Logic Pro System Overload

Hi

I feel your frustration. I have a few suggestions:

• First check out the support site for your interface. Sometime there are very specific settings and tweaks to keep the data flowing. I have a UAD Apollo and I had to make adjustments in Logic as well as in the interface console to get everything to work.

• The number one area to play with is the IO buffer size ( Logic Pro : Preferences : Audio :Devices ). Try setting to the max and test, next reduce, test. You may find a sweet spot. Setting to the lowest setting (128) and tracking without Low Latency with a demanding channel strip will often fail.

• Another setting is Logic Pro : Preferences : Audio: General and make sure that "Plug-In Latency" is set to "All"

• HD latency can be a real problem of the project is on an external drive and it is slow. Since you are using an external drive try testing with a project on the internal drive. I have found some cheap external SSD drives cannot sustain write speeds and this will cause issues when recording. Do a speed test on the drive to get perspective.

• Monitor your CPU and Drive using the Performance Meter in the display. Anything peaking?

You did not mention if you were tracking using "Low Latency" or not. I always track with low latency. The logic amps can be demanding due to modelling and if the buffer is set to low and you were not tracking with Low Latency that could cause a system overload. We all strive to get the lowest latency for tracking but some plug-ins can kill our efforts.

Can you share any additional info: Interface? Audio Preference Settings?

I hope this helps.

Normally Low Latency is activated from the menu bar. The check on and off in the settings can also be toggled with that control.

I have found with some demanding plugins I have had to push the buffer up to 512 when tracking but it increases latency. One trick I have to deal with latency is to us a direct monitoring for the instrument and I mute the instrument output in Logic.

I have a hunch your external drive could also be an issue. If there is a bottleneck with the drive that will cause buffering issues when writing the wave files.

I do suggest speed testing you external HD. I use Black Magic Disk Speed Test as my benchmarking tool for external drives. many new external SSDs have been returned after testing.

G'Luck

I am having exactly this problem too. See my old thread ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252460419 ). Zero input whatsoever from any apple engineers. Surprise, surprise. So much so that I am strongly considering ditching Logic for an alternative. In my case it is beyond ridiculous. Before the Logic update that addressed the new apple silicon logic was blazing fast for me. Didn't seem to matter how many tracks or instruments I had going on in my composition. Since the 'universal' update to optimize for the new M1 procs, performance went down the toilet (a 10 year old MacBook pro running an older logic runs rings around this 10.6.1 version on my top of the line early 2020 MacBook pro).

My theory is planned obsolescence, Apple has intentionally ruined logic performance for people still on Intel Macs. They are banking on people upgrading their machines and are distancing themselves from Intel machines. Essentially stabbing people in the back once again. Thanks apple. I am happy to be proven wrong though. I would really appreciate those of you using the latest Logic 10.6.1 or higher who are still using Intel based macs. Is the performance utterly dreadful for you too? Please chime in.