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The almost predictable death of the Mac Pro line? (pg. 6)
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| lowski |
| Oh, I have installed Logic 9, Ableton, Scratch Live, Nexus2, Sylenth1, Massive, Nerve, FXpansion Synth Squad, Korg Legacy Bundle and a bunch of mixing plug ins from Audio Damage, FabFilter, PSP audioware, Sugar Bytes, Vengeance, Dada Life, KRK Ergo and some others I can't think of. Also I have a huge amount of wav samples and rex files. Out of a 500gb hard drive I have 219gb free.. Other then all that I haven't installed much just VLC, UnrarX and maybe a couple other things... I've tried to keep this computer as clean and uncluttered as possible. |
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| lowski |
| quote: | Originally posted by meriter
It's the Flash plugin. (seriously) |
So what can I do? |
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| meriter |
First I would uninstall Flash and make sure that is in fact what's causing your problem. Details on how to do that here: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/909/cpsid_90906.html
Safari version 5.1.1 might be worth trying. I don't know what version you are using, but with the most recent version of the Flash plugin installed, Safari handles it the best (on this machine anyway). If I use Firefox I get the same CPU spike you do when I go to reply to posts, but it doesn't happen in Safari (ver 5.1.1) and it still happens in Chrome but to a lesser extent. There's all kinds of gripes about this on the internet check this out: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/467880
This guy has it right:
| quote: | Would just like to comment that this issue is most certainly not a bug with Safari, as it appears in Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and various other open-source browsers that use the Flash plugin. It is not likely to be an issue solely with Mac OS X, as it had persisted in all recent versions of Flash, despite many architecture overhalls within the Mac OS, and also taking into consideration the wide implementation of open source code used in the OS, and the problems on both x86 processors as well as PowerPC and apparently even the iPhone processor (as indicated by Apple developers). Nothing else acts this way in OS X, not even graphically intense games or memory intensive applications.
In fact, running Firefox inside a Windows XP virtual machine (via Parallels) often results in better Flash performance than running natively. That is crazy. Nothing should perform better virtually than it does natively. Something is seriously wrong here.
This is a very widespread issue with Adobe Flash on the Macintosh platform, seemingly no matter what the hardware capabilities of the machine. Whether it turns out to be an issue in Mac OS X or the Adobe Flash code is a null issue. It needs to be resolved, through cooperation of both companies if need be. |
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| lowski |
Hi meriter, Thanks for the help. Ok, I uninstalled Adobe. I'm typing this reply while watching the Activity Monitor. Safari is averaging at %8-9 cpu and Content is avg at %10-15, which is half of what it was at before. The fan is really quiet!! Now if I could just get Logic to stop spiking..
Also, I'm using Safari 5.1.2 . Can I download the latest version of Adobe or while I get these spikes again?. |
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| DJ RANN |
| quote: | Originally posted by lowski
Hi meriter, Thanks for the help. Ok, I uninstalled Adobe. I'm typing this reply while watching the Activity Monitor. Safari is averaging at %8-9 cpu and Content is avg at %10-15, which is half of what it was at before. The fan is really quiet!! Now if I could just get Logic to stop spiking..
Also, I'm using Safari 5.1.2 . Can I download the latest version of Adobe or while I get these spikes again?. |
There's only one way to find out - it literally varies from system to system and it's a case of installing the latest version and seeing if it does it again. You can always uninstall if you need to.
Best way to install: Go to a flash site, and click the link to install when it says you need it.
Have you done repair disk permissions? ONce you do a install of a bunch of plugs or programs, you should really do it. Go to disk utility in applications and select the drive, then repair disk permissions. |
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| meriter |
| quote: | Originally posted by lowski
Now if I could just get Logic to stop spiking..
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I'm willing to bet you're experiencing 'normal' CPU activity in Logic. Depending on your buffer settings and sample rate, 1 instance of Massive could easily stress a core 2 duo machine (especially if it's one of the more demanding patches). Make sure your buffer settings are 1024.
If you start new projects from a project template make sure you don't have anything silly going on in the template that you didn't notice (like an aux channel with a linear phase eq or something)
I've really had no luck at all using the NI stuff in Logic. Crashed all the time, disappearing GUI, would always hang on quit ect. On top of that if you have 4 cores, Logic will default all third party stuff to the 4th core (as far as I can tell anyway). This is Logic's huge problem, core load distribution. Logic's own plugins seem to disperse evenly but as far as third party stuff it all defaults to the 4th core. So keep that in mind when you're piling on. Read this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3161
| quote: |
Also, I'm using Safari 5.1.2 . Can I download the latest version of Adobe or while I get these spikes again?. |
I would suggest downgrading Safari to 5.1.1 because that's what works for me, but I somehow doubt that's gonna fix your problem. Like I doubt there's gonna be a big different between 5.1.2 and 5.1.1. You can try earlier versions of the Flash plugin (like 10.x) if the most recent one gives you the same problems, or try different browsers like Chrome and spend the next couple weeks of your life trying different combinations of the two until you find something that works. There isn't a solution for this really. Flash is garbage. |
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| DJ RANN |
Meriter is right, some NI never quite sits right unless you find the exact combo that works for you.
For instance, I am using Battry and tried every version including even later "updates" but they all had major problems so I downgraded back to 3.04 and it's now working fine.
The buffer/sample rate thing is definitely one big thing to check, but also look at the drivers for your audio interface - OSX software update usually doesn't have the latest version - Go to the manufacturers website and download the latest one - that can make a massive difference to performance.
One other thing I found out the hard way recently is CHECK YOUR RAM!
My imac was struggling a little when I was using a lot of audio tracks and I just couldn't figure out the issue, until I physically pulled the RAM out.
Turns out, MacMall where I bought it from, went cheap on the 2Gb RAM (although they included it as "apple RAM") and it wasn't even the right ing speed! I had another couple of sticks of RAM from a recently dead laptop that just happened to be the right speed and the difference was a massive increase in track count and no more CPU error messages. |
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| lowski |
Hi RANN and meriter, you've both been really helpful. Ok I downloaded the latest version of Adobe and have found that I'm not getting these huge CPU spikes in Safari any more.
I also did 'repair disk permissions'. Everything seems to be running the same inLogic.
I looked at my buffer size and it was at 256 (default). I always thought if I increased the buffer size I would get a huge delay when playing midi keyboard, which I use all the time. Anyway I moved the buffer size to 1024, applied changes and the midi keyboard response is still reasonably fast...
I read through the link about how Logic uses different cores, Interesting stuff. I used to notice that only one of the audio cores would be at full while the other barely moved. In my current project the cores are pretty even.
About NI Massive; I have read that it is a huge CPU hog. I guess I'll just need an insanely fast computer... One more question. Any idea if NI stuff (Massive in particular) works better with Ableton?. I'm really loving Massive and want to keep using it.
I believe my audio interface drivers are up to date. I just bought KRK Ergo and I installed the latest versions of software and firmware. Everything seems to be working smooth.
How do I check my RAM? I googled it and I'm told system profiler, but where, under Memory correct?
Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR3
Speed: 1067 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x80CE
There is two of them, one in bank 0 and the other in bank 1. Does that seem right?.
Anyway thanks again for the help guys, it is appreciated!! |
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| Lunar Phase 7 |
And down the pipe they jump.
Slip and slide Apple. |
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| meriter |
| retina display dawg |
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| Lunar Phase 7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by meriter
retina display dawg |
Well it's not is it?
It's a flop. The presentation was dossy. They are starting to look a bit like Dell/Microsoft only without the business/education monopoly backing them up.
Days are numbered trust me brah. |
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