# Finally: disable/enable tracks (load/unload memory) in Logic – with an auto-function!



## Vik (Jun 13, 2019)

*

About dynamic plug-in loading in Logic Pro X*
Logic Pro X 10.4.5 only loads the plug-ins and software instruments needed to play the project, which helps projects open faster.


Dynamic plug-in loading helps projects with a lot of plug-ins and software instruments open faster. When you open a project, Logic analyzes the project and makes only the tracks needed for playback active. Here are the types of tracks Logic makes active when you open a project:


Audio tracks that have audio regions (not including frozen tracks)
Software instrument tracks that have MIDI regions (not including frozen tracks)
Tracks with input monitoring turned on
Tracks with plug-ins that generate sound without requiring any input (such as the Test Oscillator)
Tracks with external or ReWire inputs
Tracks with plug-ins and software instruments not needed for playback are inactive and dimmed in the Mixer.

When you select an inactive track, Logic loads the plug-ins on that track. Logic also loads plug-ins on an inactive track when you do things like add a region to the track, unfreeze a frozen track, or add a plug-in to an inactive track.

*Manually make tracks inactive and active*
You can manually make tracks inactive to save system resources. Press and hold the Option key, then click the On/Off button in the track header in the Main window. If you don't see the On/Off button in the track header, choose Track > Configure Track Header, then select On/Off.

When you make a track with audio regions inactive, you also make turn off the track’s audio regions. If you close then reopen the project, the whole track remains inactive until you manually activate it.

To manually activate a channel, click the track header On/Off button in the Main window. In the Mixer, click an empty Audio Effect slot, then choose Activate Channel.

*Turn off dynamic plug-in loading*
You can turn this setting off for each project:


Open your project
Choose File > Project Settings > General, then deselect "Only load plug-ins needed for project playback."

(From https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209636)


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## EvilDragon (Jun 13, 2019)

That's one freakin' huge on/off button. Three times, even.


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## Vik (Jun 13, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> That's one freakin' huge on/off button. Three times, even.


I just pasted the stuff in from Apple's site. Gone now.


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## WindcryMusic (Jun 13, 2019)

Holy cow ... I gotta test this out. This could be a game changer.

EDIT: wow, this is very promising. Just tested it on my MBP's busking template (which is limited in size). I don't know if the project really loaded any faster, but it appears that it does indeed refrain from loading samples in Kontakt on empty tracks. When I click on such a track, it immediately pops up the Kontakt "loading samples" dialog for the instruments on that Kontakt instance. Seems like this could work ... I'll have to wait until later this afternoon to try it with my full orchestral template in the studio though.


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## Vik (Jun 13, 2019)

WindcryMusic said:


> Seems to be back. And holy cow ... I gotta test this out. This could be a game changer.


Well, it means that you can load a very large template in little time. Each of the tracks won't be enabled until you click it. 

And, even better: if you freeze a track, the memory that track uses is also unloaded. Furthermore, if you select all or or some of your tracks, you can enable/disable all of them by Alt-clicking on one of them.


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## ka00 (Jun 13, 2019)

I suspect a lot of Logic users like myself will be spending the weekend finally creating an orchestral template.


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## TheKRock (Jun 13, 2019)

Wow!!! I just opened a fairly large template in not even 2 seconds!!!!! Unreal!!! Plus 1000 tracks....Game changer!!!


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## Vik (Jun 13, 2019)

Game changer it is!
I just found a little quirk: if I freeze a Kontakt track before I have saved a project, it will unload the track when I freeze it.However, when it reloads the track after unfreezing it again, it opens Kontakt but doesn't load the library I used. It works fine if I saved the project first: unfreezing the track will then reload the library I used and its samples.


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## hawpri (Jun 13, 2019)

Vik said:


> Game changer it is!
> I just found a little quirk: if I freeze a Kontakt track before I have saved a project, it will unload the track when I freeze it.However, when it reloads the track after unfreezing it again, it opens Kontakt but doesn't load the library I used. It works fine if I saved the project first: unfreezing the track will then reload the library I used and its samples.


This might be a stupid question, but to make sure I understood you, does this mean that users must always save right before freezing and unloading, or does this only occur in new projects that need to be saved for the first time?


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## Vik (Jun 13, 2019)

Don't know yet - I just discovered it. But regarding new projects, it always makes sense to save a project even before you have found a title for it, just as a temp. "Untitled 1" project... My guess is that the above could be a bug.


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## Garry (Jun 13, 2019)

Still not seeing the update here in Switzerland - only showing 10.4.4 in the App Store (10.4.5 is listed in the version history, but no option to update or install, unless I'm missing something?). I think it will be rolled out sequentially, so maybe tomorrow... gives me another day to play with my non-template template!!


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## MarcelM (Jun 13, 2019)

Garry said:


> Still not seeing the update here in Switzerland - only showing 10.4.4 in the App Store (10.4.5 is listed in the version history, but no option to update or install, unless I'm missing something?). I think it will be rolled out sequentially, so maybe tomorrow... gives me another day to play with my non-template template!!



have it already in my appstore and iam from germany. youre not running sierra,right?


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## Garry (Jun 13, 2019)

MarcelM said:


> have it already in my appstore and iam from germany. youre not running sierra,right?



I'm on Mojave (10.14.5). This is what I see right now: no install option yet (even though 10.4.5 is showing in version history), just 'OPEN' as the only option. Could be different in Switzerland, as we have different App Stores.


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## MaxOctane (Jun 13, 2019)

Garry said:


> I'm on Mojave (10.14.5). This is what I see right now: no install option yet (even though 10.4.5 is showing in version history), just 'OPEN' as the only option. Could be different in Switzerland, as we have different App Stores.



Ditto here, in US. Mojave, and App Store shows 10.4.5 in Version History, but no actual install link.


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## clisma (Jun 13, 2019)

Try logging out of and back in to the App Store, and/or restarting your Macs.


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## agarner32 (Jun 13, 2019)

clisma said:


> Try logging out of and back in to the App Store, and/or restarting your Macs.


Didn't work for me. I'm in California.


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## synthoid (Jun 13, 2019)

Something else you can try -- I had to click on "Updates" in the App store's sidebar, then select "Reload Page" (Command-R) from the "Store" menu in order to get it to show up here.


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## VinRice (Jun 13, 2019)

Wow, very solid point update. Lots of optimisations, UI is definitely snappier. Track load/unload works like a dream. Works across multiple tracks simultaneously without any hiccups. User defaults for the mixer window...hurrah!


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## agarner32 (Jun 13, 2019)

synthoid said:


> Something else you can try -- I had to click on "Updates" in the App store's sidebar, then select "Reload Page" (Command-R) from the "Store" menu in order to get it to show up here.


Thanks for the tip, it worked.


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## Geoff Grace (Jun 14, 2019)

The new “Only load plug-ins needed for project playback” feature seems similar to making instrument track plugins inactive in Pro Tools. It's a great way to reduce the RAM used in a session. I wonder if this new Logic Pro X feature works better at releasing RAM during the process than Pro Tools does.

The problem in Pro Tools is that it lets go of some but not all of the RAM when you make the plugins inactive (after having already been active). For example, I can open a big template with all of the plugins inactive and Pro Tools memory meter reads only 10%. As I activate plugins and then deactivate them, the memory usage creeps ever upward in a two steps forward (make active), one step back pattern (make inactive). After activating and deactivating instrument track plugins over and over again, the same state I began with at 10% memory usage may read at 40-50% memory usage. Closing and reopening the session doesn't help, but quitting Pro Tools and restarting it with the same session finally returns RAM usage to its original 10%.

Has anyone tried using the new feature in Logic enough to determine whether it releases every bit of the RAM after unloading a plugin? If so, I may start using Logic Pro X more often again. 

Thanks, in advance, for any feedback.

Best,

Geoff


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## Garry (Jun 14, 2019)

Don't forget to use Option-Click on the on/off button on the track to unload a plugin from RAM. Empty tracks start without loading into RAM, but once loaded, they do not unload out of RAM if you just click them off - you have to option-click them off, and then it offloads the RAM too. 

This update is amazing. Never could have imagined this 400+ track template I've now built, running on a single machine, loading/saving in <10 seconds, using <2Gb RAM on startup, but here it is. I'm truly amazed and how much this changes things.


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## VinRice (Jun 14, 2019)

You can also unload complete Summing Folders with one click which is very cool. The load/unload functionality seems to be rock-solid.


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## WindcryMusic (Jun 14, 2019)

VinRice said:


> You can also unload complete Summing Folders with one click which is very cool. The load/unload functionality seems to be rock-solid.



Here, too. I was particularly impressed by Logic being smart enough to also spot and enable any busses that the newly enabled track is sending data to (either from aux sends or output).


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## Guavadude (Jun 14, 2019)

But is there any improvement in active VI using one core in Logic? I recently started using VEP 7 and the strain on my trashcan Mac is greatly reduced. I can now play Kontakt instruments without the constant cpu overloads that occurred when using Logic alone. And I don’t have to freeze anything. 

This new Logic version seems great overall but I don’t see how it can eliminate the VEP7 setup unless they’ve figured out how to make Logic run as lean on its own.


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## AEF (Dec 30, 2019)

Does anyone have this annoying bug where upon reactivating a summing stack audio no longer is routed anywhere but to any sends u may have?

For example, if i have a Celli stack with multiple libraries for say blending, all via kontakt. when i reactivate the stack , the only audible audio is from the reverb sends.

By selecting the individual tracks within a stack and setting their outputs to the stereo out, the full instruments are heard.

Its frankly the biggest buzzkill ive ever dealt with in Logic.


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## Vik (Dec 31, 2019)

AEF said:


> Does anyone have this annoying bug where upon reactivating a summing stack audio no longer is routed anywhere but to any sends u may have?
> 
> For example, if i have a Celli stack with multiple libraries for say blending, all via kontakt. when i reactivate the stack , the only audible audio is from the reverb sends.
> 
> ...


Did you report it to Apple?


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## mjsalam (Jan 4, 2020)

Is there any way to assign a key command to the option-click on/off toggle?


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## samphony (Jan 4, 2020)

mjsalam said:


> Is there any way to assign a key command to the option-click on/off toggle?


Nope. Unfortunately.


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## varun1122 (Jan 20, 2021)

Vik said:


> *About dynamic plug-in loading in Logic Pro X*
> Logic Pro X 10.4.5 only loads the plug-ins and software instruments needed to play the project, which helps projects open faster.
> 
> 
> ...


I got a problem though, I am new to Logic. I use only Kontakt mostly, well I did create a template and stacked it in folder, like, folder for strings, guitar, etc. Now, when I load up my template, my strings folder with all the string instruments open up, whereas other instruments like Guitar or piano stay unloaded. I want strings to stay unloaded as well. What should I do? Mind that I am not talking about active/inactive tracks but loaded/unloaded tracks. (I think they are different)


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## Vik (Jan 21, 2021)

varun1122 said:


> I got a problem though, I am new to Logic. I use only Kontakt mostly, well I did create a template and stacked it in folder, like, folder for strings, guitar, etc. Now, when I load up my template, my strings folder with all the string instruments open up, whereas other instruments like Guitar or piano stay unloaded. I want strings to stay unloaded as well. What should I do? Mind that I am not talking about active/inactive tracks but loaded/unloaded tracks. (I think they are different)


Hi, Varun – did you do this: "You can manually make tracks inactive to save system resources. *Press and hold the Option key,* then click the On/Off button in the track header in the Main window"?


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