Does muting Channels Redeem CPU

CRB wrote:
dose anyone have any CPU redeeming tips?

Would like to have a mixer preloaded statically with 32 instruments so there all there when needed.

Does muting a channel redeem CPU.

No, not at all. I'll get back to you later (have to take my daughter to school now), and see if I can give you some tips that aren't already given by others by then... 🙂

It's unlikely muting a track will save you any CPU as those tracks are still actually being played just not audible.

Your best bet and you probably already know this, but to save CPU make sure you don't have any erroneous midi data, don't create new instances of effectors if you're already using that effect somewhere else and instead use a bus to distribute it.

For audio, make sure your I/O Buffer size and buffer ranges are set to match your hardware and likewise make sure your midi bandwidth settings are appropriate for your setup. Unfortunately, these settings are best made through trial and error.

Oh, and obviously, don't run cpu hungry stuff like Firefox in the background etc.

Hope this helps at least a little!

Good luck.

In addition to Jeans' tips: Freeze SI tracks before playing back, that will make a difference too. Also, when playing back it is advisable to NOT have an SI track selected (unless it's frozen). The instrument on a selected track will go into 'live mode', ready to receive whatever you are going to play. This 'ready-state' takes more CPU. You can create a 'dummy' audio track, just to select it when playing back.
With third party instruments, CPU use can vary immensly, especially when a synth has its own effects on board. Preset no 1 maybe gives you 50 voices, where preset 2 may begin to stutter at 6 or 7 voices. In (very) general: Samplers are less CPU-intensive than Synths. And CPU-use increases with the number of voices. So a multilayered sound is much more CPU-intensive than single layered sound.

Just curious.. what are you running you I/O buffer at?

As you know... in Logic an instrument and/or effect doesn't use any CPU cycles unless there's data being passed through it.
An instrument may use a little but it should only be a negligible amount.

Muting audio tracks (that are playing data) will take some of the load off the CPU.

If you have Preferences/Audio/General TrackMute/Solo: set to "CPU Saving Slow Response" only the mutes in the environment mixer will reduce CPU load, if set to "Fast(remore channel strips)" both the environment mixer and a arrange page mutes will reduce CPU.


With AU instruments and Logic's internal instruments... I think muting a track will save CPU only with effects that track is using, the softsynth still uses CPU.

pancenter-

Pancenter wrote:
If you have Preferences/Audio/General TrackMute/Solo: set to "CPU Saving Slow Response" only the mutes in the environment mixer will reduce CPU load, if set to "Fast(remore channel strips)" both the environment mixer and a arrange page mutes will reduce CPU.

Right this is the way - setting the Preferences/Audio/General TrackMute/Solo: set to "CPU Saving Slow Response" !

if set to "Fast(remore channel strips)" both the environment mixer and a arrange page mutes will reduce CPU.

This is not quite correct. In the old Logic days there was only CPU Saving Slow Response. For instance in this mode the Arrange tracks behave as an old Multitrack recorder while the Environment mixer behaves as the old studio desk mixer.
Each unit has its own "Mute" buttons and they are not linked. So using "CPU Saving Slow Response" unlink the Mute buttons in the Arrange and the Environment - note in this mode you save 100% CPU cause the signal is stopped in the tracker !

Using the "Fast(remore channel strips)" mode does not save CPU at all cause the Arrange Mute button is "linked" to the Environment mixer channel strip Mute.
In other words the signal is "In STANDBY". Though you see that the Arrange track is muted the tracker "Mute" button is slaved to the Mixer "Mute" so the signal is still played and PROCESSED by the inserted plugins loaded on the Channel strip and finally "Muted" ! This was designed for fast respond but it consumes real CPU resources like the channel is "Unmuted"

As a hole the "CPU Saving Slow Response" Logic setting is recommended for CPU save or another alternative is to "Bypass" the Plugins. I think I have created a special Environment tool behaving as "Global Bypass On/Off" button which bypasses all inserts and instruments loaded on the channel strip(s). I must look for it in my Libs. Another tool is my "Snapshot Mixer Console" which can make up to 127 snapshots of the whole Logic mixer - the presets can be stored into presets and recalled via Prg, CC# exteranl or internal messages. I.e it is the era of the "Snapshot Automation" I have developing for years. This belongs to a special "Tools" bundle so I hope to announce it soon...

!http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4967/aglogo45.gif!

Vacheto wrote:

Pancenter wrote:
if set to "Fast(remore channel strips)" both the environment mixer and a arrange page mutes will reduce CPU.

This is not quite correct. In the old Logic days there was only CPU Saving Slow Response. For instance in this mode the Arrange tracks behave as an old Multitrack recorder while the Environment mixer behaves as the old studio desk mixer. Each unit has its own "Mute" buttons and they are not linked. So using "CPU Saving Slow Response" unlink the Mute buttons in the Arrange and the Environment - note in this mode you save 100% CPU cause the signal is stopped in the tracker !

Using the "Fast(remore channel strips)" mode does not save CPU at all cause the Arrange Mute button is "linked" to the Environment mixer channel strip Mute.

I show a definite CPU savings (when muting) in both the Arrange Page and/or Environment Mixer using "Fast(remote channel strips)" setting in Audio preferences.

I checked it before I posted and I just checked it again, on my old G4 running Logic 8.02. It's especially noticable using an older underpowered machine.

pancenter-

CRB wrote:
Pancenter,

My I/O buffer is at 1024.

QUESTION: Considering all above, what should my I/O buffer size be?

Thanks, and are in in AZ?

Ok, 1024 is fine, since you're not concerned with "play through" latency you might try setting the process buffer to large. (or small) Logic does not always react Logically. Since there are no tracks record enabled create a dummy external MIDI track and select it before playback of your sequence.

Yes, AZ.

pancenter-

an occasional clicking or pausing though

If you keep an eye on Activity Monitor while this is happening, it might help you get a sense of whether the issue is ram, cpu, or disk. And this might help you develop a strategy for solving the problem.

Probably some instruments are more resource-intensive than others. When you can identify them, this will help you decide which instruments to use. You'll decide that some are worth the price, and some aren't.

One can mute regions, too, which also mutes them at the arrange window level, significantly reducing CPU.

Fox

Fox,

I believe you nailed the solution for me for large amounts of MIDI tracks.

I've been importing in some MIDI files that contain drum patterns from over the last 20 years and a few files contain about 50-60 tracks.

I imported in one file recently that had 64 tracks of old Orbit drum sequences. Unless I divide this file among about 3 Logic Projects (which will solve the problem), it will overload the CPU even with all tracks muted and attempting to only play one track at a time.

I took your suggestion and did a select all on all regions, right-clicked to mute them all and then un-muted only one track to play. It worked fine. Now I can selectively un-mute one or more tracks, re-assign to a drum kit (Logic by default assigned all tracks to "Sanur Shimmer") and hear what I've got to work with.

Yeah, a new workaround to jot down! Fortunately, I only have a few files like this to work with and archive.

Thanks,
Dave