Brian Liberté Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Hi Logic Pro experts! I own a Mac Mini Late 2012 with 2.5 GHz intel i5 CPU, 500 GB Serial ATA HD, and 4 GB of RAM. I run Logic version 10.4. These specs are outdated - don't tell me - and I am considering upgrading my RAM and/or internal drive in order to see the dreaded system overload messages less often. I'll try to give as much info as possible but be concise. I am not a professional who needs the cutting edge. Music is something I just do for fun. 10-20 virtual instrument tracks in a project is my average I but would like to be able to expand that. I often run EXS24 and Kontakt 5. I use mostly old sample libraries from 2010. The average size of instruments is 50mb or less, which I reduce further by purging unused samples, but occasionally I want to load an instrument that's a few hundred mb. The other day I tried freezing everything on a project with with about 20 tracks, and on that occasion freezing made it even worse. The HD meter spiked all the way up before I could get 10 seconds into the song. Does anyone suggest anything I can do to further troubleshoot, and do you know how I can choose RAM or an SSD that will be compatible with my old Mac Mini? If I am going to buy new RAM or an SSD, I am afraid I might accidentally buy the wrong kind, or I may overlook some more obvious solutions that would already improve my Logic's performance without an upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution redgreenblue Posted October 5, 2023 Solution Share Posted October 5, 2023 you can go to crucial.com and look at the available upgrades specifically for your computer. As you can imagine none of us would recommend spending more than just a little money upgrading this computer, it's 11 years old, you've gotten your $$$ worth. Crucial is a reputable company, I've used their RAM and SSDs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Liberté Posted October 5, 2023 Author Share Posted October 5, 2023 Oh, that's cool that Crucial has that on their website! I'll look there. Thank you. And yes, this computer has lasted me quite a long time. Sure is a durable little bugger! I've heard people say that changing to SSD changed performance dramatically so fingers crossed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscwilde Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 (edited) Just on the freezing/playback thing - adjusting the playback buffer size to "large" should help with this. WRT SSD/RAM upgrades...an SSD will help with loading times and will improve playback performance (of audio....so frozen tracks will benefit), but not with things that are reliant on the CPU - i.e. realtime rendering of software instrument voices/effects. More RAM can help with larger projects, particularly if lots of samples/audio tracks/loops, etc. are used, but your existing machine / needs probably won't warrant the expense. Given how inexpensive Macbook Air M1 or M1 Mac Minis are (new or second-hand), you may find the difference in cost between the upgrades/a different Mac are minimal. Personally, I'd be inclined to spend the money on the more recent/current hardware - even if overkill - for both the new features/better performance, and also for ongoing support. The corollary to this is that your current needs are met - but also limited by - your existing machine. A new Mac/more advanced software will open up further creative possibilities for you to explore....so not merely "more", but different methods/tools. The other aspect is speed/efficiency, allowing you to get ideas down more quickly as the hardware isn't holding you up. Edited October 5, 2023 by oscwilde 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakobP Posted October 6, 2023 Share Posted October 6, 2023 9 hours ago, Brian Liberté said: Oh, that's cool that Crucial has that on their website! I'll look there. Thank you. And yes, this computer has lasted me quite a long time. Sure is a durable little bugger! I've heard people say that changing to SSD changed performance dramatically so fingers crossed. I have the same mini, was my first mac 😄 I'm still using it with upgraded ram and running the system on an external ssd, works pretty good ! I'd say that upgrading the ram will take away most of your overloads, and the ssd takes away most of your beachballs... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Liberté Posted October 9, 2023 Author Share Posted October 9, 2023 (edited) On 10/6/2023 at 1:03 AM, JakobP said: I have the same mini, was my first mac 😄 I'm still using it with upgraded ram and running the system on an external ssd, works pretty good ! I'd say that upgrading the ram will take away most of your overloads, and the ssd takes away most of your beachballs... Hey that's great! I'd love to follow in your footsteps. There are internal SSDs from Crucial and Kingston for real cheap. I know they won't do anything for my CPU, but I don't think my CPU is generally the problem. I think its more often the disk. From Mac Mini to Mac Mini user, I'm curious about whether you leave the multithreading option to automatic or how many cores you set it to use (in Logic Preferences). I have the option to set it to 2 or 4. Edited October 9, 2023 by Brian Liberté Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakobP Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 7 hours ago, Brian Liberté said: I'm curious about whether you leave the multithreading option to automatic or how many cores you set it to use (in Logic Preferences) Can't check, but it's set to use all threads, either by the "automatic" or "4" options. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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