# Question re: Logic Pro's CPU and HD Indicator Bars...



## king-1871 (Dec 28, 2021)

I have a general question about the CPU and HD indicator bars in Logic Pro.


I’m running Logic Pro 9 on a 2012 quad-core Mac mini (2.26 GHz and 16 GB of RAM), and it generally runs fine, but I do often get overload messages where it fails to process all the data in time. (Not surprising, given the computer’s age.) Almost always, the indicator bar that goes into the red is the CPU bar, not the Hard Drive (HD) bar. I take this to mean that the hard drives are able to keep up with the data flow adequately. It’s the CPU that’s getting overstrained.


My question is this: If the CPU bar goes into the red, how do I know if this is caused by inadequate CPU power (i.e., either the cores are too few, or too slow, or both), or an inadequate amount of RAM? There’s no separate RAM indicator bar. Does the CPU bar indicate only CPU load, or does it indicate the level of RAM load as well? 


I ask all this because I’d like to upgrade my hardware someday, and I’m trying to figure where he main deficiency in my current setup lies.


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## Vik (Dec 28, 2021)

What happens if you create a track without any VIs on it, and make sure that track is selected when you play back the other threads?


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## king-1871 (Dec 28, 2021)

Interesting suggestion. I just tried that. I still get the message "System Overload." It says the audio engine was not able to process all the information in time.


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## rgames (Dec 28, 2021)

I'm not 100% certain on Logic but in Cubase the "CPU" meter isn't really a CPU usage meter. It's a real-time performance meter. They're related but not the same.

What does the OS CPU meter say when you get overloads? The OS CPU meter is an actual CPU usage meter.


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## Vik (Dec 28, 2021)

Try to increase the buffer size, but 4 cores with 2.26 Ghz isn't much, and the same is true for 16gb RAM. Increasing RAM in that Mac won't help much. You could try to open the Activity Monitor to check the RAM situation, but your combination of probably old-ish hard drives, few cores, and CPU speed simply won't work well . A second hand and much newer Intel iMac or Mini with 64 gb RAM (and certainly not less than 32) would help a lot. I dont know which sounds/libraries you have tried, but newer/good libraries often require a lot more RAM and CPU performance (and SSD/m.2-drives) than what you have.


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## king-1871 (Dec 28, 2021)

rgames said:


> I'm not 100% certain on Logic but in Cubase the "CPU" meter isn't really a CPU usage meter. It's a real-time performance meter. They're related but not the same.
> 
> What does the OS CPU meter say when you get overloads? The OS CPU meter is an actual CPU usage meter.



Richard: Thanks for letting me know about how the meter works in Cubase. Now that you point that out, I rather suspect that the CPU meter is Logic is also, in fact, a real-time performance meter.


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## king-1871 (Dec 28, 2021)

Vik said:


> Try to increase the buffer size, but 4 cores with 2.26 Ghz isn't much, and the same is true for 16gb RAM. Increasing RAM in that Mac won't help much. You could try to open the Activity Monitor to check the RAM situation, but your combination of probably old-ish hard drives, few cores, and CPU speed simply won't work well . A second hand and much newer Intel iMac or Mini with 64 gb RAM (and certainly not less than 32) would help a lot. I dont know which sounds/libraries you have tried, but newer/good libraries often require a lot more RAM and CPU performance (and SSD/m.2-drives) than what you have.


Thanks for your assessment, Vik. The 2012 mini won’t even hold more than 16 GB of RAM, so I know I’ll need to get a new computer — the question is how much RAM and CPU power is needed these days. I do run some newer libraries that are pretty demanding.



The new Mac mini has the Apple M1 chip, which is reputed to be blazing fast, but the maximum RAM the new mini can hold is only 16 GB, which is deal breaker for me, so I’ll probably do as you suggest and hunt down something older -- maybe a 2018-vintage mini with 6 cores, and 32 or 64 RAM (as budget allows).


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