The fastest way to start playback

[Warube]

I'm a Pro Tools manipulator for live concerts. Sometimes, I need to start Pro Tools in sync with the band. When I used a Mac Pro with HD I/O and HD Card, and ran Pro Tools HD9, pressing Control + Space to put it into standby mode, and then pressing Space to play, there was almost no lag. Now, using a 2022 Mac Studio with HD I/O and HDX Card, running Pro Tools Ultimate 2023.3.0 and doing the same thing, I experience noticeable lag. If anyone knows how to resolve this, I would appreciate your input. Thank you.

[Carl Lie]

Do you have a MIDI count in set up?

C

[Darryl Ramm]

What delay? How many seconds and/or samples? We have no idea if you are talking about 1024 samples or 5 minutes.

[Sonopolis]

Right click the play button, select Prime for Playback.

[Warube]

This is my first time using this platform, so I apologize if I've made any mistakes or breaches of etiquette.
I'm referring to the time it takes from when the Space button is pressed for playback until the sound actually plays.
Currently, it takes about 0.16 seconds from pressing the button until the sound plays.

[Sonopolis]

Reducing the buffer size in the Playback Engine settings also helps.

[Warube]

Right click the play button, select Prime for Playback. This is the same as Control + Space, which I have always been using. However, with the new equipment, there is a significant delay. By the way, I have set the buffer size to 64 samples.

[Darryl Ramm]

What happens when you disable delay compensation?

[Warube]

I'm not able to test it right now because I don't have the actual machine at home, but I'm not using delay compensation. Delay compensation automatically shifts the waveform slightly forward for playback, right? What I want this time is for the sound to play simultaneously like a musical instrument when the Space button is pressed. When I used a Mac Pro with HD I/O and HD Card, running Pro Tools HD9, the playback was just on time.

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by Warube

I'm not able to test it right now because I don't have the actual machine at home, but I'm not using delay compensation. Delay compensation automatically shifts the waveform slightly forward for playback, right? What I want this time is for the sound to play simultaneously like a musical instrument when the Space button is pressed. When I used a Mac Pro with HD I/O and HD Card, running Pro Tools HD9, the playback was just on time.

This depends entirely on what is in your session and how big it is as well as where the session is located. Other factors include video playback and midi. Try things like committing tracks, freezing tracks, keeping the session on the internal Mac hard drive. Removing any unused tracks and media.