More Ram Isn't the Solution?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tju85
  • Start date Start date
Ok I'll check what my sample rate is tonight.

I don't think I fucked my computer up, because I just re-formatted it a couple months ago.

I could always do it again, just to start over again.


About recording to the external drive, I can just record to the iMac itself. Then, when I've finished tracking, move the folder over to the external drive.:rolleyes: Thats usually what I do.

And where is the menu where I can change my sample rate?:eek:
 
You say your disk I/O meter is staying low. It's probably OK to track to the internal drive if this is the case. I prefer to go external because you never know when the OS is going to use the internal drive for other applications or paging in/out parts of Logic itself. Extra RAM reduces, but doesn't eliminate, this possibility. It's one more thing to try.

In the main Logic window, click the Settings icon -> Audio... and you will get a Project Settings dialog. One of the options on this dialog is sample rate. Your FirePod drivers probably also have a control panel somewhere with a sample rate setting. This needs to agree with the rate in the Project Settings dialog, otherwise your Mac is doing sample rate conversion on the fly, and that can also chew up lots of CPU!
 
There were no drivers that I installed to run the firepod. It was just plug and play straight into the firewire port on my iMac.
 
Did you look at the System Preferences -> Sound control panel?

How about the Audio Midi Setup app? It's in the Utilities folder under Applications.
 
Something is eating up your resources! If it were a PC I'd say look for spyware, virus's, etc.
But something is definitely not right here. I'd look at other parts of your system in addition to your music aps.

I run 15-18 tracks, writing to an external usb drive, running tons of plug-ins, on a P3 pc with 512 RAM with no problems whatsoever.
 
doubt it's an issue with the external drive. I've done full 5.1 mixes in studios off of my firewire drive without too much protesting (pro tools threw a few fits, but logic was well behaved). a USB drive is probably a problem though. USB can only read or write at once, not both... as well as the fact that unless your using USB2. it's insanely slow. Firewire 400 will give you better results than USB2 even. Firewire 800, better yet!

It's kind of baffling, your problem. If you're using all the Logic plugs...those are very cpu efficient. BTW...do you know how to use freeze files? right click on the area where it shows solo mute the name of the track and all of that and click on something that says something like customize... check freeze (why the hell is it off by default???). It'll take tracks out of the ram temporarily (as long as the freeze button is selected), and render it as an audio file and read from that. THis is also great if you do some stuff at multiple logic studios with different plugins...
 
tju85 said:
Here is the problem. I had only been able to get about 3-4 tracks at a time, with 4 plug in effects on each track, and then Logic would say "System Overload" or w/e it says.

I recently bought more ram for it, so now I have 2.5GB ram, thinking this would solve the problem.

I thought adding more ram would solve this. Was I wrong?
Click to expand...

The only other thing I can suggest besides ditching the USB drive would be trying it without effects and see how many tracks you can handle.

It might be something specific to the particular effects you are using. If we're talking about four convolution reverbs on each track, yeah, you would just need a faster CPU. If we're talking about something more lightweight, that's really not a lot of plugins or tracks.... I used to work with 20-odd tracks at a time on a 233 MHz G3 with EQ on almost every track....

Only being able to handle four tracks at once is definitely not typical behavior.

What version of Mac OS X are you running?
 
tju85 said:
There were no drivers that I installed to run the firepod. It was just plug and play straight into the firewire port on my iMac.
Click to expand...

You should go to the Presonus site & DL their latest drivers, just to be on the safe side
 
I've had little luck realizing any performance improvements with adding memory.

I've got a Dual 2GHz G5 PowerMac. I was running a big project in Cubase (30+ tracks, approx 35 real-time plug-ins) with only half a gig of RAM, but was running out of processing power.

I upgraded to 2.5 gig of RAM, re-loaded the exact same project and saw absolutely NO difference whatsoever in CPU headroom.

It may help other things like VSTi's, but in my case I don't use those that much.

The other thing to consider is that iMac's don't necessarily have the same internal architecture as the PowerMac's.

All G5's were not created equal. Even though the processor speed may be advertised as 2GHz, the iMac's have traditionally used lower bus speeds relative to that of their big brother, the PowerMac G5, at the same processor clock speed.
The difference can be quite pronounced in my experience.

On top of that, I've found that Logic can be processor-heavy for doing large projects (30-50 tracks) relative to other DAW offerings.

The extra memory has become more of a myth for audio than reality.
 
Yeah, the "more RAM" advice is VERY old news. :(

I was running 24 track projects with several plugins, etc...with only 512 of RAM just a couple of years ago before I built this computer, which only has 1gb of RAM. More RAM DOES NOT equate to more:

Plugins (not counting VSTi's and DXi's...)
Track count UNLESS your software is some ancient POS that still stores the project in RAM!!! :eek:

If you are running VSTi's and DXi's, indeed, you might need some more RAM if you have a fairly complicated project going on, but I just can't see a guy needing more than 1gb of RAM unless he is running a LOT of virtual instruments. 2gb should be PLENTY for ANY audio project!

My cpu, an AMD XP 2600+ is not doing me any favors though! Two years ago, this was a decent cpu, but now it is grossly under powered for running big projects.

Faster CPU DOES equate to:

More plugins

For track counts, that is mostly on your hard drives throughput capability. RPM's effect it slightly, but the biggest improvement you will notice is drives with more cache. More CACHE EQUATES to:

Higher track counts.

I seriously doubt that you problem has ANYTHING to do with your internal hard drive. I do agree that tracking to a external USB drive is a poor idea and should be avoided. Firewire is a far more robust buss to deal with, but even it has it's limitations, depending upon what else is ultimately going on the PCI buss. Internal hard drives will give you the best performance, with the least CPU tax. At most, the hard drive controller might require 2 or 3% of the CPU, but seldomly even that!

Plugins ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL!!! Something like the Waves Master Bundle plugins will tax you HEAVILY! Reverbs are horrible on the CPU!!! I am sure there are others that tax the CPU greatly too!

I am no Mac user, so I really have no recommendations on where to start. I can only clear up some of the horrible misrepresentations of facts that have been presented to you. I am no Logic user either, so I cannot attest to it's performance/problems/solutions.

Good luck. ;)
 
Ford Van said:
If you are running VSTi's and DXi's, indeed, you might need some more RAM if you have a fairly complicated project going on, but I just can't see a guy needing more than 1gb of RAM unless he is running a LOT of virtual instruments.
Click to expand...
I have a couple of NI Battery factory presets that I will NOT load with that amount of RAM.

Other than this one nitpic, I'd say that Ford Van's post is pretty much spot on. More RAM is helpful specifically if you use a lot of soft samplers (even soft synths don't use much RAM) or large sample libraries (such as VSL, and other orchestral libraries), and to a much lesser extent time based effects (delays, reverbs, and the like).
 
Bulls Hit said:
You should go to the Presonus site & DL their latest drivers, just to be on the safe side
Click to expand...

There are no Mac drivers for the FIREPOD. It uses the built-in AppleFWAudio.kext as its driver.
 
noisewreck said:
Other than this one nitpic, I'd say that Ford Van's post is pretty much spot on. More RAM is helpful specifically if you use a lot of soft samplers (even soft synths don't use much RAM) or large sample libraries (such as VSL, and other orchestral libraries), and to a much lesser extent time based effects (delays, reverbs, and the like).
Click to expand...

More RAM also allows Mac OS X to cache disk accesses, which helps a lot if your DAW abuses disk accesses or you are using a high latency (external) drive.

Know this, though: I have never had any luck dealing with high track counts on an external disk with other DAWs (though I haven't tried with Logic). The latency bites you in the rear. With a high latency disk, a lot of DAW software doesn't preflight the data far enough in advance to have it ready in the buffer when it needs it, and things go downhill from there.
 
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