Any idea/ suggestion?

Thanks!

The difference might be that BF Pro has more channels to handle, comparing to internal audio. BF Pro has 4/4 analogs and 8/8 ADAT digitals. That is several times more comparing to internal audio.

And look at current thread about Logic and FF UCX II. There are two hints by MC.

Apple you also have to consider that the throughput of RAM, cache etc. is much lower on the cheaper devices like AIR, because often only half the data throughput.
Air M1 I can't even record micro properly, goes well for a few seconds and then stutters.
Definitely hardware too weak .  You could try reducing the recording bit depth to 16.
M3 Pro works great, but M1 Air, the hardware is too weak.

I managed to check now on my UFX III and have simliar problems. Limiting the channel count to 8 in the Fireface USB settings seems to help a bit. Still very dissapointing to have these kind of issues (regardlesss of the issue being with the OS or RME)

Yes, I was just confirming that it wasn't isolated to the Babyface.

And the whole point of having a UFX III (or even just a Babyface using ADAT) is to utilize the available channels - so it's not really a proper solution to reduce the channel count artificially.

In the current project I have 26 tracks. I rendered them all and imported into a new Ableton project and they play with no cpu spikes. So indicates even more some plugin issue. Going through there is no one plugin that is creating the issue.

As mentioned before when running directly on the bult in audio of the macbook pro then there are a lot less issues. So some combination of too many heavy plugins and reduced performance when using the external interface

Hi! update
I installed driver version 4.14 and things seem to have improved a lot. Not sure if it has to do with it.
The M1 mac is capable for everything, mine has 16 gb of ram and performs every task smoothly, even video.
It seems (as it doesn't have fans) to be sensible to high temps. I do not think it throttles but I can notice lower performace on hot summer days in spain if I am using it in a not conditioned room. But I do not think this has to do with the problems I was refering to in this thread.

This is a fully loaded M1 Max which handles everything else without problem. The problem is def not resources but bad interactions between OSX audio subsystem and the RME drivers. Even with no plugins loaded and no tracks I can have skipping audio from the audio interface with both Ableton and Youtube or Spotify open.

A M1 should easily handle everything, in general.
Regardless if it’s an MB Air or MB Pro or whatever.

What i can say from own experience - check the USB connection:
- Try without any docking stations/converters/hubs etc first. Plug the unit directly to it’s own usb/tb port on the mac.
- Make sure the usb cable is 100% ok .
- Look in the Control App if you see any CRC Errors while you have dropouts.

Settings dialog.