Track 16 - reasonable expectations?

[nitromullet]

First post, been lurking a bit though...

I just recently acquired a Track 16 for recording with Live 8.4.1 64-bit on a 2012 15" MBP (2.3GHz,4GB,256GB SSD) running Mountain Lion. Currently hooked up via USB.

I was hoping to be able to record/mix at 96kHz, but if I have the number of input samples set to 128 I get nothing but a mess of noise when playing back audio in Live. I have bumped up the number of samples all the way up to 1024 and playback is much improved (minus the occasional pop), but that has an adverse affect on latency.

Running 48kHz/128 samples works fine and sounds decent, but 96k (when not popping/stuttering) does sound noticeably better.

A typical project would consist of something along the lines of following:

-Drum rack track with some global reverb and maybe some effects on the individual pieces, such as eq
-Bass track with eq and compression
-Two MIDI tracks with effects, usually reverb, chorus, eq, and distortion/grit. I only use two VST's - miniMoog and Podolski
-Guitar tracks, usually two separately recorded tracks panned hard L/R grouped with eq and compression applied to the grouped track
-Vocal track with reverb and eq.

I currently don't use any external (non-Live native) plug-ins for effects, the only two plug-ins I use at all are miniMoog and Podolski.

...anyway, so to the actual question... Am I expecting too much out of a MBP/Track 16 at 96k, or should that set up be able to handle what I'm throwing at it?

Thanks for any help!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You're likely throwing too much stuff at your USB port. Firewire will be much more responsive.

As for the occasional pops and clicks, be sure you are self-powering and not using the ports to power the Track 16.

Caveat: NEVER plug or unplug ANY Firewire device while the Mac or the device is turned on. Completely power off everything. You've been warned.

[nitromullet]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I am currently using USB with the wall wart power adapter, and giving firewire a shot was my next idea. I'll have to try that out when I get home later on today.

[nitromullet]

I tried firewire, and it's the same. I also tried the Track 16 on my Windows 8 desktop PC (i5 4670K, 16GB RAM), and the performance is pretty much identical.

I have noticed that the issue really only comes up in one Live project, and the cpu usage is also abnormally high in this project. I'll have to dig into this project a bit and see what might be causing the high cpu usage.

I friend of mine has an UltraLite MK3, so I might see if he'll let me test how it performs with the same track. If it's the same I think it would be safe to rule out a hardware issue with my Track 16.