Logic "System Overload” And Fan Problems - Surely There Must Be a Solution!

[ew1]

 

Hello everyone. I hope you are well. I'm having terrible trouble with my laptop and would appreciated some help. This is making it really difficult to work.

 

The problem is that I'm getting the “audio engine was unable to process all required the information in time " message but I don't understand why this would be happening on my machine.

 

 

 

Here are the details of my setup

 

 

Machine: 2018 15" Macbook Pro

 

Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7

 

Memory: 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

 

Graphics: Radeon Pro 560X 4096 MB Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

 

Storage: 2TB SSD currently with 597 GB of free space

 

OS: 10.14.2

 

Logic version: 10.4.4

 

 

• All of the projects and data is on my laptop’s SSD

 

• I always use Sonarworks Reference 4 in systemwide mode, meaning that Logic’s output is set to Sonarworks Systemwide.

 

• I always make sure oversampling is switched off in my plugins unless I am bouncing

 

• I have tried using a laptop stand that keeps the airways unobstructed.

 

• I use a hard cover for the laptop like this one but I'm pretty sure it doesn't obstruct the airways https://www.apple.com/ie/shop/product/HPBM2ZM/A/tech21-13-evo-clear-case-for-macbook-air-2020?fnode=acc3ff9a374087490e052a76927054a75b1b8496143c02d20ef2e274a751e6bdc58f63995465ef35e4747b148d2a41088da4646f9864ce2cf0b353ecad3589df028b2fd693e4bbf23ae911fd6065f9e09a3c2245fa499b87ce266f69e62725f50c15a98f4d5225cb1ab1857f65911f31&fs=f%3Dshell%26fh%3D4592%2B463f

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my audio settings within Logic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This “system overload” problem occurs in few different scenarios:

 

 

 

 

SCENARIO: BIG SESSIONS

 

This problem sometimes occurs when I’m running a big session. For example I’ve got a session that has 140 tracks. 57 of those tracks are aux tracks. As for the remaining 83, some are midi, some are audio. When I was working on the session originally, I started to get the “system overload” message when the session got big. It happened regularly but I was still able to complete the track. That was last year. Now when I open the session, sometimes I get the “system overload” message as soon as I press play and I can’t even play the session.

 

However this is not always the case. Sometimes the session does play but I still do get the “system overload” message regularly

 

 

 

SCENARIO: DEMANDING PLUGINS

 

I’ve also found that if I open a brand new session and import a single audio file but use 3 or 4 fairly demanding/intensive plugins, the “system overload” message will appear. So for example, if I use 3 instances of Izotope Spectral De-Noise in “best” quality mode, the “system overload” message will appear.

 

 

 

I've noticed that when it starts happening, I can sort of "reset" the computer and alleviate its fatigue by quitting logic and restarting logic. That sometimes works. 

 

 

 

Fan

 

Also, I should mention that the fan in the machine starts spinning like crazy as soon as I start using Logic. And sometimes, the fan goes crazy when I’m not using Logic. And the laptop gets very hot quite easily. I have already tried using a laptop stand that keeps the airways unobstructed and that did not help.

 

 

I have heard about using an application to regulate the fan speed of MacBooks. Is this something that could improve the situation?

 

 

Any help is greatly appreciated at this point. Thanks

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by ew1

[des99]

You're probably just pushing your machine past it's reasonable processing limits. It can only do so much in realtime, and if you regularly need to do more work than your machine can provide in realtime, you'll get these kinds of issues.

The fans are going because you're pushing the processor hard, which generates heat, which requires cooling. The cooling performance in those laptops is very poor, and you you try to reduce the fan speed, then your processor will not be effectively cooled and possibly eventually fail.

What you need to do is find ways to use less CPU power, including rendering tracks with plugins to audio, freezing, using less plugins on auxes (which are always live), using les track counts and so on - or, move on to a more powerful system which can do more work in realtime and not give you these roadblocks.

Edited June 14, 2022 by des99

[ew1]

22 minutes ago, des99 said:

You're probably just pushing your machine past it's reasonable processing limits. It can only do so much in realtime, and if you regularly need to do more work than your machine can provide in realtime, you'll get these kinds of issues.

The fans are going because you're pushing the processor hard, which generates heat, which requires cooling. The cooling performance in those laptops is very poor, and you you try to reduce the fan speed, then your processor will not be effectively cooled and possibly eventually fail.

What you need to do is find ways to use less CPU power, including rendering tracks with plugins to audio, freezing, using less plugins on auxes (which are always live), using les track counts and so on - or, move on to a more powerful system which can do more work in realtime and not give you these roadblocks.

Thanks. Yes, I get that but I don't think I'm pushing the processor very hard. For example, when I open Logic on an empty session, bring in one audio file and start listening, the fan already starts going crazy. And as I write this, I've just got a web browser and word processing document open and the fan is still going crazy. That doesn't make sense for a machine with specs like mine, does it?

[des99]

If you install a utility like iStat Menus, you can keep an eye on your temperatures and fan speeds. But yes, these Intel chips in an ultrathin MBP case are notorious for getting hot and therefore noisy, unlike the Apple Silicon stuff (I can push my MBP as hard as I like and I get zero fan noise).

If you feel the fans are performing worse than they used to, you might want to clean the fans out, as they do get clogged up over time and their cooling performance decreases. I used to clean the fans in my Intel MBP's usually maybe once a year when this happened.

If you feel you're not working the CPU hard in Logic, what does the performance meter tell you about CPU load on these typical projects?

Also, iZotope Spectral De-noise plugins in Best mode are extremely DSP intensive plugins, so running three of them in realtime may well be all your machine can do. Spectral De-noisers are not really mixing tools, they are audio processing tools, it's best to run them offline on your audio files so you bake the processing in.

Edited June 14, 2022 by des99

[kerochan]

I would check Activity Monitor, there may well be something running that doesn't need to be. You may be surprised.

 

 

[MikeRobinson]

You've probably reached the point in your project where you need to start using things like "bouncing" and "freezing."

Right now, every time you run your project, your computer is being asked to do "everything, all over again," and to do it "in real time."  But – how many parts of this project have actually changed?  If the answer is "nothing," then you don't need to re-compute these things. You can reduce them to an audio file. (Which Logic will manage for you.)

Logic's designers very-carefully considered what to do in the situation where – no matter how "beefy" your system is – you can no longer do it "in real time."  Therefore, look for not-recently-changed portions of your project that you can "freeze."  This is never irreversible – it is simply breaking the computing task down into smaller, independent, pieces, some of which were computed "ahead of time."

Edited June 16, 2022 by MikeRobinson

[MikeRobinson]

It's important also to note that "bouncing and freezing" does not have to be done "in real time."  The computer can now take more than one second to calculate one second's worth of audio. (So, there can't be a "system overload.")  Having done so, it does not have to do these calculations again ... until and unless you tell it to.  It requires no CPU resources at all to play an audio track.

Edited June 16, 2022 by MikeRobinson

[analogika]

Sounds like thermal throttling to me.

3 Things: 

 

1. The metal case of the MacBook is very much part of its thermal design. It is intended to radiate off heat. Putting a plastic shell on disrupts that by insulating the machine, even if the vents aren't blocked. 

 

2. Do you have cats or other shedding pets? Their fluff REALLY blocks up vents and fans and lodges across logic boards. Especially bad when combined with smoking. Then it will gunk and cake and coat everything in a nice warm coat. 
Apple Service providers and Apple themselves will clean out your machine for a fee (though I've seen some refuse if it they find it to be coated in tobacco resin). 

 

3. Are all your plugins compatible with each other and with that version of Logic? 

You might want to consider upgrading to at least 10.4.8, the last version of 10.4. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by analogika

[analogika]

Also, before anything else, this: 

On 6/14/2022 at 9:52 PM, kerochan said:

I would check Activity Monitor, there may well be something running that doesn't need to be. You may be surprised.

Make sure to show "All Processes"

[ew1]

14 minutes ago, analogika said:

Sounds like thermal throttling to me.

3 Things: 

1. The metal case of the MacBook is very much part of its thermal design. It is intended to radiate off heat. Putting a plastic shell on disrupts that by insulating the machine, even if the vents aren't blocked. 

2. Do you have cats or other shedding pets? Their fluff REALLY blocks up vents and fans and lodges across logic boards. Especially bad when combined with smoking. Then it will gunk and cake and coat everything in a nice warm coat. 
Apple Service providers and Apple themselves will clean out your machine for a fee (though I've seen some refuse if it they find it to be coated in tobacco resin). 

3. Are all your plugins compatible with each other and with that version of Logic? 

You might want to consider upgrading to at least 10.4.8, the last version of 10.4. 

Thanks. I'll try removing the bottom half of the cover (the heat only collects at the bottom of the machine - the part you place on your lap) and see what happens.

 

I'm quite sure all my plugins are compatible. No cracked software or anything like that.

 

For context, I currently have a session open with 10 audio track and 3 aux tracks. With a average of 3 plugins on each track no CPU-heavy plugins. I've taken off the bottom half of the cover. The fan is still going crazy and this is what logic's performance meter looks like:

 

 

[ew1]

On 6/14/2022 at 8:16 PM, des99 said:

If you install a utility like iStat Menus, you can keep an eye on your temperatures and fan speeds. But yes, these Intel chips in an ultrathin MBP case are notorious for getting hot and therefore noisy, unlike the Apple Silicon stuff (I can push my MBP as hard as I like and I get zero fan noise).

If you feel the fans are performing worse than they used to, you might want to clean the fans out, as they do get clogged up over time and their cooling performance decreases. I used to clean the fans in my Intel MBP's usually maybe once a year when this happened.

If you feel you're not working the CPU hard in Logic, what does the performance meter tell you about CPU load on these typical projects?

Also, iZotope Spectral De-noise plugins in Best mode are extremely DSP intensive plugins, so running three of them in realtime may well be all your machine can do. Spectral De-noisers are not really mixing tools, they are audio processing tools, it's best to run them offline on your audio files so you bake the processing in.

Thanks. Did you do the cleaning yourself? Can you point me in the direction of a reliable tutorial on how to do that?

 

For context, I currently have a session open with 10 audio track and 3 aux tracks. With an average of 3 plugins on each track no CPU-heavy plugins. I've taken off the bottom half of the laptop cover. The fan is still going crazy and this is what logic's performance meter looks like:

 

[des99]

2 hours ago, ew1 said:

Thanks. Did you do the cleaning yourself? Can you point me in the direction of a reliable tutorial on how to do that?

Yes. The exact procedure probably depends on the machine you have, you can find a guide for your specific model on iFixit, but essentially, you just remove the bottom cover, remove the fans, clean out all the dust from the vents and any areas around there, then put it all back again.

[analogika]

9 minutes ago, ew1 said:

Thanks. I'll try removing the bottom half of the cover (the heat only collects at the bottom of the machine - the part you place on your lap) and see what happens.

I'm quite sure all my plugins are compatible. No cracked software or anything like that.

For context, I currently have a session open with 10 audio track and 3 aux tracks. With a average of 3 plugins on each track no CPU-heavy plugins. I've taken off the bottom half of the cover. The fan is still going crazy and this is what logic's performance meter looks like:

It might just be a particular sensor on your logic board that's clogged and overheating. 

[des99]

iStat Menus (and other similar utilities) let you see all this temperature information, it's very useful when you have heat issues, or fans that fail and so on.

I'm just glad I no longer have to deal with all that stuff, it was really bad for me...

[roverlogic]

How is your battery health? A worn out battery can easily lead to diminishing performance and fan noise. And yeah running Spectral Denoise in Best mode is asking for trouble. Much better to just de-noise the file in RX standalone. Just remember to make a backup of the file so you can revert if needed. 

[Dewdman42]

Try getting an electronics air compressor and blowing out the holes where the actual fans are.  Dust can accumulate in there and prevent your laptop from being able to cool itself down properly.  If you have to, open up the case and blow all around with the compressed air, especially in the area around the fans.  This may help.

Aside from that, as others have suggested, monitor your mac's temperature to see if its actually getting hot or not.  probably it is.  Monitor the CPU usage.  if its getting hot even when the cpu meters are barely moving, then the dust cleanup may really help.  

If on the other hand, the CPU's are peaking out...which lines up with the temps going up, then there is something in your software that is driving the CPU harder then you may realize so then you have to track that down..might not have anything to do with Logic Pro..could be some other process in your system that is spinning the the CPU's excessively.

I had some issues with my 2010 MBP getting hot like that and would blow out the fans with air once a year or so...seemed to help a lot.  But check the CPU meters for runaway processes also.

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Dewdman42

[ew1]

I took the machine to the Apple store. The technician hoovered out some dust and ran some diagnostic tests.

 

So far, the fan is behaving much better and the machine isn't getting so hot anymore. I haven't done any intense work in Logic yet so I don't know if the "system overload" error will happen (and whether or not that was being caused by the same thing that was causing the fan issue) but so far, so good.

 

The technician also mentioned that my battery is "at" 84% and that once the battery gets to 80%, you should think about replacing it.

[MikeRobinson]

If the machine is already being "shopped" and they're saying that the battery is marginal, I'd spring to replace it now – just to avoid having to "shop it" a second time.

[ew1]

Well, the fan started going crazy again.........

 

But no system overload yet.

 

The only things remaining to try are to update the OS or request a "data capture" from apple. But I think you need apple care for that.

[Dewdman42]

Are the temps hot when it starts blowing the fans hard?  Did you try blowing out the vents?

[ew1]

28 minutes ago, Dewdman42 said:

Are the temps hot when it starts blowing the fans hard?  Did you try blowing out the vents?

This is the case quite often. I'm pretty sure the apple technician did that.

[ew1]

I just came across this. It's an application that disable's Intel Mac's turbo boost, thereby reducing the need for the fans to switch on so often. He says Ableton doesn't need the processor's turbo boost. Does the same apply to Logic?

 

He says that this is not the same as using an app that controls the fans directly and therefore, is safe. Thoughts?

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by ew1

[ew1]

On 6/21/2022 at 9:13 PM, ew1 said:

I just came across this. It's an application that disable's Intel Mac's turbo boost, thereby reducing the need for the fans to switch on so often. He says Ableton doesn't need the processor's turbo boost. Does the same apply to Logic?

He says that this is not the same as using an app that controls the fans directly and therefore, is safe. Thoughts?

Any thoughts on this folks?

[ew1]

On 6/21/2022 at 9:13 PM, ew1 said:

I just came across this. It's an application that disable's Intel Mac's turbo boost, thereby reducing the need for the fans to switch on so often. He says Ableton doesn't need the processor's turbo boost. Does the same apply to Logic?

He says that this is not the same as using an app that controls the fans directly and therefore, is safe. Thoughts?

Anyone got any insight on this?

[kerochan]

18 minutes ago, ew1 said:

Anyone got any insight on this?

I am not sure Logic uses this, at least I personally have never heard the fans when using Logic, however Pro Tools DOES use this function, I can hear when it kicks in on my Intel macbook Pro 2015.

[David Nahmani]

15 hours ago, ew1 said:

Anyone got any insight on this?

I personally generally recommend against messing with any of this but I can see the use for quieter Mac performance, and I believe there's no risk involved in switching Turbo Boost OFF (vs leaving it always on). I'm not sure if Logic directly takes advantage of Turbo Boost or not but when you're using Logic you're also using macOS and all sort of processes on your Mac that may take advantage of Turbo Boost so it's possible that you'll affect the performance. 

Still worth giving it a try and see how it behaves. If you do, please let us know what you find out. 

[redgreenblue]

Absolutely DO NOT use a fan control app, the fans are there for a reason. As someone else said, take off the shell you have on it, those trap heat. Check to see if the Chrome Keystone agent is running in the background. And then just stop using chrome anyway, nothing makes a Mac run worse. 

this is going to sound like bull, but it is true. Only power the computer from the right side ports and do NOT pass the power through a multiport adapter. There is a temp sensor on the left side near the ports that can get triggered when powering on that side, and multiport adapters usually only pass 60 watts through. Also, make sure you have the correct power brick for that machine, either 87 or 96 watts, a 61 watt charger has to work too hard and gets hot. 

At the end of the day you can’t avoid the fans on these machines. It is one of the biggest complaints I deal with on a daily basis. 

[digichild]

I definitely can recommend Turbo Boost Switcher Pro.

Apart from that: My Cpu was down to 1GHz in hot days here is summer.

The only solution was to put cooling pads in a thin towel below my Macbook 

[ozinga]

Sonarworks causing me some trouble. Did you try disabling it and check if it makes any improvement?