# Logic Track On/Off



## hozierschurch (Apr 10, 2018)

I am creating a large-ish template but only have 24GB RAM.

Is having most tracks switched off by default a workable solution? 

In reality, does the On/Off button mean the track and plugins do not affect CPU at all or is it just a glorified mute button?

I’ve read conflicting opinions on this from various forums and even manuals and hoping somebody can clarify from their own experience ...

Thanks!


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## rhye (Apr 10, 2018)

To my understanding, the On/Off button will free the CPU but not the ram of the instruments and plugins of the track


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## WindcryMusic (Apr 10, 2018)

rhye said:


> To my understanding, the On/Off button will free the CPU but not the ram of the instruments and plugins of the track



Yes, that's correct in my experience as well, and also confirmed by every knowledgeable online source I've personally encountered.

Conversely, the Mute button will silence the audio output only (CPU usage continues unabated). So On/Off is more than just a Mute button, but not quite as far beyond Mute as many orchestral mockup composers wish it was (where RAM is so often the critical path).


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## hozierschurch (Apr 10, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> Yes, that's correct in my experience as well, and also confirmed by every knowledgeable online source I've personally encountered.
> 
> Conversely, the Mute button will silence the audio output only (CPU usage continues unabated). So On/Off is more than just a Mute button, but not quite as far beyond Mute as many orchestral mockup composers wish it was (where RAM is so often the critical path).



I’ll take this into account. Thanks both for the advice!


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## hozierschurch (Apr 12, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> Yes, that's correct in my experience as well, and also confirmed by every knowledgeable online source I've personally encountered.
> 
> Conversely, the Mute button will silence the audio output only (CPU usage continues unabated). So On/Off is more than just a Mute button, but not quite as far beyond Mute as many orchestral mockup composers wish it was (where RAM is so often the critical path).



Just thinking ... if I also had the plugin turned off too, would this then save the RAM?


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## WindcryMusic (Apr 12, 2018)

hozierschurch said:


> Just thinking ... if I also had the plugin turned off too, would this then save the RAM?



It's a nice thought, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way. From what I can tell, turning the plugin (Kontakt) off may save the tiniest bit of CPU, and release any voice memory currently in use (a minimal quantity), but sample and object memory (the two biggest offenders) are unaffected.


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## bvaughn0402 (Apr 12, 2018)

What does freezing a track do for this? Is it possible to freeze a blank track and it cut CPU and RAM?


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## Dewdman42 (Apr 12, 2018)

unfortunately when you freeze a track it does NOT free the memory. It will avoid using the CPU during playback though.

Actually, I have noticed that, forgetting about bouncing or freezing for a sec, if you even go into kontakt and hit the global purge, LPX doesn't free the memory either. LPX hangs on to memory a lot. Its kind of annoying.


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## Vik (Apr 12, 2018)

Dewdman42 said:


> unfortunately when you freeze a track it does NOT free the memory. It will avoid using the CPU during playback though.


That missing feature may be the one I miss most often in Logic.


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## Dewdman42 (Apr 12, 2018)

its one of the main reasons I bought VEP. with VEP you can freeze your track in logic, and then free the memory in VEP easily, which is much smarter about it.


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## bvaughn0402 (Apr 12, 2018)

Dewdman42 said:


> its one of the main reasons I bought VEP. with VEP you can freeze your track in logic, and then free the memory in VEP easily, which is much smarter about it.



I've seen references to VEP in the past, and sounds like I should check in to it.

Do you have a recommended "dummies" link or video to show me the essential parts of what it can do in Logic?

Thanks!


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## Dewdman42 (Apr 12, 2018)

Vienna Ensemble Pro. It costs more then LogicPro, FYI. But there are many references to it on this forum and you tube and many other places. It does a lot more then what I described above, but it just happenes to handle that too.


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## hozierschurch (Apr 12, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> It's a nice thought, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way. From what I can tell, turning the plugin (Kontakt) off may save the tiniest bit of CPU, and release any voice memory currently in use (a minimal quantity), but sample and object memory (the two biggest offenders) are unaffected.


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## WindcryMusic (Apr 12, 2018)

hozierschurch said:


>



Yeah, it's strange that neither Kontakt nor Logic seem to provide any way to release memory on unused tracks. Maybe they have a sweetheart deal with the RAM manufacturers or something ...


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## Saxer (Apr 13, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> Maybe they have a sweetheart deal with the RAM manufacturers or something ...


Probably because they *are* the RAM manufactures or something... at least Apple


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## TIM_STEVE_97 (Apr 13, 2018)

I've submitted a feature request at the Logic Pro apple support page.. For the on/off button to remove the ram usage as well. Maybe it will help I don't know, but it's worth a try if we get a lot of people so send it. Check it out.
https://www.apple.com/feedback/logic-pro.html


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## PeterN (Apr 13, 2018)

Good discussion.

Such an important topic and this has hardly been discussed before? Ive been expecting that closing “off” the track would close the RAM too, but it has led to many freezes. 

Does anyone know is this common, does Cubase and the rest work this way as well? No intention to go down on Logic, but this would be a major issue to fix.


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## jonathanwright (Apr 13, 2018)

I use VEP to host most of my instruments (1 instance per track), and I've set up key commands in Keyboard Maestro to disable/enable an instance in VEP and 'switch off/on' the track in Logic at the same time.

Switching off the track is more for a visual guide to which tracks are disabled than to save CPU.


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## stigc56 (Apr 13, 2018)

Hi Jonathan
Could you give some more details about the macro you are using in KM to switch off VEPro instances?


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## garyhiebner (Apr 13, 2018)

stigc56 said:


> Hi Jonathan
> Could you give some more details about the macro you are using in KM to switch off VEPro instances?



Yeah, I would also like to know how to do this with Keyboard Maestro.


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## jonathanwright (Apr 13, 2018)

It's really easy.

I've set VEP to Enable/Disable using CC110. (001 for enable, 127 for disable).

From there it's just a case of using KM to send the MIDI first, then the 'Track On/Off' key command.

You need a separate key command in KM to trigger enable/disable, I've used _Shift E_ and _Shift D_.

For each key command set the following:

Send MIDI channel 1 controller 110 change to 01 (or 127)
Type the ⌥M Keystroke

It's as simple as that. The only time consuming bit is setting VEP to learn CC110, but that's easy enough by pressing the 'L' button.

The only caveat is that the state of the on/off button isn't linked to the state of VEP, so you need to make sure the state is correct before saving your template, so everything's accurate on start up.

Once done it's very similar to using disabled tracks in Cubase.


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## Dewdman42 (Apr 13, 2018)

For anyone using kontakt and trying to conserve ram also be sure to look in kontakt for the “global purge command”.


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## stigc56 (Apr 17, 2018)

jonathanwright said:


> It's really easy.
> 
> I've set VEP to Enable/Disable using CC110. (001 for enable, 127 for disable).
> 
> ...


Okay, so you select the track and run the KM macro? So this should also be possible from Metagrid?


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## jonathanwright (Apr 17, 2018)

I don’t see why not.


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## Heinigoldstein (Apr 18, 2018)

hozierschurch said:


> I am creating a large-ish template but only have 24GB RAM.
> 
> Is having most tracks switched off by default a workable solution?
> 
> ...


If you just start buildung the template and you only have 24gb, you might consider using channel strips instead of workung with a huge template. It could avoid a lot of RAM and CPU hussle !


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