Soundcard advice PT10

[Paul_5]

I'm running PT 10.3.10 on Mountain Lion on my Late 2011 Macbook pro with 8 GB of RAM.

I'm using EZ drummer, Amplitube and a couple of Waves plugins (IR reverb, EBass etc…) and the CPU keeps maxing out.

I'm using an old MBOX 2 through USB to do all the audio processing at the moment. Would upgrading my sound card to USB 2.0 (or above) or firewire make a noticeable difference, or am I just asking too much from an ageing system?

[albee1952]

Which processor is in the MBP? These days, an i7 quad is the minimum I would recommend. Having said that, amp sims(like Amplitube) are notorious cpu hogs, so I would not use more than 1 or 2. If you need more, you will be best off routing to another audio track and recording the processed guitar, then make the original track inactive to free up system power Changing interfaces is not likely to make any difference, although a Thunderbolt box would have lower latency, which might allow you to run a higher buffer to ease the load on the cpu(assuming your Mac has a TB port).

[Paul_5]

Hi Albee1952, my processor is an i5 Intel, so I realise it's a big ask to be able to number crunch those plugins in real time. I've taken to bussing guitars through a single instance of Amplitube, and the same with the convolution reverb plug, just to save CPU. It's certainly helped alleviate some of the crashes, but not all of them.

Just wondering whether a hardware upgrade would help, but other than allowing me to work at a higher sample rate (my current MBOX2 runs up to 48kHz), I don't think so. Thought I'd ask though, so thanks for your advice.

[albee1952]

keep in mind, the higher sample rates will put even more strain on the system as its double the data to move/process. Nearly everyone I know works at 48k most of the time. My 2 cents only, but the only way another interface will help is if it does on-board processing like the UAD Apollo

[Paul_5]

Just a quick update - uninstalled and reinstalled PT 10.3.10 and I can run 2 instances of Amplitube, an EZ drummer channel, and Waves IR verb on the master buss and I'm maxing out at about 18% system resources.

Weird. Weird but good.