Logic Performance - TranceAddict Forums

TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Production Studio
-- Logic Performance

Posted by Chewporka on Nov-02-2004 23:29:

Logic Performance

I currently have Logic 5.5 running on a P4 2GHz with just over a 1Gb Ram and a 200GB HD. Its currently running very very sluggishly despite the memory upgrade even when running just a couple of instances of Vanguard and some wav percussion samples sequenced in.

If anyone else has computer with similar specs could you let me know at what point your pc starts to not handle itself well, i.e. how many instances of a well known vst it can handle?

Alternatively if anyone has any suggestions of what else I could try in terms of getting the performance more optimal from their experience then let me know?

Posted by Subtle on Nov-03-2004 00:03:

I ran Logic 5.5 just for fun... running 3 percussions layers.. Superwave Performer, V-Station and ES 2

Logic started to get sluggish.. (took 5-10 seconds even before it started to play.. which I then removed it.. running AMD 2500+ 1 GB RAM..

Posted by Chewporka on Nov-03-2004 00:53:

Thanks for the reply, well that is a similarly sized system and its sounds like a similar performance. Basically I was wondering if my system was running way below the level it should.

In that case what do you use??? I.e. Is Cubase known to use CPU power more effectively.

I currently get around this by bouncing everything, wav editing in Wavelab then sequencing in reason however this is fairly laborious.

Thoughts?

Posted by Subtle on Nov-03-2004 01:28:

I use Cubase SX 2.2.033.. most stable version I have tested so far.. I will never upgrade until there is released a s t a b l e version of Cubase SX 3

but I do think Logic can run audio tracks better than Cubase... not sure but it seems like it.. Cubase is very effiecent when it comes too running VST instruments.. and the Engine seems alot more stable than the Logic one.. i noticed alot of glips when playbacking loop inn Logic..

Posted by Chewporka on Nov-03-2004 03:15:

Sounds good. I will have to check it out. I use mainly Vst's anyway so will have to test Cubase and see how it runs.

Posted by Derivative on Nov-03-2004 07:01:

so you are gonna shell out a couple hundred quid on a new host which you will have to relearn from scratch just so you can clip off a little bit of cpu load? or you're gonna crack it? this is a bit ridiculous how some people on these boards can switch between (expensive) hosts at whim and seem to own every VSTi under the sun.

part of production is working within the limits of your host. every PC based producer is bound by cpu load. sure some can add 1 or 2 more z3tas than i can or you can cuz they got a better cpu. ultimately if you've got cpu to burn up, you will burn it up and you'll have to render the rest to wav loops. or you can save yourself the money (or the time it takes to illegally aquire a copy of cubase sx) and start getting into the habit of rendering all your stuff to wav loops and single shots from the beginning. just my 2 pennies.

Posted by echosystm on Nov-03-2004 07:33:

What OS are you running chewporka? Perhaps Logic may run better on older operating systems?

You could try 98 Lite, i think if you strip windows down to the bare essentials (good for DAW) it leaves a 20mb footprint in your RAM - something like that anyway.

I'm sure if logic really does run THAT bad all the pros who are still running it on PCs would have shot themselves in the head by now! Or perhaps they use a lot more hardware? Thought, getting macs seems to be the new trend these days

Posted by Jarjar on Nov-03-2004 10:33:

quote:
Originally posted by Derivative
so you are gonna shell out a couple hundred quid on a new host which you will have to relearn from scratch just so you can clip off a little bit of cpu load? or you're gonna crack it? this is a bit ridiculous how some people on these boards can switch between (expensive) hosts at whim and seem to own every VSTi under the sun.

Judging by his post, I don't think he's been running logic for too long... Might even be the demo version if there is one.

Posted by scoobz on Nov-03-2004 15:08:

As far as I know there isn't a demo version, there's a 'lite' version which doesn't do alot. Try enabling dma mastering on all hard drives, this takes the load off your cpu when streaming audio from a h/d. Other than that check you have the correct drivers for all hardware and use asio with a buffer size of 256 or greater, preferably 1024 or 2048. I use 256 when playing vstis earlier ina tracks life, then when I want maximum track/vst count crank it up to 2048. I have a VERY similar spec and can get 10-15 vsti and around 30-50 plugins. If using Xp do a search on how to optimize xp for audio use, it has alot of fancy features which you really don't need.

Hope this helps,

Scoobz

Posted by Chewporka on Nov-03-2004 21:57:

echosystm - running xp professional (but need the pc for other things as well) will look into it though.

Scoobz - thanks for all those tips, that post is magic, I will try and see the effect of all of those changes immediately. If I could get 5-10 running happily together I would be damn happy as I only like sequencing melody layers together while the rest I am happy bouncing.

Posted by echosystm on Nov-04-2004 01:39:

Have you considered dual booting? Having an insane fast OS like 98lite will give u a significant performance boost, people generally dont believe it until they see it for themselves! :P

That said, you are limited to FAT32 + the windows 95 shell. So, there are some downfalls - I don't use it because i dont have problems, and prefer NTFS cause i'm using raid. But, give it a go, and see if it fixes your issues.

www.litepc.com

You will need:
- Windows 98 Second Edition
- Windows 95 (or just the Windows 95 shell + some DLLs)

Do a clean install, and use the shell swap install method. Once installed get rid of as many windows "components" as possible. I think you will be able to, safely, remove the Microsoft web intergration BS completely - will free up like... 50% of your ram :P

I forgot, I havent even said what 98lite is! Its a program which installs Windows 98 on your computer, but uses the Windows 95 shell (cosmetic change only), and removes a whole pile of Microsoft crap that you don't need. Basically, you end up with a fast OS which boots in half the time of Windows XP

Posted by echosystm on Nov-04-2004 01:41:

Oh, also, make sure you get rid of internet explorer + outlook express, theyre both performance whores. Use firefox and thunderbird instead - because it is a DAW its no big deal not having IE + OE ;D

Posted by Chewporka on Nov-04-2004 03:40:

Legend!

Posted by trancintaiwan on Nov-05-2004 03:32:

ok.. i use same version of logic in windows xp w/ p4 2.24 ghz. 512 ram.

from what i heard, the amount of ram really won't help much with the cpu load. anyways, w/ my system i'm able to run 20-30 vsts w/ audio files, and numerous plugins. after this point it might start having some cpu overload occasionally.

basically my advice to you is to defragment your computer ALOT if your gonna be using logic. it might seem excessive but i noticed that if i defrag and restart the computer b4 every usage of logic, i can run more vsts and instruments smoother than b4. also be sure to close all unnecessary programs that might be open. on top of that, bouncing to disk is a very good idea too. what my partner and i do is bounce all our effects we make, or repeating themes and then load them up as audio files cause that eats up less cpu.

also, make sure its not your soundcard thats causing the lag.

i dunno... all i can say is that logic is great. i really need to save up money to get a g5 and logic 7

Posted by nec on Nov-05-2004 13:08:

I have 1,4ghz, 512 + 128mb ram. I run cubase and it runs awful (it freezes) when i put 4-5 vsti instruments in and a few plugins (nitro, omphboyz, ..)