# Logic more than doubles RAM used by Kontakt



## thesteelydane (Jan 25, 2018)

Ok, some you have probably seen my other thread dealing with a sudden massive performance decrease in Logic. As a last resort I tried upgrading to High Sierra from El Capitan, just to try the brand new Logic 10.4. Initially it seemed incredibly efficient on my system, and I built a small template of 32 Kontakt instances. And then the inexplicable crippling slow downs came back.

Now I may have discovered the culprit. Even though Kontakt tells me its only using 7GB RAM out of my 16 available, a look in activity monitor shows Logic is using more than the 16 GB I have. If I enable Kontakts memory server and load the template again, sure enough now memory serve is using 7 GB and Logic 8 GB.

This cant be right, right? What can be the problem here?

Edit: I just did an experiment: A new project with a single empty instance of Kontakt uses 577 MB of RAM on my system. Loading an instrument using 270 MB into that instance and Logics total memory usage jumps up to 918 MB. A lot more, but not quite double.

If a create another track with another instance of Kontakt, and load a few patches bringing Kontakts total memory usage to 810 MB, Logic is now using 2,06 GB of memory - more than double of what Kontakt is using. Has anyone else experienced this.

Edit: Perhaps I’m being naive about sampling memory requirements. Now I’m working purged with the “Update sample pool” and everything is working fine. Time to get me some slave computers I think.


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## A.P. (Jan 28, 2018)

Hi. I am not a super pro with all that.. But maybe it is Kontakts memory Server. . Try to turn off.. In logic preferences turn on only playback instead of live and playback.. I dont know. . Just some input ..Upgraded also from El capitan .. But to Sierra.. to me it seems much fester than El cap .. But diednt Start an big projects this week end . Just open and playback older ones and no prob till now.. Good luck


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## Begfred (Jan 29, 2018)

Kontakt only indicate the how much RAM the sample is using. It doesn't take into account the scripting witch for some library can be pretty heavy on RAM (orchestral tools capsule system, spitfire...).


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## procreative (Jan 29, 2018)

I have a little app (free from App Store) called Memory Cleaner that I got as I was running out of memory but my Mac was reporting nothing, but Logic would seize with the beachball.

It shows used memory as well as memory cached which technically is still available.


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## EvilDragon (Jan 29, 2018)

Begfred said:


> It doesn't take into account the scripting witch for some library can be pretty heavy on RAM (orchestral tools capsule system, spitfire...).



OT's system is extremely RAM heavy. Spitfire's, on the other hand, is not.


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## thesteelydane (Jan 29, 2018)

I’ve managed to get a full orchestral Spitfire template up and running, by fully purging everything, but Logic is still using 8,6 GB with every thing fully purged. Packing instruments into multis seems to lower the amount of RAM needed a bit, but it is harder on the CPU. I have 66 tracks in 21 instances of Kontakt.

If I had the RAM I would have 66 instances of Kontakt instead, as it seems way more CPU efficient on my system, but that would eat up all my ram before loading a single sample. 

I wish there was a way to start OS X with only absolute essential processes loading, just to free up as much memory as possible.


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## mc_deli (Jan 29, 2018)

This kind of thread without posting system specs is asking for inconclusive, ill considered, or just bad advice IMHO 

(My 2014 model 2.2 rMBP doesn't show more than 14.86GB (or similar) in activity monitor when it is maxed. 

With 10.12.6, 10.3.2, 5.7.1, VEp 6.0x I can playback a full orchestra (BWW, SSB, CS2, Ccore) but it is hellishly sluggish, stuttering and painful. I would be amazed if you could work on full orchestral pieces with a Spitfire template without freezing and BiP a lot to avoid constant hangs and GUI pain.

(You could also try the basics: trash prefs, new user, rebuild template, ditch auxes, remove all plug ins with animations, turn off all EQ analysers etc....)


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## Saxer (Jan 30, 2018)

I'm no computer expert at all so all I say may be taken as a personal experience.

I've got the App Memory Cleanner (from the AppStore) on my Mac. When I run it the non used memory will be erased and is shown as free again. My observation shows that there is often a lot of unneeded RAM usage shown before running Memory Cleaner. After freeing the RAM the functionality is the same. Extreme example is a download of a big new library. While downloading the RAM usage goes up to 80% (of 64Gig) with no other App open. Loaded data are passing RAM before they are written to the drives and blow up RAM usage. Running Memory Cleaner while downloading doesn't interrupt the download at all but frees the RAM back to a few %. After that the RAM usage climbed slowly back to 80% as long as the download lasts.
Same with sample streaming: samples are loaded into RAM and from there sent to the sampler. Newer samples erase the older while streaming. This data blow up RAM usage but are temporary. It looks like they only get replaced when needed.
In the case of my big download: I was able to load a bigger template into the RAM while downloading. Couldn't really be possible as the RAM usage was at 80% and the template needed about the half of RAM. But the RAM usage seems to be reallocated when needed.

Maybe you should have a look if the RAM display isn't just showing temporary usage. Maybe the Kontakt instances occupy some RAM for streaming but give it free when needed elsewhere?


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## Silence-is-Golden (Jan 30, 2018)

As far as I tried myself, using Verpo as the major template build keeps Ram use very efficient.
And indeed purge samples from every Kontakt instance will add a lot.

But keep in mind that if you run all of it from your main HD ( SSD probably) where your OS is also placed that this may have effect on the way your systems handles all you do.

Possibly connecting and external SSD for your samples ( if your macbook has a fast usb3 or tb connection ) will also improve your system


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## thesteelydane (Jan 30, 2018)

Some good advice here, thank you all. The computer in question is a mid 2014 top of the line rMBP. I was just shocked to see how much ram a bunch of fully purged Kontakt instances actually eats. It’s never really talked about, you get the impression that the big memory hug is loading samples. From what I can see, you can count on needing double the amount of memory that the samples themselves. 

It’s actually running almost ok now, it only hangs occasionally while playing in parts, presumably because it has to load the samples as I play. All samples are on 2 external SSDs, connected via usb 3.0. This is for a bare bones template with no effects of reverbs loaded and a minimum of busses. To get for example flute 1 and 2 I simply load the same Spitfire flute patch twice in a Kontakt multi, so they will address the same samples in memory, but I can still have 2 flutes playing with different articulations. So strings have 5 instances of Kontakt, woodwinds 4 and brass 4, and then Perc and other stuff in a further 7 instances. 
I’m mocking up Powell’s HTTYD, and then we’ll see how it performs. Logic now uses about 8 GB of Ram fully purged, and CPU usage looks good, although I still get the hang ups when playing in parts. 

I’m also working on rebuilding the template in Vepro, again spreading the load by only having 4 patches in each instance of Kontakt, and all fully purged. Maybe it will be more efficient over all, even though VEPRO itself must need some RAM and CPU. 

If this doesn’t work, I’ll build a light version with more ensemble patches and fewer individual instruments.

I realize I need a slave to be able to do what I want to do comfortably. The problem is it’s important to keep my entire rig reasonably portable for the next couple of years, so either another powerful laptop, or a couple of those old quad core 2012 Mac Minis.


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## bvaughn0402 (Jan 30, 2018)

I am on High Sierra and Logic 10.4.

Today, I've gotten 2 crashes that said they were Kontakt related. I'm wondering if this is related to your problem?


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## thesteelydane (Jan 30, 2018)

bvaughn0402 said:


> I am on High Sierra and Logic 10.4.
> 
> Today, I've gotten 2 crashes that said they were Kontakt related. I'm wondering if this is related to your problem?



I doubt it, all this happened while I was still on El Cap. High Sierra and Logic 10.4 so far has been rock solid for me, and as far as I can tell more effecient than it it was before. The memory issues are the same though, but Logic has been far better at not getting cpu spikes.


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## mc_deli (Jan 30, 2018)

thesteelydane said:


> although I still get the hang ups when playing in parts.


Well I have a very similar set up to you (2014 rMBP 2x ext SSD, Spitfire libs etc. but VEPro option) and I get hangs and glitchy behaviour when playing in live heavier libs like SCS, BWW, SSB, Embertone Solos... I can't use e.g. SCS/SSS performance legato... For me this has been the behaviour under Yosemite, El Cap and Sierra, from 10.1.x to 10.3.x... I think if you want live playing of heavy VIs and full orchestra templates then you need more horsepower... I wish I had more!


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## thesteelydane (Jan 31, 2018)

mc_deli said:


> Well I have a very similar set up to you (2014 rMBP 2x ext SSD, Spitfire libs etc. but VEPro option) and I get hangs and glitchy behaviour when playing in live heavier libs like SCS, BWW, SSB, Embertone Solos... I can't use e.g. SCS/SSS performance legato... For me this has been the behaviour under Yosemite, El Cap and Sierra, from 10.1.x to 10.3.x... I think if you want live playing of heavy VIs and full orchestra templates then you need more horsepower... I wish I had more!


Strange, I can easily play the performance legato live. It helps to empty Kontakt database completely, turn multithreading in Kontakt off, and give all cores to Logic. I also have my process buffer range at large and work at 512 samples in the buffer, so there is a bit of latency but not enough to bother someone like me who plays a real viola daily.


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## afalke (Jul 13, 2018)

Hi everyone,

I am new here, so this is my first post. I have a related issue and would appreciate some advice.

While I am saving for a new computer with more RAM (64 or 128GB), I would like to use my time to build an orchestral template in Logic that I then can use on the more powerful computer. Right now, I just have a late 2012 MacMini with 16 GB RAM, internal and external SSDs. I know that that is nowhere near enough RAM to actually run a template of several hundred tracks and work with it. But I have found that it can't even load 25 instrument instances without maxing out the RAM, even with everything purged, all Kontakt internal effects off, etc. So, no samples are loaded (or just the residue), no midi data is used, no reverbs are on, etc. I understand that every instrument uses up some RAM due to the scripting, graphics, etc. But this is what I get (the RAM numbers do not include the RAM used by the operating system and Logic itself):

20 tracks, 20 instances of Kontakt, no instruments loaded: ~1 GB.
I can cut this down by loading two instances of Kontakt with 10 Midi channels.

But now:
20 tracks of SF Albion 1 Strings, limited voices to 100, purged: ~4GB.
I found that if I push it, I can get it up to 50 tracks and still play if I reset markers etc. But that's it.

20 tracks of 8Dio's Century Strings, limited voices to 100, purged, all effects off: ~9GB.

So, with the system running, and a convolution reverb or two on busses, that's the max I could actually play. If I try loading more instrument instances, the RAM is maxed out completely and pushes data into virtual memory, and that's without any samples loaded and without playing anything. If I use multi-patches and fewer Kontakt instances, I only safe the about 900 MB of the 1GB used by the empty Kontakt instances, but the RAM usage of the instruments remains unaffected by it.

I tried to freeze tracks, deactivate them, switch off the Kontakt instances, etc., use multi-timbre settings to cut down on Kontakt instances, but nothing would bring down the RAM usage in any significant way. I also managed to free up a GB or so with Memory Cleaner, but that’s it. So, I take it that Logic keeps the scripts and interfaces loaded at all times. Still, 25 tracks seems really lame even for 16GB, no? 

So, my two main questions are a) is it normal that an instrument instance uses that much RAM even if purged, and b) what are my best options to deal with it?

Am I right in assuming that either something is wrong with my settings (in Logic or in Komtakt), or I could get another DAW like Cubase that allows to actually unload Kontakt instruments temporarily, use Vienna Ensemble Pro to do the same, or just load a few instruments at a time, save the channel strips and/or the patches but unload them as soon I am done balancing, panning, etc.? Or is there some way to temporarily disable Kontakt instrument RAM usages that I have overlooked?

Finally, it seems to me that if instruments use that much RAM even when purged, even 64 GB would be very tight in Logic, at least given that the shell of my template is around 200 tracks. So, it looks even my new computer would not be able to handle this well. If Logic is that limited, it seems I would be better off switching my system, save some money on PC hardware and get a well-stocked 128 GB PC and work with Cubase or such. But before I consider going down that road, I wanted to make sure that I am not missing an easy way to avoid the RAM excesses.


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## WindcryMusic (Jul 13, 2018)

thesteelydane said:


> I’ve managed to get a full orchestral Spitfire template up and running, by fully purging everything, but Logic is still using 8,6 GB with every thing fully purged. Packing instruments into multis seems to lower the amount of RAM needed a bit, but it is harder on the CPU. I have 66 tracks in 21 instances of Kontakt.
> 
> If I had the RAM I would have 66 instances of Kontakt instead, as it seems way more CPU efficient on my system, but that would eat up all my ram before loading a single sample.
> 
> I wish there was a way to start OS X with only absolute essential processes loading, just to free up as much memory as possible.



Sounds very much like the course I’ve been charting. On my old 32GB iMac I was doing the same thing you used to, and for the same reason (combining multiple patches into single Kontakt 8 instances). For my new template I wanted to leverage Logic’s articulation sets, so I really had to switch to one Kontakt per channel, but as you have noted, the RAM becomes the problem (hence the 128GB iMac Pro I have in there now). I’m still purging samples in my template, but my template is nonetheless over 32GB now (and I’m not done setting it up yet ... yeah, I’m going a little crazy on this one).

One thing that you may or may not have done yet, which might help you squeeze another GB or so out of your template, is to reduce the maximum number of voices on each Kontakt patch. So many patches come set up to allow 512 or even more voices, but in actual use they rarely even reach 100 voices, even with multiple mics active. So in such situations I’ll set them to maybe 128 or so, giving myself just a little leeway, and less than that on instruments like tubas that aren’t going to be playing fast runs and such. One can always increase it again if needed for a specific part, I figure. You might be surprised at what a difference it can make in the memory footprint, if you haven’t tried it before.


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## jcrosby (Jul 14, 2018)

I haven't used memory server in years. Now that I'm completely solid state I find I get more reliable performance with it off... Have you tried disabling it? And this is normal. Even if I have memory server off and Kontakt looks like it's not eating much, Logic easily eats up 8 gigs of RAM with around 100 Kontakt VIs... There's a ton of data it has to load into memory, and each instance eats a little memory as well.


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## afalke (Jul 14, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> OT's system is extremely RAM heavy. Spitfire's, on the other hand, is not.



Hi EvilDragon, I have read your responses here and in the NI forum regarding reasons for libraries being RAM heavy. Initially, I thought there is something wrong with my computer since I barely can run 20 tracks of OT and some 8Dio stuff on my little 16 GB MacMini, but I take it that this is to be expected for certain libraries and developers. So, assuming that I can't change that, and knowing that I won't be able to get myself a 64 to 128 GB machine in the next few months yet, do you know of any good way to deal with that in Logic (other than just not using particularly RAM heavy libraries)? For example, in Cubase one can unload such instruments temporarily. Is there a similarly simple technique in Logic or would I be stuck with saving and loading/unloading channel strips and/or multi-patches in Logic? Or are there easy ways to reduce the post-purge RAM footprint of such instruments?


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## EvilDragon (Jul 14, 2018)

EvilDragon doesn't use Logic, but I suppose you could freeze tracks once you're starting to reach the critical mass with system resources. But before that, if your libraries are on an SSD, you can try running the instances fully purged - meaning you load your patches, then purge all samples from the instrument. Then only samples that you actually use will be loaded in. However, that's only one part of the equation. The other part, which pertains to how the instrument is built (number of groups, zones, effects and modulators used, script complexity) you cannot influence...


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## afalke (Jul 14, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> EvilDragon doesn't use Logic, but I suppose you could freeze tracks once you're starting to reach the critical mass with system resources. But before that, if your libraries are on an SSD, you can try running the instances fully purged - meaning you load your patches, then purge all samples from the instrument. Then only samples that you actually use will be loaded in. However, that's only one part of the equation. The other part, which pertains to how the instrument is built (number of groups, zones, effects and modulators used, script complexity) you cannot influence...



Thank you for getting back to me. Yes, I already have purged everything and the libraries are on an SSD. My problem seems to be related to how much RAM the groups, zones, effects, and all that jazz take. They already seem to overwhelm my system at 20 tracks or so, at least with OT, recent 8Dio, etc. on them. That surprised me simply because I was not aware that they can be that RAM hungry beyond the samples. Ah well, time for a hardware upgrade or perhaps a DAW change, it seems.


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## EvilDragon (Jul 15, 2018)

It's not the DAW's fault at all. So yeah, upgrading the hardware is the way to go if you want to use more of such instruments. 64 GB of RAM is what I have around here.


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## jcrosby (Jul 15, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> EvilDragon doesn't use Logic, but I suppose you could freeze tracks once you're starting to reach the critical mass with system resources. But before that, if your libraries are on an SSD, you can try running the instances fully purged - meaning you load your patches, then purge all samples from the instrument. Then only samples that you actually use will be loaded in. However, that's only one part of the equation. The other part, which pertains to how the instrument is built (number of groups, zones, effects and modulators used, script complexity) you cannot influence...


Well I do  You need to lower your preload buffer size to something smaller. Again, I have Logic templates on a MBP with 100-150 VIs, (some of which are OT, and we're talking _Inspire_, not 50+ _Ark_ or _BS_ patches.)

That said I have a realistic expectation of what a laptop can do; (OS and DAW have no major impact compared to physical limitations. Laptops are mobile for a reason...) If you want to run a bunch of other VIs as well, you won't be running multiple articulations with multiple-mics on all orchestral sections without some headaches. That's the unpleasant trade-off of using a laptop...

Purging too as mentioned... And at least with a laptop, I find VEP does help out... Between managing plugins and VIs, running its own native ones, keeping things sample accurate, displaying graphics, etc, etc; DAWs have a ton of overhead to manage... I find VEP lets me get a little more mileage out of Logic by letting Logic focus on the overhead. (Even then it's not profound per se, just a reasonable leg up... And the 100-150 VI templates that run on my laptop all use VEP... I find Logic bottlenecks faster than VEP). This why many use a light template for laptop writing... You sketch on a standalone laptop with lightweight patches or you use it with a slave...

And as mentioned... Since you're limited to 16GB on a laptop you should buy something like _memory clean._ The irony is is that programs like this are technically a cheap hack... You're kicking data out of RAM that Logic would ideally love to have... But when you're crippled by RAM you crippled by RAM... Works for me as well as others...


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## afalke (Jul 15, 2018)

jcrosby said:


> Well I do  You need to lower your preload buffer size to something smaller. Again, I have Logic templates on a MBP with 100-150 VIs, (some of which are OT, and we're talking _Inspire_, not 50+ _Ark_ or _BS_ patches.)



EvilDragon: Right. I did not mean to say that it's the DAW's fault. Rather, I was thinking about DAWs that offer more options for how to deal with limited RAM. Even if I switch off Kontakt instances or freeze tracks in Logic, I only seem to free my RAM of the burden of samples but not of the RAM used by the instruments themselves (when purged). It is my understanding that DAWs like Cubase actually free the RAM from those instruments in a way that Logic does not seem to, at least not on my computer.

jcrosby: Thank you for the reply. My problem is that I was not sure what a realistic expectation would be. I have seen people running 100 tracks on 16GB and thus was puzzled by not being able to run more than 20 or 25, presumably due to my choosing RAM hungry instruments, by which I don't mean those with a large sample size but those that use more in virtue of scripting, graphics, groups, effects, etc. I am fully aware that I can't run a pro-level 300 to 600 tracks template on this small machine, but I thought 80 to a 100 would be possible. And it seems to be, but mostly with older libraries I have. When I put my libraries on an external SSD last year, I already lowered the pre-buffer size. That has helped with dealing with many samples and improved the playability, but it has not affected how much RAM the purged instruments themselves needed. I am already using _Memory Cleaner_, which seems a different app than the one you mentioned, but one that does the same if I am not mistaken.

Long story short, I was just trying to figure out whether something is wrong with my system or settings or whether this is just due to the libraries I am using. And you guys have helped me with the answer. So, since upgrading hardware is expensive, I will go with VEP for now, keep my templates basic, and then change things when I get a 64-128 GB machine some time early next year.

P.S.: I did not mean to hijack your thread, thesteelydane. I hope you still got the answers you were looking for.


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## Columbian (Jul 23, 2018)

Hi all.
I've been struggling with this as well of late. Watching Christian Henson's VLOG (Spitfire) on his template building, and that remarkable episode where he tried to "break" his trashcan MacPro as a test, before getting the iMacPro installed (so he'd have a kind of homegrown benchmark to compare the two. To oversimplify, he couldn't break the MacPro, even though he reached, I believe 128 instances of Kontakt, each with Albion instruments, all with ALL their mics on and EVERY channel loaded with TWO Space Designer long reverbs = 256 instances of SD.

Now, I watched that and I was incredulous. Granted, his MacPro was probably top of the line. Granted, it was accessing multiple external thunderbolt 3 SSDs. Granted it was no doubt maxed out on RAM, GHz and etc.

But it didn't fail.

Now, I have a fairly recent iMac 27in i7 with 32Gb ram 4.2GHz. Hardly a monster, but decent enough, right?
It's newly reformatted and installed with only Logic and Kontakt and the necessary music "bits"
One, new external SSD for my libraries (mainly Spitfire).

Last night — with max sample purging, minimum practical max voices per instance, an audio buffer of 128 (using an Apollo Twin Thunderbolt 2 interface), no other apps running, clean restart, a light smattering of modulation automation, and sending all channels to just *ONE* Space Designer with Large hall placed on the stereo buss.... (compare to Christian's 256 instances)

My CPU meters hit the ceiling and glitched out at only *16* tracks.

That's with simple, three-note chords, playing back on all tracks.
Nothing fancy.
@ 48k
One Kontakt per track
One instrument per Kontakt
One articulation per instrument (ie all others deactivated)
All samples purged
On average about 64 max voices per articulation

Kontakt settings: DFD set to 6kb (off, effectively) to minimize CPU drain and maximize streaming capability
Multithreading in Kontakt set to OFF ( read this was best)
Multithreading in Logic audio prefs set to Automatic
Rewire behavior set to OFF
Process buffer set to Large.

Personally, I think this is pretty pathetic performance.
It means I'm constantly having to freeze tracks
There's always one thread that slams to the ceiling before the others, and that always seems random

I feel like I've tried every permutation of setting.
I feel like I've watched every YouTube Kontakt optimization video
I feel like Logic is slowing down.
I feel like threads (irrational) are more important than RAM (which is more affectable)

I don't know. Does anyone want to keep discussing this?
I hear, anecdotally that other DAWs seem to manage threads more efficiently, but don't know for sure.
Amazing there isn't a competitor to Kontakt after all these decades — one that does a better job.

I downloaded the VEP Server trial and eventually got it running on a slave mac. It works, I guess, but WHAT a hassle! Sucked all the creativity out of the process for me. I was so mentally drained by having to remember whatwas talking to which. And having to create multiple auxes JUST so I could see audio flow back in to Logic (double the number of tracks). And naming mayhem. And Summing Tracks no longer making sense (with VEP)

I feel more like an engineer than a musician.
I feel like a week away and I'll have forgotten how all the pieces go together.

I feel like a $15,000 iMacPro with 4 external thunderbolt3 SSDs and three Apollo 8s are the only way to allow true agility and flexibility.

Which ain't an option.

Rant over.

Thoughts?

Cheers


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## thesteelydane (Jul 23, 2018)

Columbian said:


> Hi all.
> I've been struggling with this as well of late. Watching Christian Henson's VLOG (Spitfire) on his template building, and that remarkable episode where he tried to "break" his trashcan MacPro as a test, before getting the iMacPro installed (so he'd have a kind of homegrown benchmark to compare the two. To oversimplify, he couldn't break the MacPro, even though he reached, I believe 128 instances of Kontakt, each with Albion instruments, all with ALL their mics on and EVERY channel loaded with TWO Space Designer long reverbs = 256 instances of SD.
> 
> Now, I watched that and I was incredulous. Granted, his MacPro was probably top of the line. Granted, it was accessing multiple external thunderbolt 3 SSDs. Granted it was no doubt maxed out on RAM, GHz and etc.
> ...



That's definitely not right, my 2014 MacBook Pro can do MUCH more than that and your machine is much, much more powerful. Granted, it took me a lot of time to find the right settings for my system, but now it's as efficient as I think it can be. I would create a test project that pushes your system into the red (seems like you already have that), and then change all your parameters one at a time until you find the one that eases the load.

Some thoughts based on my own experiments:

6kb streaming buffer seems optimistic to me, even on SSDs, but I don't know your disk speeds. The process buffer range can be counter intuitive, sometimes medium is better (but mine is on large like yours). Try forcing Logic to use all cores. Try a different sound card, even the built in.

Please keep in mind I effectively don't know what I'm talking about, I'm just good at being methodical, that's how I eventually figured out how to optimise my system.


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## Saxer (Jul 25, 2018)

Keep in mind that Logics active channel (with red R button) needs more CPU than any other channel. Sometimes a single Kontakt instrument can cause CPU spikes just because it's loaded and the selected channel strip is active. Simply select an audio track when doing your performance tests. Sometimes switching off w-lan helps (at leat it did on former MacOs). A new Mac with a lot of full HD space does file indication for spotlight search. This has to be done once only. Same with cloud stuff. Keep a new Mac running over night to complete this background processes.


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## SolarCell (Jul 25, 2018)

I'd love to hear from others what TS should do. I too got me a mid2017 iMac, 4.2GHz but with 64Gb RAM and a 512GB SSD. For my still to purchase libraries I have an external T5 SSD. The computer is currently back with Apple because it shut itself off after a long Stand-by modus and it kept mentioning an unsafe release of the ext. disc. False, because it wasn't even de-connected.

I know it sounds silly but this false start gave me a bad feeling about the whole thing. And now I'm reading about the lack of performance... It makes me wonder if I made the wrong decision by buying me a iMac rather than a maxed out pc with lots of CPU power and RAM and run Cubase 9.5 Pro instead of Logic.


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## robh (Jul 25, 2018)

Columbian said:


> Hi all.
> I've been struggling with this as well of late. Watching Christian Henson's VLOG (Spitfire) on his template building, and that remarkable episode where he tried to "break" his trashcan MacPro as a test, before getting the iMacPro installed (so he'd have a kind of homegrown benchmark to compare the two. To oversimplify, he couldn't break the MacPro, even though he reached, I believe 128 instances of Kontakt, each with Albion instruments, all with ALL their mics on and EVERY channel loaded with TWO Space Designer long reverbs = 256 instances of SD.
> 
> Now, I watched that and I was incredulous. Granted, his MacPro was probably top of the line. Granted, it was accessing multiple external thunderbolt 3 SSDs. Granted it was no doubt maxed out on RAM, GHz and etc.
> ...


One setting you haven't mentioned is the I/O Buffer Size (found in Preferences->Audio->Devices).

If I recall correctly, Setting DFD lower _increases_ CPU drain (maybe only a little) but reduces memory usage so you can load more instruments. I would try to up that in increments until you get a decent performance.

With regard to VEP, try running it on the single machine. It does handle multithreading noticeably better than Logic.

Rob


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