xpander

I finally had time to remove all of my AU's in small batches. Then I restarted Logic each time to find the culprit. The most recent update to the full Kilohearts Bundle v2.1.2 was it. It was time consuming due the amount of plug-ins I have, but totally worth it now that I can get back to work. Thank you des99 and David for taking the time to help me out. I really appreciate it!!

Thank you for the reply. I tried doing that but it still stalls during start up. I do have Live 11 on my machine, so I took your advice and tried the AU's in a session and they worked just fine. They were all authorized too. Is there anything else that you think I should try? I really appreciate the help. I've been very fortunate through the years with my Macs running Logic. I've hardly ever had issues. The downside of that is that I don't have a lot of experience fixing things beyond the occasional kernel panic (lol).

I haven't had any issues with Logic until two days ago. Now when I start up Logic, it stalls during the AU scan. I've tried to cancel the scan but it doesn't respond. I get the spinning beach ball and I have to force quit the application. I did update Falcon to version 3, installed Arturia's Efx MOTIONS, and updated to the latest version of Zynaptiq's Orange Vocoder IV during the last week. I'm wondering if one of those could be the issue. My system specs are rather dated. Everything has been working very smoothly so I didn't want to mess with it. Also, there are some plug-ins that I use that aren't compatible with the newer versions of macOS. I'm on a 2020 27" iMac running 10.15.7 Catalina and Logic Pro 10.6.2. I have plenty of RAM and SSD space. I would usually turn to a back up drive in this type of situation, but unfortunately the back up drive was stolen along with some other gear that was in my car. That was really heartbreaking. I'm great when it comes to creativity and making music, but I admit that I have a lot to learn when it comes to computer maintenance and troubleshooting. I would really appreciate any suggestions on what to do. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the tips. I'll try that when I get home later. I've been holding off on updating my system for long enough so I plan on doing it hopefully this weekend. Firefox isn't actually all that bad. It's been a long time since I've used it and I like the improvements they've made over the years. It's much more robust now and I like being able to customize the theme. Still not sure why Safari started bugging out all of a sudden but It's not a concern anymore. Thanks again!!

I tried for several days to get this problem fixed with no luck. Even tried the suggestions over at Apple's support community. I just needed to be able to spend quite a bit of time online, so I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and haven't had a single issue. That works for me. I'll be updating my computer to Mac OS 10.12 sometime soon. Maybe after that I will get back to Safari.

Here's a free plugin from Waves Arts called Tube Saturator - http://wavearts.com/products/plugins/tube-saturator-vintage/ They have an updated more CPU-friendly version so they are giving away this full version for free. Inear Display have updated their free Regressif Digital Chaos Unit to version 1.1 - https://www.ineardisplay.com/plugins/regressif/ It's a tasty distortion/degradation plugin that works wonders on drums, synths and even vocals if you're daring enough!! - xpander

I know this isn't an audio related issue but it's driving me nuts. Safari keeps crashing with this pop up screen showing this warning along with the beach ball spinning. Happens every time I'm checking my email on Yahoo, typing messages on Facebook (or any other forum that has lots of ads), and just about any other time that would be inconvenient to me. In fact, it's happening on almost every website I visit now. Although it doesn't happen very much on LPH... I'm not sure why. I wonder it it's from all of the advertisements and Flash content? Flash Player is up to date if that matters. I'm using Safari 9.1.3 on a 27" iMac with 10.9.5, 3.4 Ghz Quad Core i7, 16 GB RAM, with 63 GB of storage space left on my Mac OS System SSD (250 GB total). Any ideas on what might be causing it or what I could do to fix it other than going to a back up... since that drive failed (yes, when it rains it pours)? I just wanted to edit this post to reiterate that I don't have a current backup to use. I do plan on buying a new drive soon but finances have just been too tight for me to fit it into my budget. I would really appreciate any suggestions you might have. It's happening so much that I'm considering reinstalling everything. I really don't want to do that without a backup, but I don't have another device to use for internet, and my productivity is next to zero with this issue. Thanks for your help!!

I'm kind of forced to use headphones more than monitors due to working at night most of the time. My Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pros sound fantastic and are very comfortable to wear for hours on end. The trick is to maintain a 'reasonable' listening level if you need to use them for an extended period of time. Even then, I force myself to take regular breaks so that ear fatigue doesn't become an issue. But ideally, switching between decent monitors and quality headphones provides the best of both worlds and is what I aim for during the mixing process. - xpander

I've been fortunate to know some amazing vocalists, and all of them had to start out at the beginning in terms of learning how to record and process their voice. While I'm not a singer myself, I got to learn step-by-step when my good friend first got into computer-based recording with Logic many years ago. So here are a few suggestions that may help: 1. Do your research before buying any equipment. In fact, speak to a specialist or an educated, trust-worthy sales associate at your local music retailer. You don't have to spend a ton of money on expensive preamps, mics or effects to get a good-sounding vocal recording. My friend spent way too much money purchasing a high-end preamp because an uneducated salesman told him how it would make his recordings sound "warmer, fatter, etc." For that same $2400 my friend could've bought a nice pre along with a high quality mic, proper cables and possibly some acoustic room treatment. Lesson learned. 2. Get a nice clean signal into the computer without clipping. You want to make sure to record at a decent level while leaving plenty of headroom for any processing that may increase track levels during the mixing stage. Recording around -16 to -10dB should be loud enough and would leave plenty of headroom. But as with most things, trial and error can be a wonderful teacher (if a little brutal at times), so do some experimenting to find out what's right for you. 3. Become familiar with the types of effects most often associated with vocal recordings. The more you learn and understand how effects work, such as eq, compression, de-essers, etc., the better prepared you will be to solve any problems you may come across. Logic has some really great effects and you can dial in all types of tones and textures. You're right for mentioning the value of creativity. It's becoming more of a challenge to sound 'different' when so many of us use the same software instruments and effects. 4. Create your own custom channel strips or session templates in Logic. That way you can have access to all of your favorite combinations ready to go for recording and/or editing and processing. This is a huge time saver and can also help give your vocals a consistent tone across multiple songs if that's a concern for you. I would also create some custom special effects chains routed to a bus. I have one that uses both Delay Designer and Space Designer together for exotic ambiences and washy effects that are awesome on vocals or any acoustic instruments. Great for pads too! These are just some tips that have helped me personally. If you find something that works well for you, I would encourage you to share that knowledge with others. That's one thing I really appreciate about this forum... people are always willing to help each other out. Good luck!! - xpander

Thanks for the heads-up David. I really appreciate you guys taking time out of your busy schedule to put an event like this together. It's a great idea and one I'd like to see repeated sometime again in the future. And considering the wealth of knowledge being offered, I wouldn't have a problem paying a reasonable fee for access to future webinars. Thanks again - xpander

This is great news for those of you wanting to use your favorite VST/VST3 plugins in Logic. With the purchase of the new Computer Music magazine issue number CM222, you get access to Agent CM from NYRV Systems. Based on their commercial product Agent, Agent CM is a VST/AU/AAX effects rack capable of hosting up to 8 plugins. "Once called up as an insert effect in your DAW, up to eight VST or AU plugins can be loaded inside two separate strips (four in each), allowing you to create bespoke channel strips and effects chains for either studio or live use. Agent CM can also be used as a powerful 'bridge' between plugin platforms: use AU plugins in VST-capable hosts, run VST plugins in AU-only hosts such as Logic, and even run VST and AUs within Pro Tools." Definitely worth the price of entry if you've been frustrated by the lack of AU development or updates from developers. With the ability to configure and save custom combinations of plugins, the creative potential is very exciting!! - xpander

Great tip Eric, thanks!! - xpander

Yes David, I realized that a few minutes after I posted it. Got my jargon all bass-ackwards... pardons please - xpander

I have some found sound and foley audio files that I want to use as content for creating custom Battery and EXS24 drum kits. These were all recorded at 24/96k but the project I'm working on is 24/44. Do I have to dither the sample rate down to 44k before using them? Thanks in advance. - xpander

A few things quickly come to mind, but to be clear about your issue I would like to know what specifically you mean by "a clean bounce". If you mean that there are clicks and pops in the audio that you bounced down, is it from clipping the audio output channel? I know when I first started using Omnisphere 2 recently, I was almost always putting a limiter on the output. Their synth is awesome but it's patches are really "hot" volume-wise, and with all of the added effects on top of that, I was getting major volume spikes... just about blew my ears out once while auditioning the new sounds with my headphones on (ouch). If it's not a matter related to clipping, then you may want to check some of Logic's settings. When I've had this type of problem in the past, I always go into Logic's Audio Preferences to check the I/O Buffer Size. If I'm recording and need to be able to play with very low latency, I'll set the buffer to either 32 or 64 samples. After recording I will go back and change the I/O buffer to 256 samples, or even 512 or higher (if absolutely needed) for the mixing process. The Mac's CPU doesn't take such a huge hit with larger buffer sizes. Which brings me to my point... It might be that the amount of CPU that Omni 2 uses is causing these pops and clicks, especially if you're using low buffer settings. So you might want to look into that. Your computer specs suggest to me that you should have ample CPU resources. Maybe you should check with your audio interface's manufacturer to make sure you are using the most current and stable audio drivers. Apogee considers the Duet Firewire a "legacy product" and the last drivers that I found for Mac 10.9 and 10.10 are from October 2014. Maybe there's an issue with those drivers and any changes Apple may have implemented in Yosemite. I hate wasting time on the "tech stuff" when I'm inspired to be making music instead. So whatever it is, I hope you get back up and running as soon as possible. Good luck!! - xpander