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late 2011 15" MBP w 16G RAM history:

2011 - replaced HD w 250G Crucial SSD - all good
2013 - replaced 250G SSD w Crucial 480G SSD - all good
2015 - replaced 480 SSD w Crucial 960 SSD - problems
2015 - implemented Trim Enabler - a few problems seem to have ceased

Symptoms:
MBP runs really hot
MBP burns through battery quickly - new OWC battery goes from full charge to reserve batt within one hour of DP use. Yes, I've conditioned it several cycles
DP records with latency MOST of the time, not always
MBP freezes when running intense DP projects (fixed w Trim Enabler)

During these symptoms, Activity Monitor shows CPU is not fully utilized, RAM is about half idle, disk has >400G free space, but disk activity seems to show some very high spikes, especially at the time of the problems.

I'm tempted to go back to the 480G SSD, if for no other reason than to see if it behaves better.

Any thoughts as to why this new 960SSD's installation seems to have coincided with all these issues?

What are your fans doing?

I want to say running fast, but now that you mention it, I'm not sure they are.

Let me listen next time. Maybe I need to replace 'em. iFixit is the go to site for that, right?

mikehalloran wrote:What are your fans doing?

Cheering.

That made my morning. Well done!

Fans seem to be working fine.

Returned OWC battery for a newer one. Much better performance from battery.

Still, DP has noticeable latency. Not just monitoring latency, everything I record, MIDI or Audio is about 500ms late. I have to move it all earlier in order for it to sync. This makes playing any virtual synths impossible.

Next, I'm going to upgrade the firmware on the SSD. If that doesn't work, I may temporarily try to use the 480G SSD again and see if the problem goes away, since this all seems to correlate to my SSD upgrade.

Based on your description, it sounds like an issue that is unlikely to have anything to do with your storage. Reinstall DP? I note Mike recommends that often. MIght be worth a try.

I'll mention "Sync Recorded MIDI" preference as a precaution, but if the delay involves audio, too, this preference is not likely to be your issue.

Thanks. Here's some new info:

If i record audio through the built in mic of my MacBook Pro - no latency.
If I record it through my Apogee Symphony I/O - latency

It seems to be an issue with how the Apogee, the Mac and DP are interacting.

Also, my SSD already had the latest firmware, so I bailed on that.

Any theories?

SOLVED.

I'm a bit embarrassed to report the problem was with the firmware of my Apogee Symphony I/O and had nothing to do with my SSD Upgrade. I noticed the problem started around the time of the upgrade, so that coincidence threw me off. The key for me was that the problem didn't occur when my laptop was standalone and I had a mini-keyboard plugged straight into the MacBook Pro. Curious that the latency caused by the Symphony caused MIDI latency as well, even though the MIDI wasn't using the Symphony at all. This leads me to thing the latency was a system-wide drag caused by the Symphony that affected many aspects of the recording process.

I upgraded the firmware and now the only timing problems I have are due to my own lack of precision.

Thanks for all the help, folks!