Off/On vs Mute [SOLVED]

New to LPX 10.1.1

 

Just wanted to clarify .... my understanding is that the Off/On toggle will in fact disable all DSP reserve for a track whereas a Mute will only turn off the track's output but not disable it's DSP reserve .... I am correct in this?

 

Or to say it another way ..... the Track's OFF/ON in Logic is the same as "making a track inactive" ?

Yes, you are correct. Turning a track off saves both DSP and hard drive resources.

Thanks David ....

So does turning a track off save CPU/RAM better than muting?

It will save processor power since no MIDI or audio is being processed.

It will also put less strain on your disk if used on audio tracks.

Thanks Eric.

You're welcome.

So does turning a track off save CPU/RAM better than muting?

Muting does not save any CPU, RAM or HD resources.

Had unconsciously noticed this, what a great feature, thanks for clarifying

I was trying to save some CPU by using on/off instead of mute and found that there was absolutely no difference, my CPU meter stayed just as active when ALL tracks were off as it was when all were on.  Here are the 2 screenshots. Seems strange.

 

 

 

 

Give it time.

I haven't noticed any difference either.  back in the days of logic 9, muting a track (when 'slow mute' was engaged in preferences) DEFINITELY turned a track OFF cpu-wise.  These days, on/off doesnt appear to do anything at all at least on my rig.

It does put the CPU at minimum on my MacBook Pro. 

And the same on my iMac.

That's interesting, thanks for the feedback.  I noticed on mine that I can load a new project and the CPU is virtually nothing, then I hit play, even with all the tracks set to OFF, and the levels jump (like what you see in my screenshot). From that point it doesn't matter what I do, whether the track is playing or not, the levels never return to near 0, where they started.

I noticed that on another project my CPU levels do return to 0 once I stop playing.  Maybe it's the plugins I'm using on the suspect project... lots of Waves stuff in there.

If anyone cares I discovered the Waves CLA Guitars plug was to blame.  Took that one out and Logic seemed to behave normally, put it back and CPU jumps and stays there even when nothing is playing.

I would be curriuos to know what Waves has to tell about this? 

I also think it's interesting the the Waves plugin is able to keep using CPU even when the track is turned off in Logic, but if I delete the plugin (whether the track is on or off) the CPU drops to 0.

I also think it's interesting the the Waves plugin is able to keep using CPU even when the track is turned off in Logic, but if I delete the plugin (whether the track is on or off) the CPU drops to 0.

That is a perfect example of how 3rd party plugins can create havoc in Logic.

And the first reaction is always: Logic has a new bug!

I also think it's interesting the the Waves plugin is able to keep using CPU even when the track is turned off in Logic, but if I delete the plugin (whether the track is on or off) the CPU drops to 0.

That is a perfect example of how 3rd party plugins can create havoc in Logic.

And the first reaction is always: Logic has a new bug!

 

so tell me, how do you deactivate a track that contains a soundtoys radiator plugin? it constantly emits noise as a result of emulating analog circuitry. if logic had a real track disable feature, it would disable it, right? you guys fail to admit that logic only has a dynamic "smart" track-disable feature, which works quite nice for everything that fits the assumption that a plugin only interacts with incoming audio by using cpu cycles, and won't emit any audio unless triggered by something else (be it midi or audio). and this assumption is wrong, and thus I can prove my claim that logic does not have a real track disable feature. I am right now struggling with disabling a track containing such plugins and it drives me nuts, as there are other disabled plugins on it, and a few enabled ones. the only way to save resources from this track is to disable all active plugins manually and write down track notes not to forget which ones were active.. so, you are right, it is not a bug, but even worse: poor design. I do understand though that 99% of logic-users really don't notice or care about such things, the other 1% probably uses pro tools or cubase.

 

that being said, I would welcome if you could show me how to deal with this particular situation in the future, or should I just accept that logic just won't disable tracks if they contain plugins with inherent self-noise?

 

also, what happened to this: "Preferences > Audio > General and set Track Mute/Solo to "CPU-Saving" - I googled half an hour and it seems like this option is gone? why?

that being said, I would welcome if you could show me how to deal with this particular situation in the future, or should I just accept that logic just won't disable tracks if they contain plugins with inherent self-noise?

I suppose, yes. I would also say that plug-ins with inherent noise or that produce noise even when no signal is present at their input are the exception to the rule. Since I can't imagine you'd use multiple such plug-ins on every track, then on those occasions when you do, you'll have to remember to disable the plug-in on top of turning off the track.

...you guys fail to admit that logic only has a dynamic "smart" track-disable feature...

 

The track on/off button simply mutes the input from the track to the channel strip, whether it is MIDI or Audio.

The channel strip itself is totally unaffected by this, and is still on:

 

• You can test this on a Software Instrument channel with Ultrabeat's sequencer running.

• You can test this on an Audio channel with a Test Oscillator inserted.

• You can test this on any channel that uses an external sidechain input…

 

what happened to this: "Preferences > Audio > General and set Track Mute/Solo to "CPU-Saving" - I googled half an hour and it seems like this option is gone? why?

 

The "CPU-Saving" mode from LP9 and back was using the same method when muting. The difference is that since also controlled the solo function since it was connected to the mute functionality of the track.

The track on/off button simply mutes the input from the track to the channel strip, whether it is MIDI or Audio.

The channel strip itself is totally unaffected by this, and is still on:

To add to this: the Track On/Off literally turns the track on or off, meaning that the MIDI data is not processed at all, the Audio data isn't even streamed from the HD. So on an audio track it saves HD resources as well.

 

The channel strip is affected to an extent because of Logic's dynamic processor allocation: if no signal is present at the input of a plug-in, then the plug-in doesn't have anything to process and therefore doesn't require any CPU resources at all. So turning a track off normally also saves CPU resources. Note that if a track is on but there's no regions on it in a certain area, Logic also saves CPU resources when the playhead is over that area. So I see what you meant when you said that the channel strip isn't affected by the Track On/Off button: it isn't directly affected, but indirectly you will notice a difference.

 

By comparison, if a track is on but muted, the audio is streamed from the hard drive, processed by the plug-ins on the channel strips, and then muted before it can be routed to the output. In that case you're not saving any HD or CPU resources at all.

 

On the other hand I'm not sure whether the AU standard supports this dynamic processor allocation or not, so I'm not sure if that CPU resource saving applies to 3rd party plug-ins, or which ones.

In any case, true dynamic processor allocation, e.g. having an on/off track button turning off/ bypassing any processing on the corresponding channel strip), whcih LPX does not implement (LPX does still process sound generating instruments or plug-ins on the channel strip of an "off" track, see Eric's UB sequencer example, or the OP noise generator example), would most probably have a trade off: change in latency compensation, when switching off or on, thus creating hicups or atrifacts if done live. I'm not saying LPX should not offer that feature, just that it would have its inevitable limitations.

How On/Off work on aux tracks?... When I turo off the aux tracks, the plugins still work and the sound pass trough... Does it realy save CPU to turn a Aux track "off"???

 

If no, how to disable a aux track?

How On/Off work on aux tracks?... When I turo off the aux tracks, the plugins still work and the sound pass trough... Does it realy save CPU to turn a Aux track "off"???

No because you're not using an Aux track, you're using an Aux channel strip. There are no regions on the track itself so turning off the track doesn't do anything. You can't really turn off an Aux channel strip.

You can also quickly make all the plugins on a track inactive with Option + Click On/Off

See:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12935?locale=it_IT

Hmm, very interesting sklodw, thanks. This seems to be related to a new feature (along with dynamic loading of plugins?) that I don't recall was existing when we were discussing this topic two years ago. Thanks in any case, that's useful!

Logic has always used dynamic loading of plug-ins. What is new in recent versions:

• The setting allow you to turn off the dynamic loading of plug-ins.

• The possibility to Option-click the On/Off button to turn off all the plug-ins on the channel strip assigned to the track.

I’m very glad they’ve added it. Having to deactivate each individual plug-in was a drag. This feature is so great in that you can select a small many tracks as you like and the optn + click will make the plugins on every track inactive.