combatcameraguy
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Will Logic Pro X ever really support multicore processors?

I've run through all NLE's over the years going back to '98 and my Layla system.  Pro Tools - I hate avid and their non-updating self.  Ableton - the interface makes me shudder. Cubase - meh.

 

I've settled on Logic Pro since 2013 and now with 10.2.0 and my retina Macbook, I really want to know why only one processor is being used at max power.  The option to select automatic, or 8 or 6 processors does nothing to stop the buzzes and noise when I move the curser around on the screen while a composition is playing. On any processor setting, the cpu usage is always maxed out and you can see that one core is maxed while the other cores are 5-10 percent of usage.

 

I'm guessing that there is no real multicore processor usage going on in Logic Pro X, and version 10.2.0 is based on an older engine when multiprocessors weren't really a thing.  Please let me be wrong.

 

It's actually embarrassing to tell everyone you have a state of the art macbook, and and then show how it has a hard time processing 10 audio tracks without cracking and static just cause i'm moving the mouse around.

 

I can freeze tracks as a workaround, but should I have to if i'm using an 8 core $2700 computer, and I can visually see one core maxed and 7 barely being used?

 

I love Apple and I want it to be fixed. That's all.

Logic Pro X, OS X El Capitan (10.11), 2012 MBPr i7 8gb ram 500SSD

Posted on Oct 13, 2015 9:34 PM

by Pancenter,Solvedanswer
Pancenter Pancenter
Level 6 (10,039 points)
Audio
A:

Let's take it from the 10 tracks.....

 

Audio or MIDI with software Instruments?

If MIDI are all 10 tracks playing a multichannel software instrument.

What is Logic's  Preferences I/O Buffer set at?

 

It's not an older audio engine, probably the same one that Logic-9 uses.

 

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

 

As a side note, many of us here have stuck with and older OS (10.6.8) and Logic-9 for Audio/MIDI, mainly because of the speed and efficiency.

The new operating systems as well as Logic-X take a lot more grunt to come close to the same performance as the older OS/Application. Apple usually fixes and tweaks the OS and Logic with incremental updates.

Posted on Oct 14, 2015 7:37 PM

Close
combatcameraguy

Q: Will Logic Pro X ever really support multicore processors?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Pancenter,Solvedanswer

    Pancenter Pancenter Oct 14, 2015 7:37 PM in response to combatcameraguy
    Level 6 (10,039 points)
    Audio
    Oct 14, 2015 7:37 PM in response to combatcameraguy

    Let's take it from the 10 tracks.....

     

    Audio or MIDI with software Instruments?

    If MIDI are all 10 tracks playing a multichannel software instrument.

    What is Logic's  Preferences I/O Buffer set at?

     

    It's not an older audio engine, probably the same one that Logic-9 uses.

     

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

     

    As a side note, many of us here have stuck with and older OS (10.6.8) and Logic-9 for Audio/MIDI, mainly because of the speed and efficiency.

    The new operating systems as well as Logic-X take a lot more grunt to come close to the same performance as the older OS/Application. Apple usually fixes and tweaks the OS and Logic with incremental updates.

  • by combatcameraguy,

    combatcameraguy combatcameraguy Oct 14, 2015 7:37 PM in response to Pancenter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 14, 2015 7:37 PM in response to Pancenter

    Thanks for the reply,

     

    I'm an idiot.

     

    10 tracks. It's a mix of both. 4 audio and 6 midi instruments.

    I have the buffer set to 32 when I'm recording.  I set it to 512 playing back. I went and set it to 1024 and everything cleared up. 

     

    I didn't think it needed that much buffer after I disconnect my external audio box.  So now it hovers around 30% cpu through the entire track.

    Nothing's glitchy at all.

     

    The link for sending tracks to aux seems impossible if you get up to 24 tracks. That's a lot of routing.

     

    I'll just have to go back in and change the buffer  when i'm recording audio.  The reason i didn't want to freeze a track, is because if i'm listening and i want to make an on the spot change, i gotta unfreeze make the change, freeze, (to stop the glitchyness), wait to render, then playback to see if i like the change. I could understand doing that on a computer in 1994, but not now.

     

    Thanks again

  • by Pancenter,

    Pancenter Pancenter Oct 14, 2015 7:47 PM in response to combatcameraguy
    Level 6 (10,039 points)
    Audio
    Oct 14, 2015 7:47 PM in response to combatcameraguy

    Here's another trick....

     

    Set Logic's preferences to use four cores (start there)

    Pull up the system performance meters.  While playing the project do a few quick, stop/starts using the space bar. Do you see the core use being distributed more evenly?

  • by combatcameraguy,

    combatcameraguy combatcameraguy Oct 14, 2015 9:46 PM in response to Pancenter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 14, 2015 9:46 PM in response to Pancenter

    I tried changing the processor settings.  One processor is always spiked.  The I/O buffer set at 1024 lets everything run smoother.  One processor is always about three times higher than the others, but it doesn't go over about 80 percent.

     

    Hopefully any future updates can spread that workload out.

  • by Jazzmaniac,

    Jazzmaniac Jazzmaniac Oct 15, 2015 4:55 AM in response to combatcameraguy
    Level 2 (493 points)
    Audio
    Oct 15, 2015 4:55 AM in response to combatcameraguy

    The currently selected and active track gets a special treatment for low latency. That includes all its plugins running on a single core. So make sure that you don't have an active track or that the active track is an audio channel.

     

    Cheers,

     

    Jazz