Repeated system overload on small projects despite trying all known fixes

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Level 1

6 points

Repeated system overload on small projects despite trying all known fixes

Hello

I am trying to create relatively small projects and getting stopped by system overload messages both when I record and when I play. The computer sometimes freezes as well, even when I am watching a Youtube video or something while the Logic project remains open.

I have tried all kinds of fixes from the internet (listed below) and spoken to a computer repairs person and a tech person at a music store and no-one knows what to do. I have specific questions below but any other ideas you have would be so gratefully received. I am supposed to be presenting a finished project for a class tonight (in seven hours), but I've had to give up on that. I'd be so happy if I could at least fix this issue for future projects.

Specs:

2016 MacBook Pro running Mojave 10.14.6, latest version as at today

Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory: 16 GB 1867 MHz LPDDR3

Hard drive space: 123GB of 500GB available

Logic Pro X version 10.5.1, installed just under a year ago

The project:

I have encountered system overloads on projects before but none that stopped me working on the project. I had one project mapped to a film clip with 35 tracks and lots of automation and it would overload a couple of times in a 2 hour work session with other apps open.

This project has around 12 tracks (one audio, the rest software/midi instruments), and it won't record unmodified midi inputs without delays/overloads.

The plugins I am using include a little reverb and delay, some EQ, and the guitar strummer.

Things I have tried:

Closing all other applications and background processes that I can. Dropbox continues to use quite a lot of RAM but no more than 600MB.
Changing the buffer size - no matter what size I use it overloads at some point.
Bouncing the most altered tracks in place - recording other tracks still causes overload
Recording using low latency mode, but I'd really like not to use that
Running a diagnostic: zero issues
Resetting the PRAM and NVRAM
Resetting the System Management Controller

Questions:

Would Logic run better if I upgraded the OS? I am reluctant to because of the 32 to 64 bit change and the fact that upgrading would make me lose use of other apps, but if that's the answer that would be good to know.
Is my computer not powerful enough to run Logic properly? Do I need to replace the computer? Or get an additional SSD hard drive? This seems strange since it overloads when only 4 of 16 GB of RAM appear to be being used.
Do reinstalls generally help with this issue? I'm reluctant to reinstall because that has caused issues in the past with other software.
Does anything else come to mind here?

Again, thanks for any help you can give.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Apr 12, 2021 4:55 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ladywingnut Author

Level 1

6 points

Apr 14, 2021 5:03 PM in response to EddieGrey

Hi Eddie

Thanks for helping me out. I have tried most of those things and not had much luck, although I definitely have a long way to go in managing plugins.

I have consulted a music mentor who knows Logic very well and he thinks that the problem is likely a fault in my computer system, around processing. He said my machine should be able to handle what I'm asking of it, and since I am also getting some glitches/freezing when doing stuff outside of Logic, I should take it to an Apple service place.

Before I do that though, I did discover a couple of tweaks that reduced the symptoms enough to let me work properly for 15-20 minute stretches and they were these:

Changing my screen resolution. Some users in this forum post found improvement with this issue when they switched from a "more space" resolution to the default. I did the reverse and saw improvement.
Not having the midi tracks highlighted during playback, apparently the graphics have issues with that too.
Changing the "multithreading" option in Audio Preferences to the one that doesn't have "live"
Removing around 60GB of material from my hard drive. I had around 128GB free, which Logic says is more than enough to run Logic, but the forums said Logic really needs your hard drive not to be more than half full.

Not sure which of these helped most, but they're answers I didn't find elsewhere so I'm recording them here in case others are having the same issue. I am still getting system overload error messages sometimes, but not so many that I can't work on the project.

If I get an Apple person to investigate and they find something else I'll come back and update my post.

Thanks again!

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Answer 2

EddieGrey

Level 4

2,000 points

Apr 12, 2021 5:45 PM in response to EddieGrey

You also might want to reset preferences.

Reset Logic Pro preferences

Resetting preferences doesn’t affect your project files, presets, or patches. However, you do lose any custom preference settings that you might have made.

Choose Logic Pro > Preferences, and note any specific Logic Pro preference settings that you’ve made.
Choose Logic Pro > Preferences > Reset All Preferences Except Key Commands.

After resetting preferences, open your project and try to reproduce the issue that you were experiencing. If the issue no longer occurs, open Logic Pro preferences and reapply your custom preference settings.

Delete Logic Pro preferences

In Logic Pro, note any custom preference settings that you’ve made, and save any custom key commands you've created.
Quit Logic Pro.
In the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder.
Enter ~/Library/Preferences, then click Go.
Remove the "com.apple.logic10.plist" file from the Preferences folder.
If you upgraded from Logic 9 or earlier to Logic Pro, also remove the "com.apple.logic.pro" file.
Restart your Mac.

After deleting preferences, open your project and try to reproduce the issue that you were experiencing. If the issue no longer occurs, choose Logic Pro > Preferences, reapply your custom settings, and import your custom key commands.

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Answer 3

EddieGrey

Level 4

2,000 points

Apr 14, 2021 6:04 PM in response to ladywingnut

Thank you for this share. This will be a great contribution to many.

Please check out the latest post by some great Logic mind's PanCenter/ErikSimon/CCT etc.

Check out: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252661990

Glad you are making progress,

Eddie G.

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Answer 4

Iamjosee

Level 1

4 points

Apr 18, 2021 5:36 PM in response to ladywingnut

I had this same issue with a macbook, I thought it was the processor but eventually the hard disk drive would not boot and I replaced it with a solid state drive. You should back up your files immediately and buy a new solid state 2.5" for laptops and replace it.

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Answer 5

EddieGrey

Level 4

2,000 points

Apr 12, 2021 5:46 PM in response to ladywingnut

Hi there,

Of course. I have spent a fair amount of time with this subject and I believe there are a number of things that will allow you to optimize your workflow. I do think upgrading to SSD or higher RAM will help but you can also work on:

Understanding Buffer Size and using it accordingly (Low when Recording, High When Mixing/Listening)

Freezing Tracks

Printing/Bouncing Tracks to Audio

Utilizing Bus/Sends/Aux Tracks for proper distribution of FX

Bypassing Plug-ins when unsure if you would like to use them

Turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth if possible when working on Music

Turning off other programs that may inhibit performance

Really learning to utilize plug-ins is also important. For example, you can apply an EQ to every track to Low Cut/High Pass but you can also use "Selection Based Processing" to cover the same job without over-utilizing plug-in processing.

This kind of care and responsibility will give you a great user experience. I have been doing this work now for over 7 years and the last couple of years, I have had 0 issues by implementing the information above.

Hope this helps and solves your query,

Eddie G.

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Answer 6

ladywingnut Author

Level 1

6 points

Apr 18, 2021 3:03 PM in response to EddieGrey

Hi Eddie

To be honest I have not been working on Logic the past week so I don't know. I expect it'll keep being a problem until I take it to get looked at by a service person, but I don't need anything further here. I'll come back and update if I learn anything more. If this is a matter of closing the thread or not though then sure, it can be closed! My fixes I listed up there have helped enough for now.

Thanks again

Katie

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Answer 7

EddieGrey

Level 4

2,000 points

Apr 18, 2021 3:07 PM in response to ladywingnut

Glad this helped. I appreciate you closing the thread on this.

Also, never a bad idea to reset NVRAM/PRAM: https://www.macworld.com/article/224955/how-to-reset-a-macs-nvram-pram-and-smc.html

Appreciate the support,

Eddie G.

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Answer 8

ladywingnut Author

Level 1

6 points

Apr 18, 2021 5:51 PM in response to Iamjosee

Thanks for this. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I already have an SSD, but it's good to know that change helped you with the issue. I'll point the service technician in that direction if I end up having to take it in.

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