Mac Mini (2018) has problems with Logic Pro X (crackling and popping sound)

I bought a Mac mini i7 with 8 GB of ram 1TB of SSD, connected it to a 4K 42 inch screen and an Rode AI-1 audio interface and a Native Instruments Maschine MK3.

I experienced continuous issues with Logic Pro x and NI Maschine 2 where the Audio started crackling and popping during recording and playback. The issues increased when I scrolled through the arranger window or increased the window of my session.

After weeks of research I found out that it is related to the lack of dedicated video ram on the Mac mini. The Mac mini uses the system’s ram for it’s video card. Especially when you connect a 4K monitor, a monitor with Scaled resolution or multiple hi-resolution monitors the Mac mini will consume too much systems ram and interferes with logics performance dramatically. After I connected a old 2k monitor and switched off the scaling the issues where gone proving the hypothesis.

I decided to upgrade the ram to 32 GB (as I learned that other users still had the same problems at 16GB of ram) and this solved the problem.

With 32GB of ram the system was able to dedicate more memory to the graphics card assuring to leave more memory for logic and maschine without maxing out.

So I highly recommend users who want to use the Mac mini 2018 as a music production system and work at a comfortable screen resolution to upgrade to 32GB at least.

I hope this post helps the people who are encountering issues as I know how frustrating it can be when you can’t determine the root cause.

Happy music making!

Regards Boet