Question

I'm having problems with my Presonus Quantum / Studio One 3.5.2 combo. I'm getting intermittent CPU spikes while recording and playing back. This is with Stdio One set at 32 samples and medium dropout protection, recording a single track with no plugins at 44.1khz on to a Lacie thunderbolt SSD. The Mac Mini is 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 with 16 Gigs of RAM. I have upgraded the 3 ft. thunderbolt cables (Startech). I'm aware that I could go to 64 samples and this would mitigate the problem somewhat but as I add tracks, the problem persists. I'm mostly engaged in doing small roots / folk productions with 20 tracks of audio (at the most) and that might include a small drum kit. Is my Mac just not cutting it? Any advice would help. Thanks

Answer 1

A few things to try:

Remove the LaCie drive entirely, try recording to the system drive first and see if the problem persists. If it does change out your Thunderbolt cables for Apple Thunderbolt cables.

Consider creating a separate partition on your drive and install a fresh version of OS, install only the apps you need to do your recording and test to see if that resolves it.

If it does, re-introduce the LaCie drive back into the system and see if issue arises, then you'll know. If the drive is more than a certain percentage full, 75% or so, it may be pulling more voltage than the power supply for the drive can handle. Try using a fresh clean drive that has less than 25% of storage or nothing on it.

If you're still having issues, contact support and/or go to your Apple store to see if they have any suggestions.

That should do it.