How To Manage CPU Usage In Logic Pro | Avoiding System Overloads

These days, computers can emulate almost all music production tools gear digitally and bring a complete virtual studio behind a screen. Though powerful, that doesn’t mean computer processors are without their limits.

If you’ve worked on large projects in Logic Pro, chances are you’ve encountered system overload alerts. Even worse, adding too many tracks and CPU-hungry plugins might freeze Logic, leaving you with no option but to force quit the program and risk losing some (if not all) of your progress.

Because of this, it is vital to manage processing performance to ensure you get optimal results and won’t face limitations or interruptions due to inefficient CPU usage.

Processing audio files is a dynamic task, and so is the pressure Logic puts on your computer during different stages of creating music. Therefore, it is important to adjust settings based on what you’re doing in Logic. In this post, I will show you how you can optimize CPU usage before starting a project, during production, and for mixing.

Settings And Preparations Before Starting A Project

There are measures you can take before starting to produce in Logic to find the right balance between quality and processor requirements. First and foremost, it’s best to close other apps to ensure your CPU cores aren’t busy processing other tasks.

The next thing you’d want to address is your project’s sample rate. A higher sample rate results in higher audio quality, but it requires more processing power. It is important to set the sample rate before you start recording audio since changing the sample rate mid-session can damage your audio files.

•  Click “File” from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Hover your pointer on “Project Settings” and select “Audio…”
•  Adjust the sample rate from the pop-up menu.

Typically, you’d want 48 kHz for an industry-standard song. Click here to learn more about choosing the right sample rate for your projects.

Once you’ve selected your sample rate, let’s take a look at some of the audio settings you can change for a more balanced performance.

Apple has equipped its newer computers with Silicon chips that are significantly faster and more power efficient than Intel-based processors. The M1 chip, for instance, comes with four efficiency cores and four high-performance cores. By default, Logic will only use high-performance cores for processing complex tasks. This allows your computer to run smoothly and operate other tasks while you’re using Logic.

If you’re running maxing out your CPU with multiple plugins and tracks, you can change Logic’s settings so that it uses all of your CPU cores for playback:

•  Click “Logic Pro” from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Hover your pointer on “Settings” and select “Audio…”
•  From the settings menu, change Processing Threads to the last available option.

Bear in mind that engaging all of your CPU cores for processing audio in Logic can compromise the responsiveness of your computer while working on large projects.

While you’re in this menu, you can also adjust Multithreading. When set to “Playback & Live Tracks,” Logic uses multiple threads for processing audio when recording multiple audio and software instrument tracks. This ensures all of the tracks are captured with optimal quality, but takes slightly more processing power from your computer. If you’re not live tracking multiple instruments, change it to “Playback Tracks.”

Customizing the LCD strip at the top of Logic’s workspace is one of the first adjustments you’d want to make when you start working with Logic. One of the things that I highly recommend adding is the performance meter.

•  Control-click the LCD strip and click “Customize Control Bar and Display…”
•  Under the LCD column, check the box next to “Performance Meter (CPU/HD).”

The performance meter allows you to always keep an eye on how much stress you’re putting on your CPU and can help you prevent overloading your system.

Managing CPU Performance During Production

Now that we’ve prepared our project’s settings for our session, let’s go ahead and see what we can do to manage CPU performance during production. Our strategies might differ depending on the type of tracks and plugins we’re working on.

One of the main issues with monitoring audio inputs during music production is too much latency. Absolute zero latency is unobtainable. However, we want the latency level to be as low as possible so that we can register what we play (or sing) and what we hear as the same event.

The I/O buffer size determines how much time your computer has to process the input audio, run the chain of effects and plugins, and send it out to your output device. The less time you give it, the more horsepower it requires to operate that task in real-time. So, although a lower buffer size can give us less latency, It can lead to clicks and glitchy sounds in the playback, or even result in a system overload.

To change the I/O buffer size:

•  Click “Logic Pro” From the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Hover your pointer on “Settings” and select “Audio…”
•  Change the I/O buffer size from the pop-up window.
•  Click “Apply.”

Ideally, you’d want your I/O buffer size to be no more than 256 samples when recording so that you don’t hear a jarring latency when monitoring without putting too much strain on your CPU.

A very critical strategy for CPU efficiency during music production is using sends for plugins in Logic. Instead of adding the same effect plugin on different tracks, we can bus that effect to an auxiliary channel and send the tracks through it. In this way, the computer has to process that plugin in particular only once instead of multiple times.

This is particularly useful when working with reverbs and delays. I have thoroughly explained how to bus reverb and delay in a YouTube video tutorial.

Another way to free up CPU resources is to freeze tracks that have heavy plugins and software instruments. Freezing a track makes Logic render it as a simple audio file. Once you freeze a track, you cannot edit the effects chain, unless you unfreeze it.

Prepping Files And Settings For Mixing

Once you’re happy with your tracks and the effect plugins, it’s time to prep the files for the mixing session.

One of the first things you’d want to do before starting a mixing session is maximize the I/O buffer size. Since you’re no longer recording audio, latency in monitoring audio is no longer a concern. So, it’s best to increase your buffer size sample to lower the pressure Logic puts on your processor.

 Moreover, you’d want to convert your software instruments to audio tracks. You’d only want software instrument tracks when you’re actively working on them. Besides significantly freeing up the computer’s CPU, bouncing software instruments creates a mental commitment that allows you to move forward with your project. Here’s how you do it:

•  Control-click on a software instrument region.
•  Hover your pointer on “Bounce and Join” and select “Bounce in Place.”

Logic will create a new audio track containing the original software instrument with all the effects as an audio region.

Final Thoughts On Managing CPU In Logic Pro

Managing CPU performance is a critical step to avoid facing unnecessary problems and limitations when creating music. If you overload your system and Logic freezes up, knowing how to force quit Logic Pro safely can be a lifesaver.

If your computer struggles to run your projects smoothly and reliably even after implementing the methods above, you might want to look into getting a new Mac for music production.

For more guides on producing, mixing, and mastering, check out my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster guidebook.