CPU Script... new thread

[Gunslinger]

OK, I'm new(ish) to Logic & Macs & have been experiencing the system overload I hear about when I first load a project, but not after I have been working for a while. I'm running a 2.4 GHz MB Pro, 2 GB RAM, external Firewire drives, Digi 002, Mackie Control Universal.

 

I don't want to make my system work to hard / hot, but it would be great ifI could squeeze some extra horsepower out if it...

 

Has anyone used this successfully on a MB PRo & does it work in the long run?

 

LOGIC

 

You can do this automatically by opening the Script Editor in the /Applications/AppleScript/ folder and pasting in the following:

 

tell application "Logic Pro"

run

end tell

set the_lines to paragraphs of (do shell script "ps -U $USER")

set the_app to "Logic Pro"

set the_line to ""

repeat with this_line in the_lines

if this_line contains the_app then

set the_line to this_line

end if

end repeat

if the_line is "" then return

set the_pid to word 1 of the_line

do shell script "renice -20 " & the_pid password "yourpasswordhere" with administrator privileges

 

Provide your administrator password in the last line, and save the script as an application in a location easy to access. Open it whenever you want to open Final Cut Pro (Logic Pro). More information about the command, including the purpose of the -20, is available in this article.

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/renice.8.html

 

FINAL CUT PRO

 

You can do this automatically by opening the Script Editor in the /Applications/AppleScript/ folder and pasting in the following:

 

tell application "Final Cut Pro"

run

end tell

set the_lines to paragraphs of (do shell script "ps -U $USER")

set the_app to "Final Cut Pro"

set the_line to ""

repeat with this_line in the_lines

if this_line contains the_app then

set the_line to this_line

end if

end repeat

if the_line is "" then return

set the_pid to word 1 of the_line

do shell script "renice -20 " & the_pid password "yourpass" with administrator privileges

 

Provide your administrator password in the last line, and save the script as an application in a location easy to access. Open it whenever you want to open Final Cut Pro. More information about the command, including the purpose of the -20, is available in this article.

[humberto]

OK, I'm new(ish) to Logic & Macs & have been experiencing the system overload I hear about when I first load a project, but not after I have been working for a while. I'm running a 2.4 GHz MB Pro, 2 GB RAM, external Firewire drives, Digi 002, Mackie Control Universal.

 

I don't want to make my system work to hard / hot, but it would be great ifI could squeeze some extra horsepower out if it...

 

Has anyone used this successfully on a MB PRo & does it work in the long run?

 

LOGIC

 

You can do this automatically by opening the Script Editor in the /Applications/AppleScript/ folder and pasting in the following:

 

tell application "Logic Pro"

run

end tell

set the_lines to paragraphs of (do shell script "ps -U $USER")

set the_app to "Logic Pro"

set the_line to ""

repeat with this_line in the_lines

if this_line contains the_app then

set the_line to this_line

end if

end repeat

if the_line is "" then return

set the_pid to word 1 of the_line

do shell script "renice -20 " & the_pid password "yourpasswordhere" with administrator privileges

 

Provide your administrator password in the last line, and save the script as an application in a location easy to access. Open it whenever you want to open Final Cut Pro (Logic Pro). More information about the command, including the purpose of the -20, is available in this article.

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/renice.8.html

 

FINAL CUT PRO

 

You can do this automatically by opening the Script Editor in the /Applications/AppleScript/ folder and pasting in the following:

 

tell application "Final Cut Pro"

run

end tell

set the_lines to paragraphs of (do shell script "ps -U $USER")

set the_app to "Final Cut Pro"

set the_line to ""

repeat with this_line in the_lines

if this_line contains the_app then

set the_line to this_line

end if

end repeat

if the_line is "" then return

set the_pid to word 1 of the_line

do shell script "renice -20 " & the_pid password "yourpass" with administrator privileges

 

Provide your administrator password in the last line, and save the script as an application in a location easy to access. Open it whenever you want to open Final Cut Pro. More information about the command, including the purpose of the -20, is available in this article.

 

apples cost cutting messures have crippled your mac book "pro"

 

maybe getting ripped off is the right word, but basically the mac book pro share 1 chipset for their firewire ports, creating a bottleneck. This is the reasons you have overload messages.

 

I find it scary that people with top of the line apple computers nee to run script hacks just to make it work. sad, but at least apple didnt rob me for my money

[Gunslinger]

That helps... NOT.. I love my system & it works great. I've been out of the game for a while & the difference between my current setup & my first PC system (166MHz, 32MB RAM, 3 GB HDD, Soundblaster, Cubase AV) is light years. I'm impressed every time I run Ultrabeat, compressors, ES2, Sculpture, ES24 & plug ins & it all runs. I'm stocked to be able to do this stuff. Reality check...

 

The firewire issue only crops up if you try to run both Firewire 400 & 800. This is not the issue here. I'm talking about CPU power & maximising the performance. Stick to the topic. Thanks.

[humberto]

That helps... NOT.. I love my system & it works great. I've been out of the game for a while & the difference between my current setup & my first PC system (166MHz, 32MB RAM, 3 GB HDD, Soundblaster, Cubase AV) is light years. I'm impressed every time I run Ultrabeat, compressors, ES2, Sculpture, ES24 & plug ins & it all runs. I'm stocked to be able to do this stuff. Reality check...

 

The firewire issue only crops up if you try to run both Firewire 400 & 800. This is not the issue here. I'm talking about CPU power & maximising the performance. Stick to the topic. Thanks.

 

hello you said your using a digi 002 right? is that not firewire?

 

you also said you were using external firewire hard drive(s). Is that not firewire?

 

again, doing this and they use the same chipset, creates a bootleneck. Your mac book pro just can not handle all that data on one chipset!!

 

your problem is because of apples cost cutting HARDWARE measures, and not software related.

[raoulflutter]

This is no "real" solution, but try this. Before you get the project playing go through every track and just play some notes from a keyboard. Then press play.

 

This works, as far as I have experienced, if you only got software instruments in your project.

 

It's like all software effects and instruments must sort of initialize first.

[Gunslinger]

I am runniing entirely software instruments & plugins which are all instlled on Mac HD (7200 rpm, 160 GB). The Logic project is on Mac HD & the Firewire drives are turned off. System overload is CPU based, not IEEE1394.

 

OK, I'll run with this. I will be upgrading to eSATA external drives using an Express 34 eSATA card & 7200 external drives for when I bounce the software instruments down to audio tracks. If I'm still getting the problem I'll run the script. I'd still like to know if people are using it sucsessfully. The overload message is down to the CPU not the HDD.

[Gunslinger]

Thanks raoulflutter. I'll try this.

[jera]

The Overload message is not Firewire or CPU related... it's more like CPU and HD and RAM related.

Anyone of those can cause an Overload message.

I'm getting those right now, never happened before, but now, my HD have only 5Gb free.

I'll try to clean things up and post back the results.

[rob glow]

That helps... NOT.. I love my system & it works great. I've been out of the game for a while & the difference between my current setup & my first PC system (166MHz, 32MB RAM, 3 GB HDD, Soundblaster, Cubase AV) is light years. I'm impressed every time I run Ultrabeat, compressors, ES2, Sculpture, ES24 & plug ins & it all runs. I'm stocked to be able to do this stuff. Reality check...

 

The firewire issue only crops up if you try to run both Firewire 400 & 800. This is not the issue here. I'm talking about CPU power & maximising the performance. Stick to the topic. Thanks.

 

hello you said your using a digi 002 right? is that not firewire?

 

you also said you were using external firewire hard drive(s). Is that not firewire?

 

again, doing this and they use the same chipset, creates a bootleneck. Your mac book pro just can not handle all that data on one chipset!!

 

your problem is because of apples cost cutting HARDWARE measures, and not software related.

 

Seriously, humberto, did you not read Gunslinger's reply?! He clearly stated that it's not a 'both Firewire ports use the same chipset' issue. There is only ONE FW400 port on the MBP (and one FW800 port), so no matter what it would use the same chipset for any extra devices.

 

Yes, it's a bit silly that the FW800 and FW400 ports use the same chipset - it's certainly not the case on the G5s and Mac Pro - but I really don't think than *CPU* overloads would be affected by it. 'Disk too slow' errors are much more likely in this case, but this is not what the post is about.

 

The thing is that most PC laptops wouldn't even offer the same connectivity; not without spending the same (or more) than for a MBP.

 

Also, with regard to your general thoughts about Macs (as spotted in another absurdly ranty post in a different topic), the great thing about them is not how 'cool' they are or anything like that, but that they run OS X, which sh!ts all over Vista... Sure, some people have managed to hack Intel PCs to run OS X, but then you just end up with issues because of the plethora of chipset varieties and lack of support. The same issues that make Windows (and Linux) users despair.

 

I'm not saying 'Apple is great; everyone else is rubbish', but I *am* saying that, in my experience, my Mac (an OS X) JUST WORKS. Something Microsoft will likely NEVER be able to claim...

[inmazevo]

I'm not saying 'Apple is great; everyone else is rubbish', but I *am* saying that, in my experience, my Mac (an OS X) JUST WORKS. Something Microsoft will likely NEVER be able to claim...

 

Respectfully,

For the past 4 years, ALL my DAW/video software on my Windows XP machines "just works," and in some cases actually outperforms the same software's Mac version (Ableton Live, for example).

 

Not discounting your assertion that your macs just work. I'm sure they do.

 

Just saying that Microsoft actually can, and has to many, just worked for years... doing exactly what we do with our Macs.

 

Vista, on the other hand.

 

- zevo

[Gunslinger]

Rants aside. Macs just work, & when they don't an update is pretty near. Some PCs just work too, let's rejoice that 1997 came & went! humberto, please don't tell me you live in LA, or So Cal for that matter. rob glow, as a native Devonian (Exeter) I want to thank you for your post, the West Coast is the best coast!

 

Now back to the overloads...

[rob glow]

@Gunslinger: have to agree! Far away from the hate of London and some of the most beautiful countryside in England... Plus, who couldn't love the glorious accent? Loverly.

 

When I say Macs 'just work', I really mean the whole thing as a package. When I used Windows as my main OS, I frequently had 'issues' of drivers not working when they should do, the OS needing reinstalls because of massive slow-downs and all SORTS of problems using Logic live!

 

Plus, there are so many excellent apps for OS X that don't exist on Windows - contrary to the opposing beliefs.

 

Don't get me wrong, any system has its flaws, but only OS X (so far) provides a transparent user experience that doesn't make you want to chuck the computer out of a window (open or closed!)

[inmazevo]

As to the "renice" script:

I don't have a Macbook Pro. But, on my Macbook, "renice" did nothing.

I should add that I just run the renice command @ the command line, as opposed to wrapping it in a script.

 

On my systems, the Overload issue appears to be an initialization problem, at run time.

 

Meaning:

I get the overloads when playing back a project, when I hit a midi region that triggers a virtual instrument. When the project hits a midi region, say on measure 9, I'll get the Overload immediately there... as if the task of loading the instrument during playback is too much. It's literally unable to process this fast enough.

 

A workaround fix for the underlying problem would be a read-ahead buffer of some type. Load gradually when you (Logic) know that you're about to ask for things.

 

I actually found a Core Audio developer thread that suggested this for game developers encountering Core Audio Overloads while writing games.

 

Of course, this would be internal to Logic. It's not something you can do externally to the application.

 

Another workaround would be to load all the project's resources into memory @ load time. But this could have some negative impacts. Primarily, project memory requirements would be close to static for the duration of the project, which would be heavier than dynamically allocating resources when/if you need them.

 

It's not an easy solution, to be sure. And it's made worse by the apparent fact that there are some users who don't have the issue.

 

My best-case scenario would be for a checkbox of some kind (on a project level), similar to the pre-roll checkbox that helps the dropped first note of looped regions. If you have the issue, you can check it... if you don't, then don't.

 

Either way, the fix will (for me at least) have to come from Apple, not by me.

 

Perhaps there's some silver bullet that will make this work without a code change, but I'm very much doubting it.

 

- zevo

[Homina]

I've read on this board that Mac Pros do and don't have separate chipsets for their FW ports, and undertook to find out which is true.

 

From: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/HWTech_FireWire/index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40003028

 

Quote:

 

Mac Pro Computers (August 2006 and April 2007)

The quad-core Mac Pro was introduced in August 2006 and the 8-core Mac Pro was introduced in April 2007 as a configure-to-order-option. The Mac Pro provides two FireWire 800 IEEE 1394b ports and two FireWire 400 IEEE 1394a ports. The four FireWire ports are on the same FireWire bus and share a single power supply that can provide 7 W per port, up to 28 watts total.

 

End quote.

[Gunslinger]

I'm glad we got that one cleared up... Firewire is the new USB. eSATA is the future...

 

Hold on a minute... What was this thread about...??? Oh yeah CPU script...

[humberto]

That helps... NOT.. I love my system & it works great. I've been out of the game for a while & the difference between my current setup & my first PC system (166MHz, 32MB RAM, 3 GB HDD, Soundblaster, Cubase AV) is light years. I'm impressed every time I run Ultrabeat, compressors, ES2, Sculpture, ES24 & plug ins & it all runs. I'm stocked to be able to do this stuff. Reality check...

 

The firewire issue only crops up if you try to run both Firewire 400 & 800. This is not the issue here. I'm talking about CPU power & maximising the performance. Stick to the topic. Thanks.

 

hello you said your using a digi 002 right? is that not firewire?

 

you also said you were using external firewire hard drive(s). Is that not firewire?

 

again, doing this and they use the same chipset, creates a bootleneck. Your mac book pro just can not handle all that data on one chipset!!

 

your problem is because of apples cost cutting HARDWARE measures, and not software related.

 

Seriously, humberto, did you not read Gunslinger's reply?! He clearly stated that it's not a 'both Firewire ports use the same chipset' issue. There is only ONE FW400 port on the MBP (and one FW800 port), so no matter what it would use the same chipset for any extra devices.

 

Yes, it's a bit silly that the FW800 and FW400 ports use the same chipset - it's certainly not the case on the G5s and Mac Pro - but I really don't think than *CPU* overloads would be affected by it. 'Disk too slow' errors are much more likely in this case, but this is not what the post is about.

 

The thing is that most PC laptops wouldn't even offer the same connectivity; not without spending the same (or more) than for a MBP.

 

Also, with regard to your general thoughts about Macs (as spotted in another absurdly ranty post in a different topic), the great thing about them is not how 'cool' they are or anything like that, but that they run OS X, which sh!ts all over Vista... Sure, some people have managed to hack Intel PCs to run OS X, but then you just end up with issues because of the plethora of chipset varieties and lack of support. The same issues that make Windows (and Linux) users despair.

 

I'm not saying 'Apple is great; everyone else is rubbish', but I *am* saying that, in my experience, my Mac (an OS X) JUST WORKS. Something Microsoft will likely NEVER be able to claim...

 

oh ok, so he seems to KNOW FOR a FACT, WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT, that his problems are NOT related to a crippled firewire port.

 

meanwhile he has a digi 002 and several external hardrives all on this one port, but thats not the problem.

 

Its funny how many people say mac's just work. Meanwhile, all these scripts smells to me like windows days. Yeah, you just bought a $2000 overpriced PC running OS X, thats all a mac is TODAY

 

apple computer - an overpriced PC running OS X.

 

thats all a mac has become today.

 

back in the 90's it was all about the famous apple and the "megahertz myth" , because apple could not make fast enough computers, they had to spin the news to say that mega hertz had nothing to do with computer power or so.

 

now, how many times has apple changed CPU's to keep up with PC's?

 

first it was motorola making chips, then IBM, then IBM got dumped and now they run intel.

 

hello, is there anyone home, your using an overpriced PC running os x.

[humberto]

That helps... NOT.. I love my system & it works great. I've been out of the game for a while & the difference between my current setup & my first PC system (166MHz, 32MB RAM, 3 GB HDD, Soundblaster, Cubase AV) is light years. I'm impressed every time I run Ultrabeat, compressors, ES2, Sculpture, ES24 & plug ins & it all runs. I'm stocked to be able to do this stuff. Reality check...

 

The firewire issue only crops up if you try to run both Firewire 400 & 800. This is not the issue here. I'm talking about CPU power & maximising the performance. Stick to the topic. Thanks.

 

hello you said your using a digi 002 right? is that not firewire?

 

you also said you were using external firewire hard drive(s). Is that not firewire?

 

again, doing this and they use the same chipset, creates a bootleneck. Your mac book pro just can not handle all that data on one chipset!!

 

your problem is because of apples cost cutting HARDWARE measures, and not software related.

 

Seriously, humberto, did you not read Gunslinger's reply?! He clearly stated that it's not a 'both Firewire ports use the same chipset' issue. There is only ONE FW400 port on the MBP (and one FW800 port), so no matter what it would use the same chipset for any extra devices.

 

Yes, it's a bit silly that the FW800 and FW400 ports use the same chipset - it's certainly not the case on the G5s and Mac Pro - but I really don't think than *CPU* overloads would be affected by it. 'Disk too slow' errors are much more likely in this case, but this is not what the post is about.

 

The thing is that most PC laptops wouldn't even offer the same connectivity; not without spending the same (or more) than for a MBP.

 

Also, with regard to your general thoughts about Macs (as spotted in another absurdly ranty post in a different topic), the great thing about them is not how 'cool' they are or anything like that, but that they run OS X, which sh!ts all over Vista... Sure, some people have managed to hack Intel PCs to run OS X, but then you just end up with issues because of the plethora of chipset varieties and lack of support. The same issues that make Windows (and Linux) users despair.

 

I'm not saying 'Apple is great; everyone else is rubbish', but I *am* saying that, in my experience, my Mac (an OS X) JUST WORKS. Something Microsoft will likely NEVER be able to claim...

 

oh ok, so he seems to KNOW FOR a FACT, WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT, that his problems are NOT related to a crippled firewire port.

 

meanwhile he has a digi 002 and several external hardrives all on this one port, but thats not the problem.

 

Its funny how many people say mac's just work. Meanwhile, all these scripts smells to me like windows days. Yeah, you just bought a $2000 overpriced PC running OS X, thats all a mac is TODAY, and now you need to run script hacks to make it stop overloading?

 

apple computer - an overpriced PC running OS X.

 

thats all a mac has become today.

 

back in the 90's it was all about the famous apple and the "megahertz myth" , because apple could not make fast enough computers, they had to spin the news to say that mega hertz had nothing to do with computer power or so.

 

now, how many times has apple changed CPU's to keep up with PC's?

 

first it was motorola making chips, then IBM, then IBM got dumped and now they run intel.

 

hello, is there anyone home, your using an overpriced PC running os x.

[Homina]

Rob Glow stated that the Mac Pro did not employ a single chipset. I simply attempted to settle that point.

 

While it may not have been on-topic WRT your original inquiry, it did come up in the discussion, however far it may have deviated from CPU scripts.

 

As for a board discussion straying from the original topic, why I've never heard of such a thing. Imagine.

[Gunslinger]

humberto - you really are the life & soul of the party.