# System overload in Logic X...how to fix



## Morodiene (Oct 7, 2016)

I'm getting a "system overload" error when playing back my orchestral/choral piece. I have frozen all the other tracks except the one I'm working on for mixing and volume purposes, and after I play the first 5 or 6 measures I get this error.

I'm guessing that freezing isn't really helping. I have several instances of Play for EWSymphonic Choirs which I unloaded and they've all been rendered to audio - which is muted. But I noticed that when I opened the file this morning, it still loaded up samples for them.

I also have increased the buffer to the maximum of 1024 samples since I'm no longer recording and so latency isn't an issue. But CPU is definitely way high when playing back (around 160%). I'm also running the libraries off of an external HHD, but I thought with the buffer size increase that would be OK, so I'm guessing the problem has more to do with just too many instances of Kontakt and Play going.

I'd rather not remove the MIDI tracks since I may need to redo them, but I suppose I could save it as is, delete the tracks, and return to this file if I need to later on. Just hoping for a more elegant solution.


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## Tatu (Oct 7, 2016)

Not knowing your system specs, so I can't comment those. 

But if all else fails, I suggest bouncing finished parts in place. After that, save your instrument tracks as presets to some piece specific location/folder and remove instruments (Play, Kontakt) from those tracks, or simply reset them.

You can keep your instrument free tracks/midi (do mute the regions, so Logic doesn't use any of its mojo to reading them) and reload a preset if you need to edit a specific midi part/track.


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## nbd (Oct 7, 2016)

It usually helps when you select some audio track before starting playback. If MIDI track is selected, logic is prepared to receive possible MIDI events during playback and that has some impact on performance


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## Ashermusic (Oct 7, 2016)

Did you try creating an audio track and selecting it in the track list when playing back?


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## Morodiene (Oct 7, 2016)

I didn't think of creating the audio tracks and having that selected. I will try this!

@Tatu, I'll give this a try if all else fails. FWIW, I have 3.2 GHz i5 and 24 GB Ram 1TB SATA HD. Should I beef up the RAM?


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## Morodiene (Oct 7, 2016)

Having an audio track selected did the trick. You guys are awesome!


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## nbd (Oct 7, 2016)

Also if you can unload/purge unnecessary samples, it could help. At least my Mac was performing everything slowly if samples were using all the RAM. Luckily the Kontakt's sample purging is easy way to help the situation. Most pieces don't use all the samples anyway.

One way is to play just one track at a time and then use the 'update sample pool' if it's hard to play several tracks at the same time.


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## Tatu (Oct 7, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> @Tatu, I'll give this a try if all else fails. FWIW, I have 3.2 GHz i5 and 24 GB Ram 1TB SATA HD. Should I beef up the RAM?



I would only consider replacing HD with an SSD. Those are good specs!

Good thing you got it solved!


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## synthpunk (Oct 7, 2016)

Also make sure you have multithreading selected for both Playback and Live Tracks. Preferences/Audio/Multithreading.



Morodiene said:


> Having an audio track selected did the trick. You guys are awesome!


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## Morodiene (Oct 7, 2016)

@nbd to do this, I'd click on "update sample pool" in each instance on Kontakt?

@Tatu maybe that will be my Christmas present this year 

@synthpunk Thanks, this is selected for both


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## Ashermusic (Oct 7, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> Having an audio track selected did the trick. You guys are awesome!




Whaddya mean "you guys"? I told you that!


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## Morodiene (Oct 7, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> Whaddya mean "you guys"? I told you that!


So did nbd


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## Kent (Oct 7, 2016)

If your CPU is that maxed-out, adding more RAM will only help if you're pre-loading more of each instrument. Purging instruments leads to lower RAM usage and more CPU usage.


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## Ashermusic (Oct 7, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> So did nbd



Ah, I didn't see his post when I was typing


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## Kent (Oct 7, 2016)

But @Tatu is right - it's generally much easier on your system if you're doing non-compositional work (like mixing, volume automation, etc.) with audio files rather than MIDI files. That way (and this is a bit of a simplification), your computer only has to play back a single file per track instead of figuring out how to re-create hundreds or thousands of little files into a performance per track. Another bonus is the playback will be the same every time with an audio track; things like RR or randomized effects will make each MIDI playback slightly different, which you may or may not care about.


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## wbacer (Oct 7, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> I didn't think of creating the audio tracks and having that selected. I will try this!
> 
> @Tatu, I'll give this a try if all else fails. FWIW, I have 3.2 GHz i5 and 24 GB Ram 1TB SATA HD. Should I beef up the RAM?


As you are playing back your piece, have the Mac Activity monitor open, it will tell you have much Ram you are using.
This will help you decide if you need more Ram or not.


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## Morodiene (Oct 7, 2016)

@wbacer yes, it seemed to me that it was staying in the "green", but the CPU was getting hit a lot.

@kmaster what do you do with the instrument tracks once you've done this? Purge the samples?


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## Kent (Oct 7, 2016)

I actually just export the tracks as audio files and then open up the tracks inside a new Logic project or (since I'm often scoring for film) a new Pro Tools session. That way everything starts from scratch, so to speak.

This has yet another additional benefit - you can remove your composer cap and put on your mix engineer cap. Making editing decisions is hard when you're also able to make creative decisions (not to imply that the one does not inform the other, and vice versa).


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## Morodiene (Oct 7, 2016)

@kmaster that makes a lot of sense, actually


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## Ashermusic (Oct 7, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> @wbacer yes, it seemed to me that it was staying in the "green", but the CPU was getting hit a lot.
> 
> @kmaster what do you do with the instrument tracks once you've done this? Purge the samples?



I save it, then save it again as a project alternative, delete the software instruments, and re-save that alternative. Then I can always get back to the original if I need to.


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## nbd (Oct 8, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> @nbd to do this, I'd click on "update sample pool" in each instance on Kontakt?



Yes, for each instrument. You might want to read the Kontakt manual for better understanding how it works. There is also the 'reset markers' which will clear the status of the played samples. So if you first click 'reset markers' and then play one sample and then 'update sample pool', kontakt should purge all samples but the one played. That's the reason why you need to play the song fully first, so you are not purging any samples that are needed.


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## Danarchy (Oct 10, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> I save it, then save it again as a project alternative, delete the software instruments, and re-save that alternative. Then I can always get back to the original if I need to.



I 2nd the use of alternatives to help in these situations.


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## Morodiene (Oct 10, 2016)

Danarchy said:


> I 2nd the use of alternatives to help in these situations.


I haven't yet used alternatives. I've just been saving as a new project. How does an alternative work differently? Can you easily switch between them?


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## byzantium (Oct 10, 2016)

I'd be interested in hearing the benefits of alternatives too, as I tried them and couldn't see much of a difference between alternatives and loading separate projects (I.e. same loading / switching time, appear like separate projects even though stored in the same project hierarchy..?).

On the original topic, in the past to diagnose / solve CPU issues I have found it useful to disable (via the on/off button (configure track header)) unused or suspected problem tracks (muting them doesn't seem to kill the computation required). 
And make sure Kontakt Memory Manager is turned off, and let Logic do the muti-processing not Kontakt. 
Hope this is of some use.


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## markstyles (Oct 11, 2016)

You can make your I/O buffer larger, process buffer larger, and multi-threading to 'playback tracks', Logic prefs/Audio/Devices.. The largest I/O buffer, will accommodate more tracks, more virtual instruments, it will take a fraction of a second longer to start, than if buffer was 

Go to Logic Prefs/Audio and turn off software monitoring. This is for voice, or hardware synths coming into Logic on RECORD. or LIVE input. Almost all AUDIO I/O boxes have that capability at this point. Use that instead, and save Logic doing extra work. 

I create a channel strip for a particular instrument.. First save the patch in instrument (in top of box, Logic instrument).. So if I'm using Kontakt playing an 8DIO string. I save it something like "MNS-Kontakt-8DIO-string" This is the initials of my song project "My Newest Song" It's a Kontakt instrument, 8DIO.. Then if for some reason, this is a double reminder.. I then go over to Logic Inspector, and save channel strip as "MNS-Kontakt-8DIO-string"
Unfortunately Logics channel strip window is very short, so you'll only see the first few letters.

As a safeguard I also write that info into the midi date region name. It can be even longer.. 
I leave my tracks in live MIDI format as long as possible.. When I'm pretty clear that track is complete.. I turn it into audio, right under MIDI track.. color two tracks the same. Then I 'reset' the channel strip.. so it does not load in any instrument.. Often as I add more tracks, I might want to go back to that first 8DIO string track, and edit or change something.. I reload the proper channel strip.. And EVERYTHING is exactly as before.. including any effects, you might have put in channel strip. 

I invariably find, as piece gets longer, with more and more tracks. Logic will reach it's limit.. So this method..

What I HAVEN'T done yet, is see if I can remove these Channel strip settings (located in application support/Logic)
and store with song project folder, and then put them back later, if I have to come back and do revision work on this piece..


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## markstyles (Oct 11, 2016)

Oh yeah, most important, install as much memory as you afford, that is a big consideration..


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## Morodiene (Oct 12, 2016)

CPU for now seems to be handling things well, but my Ext HDD could use some upgrading...I've asked for an SSD for Christmas


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## synthpunk (Oct 12, 2016)

upping your ram can offer a nice performance upgrade.

watch for those Black Friday and Cyber Monday SSD sales (Amazon, Tiger, B&H, etc.).



Morodiene said:


> CPU for now seems to be handling things well, but my Ext HDD could use some upgrading...I've asked for an SSD for Christmas


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## Morodiene (Oct 12, 2016)

I think I've got a slot left in my Mac for one more stick of RAM - if not I'll have to replace one of the other sticks with something a bit bigger. But I keep an eye on the CPU load and for now I'm still in the green. But I'll keep my eye out for a good deal.


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## Ashermusic (Oct 12, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> I haven't yet used alternatives. I've just been saving as a new project. How does an alternative work differently? Can you easily switch between them?




The benefit is that if you want to get back to an earlier version of your project you can do so right within the Logic project instead of going into the Finder or using Open Recent. Also, the Note Pad allows you to make project or track notes to document what has changed from version to version, which I love.


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## Morodiene (Oct 12, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> The benefit is that if you want to get back to an earlier version of your project you can do so right within the Logic project instead of going into the Finder or using Open Recent. Also, the Note Pad allows you to make project or track notes to document what has changed from version to version, which I love.


OK that makes sense. I have to make use of that Note Pad feature - there's only so much description I can do when "saving as" in the file name


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## markstyles (Oct 12, 2016)

Check your mac specs, most mac memory has to be in pairs, (that is two slots have to have same size memory).. 
More memory, is important, otherwise CPU has to write and read 'temporary' data to drive (big slow down)

Thanx Jay, I have to read up on 'alternative', I haven't gotten around to using it yet (old dog vs new tricks)


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## John Busby (Oct 13, 2016)

Morodiene said:


> OK that makes sense. I have to make use of that Note Pad feature - there's only so much description I can do when "saving as" in the file name


alternatives are a "MUST" 
such a great feature in Logic!
it's also great to use alternatives for different mixes


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