Does a better(expensive) audio interface reduce the pop sound when I play soft synths?

[Logictree]

I downloaded some synth demos, like Dune 2. Man, this thing should know how to use CPU. Though the sound is amazing, my poor 2011 Macbook Pro seems too old for this kind of synths. Most of the Pad presets cause pop and click through my cheap audio interface (Roland Due-capture), even with 256 latency setting in LPX. Sometime 512 is not enough. My Absynth seems like comes from another world comparing to these new synths.
So my question is: could a better audio interface solve this problem(cost less)? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new Macbook(cost much more)?

[BertKoor]

Your problem seems to be CPU power. Another audio interface wont fix that. But plenty of softsynths should run happily on that system.

[Logictree]

Thanks for the reply.

[tenshin111]

Yeah, no audio interface will add CPU power to your machine, sadly

[ntom]

Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new Macbook(cost much more)?

Well as we all know, in accordance to the New Edition Apple Bible (as written to replace the FIrst Edition Wozniak) That all followers of our lord, Jobs - all apples come with the ABSOLUTE most pristine in cutting edge computing technology, but such power has a half life of 6 months. AND SO IT WAS WRITTEN! Ye be that a purchase of no less than $1500 must be spent per yer.

Seriously, I know, I know - OMG APPLE SO GREAT FER THE CREATIVES LOLOLOLOLOLOL#SWAG#YOLO - but if a 2011 mac can't put up with a few synths, I think a more sound investment might be to find something a little more powerful. I'm not necessarily saying to not use Mac, but what I am saying is that Mac seems to charge a lot for out dated hardware that won't last you as long as another machine for the same cost. Now on the other hand if you found a Mac with modern hardware, I'd say go for it.

EDIT:
Sorry I had to get it out of my system:
Well there's you problem right there! Looks like you're trying to do a PC's job with a Mac!

Okay, enough trolling. Sorry. I just had to.

[Septimon]

Your problem seems to be CPU power. Another audio interface wont fix that. But plenty of softsynths should run happily on that system.

Actually I don't quite agree. There are big differences between audio interfaces concerning latency.
I'm using a 6 year old Macbook (the white one) and can happily play CPU-hungry Reaktor-ensembles with a buffer setting of 128 with a Motu ultralite FW-interface on ableton Live. I even demoed U-He Bazille and ACE and it worked fine here.
What host are you using?

[mhog]

"poor macbook pro 2011"?! macbook pro 2009 crappy core2duo 2.26 here and everything perfect, no pops and clicks at all. Dune2 included. It's the Roland Duo-capture IMO: old driver, conflicts, interference or such.

I would re-install the driver...
http://www.roland.com/support/article/? ... ds&p=UA-11

[V0RT3X]

Im running a 2011 Macbook pro and I can run stuff like Dune2 with no problem just using the Core Audio drivers.

[werp]

mentions the obvious...
a bunch of developers have inbuilt pops and crackles in their demos to remind you that it's a demo...
although I think Dune 2 might just be time limited.

[VariKusBrainZ]

I've got a couple of 5 year old core2duo laptops, no problems here using he internal audio with asio4all drivers.

Sounds like a problem specific to your machine

[Aiynzahev]

Good interfaces can help with this. I imagine you'd be looking at RME. Ideally you could try it before buying, or get it with a no fuss return policy.

[stardustmedia]

I still use an MacBookPro from 2007. Ok, I don't have Dune2, but running Lush101 plus a Sigmund delay works fine without pops. Maybe I'm wrong, but Dune2 should not suck that much more CPU power that a MBP 2011 starts to struggle.

However, the answer to your question is generally no. Definitely no audio face will add CPU power. Check what other programs use up all your CPU power. Also check how much RAM you have, it's possible that you think you have enough, but RAM can get out of order, so you might be stuck with just 2 GB or so.

That said, pops and clicks might also come from the audio interface, from different issues. Do you have these pops and clicks all the time? If yes, you might need to change to another (not necessarily better or even high end) audio interface.

Why high end not necessarily means you will live forever without pops and clicks. I'm running a pretty high end setup. And still it happens here and then that (I guess due to Wordclock de/synchronisation) pops and clicks occur. Especially when Logic starts to bug around with sample rate (I have no clue why).

[piel]

]I downloaded some synth demos, like Dune 2. Man, this thing should know how to use CPU.

It does

my poor 2011 Macbook Pro seems too old for this kind of synths

No, it is not too old, should be able to handle Dune 2 pretty well.

Most of the Pad presets cause pop and click through my cheap audio interface (Roland Due-capture), even with 256 latency setting in LPX. Sometime 512 is not enough

Even a 256 buffer length should suffice. Try some other interface (like borrow from a friend) if you have a chance but don't buy one. It is not particularly bad.

My Absynth seems like comes from another world comparing to these new synths.

No, it is from another time. While Absynth is a fun and great synth it is unfair to compare them as such because of difference of their ages.

So my question is: could a better audio interface solve this problem(cost less)? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new Macbook(cost much more)?

This is nuts... It might be a whacky driver or some othe software related issue. Your HW definitely can take the hit. What is the samplerate by the way and how many channels do you use?
Why don't you ask the developer directly? Rich is pretty nice and helpful.

Cheers