Terrible performance on M1 Pro 16 inch Macbook Pro

It seems to be problems in general with the 10.7 release, I'm on an Intel MacBook Pro and also have these issues. I'm about to restore an older version of Logic Pro from TimeMachine and wait for Apple to fix 10.7

I have the same issue on my Intel MacBook Pro, it seems to be 10.7.x in general no matter what platform. My workaround has been to turn off Automatic Updates in the AppStore and to restore a previous version of LogicPro from a TimeMachine backup - it works fine for me and I'll be keeping an eye out for a fix from Apple (I have fed this back to Apple)

One easy thing to check is to make sure that if you're using Native Instruments stuff, Kontakt, particularly, you have multi-threading OFF in its settings; I tried turning it on to see if it helped with my processor spiking and it was just a universe of crackles and pops. Send more info; what plug-ins are you using, for example? And I set out to de-bug my problem by loading a tune with the processor spiking and one by one deleting plug-ins until it stopped, which is how I figured out that as along as I wasn't actively on a Kontakt instance, I was good to go.

My guess is that the "automatic" processing threads setting was tweaked quite a bit in 10.7 compared to 10.6. On 10.6 in my experience no matter the plugins, rosetta or native, setting the processing threads to the maxium number resulted in better performance. In 10.7 it seems to be the opposite, no matter rosetta or native..

Brand-new, three day old M1 14” MacBook Pro max. 64 GB of RAM, 4 TB hard drive. Pre-Sonus quantum interfaces. Using shure mics, and some direct off amps. (All analog gear) guitars and drums, as well as bass.

was on the phone with Apple support yesterday for two hours. Here are the current conclusions. Whether or not you were plugged in to the interfaces, or recording directly from the mic on the computer, and playing back through the computer speakers, versus coming out of the quantum‘s, setting the audio at 48 kHz, setting the buffer anywhere between 32 to 1024, after about 30 seconds, trying to record guitar or drums, has distorted feedback, and or popping. The only way that it doesn’t pop, is if you record directly into QuickTime. No I can’t say that that’s a for certain thing, because I only recorded about 30 seconds, direct, with no popping on playback. Being I’ve had this machine for three or four days now, if I don’t reach a resolution, by the end of this week, it’s going back and I’m going to buy a used Intel-based MacBook Pro, and probably a trashcan . From OWC. Because that’s about what this computer cost me. I had a first generation M1, which did the exact same thing. I waited 2 1/2 months to get this laptop. And the only enjoyment I have in my day anymore, it’s trying to record some music. Now that’s gone as well. Simply put, logic, or garage band, for some odd reason is not optimized to handle, what a 10 year old, or a 15 year old machine can do. My interfaces are not old. Less than a year in fact. I replaced them from a set of presonus fire studio pros. So it’s not an interface issue, because it works fine on the Mac Intel-based machines. It’s not a software issue, because the same version of software on an Intel, with the same interfaces, works just fine. This leads me to believe that it’s either a hardware issue, or something to do with the coding in core audio . I thought we had it licked yesterday, because for some odd reason my interfaces were defaulting to 44.1 kHz, as soon as I bumped them up to 48, I was able to record with no issues. However after leaving a session open, and then returning about three hours later, the noise was back, so I said to myself, OK let me do a new template. Let me delete all of logic plist files, and try this again. No joy. The OS has been reinstalled. Logic has been reinstalled. No joy. Again if not cured by the end of the week, this machine goes back. And pretty much my faith in Apple at this point, is not good

Just an update, just got off the phone with Apple pro logic support, the guy said there, and listen to me go through various different modes of guitar recording, and drum recording, and we screen record of the issue, sent logic diagnostics, and sent the actual file, for them to evaluate. He doesn’t believe it’s a hardware issue, he doesn’t believe that it’s a issue with the plug-ins but more or less an issue with logic, according to some of the reports that he’s seeing. Should have more info by Thursday

Not that I consider this a fix, but definitely a workaround. As I was having the same issues no matter one interface or D a W I was using. I had logic 10 72, open up in Rosetta, and the issue one away with my presonus interfaces. However turning it back on and it would still crack and pop. A “upgraded” to Focusrite clarett 8pre+ interfaces, These run on USB-C, versus my pre-Sonus that ran on thunderbolt two, where there shouldn’t have really been an issue, because both of my displays are thunderbolt two. But so far no issues. It’s just too bad I had to spend another $1600.08 months later.

Apple Logic Pro Version 10.6 was the first release by Apple that was ARM64.

Previous releases were x86

By running version 10.5 on a new M1 MacBook - your running Apple Logic within Rosetta with no option to run natively.

I too can run my Apple Logic projects within Rosetta using the latest version of Apple Logic Pro version 10.7.2 on MacOS 12.2.1.

Running projects natively on my M1 MacBook utterly fails.

Sure, yeah... I think we're basically agreeing. I just think it's unlikely that it's in CoreAudio itself, but rather that somebody relatively recently did something dumb while adding some "feature", and that feature somehow got tangled up in the audio thread. The dropout I had this morning occurred exactly when I opened up a link from an email—somehow that process impacted the audio thread, which is definitely a "no no"... Any dev mistake that messes with the audio thread will crap on any running audio, all in one go. It doesn't have to have anything to do with CoreAudio causing an issue, or any audio app. I think somebody in this thread mentioned that as soon as they got an iMessage, audio went for a crap. That would be a similar issue—something is allowing this network-based process to muck with the audio thread... CoreAudio itself is pretty rock solid, and has been for 20+ years. But if someone tramples all over it with some blocking process, well, it's pretty helpless to do anything about it...

There's a great article on the subject from audio dev Michael Tyson:

https://atastypixel.com/four-common-mistakes-in-audio-development/

He's particularly active in the iOS audio/music app community, but the same principles apply.

OK - so to just clarify ...

You have no plugin within your project - all the Channel strips are blank. You are playing the project on the MacBook with nothing plugged into it and you are playing the project through its own speakers.

If this was a deep routed logic/core audio problem - then everyone would have this issue - even me. There are people posting on this forum that are not having any issues with Logic.

I am not having an issue with cpu spikes and cracking and popping now that I have isolated it to a plugin I have.

Things for you to try if the above is true -

Start up the MacBook in 'Safe Mode' (no extensions loaded) and try running the project.

Create a new user account and try running the project.

Yes, I use pro tools and LPX daily, not a single issue with PT, LPX on the other hand is a different story. The only semi luck I have is running Rosetta mode reduces clicks/pops. It’s painful that apple won’t admit/recognise it

Interesting...

Do you have anything that has anything to do with audio on the Belkin hub—i.e., anything that presents itself to the system as an audio device?

PS - I did send these latest tests to the Logic team rep who contacted me way back. Haven't heard anything, but he has the info.

I just got my Mac Studio (MAX) and was having the same problem (how can it perform worse than my old mac book pro 2019!!?). I found running Logic in Rosetta fixed it? I'm guessing that some of the 3rd party plugins that are supposed to be native compliant aren't quite ready yet?

Another thought I had was I'm porting over projects from my intel mac so maybe there is something baked into them because they were created on and intel machine?

I'm in the middle of mixing an album but when I have a chance I'll try a new project and see if it makes a difference

Are your old projects at 48 kHz? Or better?

Seems to me, between that and every other plug-in issue that I was having, after i let it scan plugins, and disable incompatibles, I’ve not had the problem since. I should also mention that I upgraded my interfaces from presonus quantums to focusrite claretts