Disk too slow or system overload - sudden motion sensor...

Hi everyone, Logic is giving me an error message I have never seen before, it happens continuously and it has become an issue now, is there a fix for this? Screen capture of the error message i is attached to this postStrange error

This could be of interest...

Also, if applicable try with the SMS deactivated. Although, be aware not to expose your computer to important vibration, and reset SMS ON before moving it...

I just noticed again how everything listed in that message is in reverse order of general occurrance frequency; especially the mentioning of the SMS first , throws a lot of people. Does an iMac even have a Sudden Motion Sensor?

OTOH, the SMS is not even mentioned in the header line, which just blames the disk speed and/or the CPU load.

 

Anyway, the proper way to read this message is as a list of possible causes. Your setup may be suffering from all of them, or, more likely, just one of them.

This is how I think the should be listed:

1. System overload: "the system was not able to process all data in time" Too many/heavy plugins and/or too small buffers are used. Up the buffer and/or freeze the tracks with the heaviest plugins.

2. Disk too slow: "the disk performance is not sufficient to read or write all audio tracks". Most frequently seen in 1-disk configs, where the audio is written to and read from the system disk. Remedy: get a second internal disk, or an external FireWire or Thunderbolt disk to record to (=to save Logic Projects on).

3. Shocksensor (I can see why they didn't call it that, acronym akwardness) headpark thingy (only on Macbooks (Pro) afaik) - this can be triggered by loud noise, such as at gigs. Use foam, or a padded flightcase, or don't put the MB(P) on top of the PA speakers...

Thanks Erik, I will consider the first 2 suggestions, it is strange though that up to a week ago this problem did not exist...now it happens in more than one project....!

I just noticed again how everything listed in that message is in reverse order of general occurrance frequency; especially the mentioning of the SMS first , throws a lot of people. Does an iMac even have a Sudden Motion Sensor?

OTOH, the SMS is not even mentioned in the header line, which just blames the disk speed and/or the CPU load...

Experiencing any reading problem?

I just noticed again how everything listed in that message is in reverse order of general occurrance frequency; especially the mentioning of the SMS first , throws a lot of people. Does an iMac even have a Sudden Motion Sensor?

OTOH, the SMS is not even mentioned in the header line, which just blames the disk speed and/or the CPU load...

Experiencing any reading problem?

 

What do you mean?

I never had this problem until I upgraded Logic Pro to 9.1.8 and the previous upgrade before that. I know I'm just depressed about it, but until Apple fixes this, it feels like Logic killer.

This was the problem that drew me to this board and I wonder if there should be a sticky that deals with all the possible issues?

 

Since I posted my problem there has been a number of other posts dealing with the same thing and any search finds plenty of other similar problems posted earlier.

 

It's a serious problem and when I get the same message with just a few audio tracks I'm not sure it's anything to do with whether you use an external disk or how the preferences are set. There seems to be a lot of possible causes but so far none of the suggested solutions (external disk, changing latency times etc.) have worked for me.

 

I think there are problems with how Logic interacts with OS X although I have no idea what they might be.

 

And another thing - I think the sudden motion message is a red herring as it's probably a generic message and nothing do to with the real problem.

Edited November 12, 2012 by LPC

First, I have an iMac not a laptop, so I don't think it is or was a motion sensor issue. I basically did a restart and a disk repair and that allowed me to get back to work. As i said, I had no real problems with Logic Pro before I used the last two updates. Hope Apple straightens this out.

MT and LPC,

Are you using Mountain Lion as OS? (Please update your signature...)

If so, then, there is your source of your problem: ML is well known to cause serious issues of all sorts with Logic and audio...

Apple is working on those and apparently fixed some of them with Logic 9.1.8, but I believe we are still "deep in the boonies"!

Personally I am still with Snow Leopard and does not have such problems...

The external drive solution is to circumvent the problem of drive head read-write activities priority conflict between Logic and OS files management... Which make sense mostly with mechanical drives.

Apple published a tech note about that SMS alert as being a generic one that refers also to other issues that are affecting other Mac than the portable ones...

I join your prayer that a solution will come soon!

MT and LPC,

Are you using Mountain Lion as OS? (Please update your signature...)

If so, then, there is your source of your problem: ML is well known to cause serious issues of all sorts with Logic and audio...

Apple is working on those and apparently fixed some of them with Logic 9.1.8, but I believe we are still "deep in the boonies"!

Personally I am still with Snow Leopard and does not have such problems...

The external drive solution is to circumvent the problem of drive head read-write activities priority conflict between Logic and OS files management... Which make sense mostly with mechanical drives.

Apple published a tech note about that SMS alert as being a generic one that refers also to other issues that are affecting other Mac than the portable ones...

I join your prayer that a solution will come soon!

 

Is everyone having issues with ML? I am still on 10.7.5 and am wondering if I should make the switch to ML?

I'm running 3 different versions of Logic and am getting the same issue with all of them.

 

I have a old Macbook running Pro 8 and Tiger that I use when travelling , an older iMac running 9.1.7 (as I haven't got round to updating it yet) on Snow Leopard and 9.1.8 on Mountain Lion.

 

I used to assume it was simply a lack of processor power and memory that caused the Macbook and the older iMac to hit the "system overload" and it was one of the reasons I updated to the latest iMac and put 12GB of RAM in.

 

The strange thing is that the new iMac seems just as likely to stop as the old machines and when it does it when I've got just two audio files running it makes me think it is something to do with how Logic uses the CPU or something else is happening in the background that suddenly seems to affect Logic.

I feel like Apple is not paying attention to us.

im having the same prob with my mac pro 1.1 10gb ram 10.6.8 and logic 9.1.7 and 9.1.8

 

production is on early stage, 12 channels of drums recorded and flexed, 2 tracks of guitar and started when recording the bass

 

Im recording to the same drive i've been recording the last 6 years (checked it with disk utility and its OK)

 

and the error happened with 2 songs.. the first one happened when i applied the reverse function on 2 tracks of gtr a couple of bars long.. the error apears starting the second bar. the other song i dont remember what happened but it just happened once and changing the buffer setting took care of it... nothing major on the plugin side... a couple of eq/comp on most channels... nothing too fancy (i've tracked before with waaaay more plugs/virtual instruments in the past with no probs)

 

My drive is formated with the journaled option i think... i read on the forums this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3834, but i've been recording with that drive with that format for 6 years.

 

And, on the topic of weird logic stuff... on this project, different song, one of the grouped drum tracks managed to erase itself.. i grouped the drums so i could flex them and when i got to record the guitar parts for that song, after flexing the drums, boom... no right overhead. i recovered it from the bin but i will have to flex that channel again (using a groove template from the flexed left overhead channel didnt cut it)

 

i checked my system drive with disk utility and it had errors... i fixed them but the error persists... trashed logic prefs and the error is still there

 

So.. whats up with that? Any ideas?

 

Thanx

 

Is everyone having issues with ML? I am still on 10.7.5 and am wondering if I should make the switch to ML?

 

Me too, I'm just gonna stay on Lion indefinitely for now, finally got a stable system! Plus I have ML on my 11" MBA and I don't feel like I'm missing anything

What really helped me was using Disk Utility and doing a disk repair. Again, I am using Logic Pro 9.1.8 on OS 10.6.8.

The sudden motion message has for the time being gone away and it is possible to work without interruption. Not sure what will happen when I get my new iMac.

I have the same issue many times before, with Lyon and mountain lyon. I just have one now that let me come to this topic. Apple just replaced my hard drive under the "iMac 1TB Segate hard drive replacement program" and the problem is still alive.

What call my attention is that we can go on and on posting in this topic and nobody will come with a solution. And I mean somebody from apple or logic.

The cpu monitor in logic is always clipping in the red each time I stop and start playing again.

Another big problem is the latency in between logic and apogee ensemble, not solved yet.

Thanks.

I think i know what is wrong finally...

 

It is a software problem and it is associated with flex time/flex editing.

 

It looks like logic does not like when you move around regions once they are flexed. My prob started with a session that had multitrack drums (quantised, slicing) and guitars. I needed a few bars at the begining to put a reversed guitar sample so i moved the quantised drums 4 bars and then the prob startd, at first it seemed that changing the buffer size solved the prob but it didnt.

 

And that was that, i finally managed to finish that session and then proceded to work on some of the other songs, everything was fine until i had to make some room at the begining again... so i did and the same prob.

 

Thats when it hit me... i've had probs with flexed drums before, nasty clics and pops when doing fades on flexed regions...

 

So what i did was bounce/replaced the tracks, (replace, bypass plugins, no volume/pan automation, no normalize) and voila... everithing is great again!!

 

So take note children, bounce replace your audio after you are done flexing it!!

I had the problem where no flexing was used.

Hi I'm having the same issue, however I've noticed on my system performance monitor, that it is caused by peaks on a hard drive, on a session that has about 60 tracks, most of witch rely heavy on samplers (Esx 24 and Kontakt) no flex time editing, I have tried enabling the Virtual Memory on and off of the esx24 and on Kontakt and it has helped, also tried freezing the tracks. And it helps to an extent but, I was wondering if perhaps the problem was that I have my OS HD on a separate hard drive, but I use a separate internal drive for both samples and logic proyects, could having a separate hard drive for the samples help?

I'm fairly convinced that quitting all other programs, using a fast, large drive connected by the shortest route, and a cpu backed by plenty of ram, are the best antidotes at this time. Recording at rates over 48kHz definitely gum up the average prosumer system. Also, running disk utility to repair permissions etc seems to have an positive effect. The alert, in my opinion, has nothing to do with any kind of sudden motion, however,"system overload," seems much more likely. A cpu, disk, and ram intensive business, yes?

yikes...

 

well for me bouncing in place did the trick that is pretty much the same as freezing the track, i dont think that having the os on separate drive has much to do with it.

 

Do any of you guys have lots of edits/crossfades on regions?

 

Cause flexing in slice mode does that but under the hood... maybe it has somethng to do with the way logic handles itty bitty pieces of regions... samples could be considered as that also, try doing the bounce/replace thing just to see if it works

 

hope it works

This seems to be a problem that has not been solved. It is inexcusable for Apple to go on ignoring this problem. Will they ever get Logic up to the standard of Cubase or Pro Tools...I don't think so, too busy making bloody phones and tablets! Since Apple has become the major innovator and the largest computer manufacturer it has steadily run down logic pro. such a shame as it could have easily beaten pro tools at one stage. Apple..you need to give your pro users Logic 10!

Having an external hard disk hooked up helps a lot! You should try launching the project on the external drive, ideally with a Firewire connection... That really changed things for me.

Ok, I have been having this problem recently. Make sure you have Wi-Fi (formerly known as Airport) off. This is what worked for me. I did a lot of trouble shooting (disable SMS, trash plist, etc....), I use an external FW800 hard drive and my system drive has plenty of free space. I finally pinpointed it down to the Wi-Fi thing. Also, I don't really have other applications open while I'm working.