Ready to upgrade to a better setup and looking for recommendations

[Unranked5883]

I've been running garageband on an tiny ol' macbook air with a focusrite interface for a while. I've never been able to get away from latency though. It's a drag and I'm ready to invest in a basic setup for recording and looking for reccs on what to go for (computer+interface).

For a computer, I won't be running a crazy amount of plugins/effects. Just mic'ing a guitar, laying down a track, mic'ing another instrument to another track, repeat. Some minor editing, EQ, compression, but nothing fancy! Just looking for enough processing power for it to not be giving me latency. Can be a refurbished/not brand new machine, and doesn't need to be a laptop. Someone elsewhere recommended the M2 pro but I was reading up on it on another thread in this forum and apparently it can get pretty noisy:/ Also it's not as affordable once you tack on the add-ons. I really don't want anything top of the line.. just something that works!

I'm down to get a new interface if folks think that my focusrite could be part of the problem.

For a DAW I would likely switch to logic.

Thank you thank you thank you for reading!!

 

[Luap]

Which M2 pro? I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro, it's more than powerful enough for music production. To the point you likely don't need the pro version. And mine isn't noisy at all.
Whatever you get, i'd advise more than stock ram. 8gb won't cut it for long. 16gb or more would be preferable.

 

[Unranked5883]

Sorry it was the Mac Mini M2 Pro: MacRumors M2 Pro noise discussion

This is helpful, thank you!

 

[BrianBaughn]

What model is your MBA? There are folks using Logic Pro on older MacBooks who can do what you're describing with very little latency.

 

[MajorFubar]

I've never experienced latency in GarageBand ever, except when I load-up the master track with mastering plugins (which you're only supposed to do as the final task). I didn't even have latency issues when I was running a 2010 Mac Mini that was less powerful than an modern Apple Watch. Clarity: I'm not here to contradict your experience, but before recommending something newer I think it's important to find out why you're currently having issues, because I'm not convinced new hardware will make them go away.

 

[Unranked5883]

Hmmm, that's interesting. It's a MBA 2013, 1.3 ghz processor speed, 8gb ram. I would love not have to shell out for a new system as I'm doing just fine with the one I've got, other than I can't make the latency go away when recording and it's becoming more important as I pursue music more.

 

[MajorFubar]

Try loaning a different interface. I know that's challenging in most parts of the world these days so you might have to instead buy one from Amazon and make use of their returns facility if it doesn't work. As always, finding the cause of a problem is about substitution until you find the part that isn't working.

 

[Unranked5883]

That's a really good idea

 

[DPUser]

I've never experienced latency in GarageBand ever, except when I load-up the master track with mastering plugins

Some plugins, typically mastering limiters, "Look Ahead" to allow them to transparently process audio. When plugins like this are utilized, latency is unavoidable.

The other typical cause of latency is larger Audio Buffer sizes. Unlike the current Garage Band, Logic allows users to specify buffer size. I find a buffer of 128 very responsive when playing percussive VIs (Piano, Drums, etc.)

 

[MajorFubar]

Some plugins, typically mastering limiters, "Look Ahead" to allow them to transparently process audio. When plugins like this are utilized, latency is unavoidable.

Yeah that's what I meant about using mastering plugins. But by default, GarageBand's mastering chain is empty, so presumably it can't be that.