Mac OS aggregate device for Live

[Kid Blast]

I am using a Macbook Pro running OSX 10.9.5 with a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 with 16GB RAM, and my main sequencer is Ableton Live 9.


I am trying to create an aggregate audio device with my MOTU Ultralite, Roland Aira devices (TB-3, TR-8 and System 1m), and my Pioneer DJM2000 nexus. The reason I want to use an aggregate device is so that I can give the Aira devices, and in particular each drum sound coming from the TR-8, its own channel in Live 9.

The master in the chain is the MOTU Ultralite, followed by the DJM2000, the TB-3, TR-8 and System 1m.

The MOTU Ultralite works fine, and I have no problems with it, but when I add each of the Aira devices, the quality of the sound is unbelievably bad, and unusable (although they work fine if I plug the audio outputs into the Ultralite, but then I don’t have the sound-per-channel control that I want to use).

Could it be a problem with too much information going over USB? I have 2x USB3.0 hubs running into an OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock, so I would have thought that the bandwidth of this dock would be easily able to handle these devices, as the only other things plugged in are 2x USB3.o external hard drives and then a series of USB midi controllers.

Please watch the video below for an example of the problem, and please please please let me know if any of you have experienced similar problems, and how you solved them.

Thanks in advance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw5jt5IWDsI

[zeropoint]

Aggregate devices have always had a bit of hit and miss about them in my experience. But I'm afraid what you are attempting just isn't going to work out well for all sorts of reasons:

Read this thread on Gearslutz. It's a year old but it will give you all the relevant information as to why you will not get all those devices to aggregate successfully, especially with a hub.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... audio.html

[fishmonkey]

The master in the chain is the MOTU Ultralite, followed by the DJM2000, the TB-3, TR-8 and System 1m.

cobbling together so many devices with an aggregate device will never be a workable solution. i sometimes use an aggregate device to cobble together two devices, and i would never rely on it for live use. sometimes even two devices won't play nice with each other as an aggregate device. i wouldn't even dream of trying it with five devices!

[timday]

That sounds like a sample rate issue. I can't see from the video what sample rate you have set but looking at the specs the DJM2000 will only run at 44.1 or 48 KHz and I know that Airas will only run at 96HKz so that may be the problem. First off if you aren't already try disconnecting the DJM then try everything at 96000 Hz which is what the Aira specifies. From what I recall with ultralites this might be a pain as you may have to switch sample rates in the ultralite's software as well as in Ableton. Everything needs to be running at the same sample rate at this stage.

If this works and you want to run the DJM you need to make sure that the Airas are set to 96000 Hz with drift correct on in the aggregate device. As long as you do that you should be able to run the ultralite, DJM and the Ableton session at a lower sample rate if you need to. I would suggest 48KHz (48000 Hz) as it is an even divisor of 96KHz and to be honest anything which will give the system an easier time at this stage is probably welcome. Again make sure the ultralite is genuinely running at 48KHz in its own software as my ultralite repeatedly screwed up on this. It might be something like you set it up, connect the DJM, it's all OK, then when you put in the Airas they try to correct everything to 96Khz which the DJM won't do and that's where it goes wrong.

If that doesn't fix it the other time I've had noises like that are running an Elektron device over a hub that turned out to be too slow. I wouldn't chain more than one hub for audio out of any one port on the Mac as USB MIDI and audio aren't the only things going over those USBs - there's all kinds of housekeeping and computer clock stuff as well. I was able to fix with an Elektron Overhub which does something clever with prioritisation but also is quite expensive at £40 for a 7 port hub. Especially if it doesn't fix the issue.

The timing issues at the start of the video sound like sync issues - make sure the MIDI out to the TR8 has sync on and there may be a setting on the TR8 (don't know, down't own one) that sets it to accept external sync.

I've run a VT-3 and a (borrowed) system 1 fine on a three device aggregate but I found the least reliable part was the Ultralite which is why I traded it for a Focusrite Saffire. The mic pres aren't quite as nice but no more random crashes and sample rate problems.

/edited to correct first line, typo on the DJM sample rates

[Kid Blast]

Thanks people, I will have another look at it with the advice from you all, and see if I can sort it out

[nowtime]

Necro!

I am trying to use my Babyface as an extra headphone output to use for the day with my RME UFX. I have set up an aggregate device but I am not getting any input signal into the Babyface which I set up as the second device in the aggregate.

My goal is to get a separate headphone sub mix in a return track and send that to the Babyface. I got this to work on the UFX but I need more length on the headphone chord and the extension wont be here till Saturday! So I thought of trying the Babyface as an extension chord

[nowtime]

I see no way for software playback in Totalmix to be activated for the Babyface. Is the only way to do this to run analog outputs from the UFX to the Babyface?