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.

On Mac USB errors are only shown for USB 3 devices, so no.

In my case, I figured out that Analog Lab V plugin  from Arturia as well as BFD3 plugins are causing the majority of my issues.
Mainly AL5 which makes my m1 mac spike like crazy.

Problem with these plugin developers is that they push and push us to increase our computational cap by acquiring more powerful (and expensive) machines instead on working on software optimisation.

I recognise the quality of AL5 but comparing it with Logic stock synths the difference in CPU load is not justified IMO

Far from being an expert I chose a 16Gb model to avoid the constraints you mention. I need to say that using final cut pro, the system is very capable (despite temperature increase, but that's another story) and quite impressive, also using plugins.
As other users mention, music production should be kind of a piece of cake for these modern machines. I used to record and mix at 96/48 15 years ago, but as cpu capacity was way more limiting, I tend to think that developers would be more innovative on releasing well optimised software.
Reading around, it seems that AL5 is crazy cpu load intensive. I am suspicious on the optimisation as only one core causes the system to crash, while the others are barely at 10%. But this is probably for other forums.

Interesting! Thanks.
I am indeed checking how the multi core option in AL5 works. I guess there's something I am not understanding / doing correctly because it doesn't seem to help on cpu load when activated.

I wish ALL devevelopers let me choose having 95% of the tone vs healthy CPU load. (some do, and I love it)
OTOH, freezing the track also helps me taking decisions on the production process...:)

As you state, with my humble M1, I can run an insane number of tracks fully loaded with sophisticated plugins with no issues.
The ones that are RAM demaning (instruments) are indeed the ones that cause more problems, so you are probably right and it's my system's bottleneck.

I started this thread because I noticed things improve a lot when my babyface pro FS is not plugged in. I assume it's because of the "complexity" handling vs output jack....and probably also because the ammount of RAM asigned to manage those complexities (more channels, etc)