Specs, DAW Computer, Opinions

[Sascha Franck]

What are your buffer settings in Logic? Once you start mixing (for which you don‘t need low latency) you can raise the buffer to get more processing headroom.

Doesn't matter in Logic as soon as no "live" track (virtual instrument or record armed audio track) is selected (as what you suggest in your second tip), simply because all "just playback" tracks will be processed at a fixed buffersize of 1024 samples.

 

[DrewJD82]

FWIW, Ozone is a CPU hog and a half. My iMac has 32G of RAM and if I put Ozone on the master bus I get enough latency when recording that I have to remove Ozone. Shutting it off doesn’t work, it has to be removed. I know this was a common complaint about it a few years ago, I think it’s Ozone 9, not sure if things have changed since then.

I can stack up multiple instances of the EastWest stuff, big string/choir libraries and whatever other plug-ins I want on a sh*tload of tracks, everything runs fine, but one instance of Ozone will jack the whole thing up. Even if there’s minimal tracks/plug-ins.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I am a registered mac hater, yet I have been unable to find the project I can't run on a 16gb M1 MBP I use for testing compatibility. It makes me mad how powerful it is, especially how long the battery lasts. There are still 4 trillion reasons to prefer windows, but an M1 with 16gB shouldn't be holding anyone back

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Doesn't matter in Logic as soon as no "live" track (virtual instrument or record armed audio track) is selected (as what you suggest in your second tip), simply because all "just playback" tracks will be processed at a fixed buffersize of 1024 samples.

I don‘t think that‘s correct. There is definitely a difference in processing power headroom when I playback a session with a buffer of 32 vs. 256. And apart from that Logic usually auto-arms instrument tracks when selected (a setting that can be changed, though).

 

[SeeD]

Yeah when recording is `done` bump up the buffer to max ( I have it at 2048 I think ) That should make it easy to have Ozone on the Bus/Master tracks.
I would test the buffer thing first, that would give you a lot of room on the CPU

 

[Whizzinby]

Buffer settings are VERY important. Go to the Devices pane in Logic‘s Audio Preferences window and start with a an I/O Buffer Size of 128, that‘s usually a good starting point for most USB interfaces. As you start to increase the buffer (which means more processing headroom) you‘ll see that the latency will go up. You‘ll want to find a buffer setting that‘s a good compromise between enough processing headroom and acceptable latency. If you set the buffer too low, you will get playback hiccups when you add more plugins. If you set the buffer too high, you will start to feel the latency when playing guitar or bass.

View attachment 7342

I checked and I had it set to 128

 

[Sascha Franck]

I don‘t think that‘s correct.

Well, it has been for decades (and I know it first hand). I'll set up a test when being back home.

 

[Sascha Franck]

and if I put Ozone on the master bus I get enough latency when recording that I have to remove Ozone. Shutting it off doesn’t work,

There's a serious issue with latency introducing plugins on the master bus in Logic. They will mess with recording offsets even when bypassed (on all other channel types they don't - not even on busses, which proves that it's a bug).
As a rule of thumb you never, ever use any such plugins as long as you might still want to record something.

 

[DrewJD82]

There's a serious issue with latency introducing plugins on the master bus in Logic. They will mess with recording offsets even when bypassed (on all other channel types they don't - not even on busses, which proves that it's a bug).
As a rule of thumb you never, ever use any such plugins as long as you might still want to record something.

I use plenty of other plugins on the master bus all the time, Ozone is the only one that does it to me.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I use plenty of other plugins on the master bus all the time, Ozone is the only one that does it to me.

Maybe they're not introducing latency.
Fwiw, even Logic's own Adaptive Limiter does it.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

There's a serious issue with latency introducing plugins on the master bus in Logic. They will mess with recording offsets even when bypassed (on all other channel types they don't - not even on busses, which proves that it's a bug).
As a rule of thumb you never, ever use any such plugins as long as you might still want to record something.

That‘s one of the quirky little things in Logic that just don‘t make much sense to me. Why are bypassed plugins still inducing latency? Why do I have to enable low-latency mode to really bypass them?

 

[Whizzinby]

So I’m working on my TGF submission last night and it popped up again. Notably this is without ANY mixing/mastering plugs running. (Not sure if it’s fit for human consumption yet) Just GGD, Darkglass, two instances of SLO and one Cali for my various instrument buses.

Interestingly, the stutter and midi clock issues didn’t start until on one section I started putting a lot of ride cymbal notes. Like instead of just one hit per beat in 4/4, I added an eight note ride pattern and every time on playback it gets to that part it starts stuttering. Not enough to stop playback, and when an error message pops up I can power through it, but surely this f’ing thing can handle a slightly faster ride pattern.

 

[fretworn]

M2 32gb here … neutron4 on instruments and ozone10 on the stereo master bus

There are actually two different instances of ozone10 running here… I toggle between them; no sweat.

64 samples w/ the AxeFx3

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

Yeah when recording is `done` bump up the buffer to max ( I have it at 2048 I think ) That should make it easy to have Ozone on the Bus/Master tracks.
I would test the buffer thing first, that would give you a lot of room on the CPU

This is great advice. Also, I assume by now all DAW's must have a "Freeze tracks" feature which will render high cpu plugs and VST's to audio. The plugin will remain in place so you can unfreeze to make any changes and freeze it again to lower CPU. It was a huge feature before the quad core 4GHz cpu's became common. But I assume it could still be useful if you're maxing out your machine.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Basically what everyone else has already said. I’ve got that exact computer, running Logic, Amplitube 5, Native, Toontrack shit, etc. it NEVER runs out of steam.
Definitely scoop the Neural poop off, and it’ll run like a boss.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I don‘t think that‘s correct. There is definitely a difference in processing power headroom when I playback a session with a buffer of 32 vs. 256.

Wanted to get back to that. Have a look, switching between 32 and 1024 samples here with no output track selected. Takes a while on this old Mac Pro to switch and I had it running for a few cycles each time to establish the load-to-thread distribution.
No noticeable difference.

 

[Whizzinby]

I’m waiting to see when the last of the Neural plugs I use consistently (SLO, Darkglass) get native support updates to see if that helps, as I’m still consistently having to deal with performance issues, especially once I start heaping on Soothe, Neutron and Ozone. One thing I’m curious about though is GetGoodDrums because I’ve noticed is I’ll start getting some stuttering and occasional midi sync errors when I get to particularly busy part of a drum track (Lots of double bass, or fast ride/hihat patterns) even if I haven’t yet added the Izotope stuff.

Stares at the totally unnecessary M2 Mac Studio.

 

[jellodog]

#prayforwhizz

If one or two plugins are unnecessarily thrashing your M1, then an M2 is unlikely to help. You'll just be minus a few grand with similar issues.

 

[Whizzinby]

#prayforwhizz

But yeah, if you've got one or two plugins that are unnecessarily thrashing your M1, then an M2 is unlikely to help. You'll just be down a couple of grand with similar issues.

Yeah, but I can’t upgrade the friggin RAM on the Mini.

Im curious now if GGD is causing performance issues on top of the Neural plugs.

 

[jellodog]

Yeah, but I can’t upgrade the friggin RAM on the Mini.

Im curious now if GGD is causing performance issues on top of the Neural plugs.

I dunno. I'm just not fully convinced that RAM is your problem.

I'm thinking that If I can run multiple JVM instances with memory hog databases and multiple browsers with hundreds of tabs open on my M1 with 16GB of RAM, and experience no problems; then you really ought to be able to run "average" demand audio processing with what you've already got (which is the same hardware as me).