Run Logic on two Mac Minis at once?

I have a Late 2012 Mac Mini (2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM) that I’ve been happy with until recently. It’s now choking on a 40-track session that’s all audio except for one Drum Kit Designer instance that’s running one of the producer kits - maxing out both the audio and disk i/o meters. I’m not using_that_much in the way of plug-ins. The project is hosted on a separate external drive.

This song will typically only play for a few bars and then stop. I’m assuming I’m just running up against the limits of my CPU. Would it be possible to buy a second Mac Mini and connect the two, to spread out the processing responsibilities over two CPUs?

Failing that, any ideas on how to get this session running again (other than freezing tracks or bouncing-in-place, which i will do if that's the only solution ? Thanks!

For me, I'd much rather freeze a few tracks than try to run two Macs. YMMV. Not even sure that Apple will let you run two instances of Logic at once. They know who is running their software in real time. Try it and I think you'll see what I mean.

Steve

There isn't really, but there are 3rd party ways of hosting plug-ins on an 2nd machine and having them integrated. I use Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 (it is now up to V6) and it works well enough. Pricier than I'd like. But your machine isn't a terrible one. replacing the drive with an SSD and upgrading the RAM would give it a new lease on life.

If you aren't recording to an external drive then you really should, the drive on that is a 5400 rpm laptop drive.

For me, I'd much rather freeze a few tracks than try to run two Macs. YMMV. Not even sure that Apple will let you run two instances of Logic at once. They know who is running their software in real time. Try it and I think you'll see what I mean.

 

Steve

What do you mean?

I have been running Logic on two computers at the same time on several occasions without any issues.

EDIT: Did some research.

This article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202752, refers the section "On how many computers can I install Logic Pro X?" to this article: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html#APPS

"App Store Content:

- The term “App” includes apps, iMessage and Apple Watch apps, in-app purchases, extensions (such as keyboards), stickers, and subscriptions made available in an app.

- You can use Apps on any device that you own or control.

- Individuals acting on behalf of a commercial enterprise, governmental organization or educational institution (an “Enterprise”) may download and sync Apps for use by either (i) a single individual on one or more devices owned or controlled by an Enterprise; or (ii) multiple individuals on a single shared device owned or controlled by an Enterprise. For the sake of clarity, each device used serially or collectively by multiple users requires a separate license."

Unless you count as an enterprise you can use the app on every computer that you "own or control".

Well, I installed a brand new SSD as the system drive for my Mini, and…there doesn’t seem to have been any improvement. Logic certainly opens a lot faster, and various system tasks are quicker, but my bigger projects are still choking to a stop every 2 seconds or so.

The choking seems especially pronounced when I’m doing things that force Logic to redraw the screen, such as opening the mixer and navigating from one end to the other. Does that mean that this might be a RAM issue? I can upgrade from 8GB to 16, but I’d rather not if that’s not going to solve the problem.

I tried copying the project to my new SSD system drive and opening that, to eliminate the external drive USB 2.0 bandwidth as a potential chokepoint, but I’m running into the same stalling problems with the version of the project on the SSD.

I do now notice that I’m only maxing out the audio meters, with Disk I/O topping out at only about 20% now.

My I/O Buffer size is maxed out at 1024, and I’ve set the Process Buffer Range to Large, and turned Software Monitoring off.

Hope this extra info provide some insights for people and inspires some more good advice - thanks!

With that dual-core i5 and 8 gigs of Ram you have hit the limit of what the Mini can do.

You need an i7 with a 4-core to tackle those projects.

I run a late 2012 core i7 with 16 gb ram.

Work fine .

have you paid attention on this setting ?

Multithreading "Playback & Live" stress the CPU a lot .

Stay on "Playback Tracks" .

Off course set the I/O buffer Size to 1024