinter

I was actually referring to LowLuster. But yeah this is not good. I'm still waiting on my replacement machine but I have a feeling it will have the same latency issue. Hopefully this gets fixed soon

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Answer 10

Nov 6, 2013 9:33 AM in response to hipdeejay

I'll update when I hear back from Apple. My contact hasn't heard back from engineering yet.

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Answer 11

Nov 6, 2013 10:27 AM in response to hipdeejay

Called Apple Care today, but they really had no answers. I'm following this thread, but likely returning in a few days without a concrete answer.

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Answer 12

ciu5781

Level 1

10 points

Nov 12, 2013 11:37 PM in response to WillyBeamin

Do we need bump? 😐

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Answer 13

Nov 12, 2013 11:43 PM in response to ciu5781

Apple are still working on the problem I reported. I would suggest that everyone who has the problem calls Apple. I reported it as a latency issue with core audio in Logic Pro. That got me through to someone who knew Logic, compared my screenshots with what they saw and agreed my latency was higher than what they saw.

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Answer 14

Dec 5, 2013 2:14 AM in response to hipdeejay

Just got the news from one of my colleagues who got his 15 mbp delivered yesterday that he got the same issues, he spoke to Apple Pro support and just like others stated it seems that they cannot replicate the error at their end. He was asked to return the laptop as defective and ask for a replacement but after reading all this threads all over the net I doubt that will solve the problem... Tempted to return it and ask for our money back but this guy needs an Apple laptop since he is our Logic trainer! Right now Im trying to figure out what to do next...

I really hope this will be sorted out for all of us!

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Answer 15

Dec 5, 2013 2:21 AM in response to hipdeejay

The response I eventually got back from Apple was:

"Yes core audio group has come back to me and have said there will be a software update to address this issue in the future. No date specified for this though!! All I can say is just wait for a software update that will resolve this."

So we wait.

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