Hi unclecheeks,
I spoke to the Focus, iConnectivity, and Spectrasonics reps about the issue(s). The M-audio folks had very little there actually. Spectrasonics had very little advice but suggested taking it up with their tech support---no Eric Pershing appearance.
I settled on the iConnectivityAUDI02/4 model. It has its own driver, recently updated. It does have 1 Midi in/1 Midi out and I can still use the Midi through on my Arturias. It is a solid piece of construction, not too heavy, and a digital front panel. They had a trade fair discount on top of Sweetwater's own Gearfest discount, so it was very attractive to me and the wife.
I will get to it later today as I am still dragging.
"(You can check how much ram is in use during a session by opening up the Windows task manager)"
----Will definitely check that!
"you’re using the Mtrack Plus audio interface with ASIO4ALL? What buffer size are you using in ASIO4ALL? Does the Mtrack Plus not have its own drivers that you could try?"
---Yep, but hopefully not for long. Got the thing in late 2013, so probably long in the tooth. Their driver did not seem to want to work for me, and years ago someone suggested ASIO4ALL. However, I generally have to cut the voices way down in Omni, and turn the buffer all the way to the right....2024(?), and yes, latency can be a real issue worse issue then. I use Reaper and do the freeze tracks thing.
"My sense is that the interface could be your bottleneck. Not that familiar with the Mtrack, but it seems that it’s a USB1 interface. USB2 interface with its own dedicated drivers will probably be a significant improvement. The focusrite that was recommended is a good candidate for low cost, but solid interface."
---That is what Focus and iConnectivity suggested, but that is to be expected anyway. The Mtrack goes into a USB2, but I never gave it that it was a USB1.
"There may be other issues affecting performance too, especially since you’re on windows. I’d recommend googling how to optimize windows system for audio, things like changing the power profile, which I think defaults to “balanced”, to “full”."
---I will keep that in mind as I install the new one.
"Lastly, if the ssd is attached as a an external, there may be some bottlenecking happening there too, as the speed is most likely limited by the connection interface (does your ssd connect to your system via usb2?)."
---Actually, I have an internal SSD for OS (C), another nternal SSD for programs, including Omni (D), and an internal HDD (E) for data/Kontakt libraries. The only externals I use are an external HDD for weekly back-up of C/D, and I have another large external HDD for back-up of the data. I only hook them up when actually doing the back-ups.
"Don’t recall, but there may be some memory management options in Omni settings. If that’s the case, I’d set it to load as much as possible in ram. Would be longer load times, but once more is loaded into ram, your performance might improve, in case sample access from the SSD is choking up your system."
---Will also check that as well, thanks.
I appreciate all of the information folks have shared with me. I am actually an Historian using soundscapes for my work.
The event was a joy to behold, combinations of young and old....for me I was quite pleased as well. I am retired navy and it was great to see vets/retirees who have found peace and happiness in making music of all types. The Sweetwater staff was very gracious and seemed to enjoy the smiles on everyone's face. If you go in coming years, be sure to look at the schedules closely and the map of the tents closely. On several walk throughs, you may be surprised by how the gear is labelled and divided up in categories. We decided one day was enough for us old folks, but we are definitely going again.
Cheers to all,
Carlos
