Hi guys, sorry if the topic is not in the right place but I’m new to the forum.
I’ve a problem mixing a 30 tracks project using the “ultimate mixing workflow”: after I mixed the first 10 track (with 5/6 plugins each track) the audio device overload! I’ve tried to increment the I/O buffer size without any result!
Are I using too many plugins per track or the audio device has some problem/limit?
P.S. I’m using logic X with fab-filter, slate digital and valhalla plugins, the audio driver is a tascam us-1800 and the computer is a mac book pro.
hey benz. without knowing your computer specs I can’t say exactly what your issues are but yes the MMW Channel Strip flow can get CPU intensive. first off when doing mixdowns or music in general, make sure you close out all other software, apps, and wifi. only use your daw and plugins. in Logic X make sure yo have enough cores enabled. if its set to automatic then set it the max number of cores. you can check if its using all your cores with the Logic cpu meter in the transport. then set the buffer to 1028 or higher for mixing. you’ll then need to enable freeze in the track header. then make sure to set freeze type to prefader. now after you apply the channel strip to each track and dial it in, the freeze the tracks. this will help you tremendously
Hi guys i tried to increase the buffer size, to enable the maximum number of core and to freeze already mixed tracks. it seems to work! Now I’m continuing with the mix but this seems the right way to avoid CPU overload! I hope I do not have to write about this topic anymore.
Endless thanks to the help.
P.S. I use a macbook pro with a core Intel i7 quad core 2.5Hz, 16gb ram, and 512gb of internal memory. Not the best but still a good computer.
I am probably the odd one out, but I have never got the whole mac thing!
I went from Atari 1040 to PC and have never been tempted by the mac. When I look at £ for £ ($ for$), there is no comparison. I run full mixes with silly amounts of Slate etc (we all struggle with ProMB!) and don’t have to keep bouncing/freezing. When I have 40-50 channels, then I may bounce the kit and bass just to stop the CPU spiking by the time I get to the FX, but by then, there are a lot of plugins at work. The cost of my PC was similar to a mid spec mac at the time. The spec on my PC was ridiculously expensive if spec’d up on mac. As in 3-4x the PC price.
Are there any other PC users or is it literally just me?!
Elton I used to be a PC guy. I always heard ‘buy a MAC, you’ll never go back’ and I would always counter with very similar points you brought up. well in 2008 my PC finally died and I bought a MAC. here I am in 2017 and I never looked back. I’m an IT major and so I work with both quite in depth. Windows 10 is so much more stable than 98 or NT was and its actually grown on me. with that being said I still would never exclusively go back to a PC. OSX is built on Unix, tried and true. Gates went against traditional wisdom when he built his OS from the ground up and its taken him 30 years to get a stable build. anyhow we could go on forever with the MAC/PC debate and really at the end of the day its more about what you personally feel comfortable using. both MAC and PC are ample for the jobs required of them in this day and time. one thing you don’t see as much of in production forums or the general mid-range producer field is high end mac users (due to cost). most use laptops and for music that is why we suffer the performance. you simply cannot compare a MACbook Pro with a well built PC desktop on performance. you are right, bang for buck the PC will outperform the MBP every time. I will say though that most studios (both video and music), film creation, engineering, design, and architecture firms, and gaming developers (that I’ve visited or am aware of) almost always use MAC, usually towers or IMACs. there is a general go-by in the world of computers and companies- ‘if business, PC, if creative, then MAC’.
Hi @Elton, how I’ve just said before now I’m a mac guy even if up to two years ago (when I approached the mix) I was a pc user.
According to you and @sight, there are no comparison in terms of cost and performance between my macbook pro and a well built desktop pc (also because a desktop allows you to update hardware).
Saying that I think the professional studios almost use mac because is very user friendly and the absence of drivers takes away several thoughts.
Just looking at the monetary aspect if I decide between a desktop PC or a macbook (the tower) I would probably choose the first one. But, considering all the comforts reached in the passage to a macbook pro, personally, I would be willing to pay the surplus and buy apple.
As @sight said above, I also think that both technologies are at a level that allows them to reach the same finished product on both platforms. But I would like to point out that in the laptop the price difference between apple and windows is not as abysmal as in desktops, and that the same hardware on a mac guarantees greater performance.
In conclusion, it is up to each of us to choose what to use according to our needs, experiences and budget, but I’m convinced that pc users are still many and, conversely, they will grow because today it is possible to use high level software even with windows, which, as far as I know, was not possible until recently.
I have used Logic Pro X and I’ve moved to Cubase 9-9.5 both can suffer when we add a lot of plugins. If you’re having issues, try freezing each track as you finish or are not working on it. It’s a pain I know but it should stop some of the overloads you’re experiencing.
I definitely get the laptop bit. I used to run my setup on a fairly powerful windows laptop and there is no way I could do what I do now on a Windows laptop. So on laptop, it’s not the same comparison.
I’m not an Apple hater. I am replying in my iPhone because my ‘laptop’ (iPad pro) is at home!! @TheSheep was working in my studio at the weekend and at some point said we need to be careful, we will be maxing the cpu out. I was surprised at that stage of the mix to be thinking about CPU, so took a look and it was half asleep!!
What I also see (as a web guy) is the same as the PHP/ASP argument. For the non coders, they are 2 languages (Linux/Windows native). If you work in PHP, guess what, it is way better than ASP. But wait a minute, the next guy (who happens to work in ASP) told me that ASP is way better?? I have worked in both and try not to get hung up on the fan boy stuff. As @sight says, these days it’s like cars. You don’t really get a bad one. OK, not entirely true but you get the point.
Now, may the great debate continue…
Logic or Cubase??!!!
Come on, now that doesn’t need debating, surely it’s just whether you want to work in a real (cross platform) DAW??
hahaha. well we can all be in accord that ProTools is the lamest. I actually am a bit of a PT hater because I went to school for it and have real world experience comparing it to other DAWs. once any electronic musician gets ‘unstuck’ from PT and tries another DAW, life will surely change for them. I’ve actually never used Cubase so I can’t comment on it. My take on DAWs I have used is that Ableton is unmatched for efficiency in the production stage. Logic and PT have amazing sound engines, routing capabilities, and GUI’s and are great for mixing (with PT being the absolute worst for the creation stage). I really like Studio One. The design of the DAW itself is leagues above the other DAWs but Presonus really needs to work on their coding because the CPU usage is a major issue. well this post really belongs in the DAW Wars thread but hey, you asked for it Elton !
“I use a macbook pro with a core Intel i7 quad core 2.5Hz, 16gb ram, and 512gb of internal memory. Not the best but still a good computer”
Dude you have a great mac haha well I have a vaio 4 gb ram dual core , i5 and my workflow
is exporting audio that the process I always do, I have your same issue!
Hi @TheSheep,
thank you for your help! Freezing the track as suggested by you and @sight work perfectly!
thanks a lot!
Talking about @Elton’s new debate I’m relatively new in music production. In these two year I had the possibility to use mainly logic. Rarely I used studio one and digital performer. In my opinion logic is awesome because it allow you to made and finalize in the same platform in a very easy way with an user friendly GUI. Personally I agree with how @sight said on logic. Even studio one is a very good DAW but I used it only a few times so I can’t comment on it significantly. Finally like sight I’ve never used Cubase so I can’t judge it.
hahahaha lets the saga continues.
Thank you @lexwolker! Fortunately they are all audio tracks.
