Help with CPU spike in Logic X

Question

Help with CPU spike in Logic X

Hi,

I am a bit confused. I am running only two tracks...Diva and Pianoteq, yet, my CPU meter within Logic X is skyrocketing while my HD meter doesn't even register. Can someone please explain to me what is going on here? I know Diva is a CPU hog, but, something seems amiss here. See below for computer specs. How do you interpret the second image below?

Thanks.

2009-2010 Mac Pro, 16 GB RAM, 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon processor, OS X 10.9.4, Logic Pro 10.1.1

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), null

Posted on Jun 1, 2015 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eriksimon

Level 6

15,416 points

Jun 1, 2015 1:53 PM in response to Tangerine_Dream

Yep, that's Diva allright. That's exactly what's going on. HD meter is down because there's no audio file streaming, recording or sample use going on - so it all makes sense. You may lessen the load somewhat with this setting - but mainly you just have to learn to live with it, or maybe try Hive.

The hassle of managing Diva is still worth it though.

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Answer 2

Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Jun 1, 2015 2:02 PM in response to Tangerine_Dream

To add...

The load is not spread over multiple cores because a Channel Strip, (in this case and instrument track running Diva), can only utilize a single core.

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Answer 3

Jun 1, 2015 2:23 PM in response to Tangerine_Dream

Many thanks! I bought this Mac Pro secondhand off of Craigslist so panicked a bit when I saw the CPU spike. Just wanted to make sure I didn't get duped by the seller.

Diva is one sick virtual synth, btw. You guys probably already know this. Like Eriksimon said, it's worth it! 😀

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Answer 4

Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Jun 1, 2015 2:49 PM in response to Tangerine_Dream

Here's an Apple help article: (For Logic 9 but still applies)

Logic Pro/Express: Tips for balancing multi-core performance - Apple Support

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Answer 5

Jun 1, 2015 6:06 PM in response to Pancenter

Brilliant find! Thank you so much.

So you need either to redistribute the plugins on the output channel to auxiliary channels, or, be sure to select an audio track when playing back the MIDI track that is causing the spike (in this case, Diva) to avoid Logic from going into Live Input Mode which is more CPU intensive? Is this correct?

Thanks again!

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Answer 6

Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Jun 1, 2015 6:22 PM in response to Tangerine_Dream

Yes, Live input mode requires constant monitoring using CPU cycles...

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Answer 7

Jun 1, 2015 6:27 PM in response to Pancenter

Great. Thanks again. One final question, does the same thing apply to offline bouncing? That is, should you select an audio track when offline bouncing to lighten the load on the CPU?

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Answer 8

Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Jun 1, 2015 6:48 PM in response to Tangerine_Dream

Don't know, I doubt it but I'd probably do it anyway...

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Answer 9

Jun 1, 2015 7:01 PM in response to Pancenter

Okay...thanks again for your help. I thought I read somewhere that one should bounce off an empty audio track to reduce the CPU load, but, I could very well be mistaken.

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Answer 10

Jun 1, 2015 9:43 PM in response to Tangerine_Dream

Its worth noting that Diva's internal Multicore support was added in v1.1 or higher.. so check you are running the latest version....

Cheers..

Nigel

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Answer 11

Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Jun 1, 2015 11:00 PM in response to The Art Of Sound

The Art Of Sound wrote:

Its worth noting that Diva's internal Multicore support was added in v1.1 or higher.. so check you are running the latest version....

Cheers..

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

I'm curious, will that show up on Logic's CPU meters or the OS CPU monitor?

Since it's the channel strip that Logic is monitoring I would think it would only be visible in the OS monitor.

Instead of Diva I'm purchasing this pedal. :-|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aveUEZkcQno

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Answer 12

Eriksimon

Level 6

15,416 points

Jun 2, 2015 12:56 AM in response to Tangerine_Dream

Tangerine_Dream wrote:

Great. Thanks again. One final question, does the same thing apply to offline bouncing? That is, should you select an audio track when offline bouncing to lighten the load on the CPU?

No, it doesn't. An offline bounce will always (try to) use all CPU cores to the max, so a project that on average uses half the CPU power will bounce in half of its' duration, whilst using 100 % of each CPU-core. On the other hand, a project that continually overloads because of too CPU-heavy plugins will still bounce flawlessly offline, but it will take more time than the song duration. So a 5 minute project that averages 110% of CPU will need 5'30" to bounce offline.

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Answer 13

Eriksimon

Level 6

15,416 points

Jun 2, 2015 1:05 AM in response to Pancenter

Pancenter wrote:

Instead of Diva I'm purchasing this pedal. :-|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aveUEZkcQno

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Oh

My

Goodness.

Or not?

😁

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Answer 14

Jun 2, 2015 1:12 AM in response to The Art Of Sound

Running the beta version of Diva. I don't have a choice because apparently the newer multi-core support version of Diva is not compatible with Logic 10.1 yet.

This is quite interesting because I tried running the newest version (not the beta) of Diva in Ableton Live and the CPU spike is not nearly as severe as it is in Logic 10.1.

Which proves your point, I guess. 😀

Thanks for the tip.

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