Suddenly high latency

Hey Pim,

I had the same problem. I'm using a MBP 13'' 2011 and a Focusrite Saffire, too. I searched for a long time to find out, that Mavericks seems to be the problem. I solved the problem like this:

Go to your Audio-MIDI-Setup and choose the window for your audio-components.To the left you should see your saffire and the integrated in- and outputs.

Then you click the little "+" on the down left to create a new audio-unit. Then you choose to create a unit with multiple outputs. I'm not sure if I named it correctly in english, cause my system uses a different language.

This way you create a combi between your saffire and the integrated in- and outputs. For your clock-settings you should choose your saffire. As audio-unit I choose both, the saffire and the integrated output. you should mark the drift-correction on the integrated outputs.

Now your MBP uses both, the saffire and the integrated output. Then you choose the combi in mainstage as your audio unit.

Now everything works fine ... ;-)

I was thinking of getting myself a new interface as well, but the interface is not the problem. it's Mavericks. I'm running with this combi-thing for half a year now and never ever had a single latency-problem anymore. And I'm using the gear every day.

Big thanks to AlexGe! This fix indeed works for me, at least so far. Currently I'm using an 13" MacBook Air with i5 @ 1.4GHz / 4 GB RAM, running Yosemite, with a Roland OctaCapture USB interface. Previously I had to increase my buffer size to at least 128 samples (but more often 256) to be rid of this problem (most of the time). Then I followed AlexGe's solution, creating an aggregate device from my OctaCapture and the built-in output of my Mac. (Hint: when creating the aggregate device, select your external soundcard first, then select the built-in output - no matter the order in which they appear in the list - that way not only will the aggregate device use the external soundcard as a clock source and enable drift correction on the built-in by default, but also all of your inputs and outputs will be numbered the same as if you only used the external soundcard - so you don't need to change any routing in your setups.)

Now I'm able to go all the way down to 64 samples. It works at 32 samples to some extent, but I believe the occasional crackle that occurs with this setting is already due to my not-top-of-the-line system and anyway 32 samples is INSANE, 64 is still well ahead of "good enough"; even if I had to go for 128 samples with a heavier project it'd be totally okay.

On a side note: I don't have the IO Safety Buffer enabled in my settings now, as opposed to before. I've obviously tried to "fix" the latency-after-an-hour problem fiddling with various settings including the IO Safety Buffer and it didn't work then, but it should be noted that the IO Safety Buffer adds to your overall latency. I remember reading somewhere that it can add up to half your soundcard's buffer size. Point is, before I started using the Aggregate Device setup, my 128 + IO Safety Buffer's 64 samples of latency "felt" worse than it should, from my past experience. I was quite used to playing with 256 samples of latency back in my PC / FastTrack Pro days and now I had a Mac, a killer sound card and half the buffer size and it felt worse.. you can imagine my dismay. But with the aggregate device in place even this problem seems to be gone and 128 samples now feel the way they should. Not having the IO Safety Buffer enabled might be a factor here, but I don't think it's the only thing happening. Everything just seems to work better with the aggregate device.

That's some weird sh*t right there :-) your sound card / laptop combo can't keep up? throw some more work in it's way and it will be okay! :-D

I got this trouble while playing bass through MOTU Microbook II. It happens not only with Mainstage, but also with Logic Pro X & Ableton Live 9. The same thing.

Macbook Pro Retina 15" late 2013

2,6 GHz Core i7

16 GB

OS X 10.9.5

I did. Agregate device gives me very large latency.

Using built-in output I have 15 ms output latency with 96 Khz 128 buffer size. The same results I get with agregate device. Looks like my built-in core audio has problems also. My friend's MBP has 4,7 ms with the same parameters.

(With Traktor Pro 2 I have 12,1 ms, friend's mac gives only 0,7 ms) Still hadn't find information how to reinstall core audio.

I cured the latency issue by upgrading to Yosemite. I had these issues with a Focusrite 2i4 on 10.9., but it disappeared witt 10.10.

Best,

DaCaptain

i7 2.3 quad MBP w rolland octacapture. KMI sofstep

I have been having the same problem since upgrading from 10.6.8 Mainstage 2.1.2 to Yosemite and Mainstage 3.0.4.

At first I was very happy for a smooth upgrade but now this. After using Mainstage for some time an ugly crackle occurs and after the latency is about a second. Arrgg!

I will try the work around posted above but first wanted to share this emergency tip.

If this happens I don't restart mainstage which works but takes a long time. I just go to the audio preferences and change the buffer size and it resets it much quicker than a restart during a show. Still ***** though.

I wrote:

>>>>

I cured the latency issue by upgrading to Yosemite. I had these issues with a Focusrite 2i4 on 10.9., but it disappeared witt 10.10.

<<<<

But this worked only for a short period. I'm still having these issues.

Best,

DaCaptain

Still having this problem after trying all of above. Mainstage 3 in Yosemite intermittently glitches and then has a second of delay for all audio. I'm using a rolland octacapture interface. It worked seamlesly with Mainstage 2 in 10.6.8. Now it's unusable for any serious performing. I am very upset and if I cant fix it will have to switch my live rig to Live. Any other clues? Any word from apple?

I think, it's best to submit this concern using this form:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/mainstage.html

AFAIK, there are people at Apple scanning the feedback.

Switching to Live is not a solution for me, I use the built-in instruments.

Best,

DaCaptain

I think it might be MainStage instead of audio devices. My experience: I work with big MainStage Sets, with a lot of channel strips and plugins and it has always had a increasingly latency with input sounds. It doesn't happen with Logic or Live. And it's a bug I had since MainStage 1 on Snow Leopard, with different firewire devices (MAudio Firewire Solo and Alesis io|26). The first 15 minutes run fine, but then the latency begins to kick in. Annoying as ****. I must use Live, but I'd really like to use MainStage.

I get this. ****** me off. I have a Roland Duo-Capture EX interface USB. I get this problem in Garageband and Logic. I get this problem regardless of using Aggregate Devices or not. I get it regardless of if I use a USB hub or my Macbook's USB port directly. I get it with input monitoring. It hasn't happened when I've recorded but that's only because I don't record much but I presume it would. I have a 2013 Macbook Pro 13" Retina with the latest installation of OS X Yosemite 10.10.1. I have a 3 GHz Core i7 processor and 8GB RAM. I still had this problem back before Yosemite came out and was on Mavericks. Don't remember when exactly it started though I don't seem to remember it happening when I used my old Roland Duo-Capture (not the EX version -- wish I hadn't sold it).

Anyone have any thoughts?

Oh and I reformatted my Macbook at some point after getting Yosemite to see if it fixed the problem and it didn't. Restarting Core Audio fixes it until it happens again. It's infuriating.

Amazing that such a huge issue for usability that we are all having here has no real solutions yet. Maistage is sold as a live rig but is impossible to use as such when you don't know when mid song high latency will suddenly appear after a small crackle. I'm praying for a solution or some insight here from Apple.

I've just stumbled upon this problem also!! SO frustrating!

It happened the other day during rehearsal and again today. A real show stopper!

I only realised earlier on that it had actually happened at a show a few weeks ago....I think I had forgotten because somehow I hadn't needed to restart mainstage to fix the issue (I recall just changing patches).

I've started fumbling around with the aggregate device solution....too early for me to tell if it works or not but I will report back!

Apple really needs to fix this...

CPU is hovering around 45% on average, with spikes between 70-90% when changing patches (is this normal?)

MBP 13 2.8 dual core i7

16gb ram

OSX 10.9.5