Latency Issues with Logic Pro and other Apps

[nateroux7]

I have an
iMac 24 inch M1 2021
Chip: Apple M1
Memory: 16GB
MacOs Monterey 12.5.1
500GB Storage (350/490 available)

Recently I've been having issues with latency when I try to record audio within Logic Pro X. I do not believe it is my Audio Interface (Motu M2) because my guitar works find when no apps are open. As in, I hear no latency/stutter and the levels on the display look normal. The problem occurs on both of my guitars and both inputs of my audio interface.

While in logic, the latency is unbearable. I adjust my buffer rate and other settings but it changes nothing. Logic pro has been generally behaving poorly with random crackling noises and overload notifications. Even though I other apps in the background down to a minimum. I also hear weird distorted (glitchy?) audio artifacts when I keep a note sustained. If I'm playing a strumming pattern I sometimes hear a high pitched static sound. Buffer size is 128 (6.9ms roundtrip). Low Latency mode is on and this problem still occurs when there is only one audio track on the project.

I also experience this when using the Nolly Archetype guitar stand-alone app. The weird thing is for both apps, sometimes the problem just randomly goes away for a minute, then returns.

Yes I've restarted my computer and made sure to update to latest software.

This is my first post so please let me know if there's any more information I need to provide.

 

[BanditoB]

Rather than just restarting the computer, have you shut it down fully, let it sit for a minute and then powered it back up again? Sometimes a warm restart doesn't correct all issues and a complete power down will reset everything.

 

[nateroux7]

Rather than just restarting the computer, have you shut it down fully, let it sit for a minute and then powered it back up again? Sometimes a warm restart doesn't correct all issues and a complete power down will reset everything.

No I haven't tried that yet. I'll give it a show when I get back home.

 

[Starfia]

Restarting should effectively "reset the SMC," which can occasionally take care of less common issues.

I had similar problem on my iMac from some years ago, and it turned out to have to do with an OS update's relationship to data stored and written to the Fusion Drive, which was a common hard drive option for Macs then.

What you're reporting sounds unusual for Logic Pro on an M1 – it sounds like it could similarly be related to something at the middle or lower software levels just from the description, but I can't even be certain of that.

The first thing I'd do would be to rule out the interface if I could; would I still find these issues if I was trying projects in Logic and other audio apps using only the microphone or software instruments?

Then I'd probably ask myself whether I was running any other audio software that might be tampering with anything like that; I tend to run Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack all the time, for example. And I'd check System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items to make sure nothing odd was running itself at startup.

If I could open an empty Logic Pro project and still had these issues just after restarting, with and without the interface connected, then I'd probably be trying to get in touch with Apple.

 

[nateroux7]

I shut off my computer and let it sit for a few hours. It seemed to solve the problem, but it returned after 5 minutes.

Software instruments I play with my midi controller work fine. Under login items I have 5 listed: Chrome, Google drive, figma agent and two software related to native instruments.

I don't think it's the audio interface as i can hear playback just fine when no apps are open. But its a usb-c type connection and I have no other machine to test it on.

 

[nateroux7]

It's so odd. When I change the sample rate on the Nolly Plugin (not the buffer size) the problem resolves for a while, then returns. Any rate will work, even switching back to the original one.