Audio engine over-load, or something like that!

Gig Performer on Mac OS X
1

Hello all,

Been using GP Essentials in the most basic form imaginable and first time poster, not needed any advice or help until just recently, all was working great but last night had two massive audio cut outs which as they happened there was a “EEEE” sound.

Best I explain my set up for some context.

Edrumin trigger to midi interface - MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 32gb Ram, 1Tb SSD) into GP which has a single instance Superior Drummer 3 loaded.

Connected to an SQ-Rack, all kit pieces are summed and split off into individual channels in the SQ:
Kick, Snare, Toms, Hihat, Ride, Overhead, Room, Fx.

Also, I have StageTraxx 4 playing band tracks with some of its own channels in the SQ.
Stereo Track, mono click. There are other channels too, but they’re muted in the most case. For instance, there’s a drum track and a bass track in the stance the duo gets booked and they use use the same set up, just change the local inputs to USB.

I have the sample rate at 96k to match the SQ and buffer for it down as low as it’ll go to reduce latency to minimum, which at 96K is 32samples.

I have been using it like this for a couple of months with not one issue, then last night, two massive audio drops outs. One was in the break when we wasn’t playing and I was just testing some snare drums in my IEMs, track wasn’t playing. The 2nd was right at the end of the gig. A big “EEEE” sound then no audio from the Mac at all for about 6 seconds or so.

When I first thought to try this set up a few months ago, I had doubts, so I kept an eye on CPU load with this set up and it’s hardly moves over 20%. If it was a set up issue and a requirements exceeding hardware limitations, I would have thought it would have happened sooner and more often.

A couple of things I will try on the gig tonight. A different USB cable as I had a similar issue a few years ago and it turned out after a lot a of trial an error, an iffy USB cable was the cause.

I am going to load the instance of Superior Drummer 3 stand alone. I appreciate this is a niche issue with a quite a niche issue. Any help or tips anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

2

Then something changed in your environment. Did you update any software, plugins, drivers or the OS? Did you use different hardware than normal? Any possibility of hardware or cable issues? GP itself wouldn’t work flawlessly for two months and then suddenly fail.

1 Like
3

That’s what I am thinking regarding a USB cable. A few years ago I was getting audio drop outs using a Mac into a Focusrite 4i4. It was fine for maybe about a year, then all of sudden one gig random drop-outs. Though without this loud “EEE” noise, just cutting out. After a lot of trial and effort, messages back and forth with Focusrite (love or hate them, they were very quick to answer and respond to my issue) turned out it was just a USB cable. When I changed that, it worked flawless for the rest of the time I used that set up as such.

So tonight gonna use a different USB cable, a short one too. I know USB data can be problematic over meter or so?

But yeah no change in hardware or software. I haven’t updated the OS in forever.

Thanks for the reply though!

4

(I thought I would chime in with an Update)

No issues tonight. What did I change, well just a different USB cable, a much shorter one for starters so the band set up had to change a little to accommodate. But also increased the buffer on Gig Performer to 64 samples.

No gig now until Friday, so won’t know if what I have done has cured it or not. It’s one of them issues you won’t know has been remedied until it never happens again.

5

Hmm, I use 128. Why do you need 64?

6

That’s a good question often asked of me. Depending on sample rate, the lowest buffer you can get to without pops/clicks or other issues (perhaps like what occurred with me spurring this post in the first place) is the best for drums. The impact on the sticks in the hands comparing it with what you hear can have a massive disconnect if there’s anything later than I’d say around the 6ms mark. If you can get it lower, even better. Once it gets closer to 10ms, then I personally consider it unusable.

There’s a little drum expander box called DrumPi, based on the Raspberry Pi computer, which I am helping create kits for (I have done two, there’s a 3rd coming) which latency is 0.4 ms, so incredibly quick. Not taking into account the latency of midi delay, which from an eDrumin is approximately 3ms depending on how you have it set up. But when you play it, it’s response and how that feels as a drummer is sublime. I may go down this route live in the future, depending on how it develops as it’s still quite a new concept and very much in its beta phase.