Amplitube 3 latency on Mac

[Anicotra0]

Hi everyone,

I've done a search through the forums regarding this but with no luck.

I'm running AmpliTube 3 on a Mac mini which is literally only used for recording so no background apps or games or anything competing for resource. Also it's a bit of a powerhouse with Ci7, 8GB and SSD.

This happens either as plug in with Logic Pro or standalone.

It doesn't matter which buffer size I choose, there is ALWAYS latency. And it's bad, between half a second and over two seconds.

Sometimes it helps to restart the app or just select a different buffer size. But it's usually bad again in half a minute.

I should also say I'm using a behringer usb guitar link.

Any thoughts?

[Jason_IK]

Hi,

Latency is pretty much totally controlled via the sound card buffer setting. The plug in and stand alone have virtually no latency at all.

[Anicotra0]

Jason,

As much as I appreciate you taking the time, your response is the usual "it's not our fault, it's Apple" which I was hoping NOT to get from IK.

Yes, quite true, it's not AmpliTube, but the fact is I spent lots of money for a piece of software I can't use and nobody seems to find a solution.

Looking online I noticed a few people complaining about drifting latency, which is exactly my problem. It's almost as is clocks start losing sync.

It's irrelevant which buffer size I choose, lag is still present.

Is there anything I should look into? Any setup on my mac? Core audio settings on Pro Logic?

Thanks

[metropolis4]

Jason,

As much as I appreciate you taking the time, your response is the usual "it's not our fault, it's Apple" which I was hoping NOT to get from IK.

Yes, quite true, it's not AmpliTube, but the fact is I spent lots of money for a piece of software I can't use and nobody seems to find a solution.

Looking online I noticed a few people complaining about drifting latency, which is exactly my problem. It's almost as is clocks start losing sync.

It's irrelevant which buffer size I choose, lag is still present.

Is there anything I should look into? Any setup on my mac? Core audio settings on Pro Logic?

Thanks

Have you spoken to Apple? Logic shows your latency when you setup your IO, so you'll have a chance to see it without any plugin impacting it. If it's showing the same amount of latency regardless of buffer settings, then something is wrong either with Logic, or with your Mac. Your Audio Interface is another possible culprit. Budget interfaces can be quirky, especially in how they play with other equipment.

[Jason_IK]

Try using the internal mac sound card as a test and then use your sound card you are using now and put the buffers about 128 and see if both have the same issue.

[Anicotra0]

Thanks everyone

I have tried a number of combinations:
- With Guitarlink (I/O)
- With Guitarlink (Input) and Mac soundcard (Output)
- With Mac soundcard (I/O)
- With iRig UA (i/O)
- With iRig UA (Input) and Mac soundcard (Output)

The problem persists every time in varying degrees.

Clearly, the problem here is not the audio interface but the Mac. But it's a clean install of Mac OS (I'm using El Capitan) and as stated before I only use the computer for Logic Pro + Amplitube.

I don't know what else to do. Things that usually help
- Restarting Pro Logic (or Amplitube if Standalone)
- Restarting Mac
- Resetting buffer size (although this only works for about 5 seconds before lagging again)

I have no idea what to do.

[Spotnik63]

I was wondering if you have since found a solution to this. I'm having similar difficulties using an iRig Pro and it's confounding even IK Multimedia tech support.

I have an iMac late 2012, with 16GB Ram and an i7 processor, so there's plenty of muscle. I have no latency problems just using the built in output, but as soon as I output to my Tascam audio interface (a US-1800) I get about a half to one second delay. With a fresh boot I can mostly fix it using the resampling settings (I have to create an aggregate device in ordert to use both devices) but after a minuteI hear this crackling sound and then the latency is back. It's like something in the software, or even a connection came unstuck that was "pasted" in place to correct the issue.

When I switch back to my Tascam as the sole interface I still have latency, but a reboot corrects that. In fact, after doing some cleaning and maintenance, I can even play Amplitube and Guitar rig 5 with up to 256 samples with no latency at all. The iRig Pro cannot so long as it's using the Tascam for output. I'm beginning to suspect that there is a a driver conflict between the iRig Pro and the Tascam.

At any rate, since my symptoms are almost identical to yours I thought I would see if you found any solutions.

[ramuji]

Have you checked with your audio interface manufacturer for updated drivers and information about compatibility with your OS and/or software?

I can really empathize with interface/OS/software difficulties. In my case, everything works great most of the time, but on the rare occasion that something goes wrong it REALLY goes wrong and it can be a huge pain trying to track down the problem.

[Spotnik63]

Fair question, but yes Tascam released an El Capitan driver for the us-1800 as a beta (and it's installed), and I'm hoping that they are still planning to release further updates. This particular unit has been discontinued, but I should hope Tascam would realize that people are going to continue using them.

Also, I did the firmware upgrade in the iRig Pro, hoping that would help. It didn't but it's one more thing to eliminate.

One thing I cannot change is the bit rate; everything is set at 44.1K, but the iRig Pro is 16 bits and the Tascam is 32. I read somewhere that these should be matched, but then that would assume that the built in output is matched and I can't tell if it is (and consequently the reason why it plays nice with built in output.

And, BTW, I've been going back and forth between Amplitube 3 and 4 (Deluxe) and there is no difference, so the app would appear to be not at fault.

[n2mpujack]

Here's something a lot here are missing and that is AT3 may well not be compatible with ElCapitan. I mean AT3 was released many generations behind ElCap and development on it has stopped so unless you go to AT4 then you're going to have these kinds of issues.

[Spotnik63]

Actually, I first experienced my issues on Amplitube 4. I tested Amplitube 3 just for the sake of argument and basically had the same issues using the iRig Pro.

[rwpotterii]

Im having this same problems but i am using windows 7 and i still get really bad latency on both tube 3 and 4. changing settings is not helping i just got the irig hd last night and tried it this morning it is really hard to tell how well it works because of this issue and its not just a little its at least one full second if not more. suggestons?

[Spotnik63]

Have you tested it with the internal speakers set as output? Do you normally route audio through a separate interface? That would appear to be the root of my problem. I can get zero latency if I just play through my headphones (internal speakers). But, my monitors aren't connected to internal output, they're connected to my interface. There appears to be an incompatibility between the two, and unfortunately Tascam doesn't appear to be updating the drivers on this particular device.

[rwpotterii]

It is with both headphones and speakers. And it's on AmpliTube 3 and 4.

[n2mpujack]

It is with both headphones and speakers. And it's on AmpliTube 3 and 4.

Have you tried changing buffer sizes to the lowest value?