Live 8.0.4: Unpredictable Latency on a Mac Pro?

[ditabeardmemo]

Hi everyone:

New forum member here. I need some assistance troubleshooting latency issues I've been having in my project studio, and more specifically, establishing whether Live 8.0.4 is causing these issues.

I recently upgraded my project studio to include several new pieces of hardware and software, including:

1 Mac Pro Quad Core 2.93 GHz, 6GB RAM (upgraded from a 2007 iMac Intel, 4 GB RAM)
1 Apogee Rosetta 800 with X-Firewire card via a Firewire 400 to 800 cable (upgraded from a MOTU 828MKII with Firewire 400)
Ableton Live Suite 8 (upgraded from Ableton Live Suite 7)

While the computer upgrade effectively doubled (at least) the processing power and RAM of my previous configuration, I noticed that the amount of overall latency in my system is actually greater than it was before. For example, I ran Live's "Driver Error Compensation" session that is used to calibrate the amount of hardware latency in the system. In my old system, the overall latency was around 12 milliseconds. In my new system, the overall latency is around 18 milliseconds.

More importantly, the latency now seems to fluctuate based the specific processing load of whatever Live session file is in use. Previously, the latency compensation was a "set and forget" configuration that worked across all session files. Now, however, it seems that I have to re-calibrate the driver error compensation for every individual Live session. In one instance, I had to set the driver error compensation to 45.10 milliseconds (versus 18 ms normally). This despite the fact that Live's CPU load meter never exceeded 10 percent while the session was playing back. There does seem to be some correlation between the amount of latency and the amount of tracks running in a session, but regardless of whether the session has two tracks or forty, my CPU load meter is always under 10-15 percent usage.

The latency problem has been most noticeable when using external audio effects on my return channels. I've tried setting the hardware latency offset in the External Audio Effect to compensate for the difference, but I have yet to find a setting that doesn't produce some sort of delay.

If there are any changes I should make to the my configuration that might impact my latency performance, I would love to hear some suggestions from other forum members. It just shocks me that, despite a huge increase in computing power, my latency performance is actually much worse than it was before. Seems illogical!

I can provide screen captures of the audio preferences panel to illustrate some of my experience if need be.

[0fps]

What version of OSX do u use? Do u have Snow Leopard?

Also have u checked any update for apogee's drivers. I had a similar situation with rosetta 200 and firewire x card.

[ditabeardmemo]

I'm running OSX 10.5.8. I have not upgraded to Snow Leopard yet and don't plan to until some of the bugs are fixed.

I don't believe the Apogee Rosetta 800 requires any drivers when connected to a Mac via Firewire.

[Palmer Eldritch]

Hi ditabeardmemo,

Maybe your problem is related to this thread > http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=120367

Try the newest beta of live 8 (8.0.5b12).
The Abletons fixed the bug described in the thread above.


cheers, p.e.

[ditabeardmemo]

Hi Patrick:

This definitely sounds similar to the issue I was experiencing. I spent hours trying to configure a pre-delay setting on an external reverb unit, but I could never get the timing to line up properly.

I'll download the 8.0.5 Beta tonight and will report on my progress.

Thanks,
B.

[augustin187]

Is that it? Is your problem totally solved?

I have a very similar problem with tracking using my rossetta 800 w/ Firewire + a brand new Mac laptop (as strong as it gets) with the latest version of live.

I have roundtrip latency of 13 or 32 or 48 or 192 ms depending on whats going on with the % of processing. Has your problem been fixed with the upgrade?

are you still having to reset driver error compensation every time you start a new track?


i'm dying here. my friends traveler gives me less latency and my apogee gives me problems with my desktop too.

ive talked to apogee so many times, they think there can be no problem with the card... ive been using live since version 2 with M-audio and motu cards and I have never needed to use driver error compensation. am i just crazy?

thanks everyone.

T