CPU Overloading Like Crazy - All of a sudden!

Hi All,

The title pretty much says it all - Out of nowhere, on multiple projects, I'm getting the dreaded CPU Overload/Stop Playback issue. I haven't changed anything in my setup. I'm running more plugins than I have in the past but the tracks on which these plugs reside are frozen.

 

The projects all contain Guitar and Bass guitar audio tracks and a MIDI track running Steven Slate Drums 3.5 in Kontakt Player 5. No other Virtual Instruments.

 

I've been woroking with this setup for quite some time now and never have I had this many problems.

 

Also. I'm getting a constant load on one processor core when Logic is doing nothing. Hell, it's doing it when Logic doesn't even have a project loaded! I'm attaching a screen grab. This was taken a few minutes after closing a project.

 

http://senesmusic.com/_test/CPU_Shot.png

 

I also sometimes get the Overload message when none of the cores are anywhere near peaking.

 

http://senesmusic.com/_test/Overload.png

 

This is happening with my buffer set at 512. I've tried increasing it to 1024 but it doesn't help in the least.

 

Process Buffer Range is set to Large.

 

Undo steps set to 15, I read somewhere having a large number of Undo steps also eats processing? Seems it would be a memory hog but dunno about processing.

 

No other apps running. Startup items contains only iTunesHelper and the Dropbox menubar app.

 

Looking through Console, I'm seeing this message multiple times:

 

"Logic Pro: CMsg buffer full! Should never happen. Generate fewer messages."

I have no idea what that means.

 

Anyhow, this is driving me nuts! Does anyone have any advice I can try? It's impossible to work like this!

Edited April 1, 2013 by noisenet

Have you tried selecting an audio track with no input/output assigned?

Are you running other programs in the background?

Yes, I created a blank audio track and kept it selected. No Apps running in the background at all.

 

The one core staying active, even with no project loaded tells me Logic is whacking out somehow...

 

The one core staying active, even with no project loaded tells me Logic is whacking out somehow...

 

Hi

 

Presumably this happens when you have previously loaded & closed a project, rather than a "clean" boot of Logic (or the Mac itself)?

 

 

CCT

I just did a fresh start of Logic and loaded up the project I've been working with recently. On loading the app (and the Project) the CPU meter showed no activity. I played it for a few seconds then stopped it. The meter registered activity on two cores. I closed the project, the activity remained.

 

http://senesmusic.com/_test/Meter.png

 

This is a grab of my channel strips (It's wide so you might have to open the image in another tab/window to view it fully). All the tracks from Bass over to Lead 3 are frozen so the plugs in these channels should be inactive, correct?

 

http://senesmusic.com/_test/Channels.png

 

BTW, the second Compressor you'll see on the bass channel has the kick sidechained, basically to duck the bass on kick drum hits. For this song both the kick and the bass are in roughly the same freq range, splitting them up isn't sounding right, so....

Start bypassing plug-ins until you see the CPU meters drop.

Hi Eric, thanks for your response. Unfortunately I did try that, the meter never went down. I even closed the project, keeping the CPU meter open. Meter didn't drop even after project was closed.

 

Very puzzling indeed!

Did you try and bypass Kontakt 5 too?

Hi Eric, thanks for your response. Unfortunately I did try that, the meter never went down. I even closed the project, keeping the CPU meter open. Meter didn't drop even after project was closed.

 

Very puzzling indeed!

What else are you running?

@Eric, I did not bypass Kontakt, as that is processing all my drum sounds.

 

@Atlas, nothing else running, just Logic.

Ever tried using Kontakt as multi-channel? Just to avoid so many instances of the plugin.

That's how I'm running it I believe. Kontakt is on track one, processing the MIDI information for the drums. The other channels where you see it are just aux's so that I have mixer channels for the drums.

When you select Kontakt as a plugin, you can select stereo or multi-channel. Running auxes is not multi-channel, and for the cpu it's the same as having as many individual midi tracks.

That's what I was trying to say, Kontakt is running in Multi Channel.

So what happens if you bypass Kontakt?

I haven't bypassed it as it is running the drums, integral to the project.

I haven't bypassed it as it is running the drums, integral to the project.

 

I realize that.

But for troubleshooting purposes, it's essential to know how much CPU Kontakt consumes.

Bypassed, Kontakt, almost no difference. I just went through and disabled other plugins. Didn't have the Bass channel frozen (all other guitars are frozen) so I also bypassed plugs on the bass channel. Lo and behold, the Chris Lorde Alge Bass plug was responsible for the majority of the one core's usage. Bypassed it and the core usage dropped. Perhaps that plug is responsible for a memory leak of some sort? Playing the project now and two cores are showing around 30% activity, one other core showing one segment light. Big difference!

Cool, thanks for reporting back!

There's always some plugin creating cpu havoc.

Yeah there is LOL! I'm wondering, though... I've got the CLA Guitars plug on a bunch of guitar tracks, CLA drums on 2 or 3 drum tracks and on one or two subs for other uses, didn't seem to eat as much CPU on those as the one instance of CLA Bass on the bass track. That's why I was speculating there may be something happening there. I misspeculated earlier about a memory leak cause it's not a memory problem it's CPU usage.

Lo and behold, the Chris Lorde Alge Bass plug was responsible for the majority of the one core's usage.

Thanks for reporting back. Now we know who to blame...

LOL, Yeah, it's all CLA's fault!

That CPU resource hungry plugin, could it be 32bit one?

I am asking because I found that with some of my plugins, CPU resources get churned more heavily when run in 32bit while Logic being in 64bit...

I believe that this is one big flaw of Logic coding: managing intelligently CPU resources...

Pretty sure all the Waves stuff is 64 bit. The Chris Lord Alge plugs are pretty CPU hungry as they're doing a bunch of stuff at once. But they're great for churning out some quick mixes that sound great!