Sound suddenly disappears in Logic Pro

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Level 1

9 points

Sound suddenly disappears in Logic Pro

I've been struggling with this problem with this project for weeks. Periodically audio in Logic Pro will suddenly go silent. The only thing I can do to bring it back is to either restart Logic, or to go into Preferences > Audio and make a change and hit apply (and then wait for 30-45 seconds while the audio resets). After resetting, sometimes the audio will stay for a good 20 minutes, other times I can't even play 30 seconds before it happens. Resetting the audio has become a huge drain on my workflow, having to do it every few minutes.

I'm on a Macbook AIR M1, which seems to have enough CPU power (not getting any CPU overload messages), though the project CPU usage is heavy. I've noticed another person who posted the same question, who has Omnisphere in the project ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250014344 ), which I'm using in this project (along with Diva, Pigments, Reason, and many other instruments and 3rd party plugins) but there is no solution in that thread. One interesting thing is that I'm running Logic in Rosetta mode to support legacy plugins (like Reason), which I'm not sure would have an affect on this, but it seems other people have been having this problem long before Rosetta.

Anyone have any suggestions? I've tried modifying many of the audio settings to no avail. Also tried different audio interfaces with the same results (both the built in, and my Focusrite interface).

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Jan 4, 2022 10:00 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Ninecows

Level 1

15 points

Jan 11, 2022 12:09 PM in response to Ninecows

OK... This is a bit embarrassing. After 3 hours of troubleshooting (updating drivers, changing settings, unplugging all equipment etc) I find out that my midi controller (GSI DMC-122) has decided to randomly send midi CC11 = 0 to logic. Now where's my facepalm emoji on this forum?

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Answer 2

Uniphonic1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 11, 2022 5:20 AM in response to Ninecows

Something that has improved the situation for me in the project where I was experiencing the issues most: switch the Preferences > Audio > Summing to "Standard Precision (32 bit)" instead of 64 bit, and remove some plugins that seemed to be causing problems (for me this was Softube Drawmer and Softube Tape). When I did that and also switched the freeze mode on some of my audio tracks, from "Source Only" to "Pre Fader", I got much less of the audio dropouts (where I need to change an audio preference or restart Logic), though they do still very occasionally occur.

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Answer 3

yoyoBen

Level 4

3,475 points

Jan 4, 2022 11:15 AM in response to Uniphonic1

Uniphonic1 wrote: Even if a single plugin was in demo mode, I wouldn't think it would affect the entire project audio output unless it was on the master Stereo Out bus.

Your assumption might be not correct. However, I would save a copy of the project with a new name and remove all plugins from the project. Then have a listen...

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Answer 4

yoyoBen

Level 4

3,475 points

Jan 4, 2022 10:31 AM in response to Uniphonic1

It is possible, a non-authorised plugin in demo mode is causing the issue.

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Answer 5

Uniphonic1 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 4, 2022 11:07 AM in response to yoyoBen

Thanks for the reply! I don't think i'm running any plugins in demo mode. All the plugins I'm using are all fully authorized. Even if a single plugin was in demo mode, I wouldn't think it would affect the entire project audio output unless it was on the master Stereo Out bus. I've tried removing all plugins from the master bus but the problem still happens. The entire project audio cuts out. I can't even hear the Logic metronome, until I reset the audio by making an arbitrary change to any of the audio preferences and hitting apply.

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Answer 6

Ninecows

Level 1

15 points

Jan 11, 2022 2:18 AM in response to Uniphonic1

I struggle with exactly the same. I’m on an intel 2020 iMac. Also focusrite audio interface.

I have seen it on two different relatively new projects. One where I only had one track loaded with Logics own drums and a single midi region.

This makes Logic completely useless for me.

I’m on the newest version of Logic and MacOS. I tried unzipping and running version 10.6.3 of Logic and that one also has the issues. I have been running Logic for nearly 4 years now and for 1 year on the current hardware. Only change I can pinpoint it to is latest version of MacOS.

Other apps will have audio- I can play back video on eg YouTube

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Answer 7

Radarhus

Level 4

3,048 points

Jan 11, 2022 4:53 AM in response to Ninecows

Only change I can pinpoint it to is latest version of MacOS.

There you said it. Upgrading to the newest version of OS right away, regardless of its alleged benefits (improving security, being more stable (ha!), having more bells and whistles, etc), is never a good idea. But hopefully it's updated soon enough and the problem is patched.

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