What are you experiences with the cylindrical MacPro?

Hi all!

 

What are your experiences with the cylindrical MacPros? I'm thinking of swapping my 12-core 2012 tower and need to find out if it is worth it yet. I work with film scores so I need processing power for both graphics, loads of software instruments and for playing back orchestral mixes. I also need several terrabytes of fast I/O storage mounted at all times on disks that will survive long and heavy use.

 

Anyone else working like this on a cylinder?

 

Best regards,

Ginge

Interested in this myself. Same swap.

Mee Too

I traded my late 2008 Mac Pro for the coffee can Mac. If you want fast disks, this is for you. There are 6 thunderbolt ports. Get SSD thunderbolts and there is nothing faster.

 

The computer is small and quiet. My only complaint is that it doesn't have enough power for the USB ports.

If I remember right, the Trashcan is not that much more powerful than the 2012 12-core. But check out yourself on everymac.com. There you can compare different models and their Geekbench results.

 

But I'm not very sure, how meaningful Geekbench is for audio application.

There's this too: http://barefeats.com/imac5k10.html

 

They have done some tests with Logic, and I wish they would always include it. But to me it looks like the IMac is a great option, especially with that beautiful Retina display.

 

Cheers

kc

Just my 2 cents, but I upgraded to the 12 core MacPro, because of the A. Power and memory capacity, & B, the 4 bays of Hard Drive, but mostly because I am using a UAD 2 Octo and Lynx Aurora, and the new :Coffee Can" dosen't have the PCI Slots without purchasing an additional PCI > Thunderbolt "Break-out out box". am also sort-a out of luck as I DO NOT have Thunderbold for expansion and Im locked into Firewire interfaces. I just don't know, hopefully I can get another 2-3 years out of this one and then the prices on the "Black Can" may come down a bit.

I have the 12 core MacPro myself, but Logic isn't able to play through simultaneous edits in orchestral mixes of a measly 70 tracks with no plugs at all, reading from a striped RAID. I got so tired of it that I figured the trash can would solve the issue. Logic Pro 9 has no problems with this, and on the previous version of LPX the same issue was only happening with files generated in LP9. With version 10.2.0 though, there is no fixing the issue.

 

So the next generation mac will not fix it either?

 

I would also be curious to know (sorry for going OT) how many tracks your 12 core MacPro can edit at once. If Logic encounters simultaneous edit on more than 61 tracks. My hard disk isn't slow and my cpu was more than fast enough in the last version.

 

Oh, and my buffer is at 1024 samples, processing threads set to automatic, process buffer range small and waveforms are calculated the slow way that is supposed to be cpu-friendly. All these parameters have been tweaked with no difference in behaviour than logic stopping earlier or later before an edit point.

 

Can anyone recreate this or is it just my setup that is acting up?

 

Best regards,

Ginge

Hi Ginge,

 

I'm breaking in two new Macs- one a MacBook Pro and the other the trashcan, wastebasket, coffee can, you pick. Look at my signature for details.

 

I'm upgrading from a 2008 laptop and a 2009 tower, so the difference in performance seems amazing. Booting, opening apps, copying, installing, all very speedy.

 

I'm also doing scoring, although my template isn't terribly taxing, about 100 tracks, mostly EXS, with a few NI plugs and Spectrasonics instances mixed in. I avoid Play whenever possible, and in this new environment I have not been using VEPro. Sounds like your palette is more complex. I'm running the IO buffer at 64, and have only had an error message once or twice in a month or so. I'm using UAD Apollos (and UA plugins) with both systems and the latency (even not using the UA Console app) is seldom an issue. Sometimes I will write sounds with a short attack in low latency mode just for feel.

 

That's all the good news. The less good news is that LPX on the Mac Pro has been quite unstable over the week or so it has been in use. The issues I have experienced include an annoying automation write issue where midi parts will stall when i move the fader to write volume, pan, plug-in data. Also in a mix session yesterday, most of the automation info the mixer had written into the session over the previous couple of hours disappeared, along with a lot of automation that was in the session when he opened it.

 

Also there have been issues of audio tracks not appearing on the stem tracks they are bussed to.

 

Obviously- this is a new system, with fresh installs of a lot of software which could be interacting in odd ways, and hardware that I am not familiar with (Thunderbolt peripherals). Like a lot of composers I have aliases in the Logic application support folder directing it to look on external drives for sample libraries. I'm not sure I have all the Apple content sorted out. The Additional Content and where all of it resides, and the user presets for the Logic plugins, I am still trying to get sorted. The EXS alias scheme seems to work fine as usual, but I have yet to get Drummer and Ultrabeat to see external content.

 

Since I'm working on deadline, I don't have the luxury of stopping to rebuild, and troubleshoot in a totally systematic way. I did just re-install LPX on the Mac Pro system and downloaded all of the Additional Content. I also have built a brand new template totally from scratch, in case I have been importing bad juju from older sessions. (That however didn't solve the problem of bussing weirdness, which dogs me as I am recording my mixes to stems using busses. )

 

I'm seriously considering trying the public Beta of El Capitan, as the word is that it is an improvement. I hope this info is helpful.

 

Jim

Ginge,

 

Is your RAID (SoftRaid 5, I'd preume?) based on internal disks - or do you use an external enclosure?

If the latter - what I/F is used?

Thanks guys!

 

My RAID is internal, not softraid, I've set it up with disk utility. These are the same disks I've used without problems with both the previous version of LPX and with LP9. Disk I/O meter isn't peaking, but the first of the 24 CPU meters is.

 

G

Is system monitor showing the CPU spike culprit(s)?

No, the cpu load is at a steady 52% from the start while the CPU load graph hardly moves from the floor.

 

g

Hi again,

 

Are all of the tracks just audio or are you also triggering software insts?

If the latter, what are they?

Does switching the number of processing cores to 6/8/12 etc., rather than automatic, have an impact on System Monitor/load distribution away from the first CPU core?

It would also be interesting to see if there was any change in performance if you switched to the internal audio hardware - as a test.

 

You mentioned the 70 tracks without FX...which your system should do without breaking a sweat if only audio, so I'm intrigued by this. I agree with Jordi that your machine should keep you going for a while yet - and don't think the trashcan would bring much to the party from a processing muscle POV.

Just today, there is a new entry on the MacInTouch site which discusses this very thing. Very informative.

DRD

Thanks for chiming in! No software instances, changing the number of processing cores has no effect and neither does switching to internal audio hardware.

 

It is very strange indeed. As I mentioned before, LP9 which I still have on my machine, has no trouble at all handling this load and neither did the previous version of LPX. I did have the same problem for a while though, until I found out it was only acting up on files created with older versions of Logic. Now it is happening on files created by LPX.

 

Ginge

Interesting reading at MacInTouch. Seems like I'll be clinging on to my mid-2012 chees grater for a while still, maybe modify a bit. This issue with Logic not handling 70 tracks must be a quirk in my settings, - none of you have the same issue, right?

 

Here's an interesting detail: LPX cannot play across an edit between two different takes (this is a 70 track orchestral recording), If I chop up a take and rearrange the pieces however, logic has no problem playing across the edit points.

 

The recordings were made on a pyramix setup and exported to AAFs. I then copied the 200Gb over to my RAID. Shouldn't be a problem, but right now I'm out of good ideas...

 

ginge

Thanks for chiming in! No software instances, changing the number of processing cores has no effect and neither does switching to internal audio hardware.

 

It is very strange indeed. As I mentioned before, LP9 which I still have on my machine, has no trouble at all handling this load and neither did the previous version of LPX. I did have the same problem for a while though, until I found out it was only acting up on files created with older versions of Logic. Now it is happening on files created by LPX.

 

Ginge

 

Correction! I was too quick to conclude. The problem actually disappears if I tell Logic to use 20 processing threads or lower. If I chose 22, 24 or Automatic the problem returns. Now that is a workaround I can live with. How can it be that Logic doesn't like 22,24 or Automatic? From what I can read by watching the CPU-meter, it is only spiking on the left-most meter.

 

g

 

Correction! I was too quick to conclude. The problem actually disappears if I tell Logic to use 20 processing threads or lower. If I chose 22, 24 or Automatic the problem returns. Now that is a workaround I can live with. How can it be that Logic doesn't like 22,24 or Automatic? From what I can read by watching the CPU-meter, it is only spiking on the left-most meter.

 

g

 

Interesting - and cool as a workaround. I might see if this applies with my 8 core machine - enabling say 5 or 6 - although I can't say I have any 70 track projects lying around, but easy enough to create for a test.

 

As to why Logic behaves differently with the 22, 24, Auto options - perhaps these options cause a resource conflict with the OS/drivers - resulting in wasted/duplicated CPU cycles and therefore, spikes.

 

The allocation of processors thing also affects Kontakt - where performance issues such as clicks/overloads happen unless you allocate cores IN Kontakt itself.

When you do this, it may (not necessarily will) require a corrseponding change to the core allocation of Logic.

 

This particular aspect of Logic / other apps that allow core allocation is a bit of a black art at the moment...from a user perspective...although I'm sure someone with a deeper technical understanding may be able to demystify things for us.

 

At any rate - glad you have a workable solution for now.

Ginge-

 

FWIW I just made a 70-track test on my system. 70 audio tracks playing from an OWC thunderbolt enclosure - 7500 rpm WD drive. (Not RAID) Logic played across multiple edits with no glitches, no spikes in CPU usage.

 

I'm sure you've tried all the usual prophylaxis, but importing the tracks into a fresh session has worked for me in the past when I had similar issues with Logic glitching on audio edits.

 

Jim

 

Edit- whoops- just saw you solved your issue. Thanks for sharing the fix.

 

Correction! I was too quick to conclude. The problem actually disappears if I tell Logic to use 20 processing threads or lower. If I chose 22, 24 or Automatic the problem returns. Now that is a workaround I can live with. How can it be that Logic doesn't like 22,24 or Automatic? From what I can read by watching the CPU-meter, it is only spiking on the left-most meter.

 

g

 

Maybe it's just too early in the morning but where are you setting this? What I see in Logic prefs>Devices>Processing threads, I only have the choice of Automatic, 8, 6, 4, 2. Where can you choose 20?

@ macmuse.

 

Want kind of computer do you use?

 

Click this link to your signature and add your system information:

• Logic version and sub-version (e.g. Logic Pro X 10.2)

• OS X version and sub-version (e.g. OS X Yosemite 10.10.5)

• Computer (e.g. MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, iMac)

• Processor (e.g. 2.2 GHz Intel i7)

• Memory (e.g. 8GB)

• Audio interface manufacturer and model (e.g. RME Babyface Pro)

 

(most of that information can be found by choosing Logic Pro X > About Logic Pro X, and  > About This Mac)

Hi, I have this in my signature, don't know why it's not showing.

 

Logic 10.2 • OS 10.10.5 • Mac Pro 8 Core 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon • 10GB RAM • RME FF800 • Emagic AMT8

 

I'm noticing lately not only Logic getting sluggish but also the computer with more beachballs. Wasn't that way until recently.

Hi, I have this in my signature, don't know why it's not showing.

 

You have disabled it in your Control Panel.

You can enable it here:

 

ucp.php?i=prefs&mode=post

 

You appear to have an 8 core computer without hyper threading so 8 cores is the maximum.

Ah, thank you. I overlooked that. Should show now.

 

Oh, I see...so the 20, 22 that was mentioned here is related to the computer used? Do I just leave it on automatic or change to 8 then?

 

In the meantime, there was a project that was becoming quite cumbersome, 50 tracks. Normally I have no problem with this computer, but this project particularly was practically un-playable, beach balls galore, overload (I know to an extent Logic always pops that message up a bit). So I started a new file, imported the tracks fresh into it, and now it's perfect. It made me wonder if the Logic projects become a little corrupted over time?

You're welcome.

 

I would leave it on automatic.

And yes, there are things that can happen to projects. I would not say: "over time", but definitely because of does and undoes.