Disk is too slow or system overload

[plaidcurtains]

When my projects get crowded, I get this message often, and I'm usually able to work through it. But sometimes it happens every time I press play without fail, no matter how big or small the project is. So sometimes I can't do anything. It doesn't seem to have much to do with the amount of work my computer's doing - I could be working in logic pretty smoothly for hours, then leave my computer for a half hour and when I get back Logic stalls so much i can't use it. I have an old mac, but it's not like the entire computer's frozen - it's just Logic, and it seems to happen randomly. Maybe my projects are too big for the computer I'm using and my disk is just too slow, but the way it seems to happen randomly makes me think it could be something else?

 

Is there anything I can do to mitigate this within Logic? Say I have 10 tracks in my actual mix and another 10 muted"working" or "maybe" tracks - does muting them stop them taking up working memory? If I tidied them away in a folder, would that help? If anyone has any tips to save on working memory, that'd be a great help.

[triplets]

What computer do you have? And what OSX and Logic version?

[mowgli]

Hi

 

Im basically having the same problem, pretty much exactly as described. Its about a 2012 macbook pro with logic 9 and old OS. I have to use this to finish an album that was originally made on logic 9, so I have to be able to still open the projects with plugins and work on the tunes or at least get the stems out. But I am having this problem on the track I'm working on at present and not really sure how to get round it. Considering a track I just finished working on with a huge amount of stems worked OK, this has relatively few so I don't even think it is a processing thing necessarily but I can barely play it for more than a few seconds. I'm sure a better computer wouldn't hurt but I understand the OP's point that it doesn't seem to necessarily be related to general CPU load. Plus I have the problem that I can't really update right now I have to use this comp.

 

Any ideas would be very appreciated.

[m. Anodyne]

Well, either Logic itself is getting overloaded, or something else (like Spotlight indexing) is happening at the same time and interfering. Take a look at the Activity Monitor utility and use Google to help understand what all is running on your machine.

[David Nahmani]

I'm sure a better computer wouldn't hurt but I understand the OP's point that it doesn't seem to necessarily be related to general CPU load.

A "better" computer is quite a vague concept. For example, a faster computer with a more powerful CPU and more cores will not help if your hard drive is the bottleneck. So the first thing to determine is what is causing the issue.

 

For that, I recommend you click the little down arrow at the very right in the LCD display in Logic's control bar and choose Custom. Now hold down Control-Option as you double-click the CPU and HD meters on the right in the LCD display to pop up a nice big activity monitor window. When the errors occur, watch what's going on with your CPU and HD. See if the issue is one or the other.

 

One typical issue, easy enough to double-check, is a hard drive that is getting full and therefore no longer performing as it should. Click the Apple at the top left of your screen and choose About This Mac, then click the Storage tab. For a HD to perform comfortably you should have at least 25% of the capacity of the drive available.