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So I’ve been using the standalone garritan cfx grand application rather than a daw because it’s lighter on using ram. I use a 2013 MacBook Air which has 4gb ram. I know this is a pretty old computer but it works perfectly for native instruments. So my problem is whenever I stop playing my digital piano for more than 5 or more seconds, the next note I play is distorted and it just pops. But after that it plays flawlessly. For my advanced settings I use 1.25 ram allocation and 16 pre inst cache. I’m not sure if I should just upgrade to a newer computer or if I should just ignore it. Also everytime I start up the application it always pops on the first note I play but then plays just fine after. And then the cycle keeps happening (hit a note then it pops but after that note it plays fine, then when I stop playing for a second, the next note I play just pops and becomes distorted) I’m not sure what I should do. Any suggestions?

What is the sample rate and buffer size?

Are you using an interface, connecting directly by USB...?

Are you shutting down all networking and other programs?

Do not run on battery power but have your laptop plugged in.

You can try changing the RAM allocation and pre-caching figures as those sometimes help.

- The RAM allocation probably can't go much above 2GB but a very small figure might be worth trying too.

sounds for me like your macbook is switching between "energy save mode" and "power mode"...
but i'm a windows user, i don't know how you can disable this on a mac.

Sample rate is 48000 (which I can’t change) and buffer size is 1024.

I’m using the core audio from my Mac and all of the samples are on a hard drive

Yes I always make sure I have nothing else opened in the background

So are you saying to not have my Mac charging while playing?

I also tried changing my ram allocation and disk cache but that didn’t work also

Not a mac user, but 1024 samples buffer size sounds inappropriate. Get a proper ASIO sound device from Focusrite or Steinberg. The ASIO driver will probably prevent energy saving/your problem. 1024 samples is also way too high latency to use any VST. Modern computers should be able to run most VSTs with 32 samples buffer size, in your case maybe 128. The standalone app surely isn't meant to be used without a proper ASIO device, so it could totally be that it does not do any such preventive measures on its own. But that's just a crude guess. Could also be that the OS is swapping out your VST's sample buffer to disk. 4 GB of RAM for Garritan is really not appropriate. Also, the tech specs say it's FLASH storage. Sounds suspicious to me - performance wise.

This can also be an issue, especially for Garritan CFX...
SSD is highly recommended for it!

Please excuse my ignorance but what it is a Asio device? Do I buy it or download it?

ASIO is windows only... You don't need on a Mac.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Stream_Input/Output

Really sounds like a case for not enough horse power. Garritan says minimum 4G, I don't believe it's enough. They recommend 8 but out of experience if you want a flawless experience 16 IMO would be recommended. It's a heavy sample base instruments, I don't think your computer is up to speed for that. Afraid you need a new PC . . .

Mac user here. Just a couple of easy to do housekeeping before you spend any money…

1). Reboot your Mac. This turns off old programs that might be sucking resources.
2). Turn off WiFi or any other networks.

Then,

3). Get your Mac working correctly at 128 sample buffer. I’ve been following VSTs on Macs for for about 12 years and never heard of anyone needing more than this.

I think I may have found a fix.

I rebooted my Mac and turned my wifi off and that didn’t work. But this time I was looking through my advanced settings and noticed my polophony was at 16. I wondered if this had anything to do with it. So I changed it to 32 and changed my disk cache to 32 as well and now it’s running better with occasional cracks but not to the point were it annoys me. Idk if the first note was crackling because the polophony was so low? But for now it’s running fine.

Yeah nvm it was running fine for like 5 mins now it’s back

Windows user here, so take these notes with caution. Several people report that Garritan CFX functions better when you reduce some of the memory allocations. Try that. In my old windows laptop (it has 8gb, so that may be different) I have the ADVANCED tab settings as:
Ram allocation : 2 gb (try that and try 1gb)
Pre caching : try all settings, starting from the lower ones
Polyphony: ser it at max (128)

In the menu/preferences set buffer size at max (1024? Large latency, probably) and gradually reduce it until the cracking resumes. And choose a Audio Device API that allows 44100 Hz...

Try one other thing: load a midi file downloaded from the net and play it. Does it also crack? If not, maybe the problem lies in the midi signals from the keyboard.

So I tried loading up garritan with Logic Pro x with the advanced settings: poly-128 ram allocation-1.25 disk cache- 128. It runs pretty well compared to the standalone app. Which is a little odd but I think it’s because of the 41000 sample rate rather than the 48000 sample rate from the standalone app. Could the sample rate really have that much of an impact?

And why can't you set the standalone at 44100? Check what audio device is used by Logic... Is that device available in the CFX settings dropdown?
Not sure about CFX, but many VSTs have samples WAV (or whatever the format) at 44100. So the cpu needs to upscale the file instead of native read. It is always worth trying. In better computers it will probably not make a difference.

When I start up the standalone garritan app it defaults to 44100 sample rate but when I plug in my midi keyboard and connect it to garritan it automatically changes to 48000 and I can’t switch it.

Is it only Garritan? Did you try other VSTs? Does your system put the drive into sleep mode? Try to narrow down the idle time required to reproduce the effect.

Also: the Garritan UI has a disk sample load failure indicator: "Advanced" tab -> "disk loss" on bottom left.

You could also try closing the UI (if you run it as a plugin). I have similar but not identical issues with Garritan CFX - Reaper-DAW - combo, ie. sound distortions with open plugin UI.

I have had issues in the past with popping, when I start with a different sample rate and then I change it.
This problem goes away after I close the application and restart it. But in my case, after I change it once, it stays that way forever.
From what you describe, it always starts at 44100 and then changes to 48000?
Try to set your sample rate in a way that it stays the same. see if that helps.

I tried it with all my vsts and it just locks on 48000. If I try to change it after plugging my midi keyboard in it doesn’t even allow me to change the sample rate to anything else.