Editing windows (piano roll, score) ULTRA-slow

[benleedscarson]

Hi --

 

Working with a small file size (just two software instruments, Logic native piano), and no audio files. Just 200-300 notes in a score, and a bunch of key/meter signature changes, along with dynamics... how is it that it takes 2-3 seconds for the processor to recover from me simply grabbing something in the score. Or scrolling. Painfully slow -- every pair of moves deserves a snack break between them.

 

I'm on a new Server-level Mac Mini 2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, running Lion (10.7.1)... plenty of hard-drive space.

[Simon R.]

Because Logic 9 (and to some degree 8 as well) has become extremely resource (CPU) hungry. Thankfully I am not on a 6-core Mac Pro and the sluggishness isn't a problem here, but even on my old Mac Pro (1st gen 2x2.26Ghz) it got really annoying working on the piano roll since Logic 8. Unfortunately I don't think there's much you can do except upgrading your hardware.

[David Nahmani]

Because Logic 9 (and to some degree 8 as well) has become extremely resource (CPU) hungry. Thankfully I am not on a 6-core Mac Pro and the sluggishness isn't a problem here, but even on my old Mac Pro (1st gen 2x2.26Ghz) it got really annoying working on the piano roll since Logic 8. Unfortunately I don't think there's much you can do except upgrading your hardware.

 

That's preposterous. An i7 mac mini server shouldn't take 2 to 3 seconds to recover from selecting some notes in the score editor in a project with only 2 Logic native software instruments. Furthermore if Logic 8 and 9 are more CPU hungry than Logic 7 was, Logic is still famous for being extremely CPU efficient compared to the competition. I successfully run much more complex projects on much older machines without a hitch on a regular basis.

 

My first question to benleedscarson would be: what version of Logic are you using?

[n6smith]

+1 Preposterous...

 

Running one of the new MMS's here and no such issues... In fact as my other threads on the MMS reflect, these little beasts absolutely rock...

 

So, there has to be something else going on that is causing such slowdowns.. Apart from the question "What version of Logic?", I'd look closely at the activity monitor and see if anything else is draining resources... because this kind of 'slow down' is not normal.

[benleedscarson]

Version 9.1.5 (1700.9) 32-bit.

 

I should mention that the score windows are also ultra-slow. It's not a gigantic score, but it's so difficult to move around in it. The scroll bars and grab-scrolling movements in score view or score window have a 3-8-second lag; I have to be careful to let it catch up to each attempted movement, and then guess what kind of motion to do next to compensate or extend the motion and get it where I want it.

 

Activity Monitor looks pretty good; Logic is the most significant drain, at 620 MB. VSL is taking 257 MB, though I don't have VSL instruments in this file. Strange, but not problematic, is it? The monitor shows about 3 GB "free."

 

Might I have set some memory settings incorrectly? I would love it if there were a single page somewhere on the web where I could get an overview of which Logic activities benefit from which kinds of modifications to memory settings, i/o buffer size, etc. But this is not a problem related either to recording or to audio playback, so I doubt very much whether those settings will matter much here.

[David Nahmani]

If you restart your mac, and then open a brand new, empty project in Logic, create a single software instrument track and start recording a few midi notes - do you get the same issues?

 

Or is the issue limited to a specific project? If that's the case, please post a screenshot of Options > Project Information for that project.

[benleedscarson]

I restarted twice (Lion auto-restarts applications; I felt that might complicate things)... the second time also starting Logic fresh. Started a new empty project, recorded a few notes, and felt it wasn't as slow, initially. But then I recorded 30-40 bars -- maybe 200 notes -- so I could get to "page 2" in score view. Scrolling through a score is now painfully slow again, as is any selection of events/notes in score view or piano roll view.

 

I then did this whole procedure again, and the second time I chose a basic DSL Music device synthesizer, instead of the Yamaha piano, which is an EXS24 sound, which I understand to be problematic at times. I got the same result. Score view is problematic both in page view and horizontal scroll view. Takes forever to move the score.

 

If I understood you correctly, David, you did *not* need me to send a "Project Info" screenshot unless the problem was only occurring in a specific project. Let me know if otherwise--

[Eriksimon]

How big and how full is your startup disk?

[benleedscarson]

I have a 500 GB Hard Drive with 95 GB available. There is a second internal hard drive (same size) set aside for audio. But these projects aren't using the audio on that drive.

[Rev. Juda Sleaze]

Hey, Lagerfeldt just wrote in another thread that having ProTools on a Lion machine can mysteriously slow Logic down. Does this apply to you?

[Eriksimon]

Hmmm, that's borderline, try keep it at 95 free, or better, 100+. Rule of thumb is to keep 20 % of your system disks' capacity free. However, I don't think this is what causes your problem.

Do you have any other apps running? You can check in Activity Monitor if there are any (background) apps kicking in when Logic starts beachballing.

My chief suspect for now though is a corrupted Spotlight Index. You can rebuild it (for every Mac disk/partition you have mounted).

Also, do you have a Bootcamp/NTFS/FAT32 partition or disk in your setup? If so, add it to the Spotlight Privacy list, as having Spotlight indexes of these type of disks is know to disrupt/hang Logic.

 

How to rebuild the Spotlight index:

 

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.

2. Click Spotlight.

3. Click the Privacy tab.

4. Drag a folder or even an entire volume (your hard drive) to the list.

5. Close System Preferences.

6. repeat 1, 2 and 3.

7. Select all your Mac disks and partitions and hit the -(minus) button to remove them again.

8. repeat 5.

 

Note: Within 30 second to 1 minute, Spotlight should start indexing your disk(s), indicated by a pulsating dot in the Spotlight icon: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6159/6214262964_1f5f794d1c_m.jpg

...on the top right of your screen. Click on it and there should be a progress bar:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6222/6213749039_51677dc103.jpg

[ski]

I have a 500 GB Hard Drive with 95 GB available. There is a second internal hard drive (same size) set aside for audio. But these projects aren't using the audio on that drive.

 

I agree with Erik. That's borderline. Get some stuff off that drive. You want to maintain at least 25% of free space on your system drive at all times.