Why does Logic place so much demand on system graphics resources?

Similar problems have been reported here. Can one really call the Yosemite graphics enhancements........ improvements? Both Mavericks and Yosemite require more graphics horsepower, probably because of the "enhancements", that means new graphics libraries. That's part of the problem, but the real problem is probably that Logic's graphics routines either haven't been completely updated or can't be completely updated without a lot of other Logic 'parts" being rewritten. I'm pretty sure Logic still contains some pretty old code. As you mentioned, Cubase, which was completely rewritten a few years back can more easily adapt to new graphic routines. Speculation on my part but what else would keep Apple's flagship audio/MIDI program from being 100% compatible with the most recent operating systems. I think improvements were noticed if a high-end graphics card used but don't quote me on that.

Just to add....

Since either Lion or Mountain Lion was introduced, Logic's performance has suffered with each new OS release after which there are incremental Logic updates as well as small OS tweaks and updates that eventually get most problems solved. This has been such an ongoing issue that it is universally advised not to upgrade to the most recent OS until you check the boards and see what problems were created and if there are updates.

Common complaints:

Graphic problems

More CPU use

3rd Plugins are no longer compatible

System overloads on projects that previously played without problems

jcrooksie wrote:

When selecting an audio track in the Main Window any open Score Editor redraws to include the entire score of the project. In big projects with many MIDI Regions this taxes the graphics of the machine and slows down performance significantly.

Opening the Library for External MIDI Tracks can lead to extremely long delays in screen redrawing

Edit Actions in the Piano Roll can crash Logic; same for MIDI Transforms

While these are bugs in their own right I think they all have a root cause in the graphics...

There are other possible explanations although I suspect it comes down to logic's graphics programming being unable to directly access Mac OS graphics routines without an in-between software layer of some kind.

This bit of info goes way back:

One possible problem is that logic's audio engine and all related buffers shut down when the sequencer is not running. This is part of Logic's design going all the way back to early Logic versions. One advantage is that now you can setup scoring templates loaded with virtual instruments without any hit on the CPU as Logic tracks don't become "active" until a region with data is approached, the bad is, the heavier the project the more buffers Logic has to try and load once play is pressed, it's especially noticeable if playing one part of a large project... say at bar 30, then skipping ahead to bar 120, Logic hasn't buffered all data from that area yet. Most all other DAW's do not completely shut down the audio/MIDI engine when the sequencer is stopped. that's why there's always a CPU hit as the buffers are constantly being updated. Recent versions of Cubase offer both active and passive methods of buffering.

You've probably seen the "System Overload" message... depending on the system, as the sequencer approaches an area of several regions using virtual instruments and DSP plugins Logic will stop... what's happened is the buffers have become active and Logic is trying to load data buffers, activate efx plugins, read data off the disk...boom! System Overload There's a lot of data being moved in and out of RAM at this point and that affects Logic's performance. Scroll back and play the same area again and no problem as Logic has loaded all the buffers for that area.

Then there's the other problem of a channel strip being able to use only a single core, not sure how this is handled in other DAW's

We need the whole crash log, not just the thread that crashed.

Two "possible" plugin problems that I would look at first.

You're using Melodyne rewired to Logic? Do you have the latest version of Melodyne installed and the most recent version of Propellerhead's "Rewire". There's been other complaints regarding rewire behavior under the current Mac OS & Logic.

Also, Spectrasonics Amber latest version compatible with the OS you're running?

I only mentioned melodyne as it seemed to be active.

Thread 9:

6 com.celemony.melodyne.rewiredevice 0x0000000127398096 RWDEFGetDeviceInfo + 8209507 com.celemony.melodyne.rewiredevice 0x0000000127372755 RWDEFGetDeviceInfo + 667029Thread 10:0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff87ac07ba sem_wait + 101 com.celemony.melodyne.rewiredevice 0x00000001272cfccd RWDEFGetDeviceInfo + 7812 com.celemony.melodyne.rewiredevice 0x0000000127372755 RWDEFGetDeviceInfo + 667029

Yes Jccrooksie, have same issues on 2009 MacPro as well as new 2014 black MacPro.

large scoring template (500+) consisting of various offboard midi, lots of audio and vep connections,etc.

Yosemite/LX introduced the same issues you describe. For us, biggest pain is incredibly slower undo.

WEnt to 10k rpm session drive and all ssd media drives. Helped a bit, but it all problems still ocurr.

FIngers crossed on next update.

1 opening score with representing more than 5 or 6 regions will corrupt screensets, stacking them as tiny windows.

2 LIbrary drawer seems fine (I do not use icons on existing tracks)

3 piano roll editing is ok.

undo is less slow if I do not assign anything to second monitor and size the arrange page to half size (unworkable scenario).

Indeed, all signs seem to point to poor graphics handling.

(btw, using nvidea 8800 with 30in cinema display and a new samsung 30)

Same setup was slick and fast pre LX/Yosemite

Started with L9 imports...problems. Then built from scratch..same problems. So what helped most on nehalem machine was upping to 32g ram/10k rpm session drive/ssd media drives, and THEN we rebuilt template from ground up again slowly. Most problematic were the Multi-Instrument Midi boxes in environment (about 40). They would crash the system after adding a few and cabling them. Kept backtracking and adding one at a time. Finally have template where we want it, but the performance is still lacking, particularly the undo (set to only 12 levels). We use an audio-only template to facilitate live recording/takes.

Interesting your external midi slows down drawer. If I delete all midi cabling/boxes to external, it speeds up undo and screensets quite a bit.

Might be apple telling us "stay in the box, kids"??

best of luck with your stuff!