Can my 2009 imac run Logic x?

Hi everyone, I am new to the forums. I'm a professional singer, and have been mixing music in my on studio for a couple years now. I know full well a new computer is in the cards, but I am still operating Logic 9 on my 20inch early 2009 imac--2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 8GB 1067 MHz DDR3 I use Vienna Sound Libraries, and all of Logic's plugins and synths...nothing 3rd party. I have an apogee duet interface for my microphone, headphones and power amp for my monitors. Until today when I just upgraded to Yosemite, the slowness of my computer was tolerable.

Basically I cannot work anymore on the fly. If I want to adjust or utilize any plugins while a logic file is playing back, I cannot do any tasks. I have to click the space bar and wait for the music to stop. By the time I get to execute my idea, I have forgotten because I have to wait for the logic file to stop playing first! Sometimes it takes a couple seconds, sometimes it goes on for up to a minute.

I know an old computer is a likely culprit. Anything else? Prior to the upgrade to Yosemite, Logic used to get stuck whenever I used the EQ plugin, leaving me hanging in the same fashion.

Yosemite is not a good OS for old computers.

Do you have a backup of your previous OS before you updated?

I wouldn't go to Logic X in your case without a more powerful computer.

Thanks for your response! Yeah, I am thinking i might have to bite the bullet and get a new computer rather than go through with trying to step backwards. Is there any memory tweak that might help me until monday, when i might get a new computer? lol.

Funny thing is, Logic has the same bugs in Mavericks that it does now have Yosemite on this 2009imac...the bug where it temporarily freezes up. I knew this day was coming. I'm actually surprised the computer has been serving me so well for so long!

I have a late 2009 iMac with Mavericks. I saw a hit in performance with Mavericks, but so far I haven't run into any problems with my production. Though I do think having 16GB of memory helps a lot.

For me personally I'm thinking of going back to Mountain Lion, and I'm certainly not moving up to Yosemite, not until I can afford that tricked out 4K iMac, lol.

My 2009 MacBook Pro runs better on Yosemite than it did on Mavericks.

My use of Logic is purely for pleasure, I don’t use it professionally for music production. My eldest Son runs with iMac and it’s easy to see why they are so loved, amazing machines. Logic runs fine on his iMac, a pleasure to use.

Just going to post this in case it might be useful to anybody. Five days later, I notice that I can open and work on Logic9 files for a bit. What's required is warm up time for all the samples to load and then I can work for about 20 mins or so before the serious freeze ups that truly hamper my work occur. One file had slight damage to the lead vocals. Certain crossfades were behaving erraticly and leaving artifacts even though I did not edit anything on vocals. Odd, haunted house type of occurrences are going on with some other files. I have started shopping for new macs...lol.

Decisions are tough. I can afford a 21 inch screen but the 27 inch is better, so I'm procrastinating. I am trying not to spend too much.

Decisions are tough. I can afford a 21 inch screen but the 27 inch is better, so I'm procrastinating. I am trying not to spend too much.

Definitely go for the quad-core CPUs. Much better than dual-cores.

Yosemite is not a good OS for old computers.

 

Nonsense.

lol

I have a late 2009 iMac with Mavericks. I saw a hit in performance with Mavericks, but so far I haven't run into any problems with my production. Though I do think having 16GB of memory helps a lot.

For me personally I'm thinking of going back to Mountain Lion, and I'm certainly not moving up to Yosemite, not until I can afford that tricked out 4K iMac, lol.

You don't need a tricked out anything to run Yosemite.

lol

Yosemite is not a good OS for old computers.

 

 

Nonsense.

 

lol

Whatever

Thanks for your response! Yeah, I am thinking i might have to bite the bullet and get a new computer rather than go through with trying to step backwards. Is there any memory tweak that might help me until monday, when i might get a new computer? lol.

 

Funny thing is, Logic has the same bugs in Mavericks that it does now have Yosemite on this 2009imac...the bug where it temporarily freezes up. I knew this day was coming. I'm actually surprised the computer has been serving me so well for so long!

You might be very unhappy to learn that the "logic freezing up" bug will probably be on your new computer as well, and you've had spent all that money for nothing.

The freezing up bug was a known problem in logic 9, it's gone in X, and X is not significantly more resource intensive than 9.

Your current machine will run Yosemite just fine. Put an SSD in it for best results.

lol

 

Nonsense.

 

lol

Whatever

You guys are giving the poor man bad advice. Guess what, I use a 2008 Mac pro, 12GB ram + SSD. Yosemite, and it flies.

lol

Then don't say nonsense just because.

I said old computers, which DON'T have an SSD.

Then don't say nonsense just because.

I said old computers, which DON'T have an SSD.

Having an SSD or not doesn't matter, although having one is certainly better.

The days of every new OS requiring a new computer are long since gone. The CPU requirements of Yosemite are not too great for any quad core system to handle. If you have a 64-bit EFI, you are good.

lol

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies here, even the obnoxious replies. Maybe I should start a new thread since this topic is morphing a little.

I went yesterday to buy a new mac, and this is the one I purchased:

27-inch, Late 2013

3.2 GHz Intel Core i5

8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1024 MB

Logic 9 won't even open on the new computer, it freezes up after I dismiss the warning that tells me Kontakt/Native Instruments needs to be updated. I'm googling kontakt updates to see what gives. Anybody understand this?

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies here, even the obnoxious replies. Maybe I should start a new thread since this topic is morphing a little.

 

I went yesterday to buy a new mac, and this is the one I purchased:

 

27-inch, Late 2013

3.2 GHz Intel Core i5

8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1024 MB

 

Logic 9 won't even open on the new computer, it freezes up after I dismiss the warning that tells me Kontakt/Native Instruments needs to be updated. I'm googling kontakt updates to see what gives. Anybody understand this?

See? You wasted your money. Logic X runs fantastic on a 2009 system. Efficiency got better, not worse. Maybe you should listen to the knowledgeable obnoxious people.

lol

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies here, even the obnoxious replies. Maybe I should start a new thread since this topic is morphing a little.

 

I went yesterday to buy a new mac, and this is the one I purchased:

 

27-inch, Late 2013

3.2 GHz Intel Core i5

8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1024 MB

 

Logic 9 won't even open on the new computer, it freezes up after I dismiss the warning that tells me Kontakt/Native Instruments needs to be updated. I'm googling kontakt updates to see what gives. Anybody understand this?

Which OS are on your new computer ? A lot of people had troubles with Kontakt crashing Logic (including myself) ...try search/google "kontakt chrashes logic"

Maybe you should listen to the knowledgeable obnoxious people.

If you are truly knowledgeable you would not be obnoxious.

Your ego precedes you.

Maybe you should listen to the knowledgeable obnoxious people.

 

If you are truly knowledgeable you would not be obnoxious.

 

Your ego precedes you.

What bizarre reasoning if I ever heard it. You don't need to be humble or meek to be knowledgeable, you can be confident, even arrogant and also have experience and intelligence. Ridiculous.

Please by all means, feel free to tell me where I am wrong about the advice I have given in this thread.

lol

Too ironic. I am not able to produce new music, going on 3 days now. I'm going to start a new topic to address all the inconveniences I have had with my new computer purchase. LOL.

Why are you adverse to upgrading to Logic X? I think that would solve all of your problems. I bet you could even install that on your old computer, see if it works well, and return the new one for a big refund.

When Lion 10.7 was released, apple made a bunch of graphical related changes to the OS which the old Emagic-based Logic 9 code didn't particularly interact very well with. (These were related to the poor responsiveness issues that many people complained about).

It took them a very long time to eventually "fix" them somewhat through scotch tape and bubble gum workarounds, but an overhaul of that segment of Logic's Emagic code itself is what ultimately got things where they needed to be.

Logic X doesn't suffer from those problems anymore, it's superior to 9 in many ways.

And any computer with at least 4 CPU cores and a 64-bit EFI is EASILY powerful enough to run all this stuff. The hardware has seriously outpaced the software these days.

Unfortunately, some people don't keep up with technology very well and are still under the impression that software is advancing so rapidly that computers become dinosaurs every few years. It's just not true anymore, and you shouldn't listen to their advice.

lol

Same question again, except i'm asking it in 2020. Ive got a 2009 imac running el capitan and logic x. it;s beginning to act a bit weird. i suspect i'm lucky that it's working at all. Should I just bite the bullet and get a new imac.

11 years old is definitely pretty old in computer years. How is it acting weird exactly?

Well today, if i select a note in either score or piano roll editor and then select the function menu the note immediately switches from midi channel 1 to 3. This is a bit hard core stuff perhaps, it is only of interest to someone trying to print out a part for piano from the score editor.

Another, an example that more people will be familiar with, is that in one project - just one that i've noticed so far, when i drag a note to move it, it copies instead, as if i'm holding down the option key.

It's like logic x is trying to unnerve me.

I had a late 2009 iMac. I was running High Sierra with Logic X. It wasn't to bad.

I must note that my iMac wasn't stock though. I had swapped the DVD drive for an SSD witch improved speed dramatically. I ran my OS and projects on the SSD. the magnetic drive I swapped for a larger 3TB drive where I had my libraries. I had also updated the ram. It was a 27" max spec late 2009 iMac

I did end up upgrading to a MacBook Pro last year. 10 years was a good life span, but I wanted Mojave.