GR-55 response slows down with USB connected to MAC (Logic)

Started by DrDwards, January 09, 2013, 02:32:08 PM

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DrDwards

Help Please!

I'm relatively new to this technology and recently I got a GR-55. Love it, but I'm having problems getting it to work with Logic Pro 9. As soon as I connect it to my Mac (spec below) the performance of the GR-55 gets seriously bad. It starts holding on to notes that I'm no longer playing, sounding other notes and there are serious latency issues as well. As soon as I disconnect the USB cable or close Logic the problem disappears and the GR-55 functions perfectly. I think the pick-up set up is good as it works perfectly when not connected via USB.

Essentially what I'm trying to do is to record audio via the USB output but I also want to be able to record MIDI – not necessarily at the same time but that would be nice, however, I'm nowhere near that yet as the GR-55 simply isn't working when connected via USB.

I have tried this with the setting for "Direct Monitor" in GR-55 set to "On" and "Off" but it's the same whether I'm listening to the sound coming back from Logic or the original sound generated by the GR-55.

The guys at the apple store reckon that although my MAC is an older one it should be up to coping with what I'm trying to do.

I've read so much on this in various forums prior to this post but I just can't figure it out. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

System details:
Running OS X 10.6.8
Logic Pro 9.1.8 (32 Bit)

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:   iMac
  Model Identifier:   iMac8,1
  Processor Name:   Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:   3.06 GHz
  Number Of Processors:   1
  Total Number Of Cores:   2
  L2 Cache:   6 MB
  Memory:   4 GB
  Bus Speed:   1.07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version:   IM81.00C1.B00

Elantric

Actually - others have reported similar GR-55 slowdown / sluggish behaviour issues when connected to a computer via USB - where the GR-55 is being used as an Audio I/O Interface.
(details here:)
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=7411.msg51742#msg51742

I have heard reports of this behavior before

You may benefit by using a separate MIDI interface for your Mac, and only use the 5 pin MIDI out of the GR-55 to the Mac (with a third party MIDI interface or USB MIDI cable)

The onboard Audio I/O on most macs is actually pretty decent.   

DrDwards

Hi Elantric. Thanks for your response!.Yeah, I had checked out that post earlier. I'm not using the GR-55 as a monitor though. I'm just trying to get the audio signal from GR-55 into Logic via USB - essentially because I want to get stereo input to take full advantage of the sounds. Unfortunately I don't have any other means of doing this just yet. I can take a mono line out and I'm using an Apogee Jam to go into the line input of the Mac. The result is good but in mono. I also tried turning the MIDI switch off on the GR-55 to see if it was the MIDI from Logic causing the problem but no luck. Yesterday I tried the GR-55 with Garageband on teh Mac via USB but had the same problems with the GR-55. Looks like I'm going to have to spend some more money on a decent interface (or buy a new Mac  :'() so that I can take two lines out of the GR-55 into the Mac. It's a bit disappointing though as it should work via USB.  ???

Any other ideas out there?
Thanks

gumtown

An old post but a bit of a revelation playing with USB midi into a Raspberry Pi, same could apply to mac osx.

I found that my GR-55 virtually locked up as soon as the USB cable was plugged in, a patch change took about 30 seconds from the pedals or dial and the menu unresponsive.

The result !!
Some USB midi connections cause a loopback from GR-55 midi out back to GR-55 midi in.
I found if either System setting for Midi PC RX or Midi PC TX is 'off' then the problem goes away.
It is an eternal Program change loopback, the GR-55 does not have the option to have TX or RX program change on different channels.
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Elantric

Gumtown offers excellent advice above!

Also I found on modern 2012 or newer Macs with i5/i7 CPUs running OSX 10.75 or newer - the USB Connected GR-55 does not become as sluggish, compared to connecting to an older 2008 era Mac with Intel Core 2 Duo running OSX 10.6