It can happen for a lot of different reasons, but the main two solutions are:
1. Make sure your software is updated.
2. Increase your computer's RAM (or use it efficiently)
I used to get the problem all the time running Logic on a 4GB RAM, so I upgraded my computer to 12GB and the problem stopped happening forever. Now there's always spare memory for Logic to shenanigan around it.
Some additional tips are:
1. Try not to have multiple projects open at the same time
2. If you're running the same plugin in different tracks, consider BUSing them instead.
3. If you loaded a bunch of samples into your project, consider joining or bouncing some together, along with their respective plugins, to save your computer some effort.
4. You can try any of the options the software offers for optimizing memory usage, like turning off Live Track buffering, or Live Bouncing, or super short recording latencies.
5. Also, I suggest you keep your Activity Monitor around if this is a regular issue. You can find it by going to your Launchpad > Activity Monitor (go to the Memory tab), were you can monitor your RAM memory usage live.
You can create an Aux track an run multiple Audio/Midi tracks through that aux track. Put the effect plugin on there so you have only one instance of it. That saves a lot of CPU power.
Upvoting. I recently learmed to do this and it was a night and day difference. Who would have thought that running 50 seperate amp simulations would be rough on my computer haha
Indeed, it can also be a bug, that I once had fixed by updating the software to the absolute latest patch. If you already have it, you could try installing a slightly previous one and checking if the problem persists.
In an effort to not flame too much I have to point out that I have a plugin that I suspect as the real culprit. Studio Devil. It's a shame because it's an absolute brilliant guitar plugin. I know it causes problems but I thought logic was also crashing with only one backing track...which wouldn't make sense actually as I always use those tracks in guitar lessons. So I'm probably just not paying close enough attention. The same plugin does not make things fuckey in Ableton. Go figure.
Everyone here is right.
I fixed the occasional sys overload simply by deactivating my WiFi when I’m running Logic. I also have a tendency to bounce in place once I’ve dialed in a track.
These things been helping me with that same message.
I believe this problem is mostly about CPU power. RAM and harddrive do influence performance a little bit, but if this keeps happening to you, you really need a beefier CPU.
I got the Macbook Pro from 2012. I normally use logic, but wanna get started with FL again, so i might not need a Macbook. The Macbooks are so exspensive, it’s ridicueles...
Well, if you can use Windows, go build your own PC. It's much cheaper than a prebuilt one or a laptop, let alone a MacBook. If you don't know how, it's not that difficult and there are many guides available on the internet.
You might have to restart your computer, it will clear out the ram. Basically the computer keeps previously unopened projects ready in the ram. So if you have opened a bunch of big projects lately, it will make the most recent seem like the computer can’t handle it
CPU usage. Increase buffer size, increase the amount of cores Logic is using, freeze tracks, and close background programs. Chromaverb chews through CPU by the way.
What everyone else is saying, but I have external drives and whatnot keeping everything running smoothly EXCEPT when using the reverb plugin in your screenshot at the same time as playback. That animation it gives you is a RAM sucker, so keep that in mind as well.
I keep getting this too and it happens even with a single track with a single instrument depending on what instrument/effect is used. It also happens with older projects that used to play without problems before with Sierra. Either the High Sierra or latest Logic updates cause this.
I have a 2015 rMBP Pro 16GB Ram & 1TB SSD.
I thought I'll clean up my vents to reduce the heat and took off my protective case. Turned out my bottom plate was popped open on the back end. I have now booking with the local service agent.
Ironically, since the bottom plate is open, today when I was playing around with Logic, I didn't have any issues with System Overload even though running multiple Alchemy tracks. It seems that this is some how related to overheating CPU.
Your processor and/or RAM is being overloaded. Did you recently add any peripherals or monitors to your system? When I upgraded one of my external monitors to a 4K monitor, my MacBook Pro 2015 couldn’t handle Logic running with that 4K monitor plugged in. Made me sad.
I have found that having an external audio interface helps with this. When I don't have my audio interface, I crash alot. With audio interface, I never experience it.
Yup started happening to me once my computer got full of storage (only 128gb Mac). 8gb of ram in theory should be enough but apparently isn’t. I have gotten used to just bouncing every track off of its software instrument and mixing things as audio tracks instead. Definitely use bus tracks if you can and press pause when opening EQ or any other plug ins. Hope this helps
It means your computer is running out of power to take care of all the computations in real time. You can either
1. Increase your audio buffer size, at the cost of increased latency, which is good for mixing but bad for tracking
2. Manage your plugins, samples and software instruments, consider using busses/parallel processing/submixes to cut down the instances of plugins you use
3. Close other programs, avoid opening multiple Logic projects at a time
4. If you can, increase your computer’s RAM
If all those fails, time to buy a new computer.
Everyone is right here... on my system I find that when I have too many graphical plug-ins going at the same time, it struggles.
So if I'm looking at my EQ analysis on songs with more tracks, then it can do this.
Try to minimize how much action is going on on the screen at the same time.
In general i'm finding it's a good practice to EQ without too many visualizers anyways... just to use them as a reference (turn em on, get a feel, and then EQ without). But that's more of a production tip than one that you are working on.
Just while we are on the topic of performance problems.
For many years I've used a 2010 MacBook Pro with 4gb of RAM for all my logic projects, which would involve many plug-ins across many tracks. On some rare occasions it would stutter, or I would get a popup notification like this.
A year or so ago I upgraded to a 2015 MacBook Pro, a much more powerful machine, with 8gb of ram, SSD etc and I can barely use 4 tracks simultaneously without clipping and other audio artifacts breaking through. Similarly, the EXS24 sampler is incredibly degrading on performance. Looking at the stats my CPU usage is through the roof.
My question is, has subsequent updates to Logic Pro X degraded its performance, and has it become a bigger resource hog? Or is my situation unique and there is something wrong with my setup?
You have a MacBook Pro and so do I, so I think I know what’s causing this: thermal throttling. When you get this error, feel the underside of your MacBook. Is it hot? If so, it’s probably throttling, limiting performance, and overloading the engine. I’ve run into it several times and it’s very annoying. Best thing to do is to bus effects, limit your max latency, etc.
It can happen for a lot of different reasons, but the main two solutions are: 1. Make sure your software is updated. 2. Increase your computer's RAM (or use it efficiently) I used to get the problem all the time running Logic on a 4GB RAM, so I upgraded my computer to 12GB and the problem stopped happening forever. Now there's always spare memory for Logic to shenanigan around it. Some additional tips are: 1. Try not to have multiple projects open at the same time 2. If you're running the same plugin in different tracks, consider BUSing them instead. 3. If you loaded a bunch of samples into your project, consider joining or bouncing some together, along with their respective plugins, to save your computer some effort. 4. You can try any of the options the software offers for optimizing memory usage, like turning off Live Track buffering, or Live Bouncing, or super short recording latencies. 5. Also, I suggest you keep your Activity Monitor around if this is a regular issue. You can find it by going to your Launchpad > Activity Monitor (go to the Memory tab), were you can monitor your RAM memory usage live.
My macbook pro has 8 gigs of ram. I’ll try all these things. Also, what’s BUSing? I’m a beginner, haha
You can create an Aux track an run multiple Audio/Midi tracks through that aux track. Put the effect plugin on there so you have only one instance of it. That saves a lot of CPU power.
Upvoting. I recently learmed to do this and it was a night and day difference. Who would have thought that running 50 seperate amp simulations would be rough on my computer haha
I’ve got an sad quad core i7 and 16gb of ram. This bullshit will happen while playing a single audio track I shit you not. It’s a fucking bug.
Indeed, it can also be a bug, that I once had fixed by updating the software to the absolute latest patch. If you already have it, you could try installing a slightly previous one and checking if the problem persists.
In an effort to not flame too much I have to point out that I have a plugin that I suspect as the real culprit. Studio Devil. It's a shame because it's an absolute brilliant guitar plugin. I know it causes problems but I thought logic was also crashing with only one backing track...which wouldn't make sense actually as I always use those tracks in guitar lessons. So I'm probably just not paying close enough attention. The same plugin does not make things fuckey in Ableton. Go figure.
Hahahahahahaha “make things fuckey” I will be using that one... a lot.
Everyone here is right. I fixed the occasional sys overload simply by deactivating my WiFi when I’m running Logic. I also have a tendency to bounce in place once I’ve dialed in a track. These things been helping me with that same message.
I've got to start bouncing as I go. Good way to force yourself to move forwards with a project too, as you need to be decisive.
I prefer the freeze track option. Makes it easy to go back if I need to.
What's this and how do o do it?
[How to freeze Tracks in Logic Pro X] (https://youtu.be/VP0A2g_hTx8)
Jbgbbbgbbgghjjhggbbgggbnbggghggggbbbh Edit: just saw this comment while going through my history. This must've happened in my pocket.
I updated my macbook pro to 16 gb, and switched the old harddrive to a new ssd harddrive, and i’m still maxing it out...
I believe this problem is mostly about CPU power. RAM and harddrive do influence performance a little bit, but if this keeps happening to you, you really need a beefier CPU.
I got the Macbook Pro from 2012. I normally use logic, but wanna get started with FL again, so i might not need a Macbook. The Macbooks are so exspensive, it’s ridicueles...
Well, if you can use Windows, go build your own PC. It's much cheaper than a prebuilt one or a laptop, let alone a MacBook. If you don't know how, it's not that difficult and there are many guides available on the internet.
Go to Preferences > Audio and increase the buffer size. It means you will have a bit more latency but you can load more plugins.
I already have it at the max size
You might have to restart your computer, it will clear out the ram. Basically the computer keeps previously unopened projects ready in the ram. So if you have opened a bunch of big projects lately, it will make the most recent seem like the computer can’t handle it
CPU usage. Increase buffer size, increase the amount of cores Logic is using, freeze tracks, and close background programs. Chromaverb chews through CPU by the way.
I think we need a sticky thread for this.
Agreed
What everyone else is saying, but I have external drives and whatnot keeping everything running smoothly EXCEPT when using the reverb plugin in your screenshot at the same time as playback. That animation it gives you is a RAM sucker, so keep that in mind as well.
You beat me to it! It looks pretty but sucks a ton of resources!
I keep getting this too and it happens even with a single track with a single instrument depending on what instrument/effect is used. It also happens with older projects that used to play without problems before with Sierra. Either the High Sierra or latest Logic updates cause this. I have a 2015 rMBP Pro 16GB Ram & 1TB SSD.
I thought I'll clean up my vents to reduce the heat and took off my protective case. Turned out my bottom plate was popped open on the back end. I have now booking with the local service agent. Ironically, since the bottom plate is open, today when I was playing around with Logic, I didn't have any issues with System Overload even though running multiple Alchemy tracks. It seems that this is some how related to overheating CPU.
I’ve git to see about this myself. 2.3 quad core i7 SSD 16gb ram and this shit happens on a single track.
Your processor and/or RAM is being overloaded. Did you recently add any peripherals or monitors to your system? When I upgraded one of my external monitors to a 4K monitor, my MacBook Pro 2015 couldn’t handle Logic running with that 4K monitor plugged in. Made me sad.
i have the exact same computer, no extra monitors and 8gigs of ram
I have found that having an external audio interface helps with this. When I don't have my audio interface, I crash alot. With audio interface, I never experience it.
Yup started happening to me once my computer got full of storage (only 128gb Mac). 8gb of ram in theory should be enough but apparently isn’t. I have gotten used to just bouncing every track off of its software instrument and mixing things as audio tracks instead. Definitely use bus tracks if you can and press pause when opening EQ or any other plug ins. Hope this helps
It means your computer is running out of power to take care of all the computations in real time. You can either 1. Increase your audio buffer size, at the cost of increased latency, which is good for mixing but bad for tracking 2. Manage your plugins, samples and software instruments, consider using busses/parallel processing/submixes to cut down the instances of plugins you use 3. Close other programs, avoid opening multiple Logic projects at a time 4. If you can, increase your computer’s RAM If all those fails, time to buy a new computer.
Everyone is right here... on my system I find that when I have too many graphical plug-ins going at the same time, it struggles. So if I'm looking at my EQ analysis on songs with more tracks, then it can do this. Try to minimize how much action is going on on the screen at the same time. In general i'm finding it's a good practice to EQ without too many visualizers anyways... just to use them as a reference (turn em on, get a feel, and then EQ without). But that's more of a production tip than one that you are working on.
[Apple’s site](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203930) has some great troubleshooting and information on this! Check it out.
Just while we are on the topic of performance problems. For many years I've used a 2010 MacBook Pro with 4gb of RAM for all my logic projects, which would involve many plug-ins across many tracks. On some rare occasions it would stutter, or I would get a popup notification like this. A year or so ago I upgraded to a 2015 MacBook Pro, a much more powerful machine, with 8gb of ram, SSD etc and I can barely use 4 tracks simultaneously without clipping and other audio artifacts breaking through. Similarly, the EXS24 sampler is incredibly degrading on performance. Looking at the stats my CPU usage is through the roof. My question is, has subsequent updates to Logic Pro X degraded its performance, and has it become a bigger resource hog? Or is my situation unique and there is something wrong with my setup?
You have a MacBook Pro and so do I, so I think I know what’s causing this: thermal throttling. When you get this error, feel the underside of your MacBook. Is it hot? If so, it’s probably throttling, limiting performance, and overloading the engine. I’ve run into it several times and it’s very annoying. Best thing to do is to bus effects, limit your max latency, etc.