Audiorecording: System too busy - Internal HD too slow?

Hi!

 

I'm new here and hope for some help.

 

Problem:

When recording even just one audio-track I sometimes get the message, that the system is too busy and the (internal!) harddrive too slow. I use this iMac since 2 years and didn't have this problem before. The internal HD is 500 GB and 385 are free. I run no additional programs except Maestro when recording. The system-monitor of Logic show's about 10% load on the system.

 

Configuration:

Logic Studio 9.1 in 32-bit Mode

RMX Plugin

Mac OSX 10.6.2

iMac 24'' 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

duet by Apogee connected via firewire

 

Is the internal HD breaking down?

 

PS: Please excuse any language-mistakes ... I'm from Austria

Hello and welcome!

 

You shouldn't be getting that message if you're only recording a single audio track. And you have plenty of free disk space....

Have you tried recording without any sample based instruments loaded?

Do a test with a new project and record a single audio track and nothing else.

Is Time Machine active?

 

Nevertheless, your best bet would be to do all your recording to an external drive.

You would need a fast (7200rpm) firewire drive with 2 firewire ports so that you can connect both the drive and the Duet to the computer by daisy-chaining them (if your computer only has one firewire port).

 

It's a good idea to back up your internal (if you haven't done so already).

 

J.

I have no sample based instruments loaded. The only one I use is RMX and I have to use it - so I cannot "switch" it off. However, I had no problems with this before.

 

Testting is difficult as I do not always get this message. I would say about all 15 to 20 times I record. I usually get it AFTER I have finished recording. Only once I got it before that and then Logic sort of "cut off" the recorded track with a nasty noise hurting speakers and ears!

 

Yes, Time Machine (and iSynch) are active. They have been for over a year and there was no Problem with it.

 

Why do you recommend an external HD? Would this be faster than the internal? I thought that recorded to the internal HD is the fastest possibility. The external HD is only used as Time Machine Backup.

 

I'm at a complete loss here. Recording one Audio Track seems to be an extremely "low" demand on all ressources of my iMac. I've googled this problem and many people seem to have similar problems, most of them with external HDs when recording more Audio Tracks at the same time. As I haven't changed Hardware I hardly can believe it's an hardware-issue having run this configuration for 2 years with no problems before ...

When you have a second internal HD, that's ideal to record to.

In the case of iMacs you don't have that option, so overload messages are more common because the internal HD has to play audio back and record it also. When you can split the recording portion to another HD, that will take load off the main drive.

The other problem is the memory limitation of 32-bit apps. It only goes to 4 gigs if at all.

Logic 9 is famous for the memory messages with 3rd party plugins.

You have a Duet, so daisy-chaining a FW drive is out of the question.

Do you have a FW800 iMac, meaning only one FW port overall?

Also check out this thread:

http://www.logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=51367

You have a Duet, so daisy-chaining a FW drive is out of the question.

 

Why would this be out of the question? He could do it with a drive that has 2 FW ports. Powered via power supply (not bus-powered).

 

Though I favor recording to an external drive, I still find it strange that he gets that error by recording a single track to his internal.

 

I mentioned Time Machine because when working with music, the only program you want reading and writing files is your DAW.

 

J.

@Triplet: yes - there's only one FW port and the internal HD is not partitioned.

What seems weird here is that I didn't have ANY "hd to busy" problems for more than a year. AND it is only ONE audio track. I mean - that shouldn't be a problem, should it? I'm reluctant to switch to an external drive as I didn't need one in the past. I'd think about that if I would record several audio-trax at once ... but just for one?!?

 

@jordito: hm - switching of TM would be easy. Strange though as it didn't hurt before and I love doing a quick TM-Backup after some recording ...

 

I once read somewhere that changing buffer-sizes might help. Do you know anything about it?

I had this problem recording simple single track, stereo (24-bit, 96k) with no plug-ins and using a fast external drive (I have ever had the noise problem, though). I appear to have solved it by upping the Process Buffer Range to "large"; also tried several different values for I/O buffer but that didn't do the trick until I changed the Process Buffer Range. I say "appear" to have solved because the problem happens intermittently and doesn't seem to follow any pattern. My guess is that the problem is some combination of Logic and Snow Leopard interaction (note that the latest SL build in test includes some fixes to SL for Logic).

I have a similar feeling. It seems to have something to do with the SL-updates and Logic-updates as all other things remained the same. Thank's a lot for your buffer-tipp - it confirms something I remember but can't find any longer on the net.

I'll try it out and give some feedback here again if it's gone. 'cause it's exactly as you described it: sometimes it happens - sometimes it doesn't.

You didn't say if switching off TM changed anything for you? Also watch out for Syncing to Mobile Me too.... Both these can and do create the issue you are commenting on... especially after upgrading to SL I have found.

Well - as written above I'm not so happy about turning those two of. But if the buffer-solution doesn't work I'll give it a try, too. Thanx for the tipp!! 8)

This is quite stange. I just finished a test with several single track recordings. And I could not produce the error again. I even provoked the system by deliberately starting iSynch and a TimeMachine backup at the same time while logic was recording. Everything went smooth. This makes me feel like an idiot ...

 

Well - let's see if the problem returns. If so I know what to try out. Thanx for all your tips. This is a great forum and I certainly will spend more time here! 8)

This is quite stange. I just finished a test with several single track recordings. And I could not produce the error again. I even provoked the system by deliberately starting iSynch and a TimeMachine backup at the same time while logic was recording. Everything went smooth. This makes me feel like an idiot ...

OSX does various automagic file maintenance routines during long idle periods. It's possible that your problem got fixed by the OS if you left the machine on all night.

Hi

 

With regard to blasts of white noise after recording.. there is a massive thread on this over at Apple Discussions:

 

 

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2144002&start=0&tstart=0

 

 

 

CCT

This thread exactly describes the observed problems: drop-outs during audio-recording, sometimes with, sometimes without white noise blasts. Always with the message of a too slow disk. I'm pretty sure now it has nothing to do with my computer or other hardware. The journal-tip seems usefull too.

The noise blasts are really a problem and Apple hasn't commented on them so far. They can hurt your ears and your speakers. This is far from "professional" ...

 

PS: Just out of curiosity I've googled "cubase white noise" ... well, noise blasts can happen there too ...