Speeding up Logic Pro X With USB3 SSD

To give a proper answer, we'd need to know more about why your projects are not "smooth and quick" right now.

In my mind, it probably would come down to the amount of RAM in your machine, not the precise number of milliseconds a mass-storage device requires to complete some I/O operation.  All data must be in RAM in order for the CPU(s) to process it.  If you don't have enough of it, for whatever-it-is that you are doing, then Logic is unable to do things "ahead of time" that it might otherwise be able to do.  The probability that it can't "get everything where it needs to be, when it needs to be there," greatly increases.

If I ever had the choice between "more CPU (cores), and less RAM," or vice-versa, I would always spend my money on "RAM, first."  It simply doesn't matter that you have a Lamborghini if you're stuck in traffic on the freeway because there aren't enough lanes.

To give a proper answer, we'd need to know more about why your projects are not "smooth and quick" right now.

 

In my mind, it probably would come down to the amount of RAM in your machine, not the precise number of milliseconds a mass-storage device requires to complete some I/O operation.  All data must be in RAM in order for the CPU(s) to process it.  If you don't have enough of it, for whatever-it-is that you are doing, then Logic is unable to do things "ahead of time" that it might otherwise be able to do.  The probability that it can't "get everything where it needs to be, when it needs to be there," greatly increases.

 

If I ever had the choice between "more CPU (cores), and less RAM," or vice-versa, I would always spend my money on "RAM, first."  It simply doesn't matter that you have a Lamborghini if you're stuck in traffic on the freeway because there aren't enough lanes.

Currently in the process of buying a very good machine. Mac Pro 2010, 3.2GHz, 64G Ram 500GSSD USB3

Somebody told me I should keep samples on a extrernal SSD & projects on a external SSD for everything to run the best it can. Was just checking if this is correct

I will be using the 500g SSD ram inside the machine for often used samples.

Get a good 4 - 6 TB 7200 rpm HD, like a Western Digital Black or Toshiba X300 thru a powered USB 3 enclosure. That'll be plenty for your projects.

I get my enclosures from OWC:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ME3UHKIT0GB/

Get a good 4 - 6 TB 7200 rpm HD, like a Western Digital Black or Toshiba X300 thru a powered USB 3 enclosure. That'll be plenty for your projects.

 

I get my enclosures from OWC:

 

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ME3UHKIT0GB/

Thanks triplets! I didn't know about enclosures so thanks for that! Also streaming samples ( Kontakt Libaries) any advice, I'll be putting often used samples on my internal SSD buts that 500G so I need an extrernal, would you go with SSD or should a HD 7200RPM work fine?

Any recommendations?

Thanks

If you run any of the EastWest Hollywood series, you will need SSD. If not, 7200 will suffice.

Thanks! Any idea on load times, I know it will be different, library to library, but any idea? I do have the money to go with external SSD's but if they're not needed I'd like to keep my savings I just want a quick workflow without waiting on samples to load. 

Thanks

 Depending on your template sizes, it should take too long. Although if you can afford the SSD route, I would go for it

My "go to" template is 110 tracks (a mix of HDD and SSD) and the whole thing takes about three minutes to load, including a bunch of Hollywood Strings/Brass patches.

I am confident that, if you have 64GB of memory, Logic will be able to bring everything that it needs into memory and to then swap data in-and-out (if needed) "at its leisure," because there will be enough time to complete the input/output ("I/O") operation long before the data is needed.  Playback operations, working with data "somewhere else" in RAM, are very unlikely to starve for the data they require.  Slight differences in the "number of milliseconds required" are unlikely to matter.

Although there can inevitably be "other bottlenecks," I doubt that your disk (or, disk-equivalent) hardware will be that bottleneck anytime soon.

Naturally, "you can manage to overload any real-time system."  But, more than anything else, "if you've got RAM, and lots of it," you are much less likely to encounter overloads.  Plentious RAM covers a multitude of sins.