Latency and dropout/spike recording issues in Garageband

[forumuser656459]

I'm running a 2013 iMac with Catalina 10.15.7 and Garageband 10.1.4

(these are the most up to date versions of MacOS and GB I can have with this iMac)

I'm having an issue with latency that seems incurable and also spike and dropout when using an iRig device.

I have a USB direct input cable (1/4 inch jack to usb), but the latency issues persist after trying all the usual "fixes". It will work for a few moments but then the latency lag comes back.

When using the iRig (plugs into iMac headphone minijack socket) or even just capturing sound direct using the inbuilt microphone, the sound starts off at level but then drops off after a few moments. A pause in playing and the same will happen again - back up to the original level for a few moments then dropping off to a lower level difficult to hear on monitor. Quality of the sound is also not great.

I'm considering getting a Behringer Q802 Xenyx USB mixer to record guitars and vocals into my Garageband projects but don't want to do this only to find the latency and sound dropout/spike issues persist.

Does anyone have similar issues that they fixed who can help me? Cheers.

p.s. I can't afford to be spending much. Certainly not a new iMac.

Martin.

[sonics]

Which iRig device is it?

[forumuser656459]

It just says "iRig" on it, but it works by taking a guitar jack 1/4" and the other end is a split mini jack input and headphone socket.

Just now I've installed a copy of Audacity Audio Editor a freeware software package and exactly the same problem is happening with dropout and spike. I've not tried the USB device yet to see if latency is a problem.

[Wonks]

The original iRig then.

I do wish manufacturers would add a descriptive suffix to product names if they plan to run an extending replacement line of them, as it makes searching for info on the original product much harder.

[MarkOne]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Does your iRig thingy look like this?

https://amzn.eu/d/iHxJvxM

With that device you are using the Macs audio in and out, although that shouldn't be a huge issue the Core Audio driver for the native audio system is actually pretty good.

When you say latency, how much are we talking, is it like the guitar is phasing or is there a definitely delay before you hear it?

Unfortunately, if I remember Apple took away the option to change the buffer size in GarageBand many versions ago so you can't experiment with larger and smaller buffer sizes.

You can try locking tracks to see if that reduces the clicking problems.

But you are saying this is also happening in Audacity. So perhaps not.

What are your iMac specs (What processor and how much RAM do you have?)

And do you have anything else running while you are recording?

[James Perrett]

How about downloading a copy of Reaper and seeing what the latency is like with that? Reaper is free to try and you should be able to adjust your audio settings to lower latency.

[sonics]

So it's the original iRig preamp thingy. I think you'll need to invest in one of the later iRig models with a USB interface, or consider a dedicated audio interface, since you say you want to record vocals as well.

[forumuser656459]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Does your iRig thingy look like this?

https://amzn.eu/d/iHxJvxM

With that device you are using the Macs audio in and out, although that shouldn't be a huge issue the Core Audio driver for the native audio system is actually pretty good.

When you say latency, how much are we talking, is it like the guitar is phasing or is there a definitely delay before you hear it?

Unfortunately, if I remember Apple took away the option to change the buffer size in GarageBand many versions ago so you can't experiment with larger and smaller buffer sizes.

You can try locking tracks to see if that reduces the clicking problems.

But you are saying this is also happening in Audacity. So perhaps not.

What are your iMac specs (What processor and how much RAM do you have?)

And do you have anything else running while you are recording?

Yes it looks like the iRig you've shown. However, the problem also occurs with the built in microphone. I've also now downloaded the latest Garageband onto my MacBook Air running Monterey and the same issue occurs using either iRig or built in microphone. I guess it must be a level/clipping issue but the controls available don't fix it. I feel there must be a setting/fix somewhere but I can't find it.

As for the latency, yes it's definitely a lag as I can get it to work in time for a little while by the usual fixes (restarting GB, resetting the Audio Input device) but it soon defaults back to a lag. Perhaps there's an incompatibility, but there's no software or plugin for the USB cable.

I'm writing this on the laptop, so can't check the processor on the iMac but there's 16GB of Ram I think. It's a 2013 model. I'm not running much else at the same time but perhaps I could shut down Google Chrome as I have a lot of tabs open but I don't see how this would help the sound/latency issues.

[forumuser656459]

So it's the original iRig preamp thingy. I think you'll need to invest in one of the later iRig models with a USB interface, or consider a dedicated audio interface, since you say you want to record vocals as well.

But as I said, I get the same problem just using the inbuilt microphone to record. So I don't think the issue is the iRig. I've also downloaded the latest GarageBand onto my MacBook Air running Monterey and the same issue occurs. I feel there must be a fix somewhere, but I've tried the track controls such as Record Level and Noise Gate to no avail. It also occurred with a copy of Audacity I downloaded.

However, I am considering a Behringer Q802USB Mixer to record properly. The question is, if I still experience the latency issue that I'm getting with my existing USB device, then there's no point.

[forumuser656459]

While I'm at it, there's another glitch in GarageBand that I find very annoying -

The Catch Playhead function which shows the progress through a song, scrolling the screen left to right automatically, has a habit of turning itself off. This is especially annoying when I'm recording an instrument as I need the visual to remind me of changes (verse, chorus etc).

Is this just a typical Apple glitch that they've never bothered to fix or is there a setting I can change.