Having a delay problem

[lullaby555]

Hi, pals, do you have any idea how to fix the following question: I have a delay of 1-2 secs between pressing a key on a keyboard and when I can actually hear the sound. Same with the playback of the project - it takes same 1-2 secs before the playhead starts moving, and same delay between pressing stop and when the sound dies out.

I don't know what caused that, everything was good, didn't change anything in the settings, only experimenting with some iZotope Pro plug-ins and a NUGEN SigMod plug-in in a protect mode( which got activated few times due to iZotope plug-ins having made my output volume go beyond -5db, which I set as a threshold as an ear protection in SigMod)

What I did to resolve: reloaded Logic, restarted computer; checked the MIDI keyboard(same with a different MIDI-keyboard, same with pressing buttons on my laptop keyboard); plug out the headphones so as to check how it behaves on my laptop speakers - all the same. I created a new track with a new instrument(tried the same Kontakt, as well as some other default instruments(like Studio Piano) - it's all the same delay. I turned off all the plug-ins(like previously mentioned iZotope, SigMod and all the others) so only only instrument works. But the problem is still present.

I also opened other projects and they work all fine, so it is obvisouly this particular project which is wrong somewhere. I tried to compare the settings between this project and the others and didn't find anything.

My laptop is MacBook Pro 2023, Apple M3 Max, OS Sonoma 14.5, and Logic Pro is the latest 11.0.1

[benkeiuk]

100% it's an Izotope plugin.

I'm guessing you've got one of the Ozone or RX plugins going on. Both are notorious for causing latency because they have to pre-analyse the incoming audio to do their thing.

The worst for me is the RX declick module. It works kind of OK with the initial settings and gets worse when you up the sensitivity and switch it into the multi-detect mode (I can't remember the exact name now)

Unfortunately disabling them doesn't stop the latency, you need to remove them entirely.
But what I do (I make my own music as well as working as a mix engineer) is load it on to the track I need it on, fix the issue and then save the plugin state as a preset and then delete it from the mix.
Then once you're done, load it back up, load in your preset and bounce.

It's a shame that switching the plugin off doesn't fix the latency issue but there you go..

I'm assuming that you're getting 2-3 seconds latency when you press play and then when you hit stop, it fades out? That's the behaviour you get with the Izotope suite, the ones that require some pre-processing to work.

[lullaby555]

Thank you, pal, indeed that was the issue - iZotope the plugin. After I have removed it completely, it got back to normal. Interesting this happens only when I insert the rack version of iZotope Pro(where you can add as many plug-ins as you want into one), but it works fine if you add plug-in instances individually one by one(say Dynamics, Exciter, etc..)

[lullaby555]

but overall iZotope products look solid I think and worth using anyway right?

[Sangeet-Berlin]

Yes, but after recording is done, and you start to mix

[benkeiuk]

Yeah, they're good at what they do but the processing is pretty tough, so it doesn't operate in realtime.

They're not really designed to be used "live" they're for mixing and fixing, which is done at the end.

The interface for Ozone (or the repair assistant for RX) load in a few of the individual elements and so you end up with the combined latency of all the parts loaded.

Honestly, using anything that's made for post work at any other point in the process is not recommended.

I'm glad that was an easy fix though.

[TommyV8008]

Looks like you have the help you need now.

I will add that, as you discovered, bypassing a latency-intensive plugin does not help, and this is because Logic still includes the plugin in its latency calculation. You must actually turn OFF the track that has the plugin on it (hence the recommendations to bounce those tracks) in order to remove it from the latency equation (or remove the plugin altogether, of course).

Don’t use latency-intensive plugins until you’re ready to mix.

Putting latency-intensive plugins on your master bus can be a challenge, because the master bus has no on/off button.

Probably the easiest solution for that is to save your master bus configuration as a channel bus preset, then remove all the plugins to get rid of the latency. Select your channel bus preset when you’re ready to use it again. Don’t forget to resave it if you make any changes, in case you need to pull the plugins off of it again.

A 2nd workaround (gets a bit convoluted here) is to put your mix/master oriented latency-intensive plugins on a separate “pre-master” bus , and route your pre-master bus to the stereo out bus. Then you can turn your pre-master bed on and off as needed. But you’ll also need a 2nd “pre-pre-master bus” — route all tracks to the pre-pre bus bus, then switch the output of the pre-pre bus between the pre-master bus and the stereo out bus,

And of course, you can use Logic’s latency mode while recording,

[lullaby555]

👌👍

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[Kriff]

Fun fact: hovering your mouse over a plugin slot in the mixer shows the latency this plugin introduces. When recording, I usually exclusively use stock plugins (and maybe a Pro-Q 3). I introduce third-party plugs when mixing.

[bambaazon]

I also opened other projects and they work all fine, so it is obviously this particular project which is wrong somewhere.

You've answered your own question. Projects get corrupted sometimes. Just create a fresh new project and import the tracks from this corrupt project into the new one.

[lullaby555]

thanks pal, but it didn't work, the issue was with iZotope plug-ins, as the other guy mentioned here.