What's with Logic 9.1.3 and Maschine? latency issues

Ok. Heard a few similar stories on here. Simple setup: Logic pro 9.1.3 running Machine and any other soft synth. Machine has a simple pattern loaded. Play back Logic, Machine Ok, syncs no problem. Latency good. Switch between plug in's, randomly but consistently introduces bad latency and sometimes a total cut out of Maschine sound. Activity monitor shows plenty of ram and cpu to spare. Works fine stand alone. Is this a known bug with logic or Maschine?

 

welcome

there seem to be troubles with Logic 9.1.3.

please post a specific scenario how this is happening for you.

you will need to say exactly the order that you did in a session. NI are trying to sort this problem out but they need exact details from users.

and please check the Activity Monitor again when you do this.

i am moving this to the technical area.

sowari

 

Thanks Sowari. Ok my system is 2.66 quad Intel mac pro, 4 gig ram. Audio is Apogee Duet on firewire, Arturia Analog Factory keyboard on usb, Presonus Faderport on usb. Maschine is the only other piece hooked up. Logic 9.1.3 with 128 or 256 buffer. After trying various combinations of tracks/buffer sizes etc, with the same results, I have simplified the testing down to just Maschine and one other soft instrument. No effects, no busses on a new logic song. Pattern's in Maschine plays back fine, synced ok with logic. Latency can be fine on the pads at this point, but if I switch between the instruments I get latency. Sometimes this can be after the first switch, sometimes after 4 or 5. Also Maschine's sound can cut out all together when switching back to It's own track. Logic shows no midi is being received from the pads and no sound. Pressing play in Logic produces a loud "burst" of sound from Maschine before it plays back fine in sync, the pads and latency good again. Switching tracks again brings the same problem scenario. In all my tests, Activity monitor is showing plenty of ram available with cpu usage no more than 40% of one core while playing Maschine and another soft synth. I haven't noticed any random jumps or overloads on the monitor yet.
Edit: Just fired up my older version of Logic 9.0.2.. exactly the same problem.

 

After more testing, I noticed as long as the Maschine track is selected when Logic playback is pressed, latency is fine. Not easy to remember in a busy project though..
Also when I increase a patterns size from say. 4 to 32 bars or more the cpu starts to shoot up proportionally. More than 128 bars and the cpu hits the red if any pads are played. This is with only Maschine and one other synth doing nothing. I only have a basic pattern and an 808 kit loaded. Surely a basic 4 bar pattern extended to fit 128 bars shouldn't affect the cpu hit so bad?

 

thanks for this, i will point the tread to the Maschine Devs tomorrow.

have you tried pressing Shift + Control on the Maschine Controller - flipping the Controller between Controller Mode and MIDI Mode?

sowari

 

Tried the controller fix .. no go. Keeping the Maschine track selected before playback in Logic works fine. My preffered way of working is to have a few 1-4 bar loops running on one instance of Maschine and a second instance holding my live play groups with empty 120 (about 4 min) patterns. This way let's me experiment and record loads of ideas with little cpu hit. Switching between instances is easy.. just have to remember to keep the correct track selected in Logic to ensure no latency. Stopping and starting logic brings the latency back to normal if you forget (and you will!) Glad that the N.I. folks are looking into it.. been having a great time with Maschine by the way! Any chance of audio tracks in the future?

 

btw, thanks for all this, t has been a big help to NI

sowari