Recently Upgraded to Mac Studio, Performance in Logic Currently Very Disappointing

I'm coming from a quad-core i7 with 32GB of RAM from around 2016. While it served me well, it was certainly reaching it's limitations, and I was pondering an upgrade. Unfortunately it mostly died before then, though I was able to salvage the files on an external drive.


I was very excited upgrading to a 64GB unified memory, 10-Core, M1 Max Chip Mac Studio. I've read the M1 Max is incredible, and combined with doubling the memory I had it sounded like an excellent solution to my problems. I went through the painstaking process of re-downloading all my plug-ins because of M1 compatibility and updates. (side note, I use 2 external hard drives but mostly for storage. I have everything installed and running of the internal drive). When I finally got around to opening the project file(s) with the overwhelming majority of the plug-ins working, it seemed to slow/fail at the same points (and more) as my old computer, citing a "sample rate" error, and looking at it, the CPU bar is maxed.


This seems ridiculous, as every Apple rep I talked to tried to say I didn't need to buy the 64GB unified memory version because of "how far memory tech has come since my last computer, and how much of an upgrade the M1 chip is". But then the performance is almost worse than my 32GB i7 4-core that had been almost left on/running since 2016. I do use many effects plug-ins, and many instrument plug-ins and some Audio, but really thought that a computer with twice the specifications and over 7 years of technological advancement would be able to handle where.


Now, it is an old project file from a fairly old OS (I want to say Sierra 10.12) and older version of Logic, but after it loads it mentions that it should be alright. I'm utilizing a Komplete Audio 2 Audio Interface, if that changes/helps anything. Is there any way of optimizing the Mac or Logic Pro so that I don't run into these issues? Please don't suggest freezing or bouncing to audio, as the reason I spent so much on the upgrade was to be able to work freely without having to do that. Which, I know every computer will have it's limitations but this should be able to massively exceed it's predecessor on the same project files.


Possibly related other issues I'm having are: Start-up time was over 15 minutes last time I turned it on from off. I read somewhere that may have to do with old files/software that the M1 was having issues with or something. But if that's causing issues maybe it's causing further strain on the computers performance?

Also, every time I open Logic it scans ~240 plug-ins, the majority of which seemingly get validated, except for 12 or 13 that don't. It showed ~430 after I reset the component cache, but after opening Logic once it goes back to the consistent ~240. This is an issue I'd really like resolved because of inconvenience but, if it's unrelated, first and foremost I need to fix the performance first.


I really hope there's some answers/solutions because I am currently massively disappointed after spending several hours setting this up thinking it'll be so much better just to run into the same issues.


Thank you so much for your time and help,

  • Z

Mac Studio, macOS 12.6

Posted on Jan 4, 2023 9:04 AM

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Jan 4, 2023 1:44 PM in response to mike530db

First try this:


When you get home, install PLUGINFO - a free utility from the App store. Use it to identify plugins on your new machine that are Intel 64 (require Rosetta) or full M1 Native (ARM64). It is gold.


Any files it finds that are particularly large file size, may be Universal 2 Binaries - these are not fully Native, they are wrapped Intel64 apps and they can be problematic. Copy and paste all of the outputs into a Google Sheet for future access so you have a record of any spurious free plugins or whatever that you don't still have installers for. This way you can keep track of quality plugins versus the garbage that you're going to need to avoid.


A potential fix for you (this worked for me)


I'd suggest doing the following. It is painstaking and annoying, but it was the only thing that seems to have resolved the issues with my MacStudio. I have the identical configuration to you - M1 Max 10 Core, 32 Core GPU, 64 GB Ram, 2TB SSD, and was plagued with CPU spikes, latency issues, slow starts, sudden crashes, sync issues, sample rate issues, glitches, pops, crackles, playhead restarting for no reason etc etc etc etc.


Back up project files, settings, samples, plugin presets, channel strips, performances, and anything you don't want to lose, onto your external drives. Disconnect the drives fully.

If you use Google Drive or Dropbox or anything like that - make sure they are backed up somewhere else and switch them off fully


A BIG NEXT STEP - a complete wipe and reinstall of Monterey


  • Deactivate Find My Mac and check to see if iCloud is running (it may be without you knowing). If it's running, switch off anything that is backing up, then deactivate it
  • Run the Erase all content and data assistant on the MacStudio - it's in settings
  • Let it reload in Recovery mode (make sure you have deactivated Find my Mac and iCloud first)
  • Reinstall Monterey from scratch - set it up as a brand new machine (try to avoid Ventura if you can, it is not yet stable with the majority of third party developer software)
  • Immediately make sure that iCloud is not running and if it is make sure to uncheck and make sure nothing is being backed up to (or from it). Switch off iCloud completely.
  • Do not install anything else for now
  • Let it run over night, it'll index fully


See next post>

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Jan 4, 2023 1:53 PM in response to mike530db

Next day:


  • Check Activity Monitor - look to see if it's stable and there should be literally nothing running in the CPU
  • DO NOT INSTALL Google Drive or Dropbox or Timemachine or anything like that - don't load any other software onto it yet
  • Install Logic Pro from the App store
  • Load it, then install the full Logic sound bank
  • When it's finished, restart your Mac
  • DO NOT YET INSTALL Native Access or your Control Surface (Midi Keyboard)
  • Open Logic - In your Logic settings - set it to 128 Buffer, Multithreading (Automatic), Large, 64 Bit (this is standard but in case it's at other settings). In Sampler settings - turn buffer to Large and Extensive. In Midi settings, make sure Midi 2.0 is not selected (this caused issues for me previously when it was selected)
  • Create a fresh clean project (44.1k) and test the stock Logic plugins and audio only (Do not load a project from your external drive yet). Use performance monitor and Activity Monitor to look at CPU etc and observe the cores to see if they are working as expected
  • Restart your Mac
  • Create a fresh clean project (48k), do the same, stock plugins only, audio only, trial and error, try and push it to see how synths and fx operate
  • If all is working as expected on Core Audio only, close Logic fully, then you can install Native Access to enable you to install Komplete Audio 2 (Do not yet install any other Native Instruments plugins)
  • Reboot your Mac
  • Check if the Audio Interface has been detected and is working as expected with Stock Logic plugins only
  • Then install your control surface (midi controller) - and only if you're 100% sure it runs 100% natively in M1


See next post>

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Jan 4, 2023 1:54 PM in response to mike530db

Then:


If you're happy with the performance then you can start to install 3rd party - 1 at a time. Load the installer, check in Pluginfo to make sure they are actually compatible each time, test them in Logic and check for issues, then reboot after each one and try the next.


After ever install and test, then reboot your mac. Let it reindex if necessary, then move onto the next plugin. I would avoid trying to do too many in one day - just slowly do it, a couple a day, testing and validating them


Personally, I would avoid Native Instruments, Izotope, IK Multimedia and Waves plugins for now. Some of them are not properly stable yet on M1 and in particular on M1Max. You can always put them on at a later stage but they've caused me nothing but issues so far.


I have successfully loaded and tested:


  • Arturia - Pigments, V Collection 9, FX 3 Collection (Pigments uses multicore and is incredibly CPU heavy)
  • Audio Thing - various plugins, all fine
  • Baby Audio - various plugins, all fine
  • U-He (Diva also uses multicore but can be reduced to less resources)
  • Kilohearts (Phaseplant can have significant latency depending on the patches you use or create)
  • Newfangled Audio - All of them are fine but Invigorate in particular is quite resource hungry
  • Plugin Alliance (some - not all - many are not M1 Native and so I've only installed the native ARM64 only)
  • Softube - all fine although Harmonic Distortion has quite significant latency
  • Soundtoys V5 (although EffectRack in the suite is buggy and caused a crash - but does work)
  • Some of the SSL range (Drumstrip, Vocal Strip - both fine - others through Plugin Alliance are not native M1)
  • Valhalla - the whole suite, all fine


There are no Intel 64 or Universal 2 binaries on my machine now and so far, it's working with good performance. I've got a test project running with 32 channels, 48k with tons of 24bit audio and various processing on each channel and busses, multiple instances of Diva & pigments with relatively complex midi progressions (they are labour intensive and I want to test how the CPUs handle it), Phaseplant, Ana2, Kick2, and tons of Arturia FX and Softube instances - it runs currently in the busy parts of the arrangement at about 40% CPU across all the cores, with occasional spikes to 70% or so from Pigments and Soundtoys and during intense parts of automation - but it's not glitching and the latency is acceptable enough.


It's worth noting, I have not yet moved my I/O buffer from 128 to higher (or lower) and I am honestly nervous to do so. At 10 channels I started to find the latency frustrating because it does introduce some clicks and pops. Arturia claim their software works best at 256, however this introduces 8 to 10ms of latency and for me is unplayable, even with auto quantise, and only usable under low-latency mode. This is unexpected, I had assumed M1Max could multi-task and have tons of channels with low latency no problem, but it does have some quite obvious limitations, especially for VSTs that utilise Multicore. M1 does not play nicely with Multicore instruments.


  • ALCHEMY (Stock Logic) is absolute garbage on M1 - it spikes allover the place which is incredibly bad form for a native Apple owned plugin


Some spikes are fine and often just resource hungry plugins, as long as they are not causing System Overload - if they are consistent though, then there is an issue with one of your plugins or with your system in general.


Good luck. It took me 7 months to get to this point, and so I hope this helps you get there much faster!


I tried a bunch of other things too - mainly making sure that the MacStudio is completely clean - zero other software on it, no resource hogs, nothing backing up etc. I've switched off any ancillary services, turned off animations, etc etc, so that there are literally no resources apart from Logic and the 3rd party plugins.


And keep your External HDD away from it for now, you don't need it while you install and test your software. Once it's all tested, then reboot fully - once it's reloaded, let it rest and let it fully reindex itself.


Then try and load a project from your external drive. I recommend dragging one Logic project across to your desktop and loading it from there rather than from your drive. You'll no doubt discover plugins that you haven't yet reinstalled or that you've found out are not native - if so, bite the bullet and accept that you need to find an alternative native plugin that will deliver the same result in your project. Avoid Rosetta - it's really poor (for me anyway, and for lots of other users).


If your drives are SSD then fine, but SATA is not sufficient to run at the speeds necessary for M1 and Logic.


Best of luck!

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Jan 4, 2023 1:53 PM in response to mike530db

Thank you! that sounds very very helpful. I'm really hoping the first suggestion gets it working as good as possible because I think I might break down if I have to set up everything again, as it's taken several hours to get to this point (though at least I can document what I have instead of going from memory). The good news is I have a good many of the same plug-ins as you, so that's hopeful.


I really appreciate the detail, and really hope that this can set me towards enjoying this machine instead of resenting it.


Thanks again,

  • Z
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Jan 4, 2023 2:10 PM in response to ZTKL

No probs, really it hope it helps - I feel your pain, I was miserable after setting mine up, it felt like a total step back in time and like I'd just thrown money down the drain. Honestly, I kind of wish I'd done the above first time round, I was just so bought into the 'power machine' thing I was convinced it was a fault and that a Logic update or an oSX update would fix it.


A fresh install of Monterey (on a completely wiped machine) and slowly install and test software is definitely the best approach. Rushing it will just really frustrate you more I think.


PlugInfo is really handy. Best of luck pal


edit


  • Fab Filter Pro Q 3 - also works great and zero CPU usage or latency
  • Thomas Mundt - Loudmax (if you Google you'll find an ARM64 notarised version) - works great. Do not use the early version


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Jan 4, 2023 11:10 AM in response to ZTKL

Oh interesting, I was going to say, if you did use migrate assistant - then this is possibly where the problems have stemmed from. It appears to be what caused me the identical issues you're having.


Do you have iCloud installed on your new MacStudio and was this account originally linked to your old Mac by any chance?






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Jan 4, 2023 11:27 AM in response to mike530db

I don't believe I had ever set that up, even if I should have. I'm at work currently but started this thread to try and get a head start on possible solutions when I get back home. Someone mentioned in a different thread "Rosetta mode" for Logic is really, really draining on resources, so I'm going to double check that's off as I'm pretty sure 95% of my plugins are native Apple silicon supported anyways. If that's not it, I'm at a complete loss for what it could be though.

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Jan 4, 2023 1:37 PM in response to ZTKL

Rosetta 2 is unusable for me. Terrible performance.


I had identical issues as you are having, from day 1 I was convinced that the MacStudio was the biggest waste of money I'd ever made. It's taken me 7 months to get to a point where I'm now confident that it is more stable and usable. (Caveat - I am still testing it - so far it's working).


I'm going to share a process I've followed over a couple of posts - its exceeded the 5000 character limit per post!



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Jan 4, 2023 1:56 PM in response to mike530db

Lastly I'd highly recommend not using anything like Google Cloud or Dropbox. They seem to not play nicely at all with M1 (at least for me) - which is frustrating because I back up my Sandisk Extremes both to Google, and other folders on my Apple HD, so I need to find an alternative way of backing up. Methinks Apple just want people to use Timemachine within the Apple ecosystem (or iCloud which is terrible imo), and to be honest this just isn't good sport. But I suppose, can't expect much more from a company who have purposefully created a new architecture that has forced every single plugin developer to have to rearchitect their software (at huge expense!) just to fit the ecosystem, which in the process has made making music a chore for us all.


It's taken the fun out of creativity for me - I spend more time bug testing and researching fixes than I do writing music at the moment.


Good luck!

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Recently Upgraded to Mac Studio, Performance in Logic Currently Very Disappointing

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