Horrific latency - newbie question....

jca74 · December 2022

I decided to have a go at recording using my nux mighyplug pro using the usb connection straight into my MacBook Pro (2021 M1 Pro, 32Gb RAM) using garageband - I've not recorded anything since the days of tascam 4-track cassette recorders so thought I'd start simple.

The mightplug claims a latency of 1.5ms, and it is fine played through headphones, but connected through the Mac there is over a 0.5 second delay, which makes this basically unusable.

Am I being naive in thinking that this setup should work, or do I need to spend more $$ on a proper USB audio interface an dfeed the output from the headphone socket to this?

monquixote · December 2022

How are you monitoring and what do you have the buffer size set to in your DAW?

Stratavarious · December 2022

If you are using a computer, having the amp models editable and adjustable after recording is a real benefit.

Your mightyplug seems a stop gap to a better solution.

You can check buffer sizes and see if there is other device setting info. though in the support docs.

i assume you are monitoring round trip through the plug which adds more latency, you can direct the audio output to the mac headphone/speaker out rather than your USB device, which might help.

TheBigDipper · December 2022

Personally, I've never had much success with modellers used as audio interfaces. They offer some functionality and they work (after a fashion) but are never as flexible or usable as the cheapest audio interfaces with a mic pre and some monitoring capability. Often, the implementation is just to tick a box on a feature list.

Your Mac has plenty of CPU power and memory to get this done with GB. The NuX may claim latency of 1.5ms, but that's surely just going to be the latency when playing into it and hearing yourself on headphones - nothing to do with how it performs as an audio interface sending data up and down the USB cable to the computer.

Merely installing GB and jut using it without changing buffer sizes should work just fine for recording a few tracks without noticeable latency. If you haven't altered any GB preferences and just started using it, I'd suspect it's that the NuX isn't very good when used as an audio interface.

It might be worth trying a different USB cable, just in case there are hardware issues with that.

goldtop · December 2022

^ Indeed.

I used a Zoom H4n (field recorder) as an audio interface for Garageband on M1 Macbook Air. Like the NUX, it relies on class compliance, so no clever drivers. Even with a guitar plugged into that, the latency with Garageband's basic amp rigs was manageable - not great, but usable.

jca74 · December 2022

Thanks all - I'll have more of a play around. Having poked at garageband I don't see any way of changing the buffer sizes - I'd hoped this would be a simple way in but I'm wondering if I'd be better trying reaper instead, although it seems way more involved.

I'll definitely try taking the headphone output straight into the mac rather than the usb output.

TheBigDipper · December 2022

jca74 said:

Thanks all - I'll have more of a play around. Having poked at garageband I don't see any way of changing the buffer sizes - I'd hoped this would be a simple way in but I'm wondering if I'd be better trying reaper instead, although it seems way more involved.

I'll definitely try taking the headphone output straight into the mac rather than the usb output.

Merry Christmas! :-) Your comment surprised me, but you're right - I've learned that it used to be possible to change the audio buffer size in GB but that has been removed in more recent releases.

GB really is simple to use and get decent results without learning how to be a recording engineer. I'm running a mid-2012 MacBook Pro with 2xi7 processors and 8GB RAM onto an old-school HDD (no SSD for me!). My current audio interface is an Audient Sono. I used a PreSonus iTwo for several years too, and that was a great "starter" interface.

Compared to me you've got gobs of processor power, a fast disk to read/write to and 4 times the memory. GB should fly on your system and you won't need to touch the buffers or install any special drivers. I haven't.

I've got Logic Pro as well, but use it less and less, for two reasons.
1: For me, GB is much faster at getting ideas captured and demos put together.
2: For me, Logic is much more DAW than I need and there is a rabbit hole of options that (TBH) confuse me and impede me getting the job done.

jca74 · December 2022

Just a follow up - I dug out an old cheap behringer usb audio interface from the back of the draw and ran the nux headphone output into the line in on this and it works fine. Not high tech (or probably, high quality), but it should be enough to get me going!

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Horrific latency - newbie question....

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