Is Logic 911 the worst audio recorder on the planet?

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Level 2

210 points

Is Logic 911 the worst audio recorder on the planet?

Disk too slow.

I'm recording one mono audio track to a dedicated audio drive inside my Mac Pro.

Or rather I would be if Logic wasn't interrupting my recording with a "disk too slow 10004" message.

When it's not doing that it's locking up with the flashing screen error no matter what key I press.

And just for good measure it slings the dreaded burst of noise at me from time to time.

It's like paying for a slapper to beat me up.

MacPro 266, Mac OS X (10.6.3), RME Fireface

Posted on May 26, 2010 7:18 AM

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Answer 1

Bee Jay

Level 6

10,900 points

May 26, 2010 7:23 AM in response to Andy Scott3

Is Logic 911 the worst audio recorder on the planet?

No.

Or rather I would be if Logic wasn't interrupting my recording with a "disk too slow 10004" message.

That is not normal. Check your disk, ram use, what else your computer is doing and raise your buffer sizes. Make sure the safety buffer is turned off. What audio hardware are you using, and have you updated it's drivers? The Fireface should be rock solid...

When it's not doing that it's locking up with the flashing screen error no matter what key I press.

That indicates that your key command doesn't apply to the current window, or you have a modal dialog on screen.

And just for good measure it slings the dreaded burst of noise at me from time to time.

I've never had this, but some people have. I'm not sure what the cause of this is, I don't think anyone knows...

It's like paying for a slapper to beat me up.

Do you do that a lot?

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Answer 2

Andy Scott3 Author

Level 2

210 points

May 26, 2010 7:45 AM in response to Bee Jay

Bee Jay wrote:

That is not normal. Check your disk, ram use, what else your computer is doing and raise your buffer sizes. Make sure the safety buffer is turned off. What audio hardware are you using, and have you updated it's drivers? The Fireface should be rock solid...

Disk is fine, maybe a tad fragmented. Computer doing nothing except (not) recording one lonely audio track. Buffer at 128, should be no sweat. FF up to date.

When it's not doing that it's locking up with the flashing screen error no matter what key I press.

That indicates that your key command doesn't apply to the current window, or you have a modal dialog on screen.

I'm not thinking it's a key command issue. Everything causes the flashing, Logic is obviously on life support at that point. No matter what I press it flashes at me, and not in a sexy way. "quit" is greyed out and I have to force quit even though there's no red "Logic is not responding" in the force quit box.

It's like paying for a slapper to beat me up.

Do you do that a lot?

Never, but I've heard some people like it.

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Answer 3

Bee Jay

Level 6

10,900 points

May 26, 2010 7:47 AM in response to Andy Scott3

Disk is fine, maybe a tad fragmented. Computer doing nothing except (not) recording one lonely audio track. Buffer at 128, should be no sweat. FF up to date.

Yeah, it really doesn't sound normal.
Can you record to an external drive, or a different one to the one you are currently using? Same results?

I'm not thinking it's a key command issue. Everything causes the flashing, Logic is obviously on life support at that point. No matter what I press it flashes at me, and not in a sexy way. "quit" is greyed out and I have to force quit even though there's no red "Logic is not responding" in the force quit box.

I've had the odd instance of this - menus not initialising and key commands not registering, and other funkiness. Does this always happen (ie, quit Logic, reload it, then load your song - does it always load in this state? Are you sure there isn't a dialog box being displayed, perhaps off screen somewhere?

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Answer 4

Andy Scott3 Author

Level 2

210 points

May 26, 2010 8:49 AM in response to Bee Jay

Bee Jay wrote:

Can you record to an external drive, or a different one to the one you are currently using? Same results?

I've just wiped the audio drive and am reinstalling, it may be a fragmenting issue, even though that's a reach.

I've also swapped the FW400 cable to my FF for an 800, I had read this had solved another's 'disk too slow' issue.

I'll be Bach, as Handel once said.

I've had the odd instance of this - menus not initialising and key commands not registering, and other funkiness. Does this always happen (ie, quit Logic, reload it, then load your song - does it always load in this state? Are you sure there isn't a dialog box being displayed, perhaps off screen somewhere?

It's not a constant. For instance yesterday I was working most of the afternoon and it occurred three times. It's happened on other songs too so it's doubtful the song is corrupted. No dialogue boxes, I've been caught out by that a few times so am on the lookout for it now. I can start and stop playback from the numerical keypad (playhead doesn't move, though) but every other key including the spacebar causes the flash of doom. I've yet to see what happens if I leave it and go off for a coffee or something.

It's the cumulative effect - flashing screen of doom, sporadic blasts of noises, disk too slow. I have a simple acoustic guitar part to lay down and so far it's been two days of in the zone, out of the zone, in the zone, etc. I'm sick of the song now, and mightily sick of Logic issues to the point of downloading the Presonus One demo this morning. It's looking pretty tasty...

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Answer 5

May 26, 2010 9:05 AM in response to Andy Scott3

One thing I haven't seen mentioned so far in this thread is moving both Logic prefs. files to the desktop and restarting Logic to see if that helps, or logging in to your machine using a different user account. As you probably know, that should be one of the first steps to try.

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.logic.pro.cs
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.logic.pro.plist

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Answer 6

Bee Jay

Level 6

10,900 points

May 26, 2010 9:24 AM in response to Andy Scott3

One related thing that happens to me fairly frequently is that on loading Logic, when the arrange window appears, there is no white window focus line around the arrange - it never initialises. This means key commands have no focus and do nothing but flash the screen.

This happens maybe 1 in 20 launches, or so.

When this happens, the only reliable way of fixing it is closing Logic and launching it again. It's not become a habit of mine after Logic first loads to check whether the window focus is there, otherwise I have to relaunch. Not a big deal, but a little annoying, and something to check on your system, if it's behaving similarly.

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Answer 7

May 26, 2010 10:10 AM in response to Bee Jay

Bee Jay wrote:
One related thing that happens to me fairly frequently is that on loading Logic, when the arrange window appears, there is no white window focus line around the arrange - it never initialises. This means key commands have no focus and do nothing but flash the screen.

This happens maybe 1 in 20 launches, or so.

When this happens, the only reliable way of fixing it is closing Logic and launching it again...

I presume you've tried clicking in the Arrange area? What about opening another window or another pane, the Piano Roll for instance, and closing it again?

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Answer 8

Andy Scott3 Author

Level 2

210 points

May 26, 2010 10:14 AM in response to Andy Scott3

Hi John,

Yep, prefs have been beaten to within an inch of their lives.

BeeJay,

The window focus has been working in the song so far on each launch, at least until I begin recording audio, which is when all the not-fun begins.

Just had another blast of noise, this time on hitting stop recording and got the message "Logical end of file reached during read operation. Error code = -39." Guaranteed blast after that message on playback. Had it half a dozen times over the past two days.

PS, any way to remain signed in on this bizarrely set up forum?

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Answer 9

Bee Jay

Level 6

10,900 points

May 26, 2010 10:15 AM in response to tankfield

As I said, the only thing I can do is restart Logic.

Nothing will re-initialise that window focus that I've found so far - and yes, I've tried...

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Answer 10

Andy Scott3 Author

Level 2

210 points

May 26, 2010 10:17 AM in response to tankfield

tankfield wrote:

I presume you've tried clicking in the Arrange area? What about opening another window or another pane, the Piano Roll for instance, and closing it again?

All flashing when I try. Logic is there but I'm almost completely locked out of it.

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