Logic Pro X random CPU spikes

Similar for sure, although as I mentioned in my edit to my last post, my CPU does seem to manage the load for the majority of the time (25% to 33% usage) until it encounters what seem to be random, infrequent spikes.

I will say, after a full restart the CPU is behaving much better after trying all of these solutions. The SMTP and NVRAM/PRAM resets seemed to help a bunch, as well as turning off Wi-Fi, setting processing threads to 12, and switching to Playback mode in Multithreading as you suggested! After playing guitar through the computer for about half an hour, I only had a couple clicks and was able to add Logic's compressor and a limiter on the stereo output without overloading the CPU.

I could mark this as solved, but I feel like there is still some more solutions to give a try if your 2011 iMac is managing those plugins just fine on the 32 buffer.

To keep this thread updated in case it helps out anyone having the same issue:

After liquidating some music equipment (including the Focusrite interface), I purchased a Universal Audio Arrow audio interface since it seems to be the only quality direct Thunderbolt 3 interface.

So far, the direct Thunderbolt 3 output on the Arrow has made a significant reduction in latency compared to my old Scarlett 6i6 that was running through Apple's USB to Thunderbolt 3 adapter. The overall latency is now low enough to record on 64 samples without a very noticeable delay. While I'm disappointed that this generation of MacBook Pros seems to be utterly useless at a 32 buffer size (despite my specific model's enormous processing power), I can deal with using 64 samples instead for recording with low latency.

Hopefully Apple releases another software update for either the bridge OS or Logic Pro to continue to fix what seems to be a flaw in the latest MacBook generation's CPU management.

Quick update here for anyone interested:

I called Apple today and spoke with a Logic / creative suite representative to do some troubleshooting. His take was that it may be an issue with my audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 6i6) and its USB-C to Thunderbolt 3 adapter. He recommended Apollo as a replacement--so I'll be exploring that solution in the next month and we'll see what happens!

Really interesting update here:

When I started to encounter this problem, I was at the very beginning of producing a full track. I was starting with the dry guitar as the very first track, which is why I noticed the CPU spikes right away. I also noticed that Logic was only assigning one core to the processing, which is why the CPU would max out.

However, now that I have a bunch of tracks laid out across software instruments, audio tracks, etc. I went back to re-record the guitar track. I put the buffer size at 32 samples just for kicks, solo'd out the guitar track, and crazy enough there are no problems with playback (not recording, just playing through Logic). When I open up the CPU bar, it shows that the audio is now spreading the processing across multiple cores. The workload for the CPU is thus spread out and there is no more CPU overload.

The problem is that recording doesn't work at all. The second I try to record and the 4 beat count-in is up, the audio glitches out. My audio interface shows that the headphone level is maxed out, but all I can hear is a very faint distorted version of my guitar. There is a big pop and all the CPU cores spike a bit. Not sure what's going on here--I tried freezing all of the tracks but that didn't help.

I did also notice that the latency reads out at 8.8ms roundtrip (1.3ms output), which is substantially lower than what I was getting before. Maybe there was something in the latest 10.14.5 update that fixed something in Logic? Not sure what the answer is, but I'm glad I have at least stumbled upon a workaround here even it means making dumby software tracks so that I can force Logic to use multiple cores when I want to record guitar at a 32 sample buffer size.

Thanks for the help--increasing the buffer size definitely helps the pops and clicks, but even at 64 the latency is too high (8ms+).

I guess what I'm getting at is that I feel like given the specs on my computer (see first post, everything aside from storage is fully upgraded), I should be able to set the buffer at 32 without having to deal with pops and clicks. We're talking one track with no busses or plug-ins and nothing running in the background, and still the CPU seems to be okay until it randomly registers a huge spike in usage.

Am I overestimating the ability of my MacBook or is this a realistic assumption? How powerful of a processor and how much RAM do you need to be able to use the 32 buffer size without overloading the CPU? Is it possible that there is some glitch in my power settings that is throttling my CPU?

I have also tried the following since with no luck:

• Turning off Wi-Fi
• SMTP reset
• NVRAM/PRAM reset (which stopped audio glitches with Spotify or YouTube open but did not fix the random CPU spikes)

Apologies for the late reply--didn't make a noticeable difference opening Logic in low resolution mode. I even put the buffer size back down to 32 and there were still frequent CPU spikes/overloads.

Mojave did release an update late last week, I'm going to see if installing that makes any difference.