Logic 9 Crash

[ShreddingSix]

Hey all,

I've been trying to use VOTA and WB. Every once in a while, Logic will crash. Can anyone shed any light on what/why this happens?

I really havent updated anything except for PLAY. Im running Mac Lion OS X 64 bit on 32 GB of RAM.

[TGV]

Obviously I'm only guessing, but Play seems to have problems with low memory conditions, even when memory is "inactive". You could try to free the inactive memory once your project is loaded, and see if the crash still happens.

To see how much free and how much inactive memory you have, click on "System Memory" in the "Activity Monitor". If the amount of free memory drops below 1Gb, Play seems to act up.

To free up inactive memory, you open the Terminal and give the command purge (just 5 letters followed by return). It will freeze your computer for some time, and when you switch back to Logic, the first seconds it will respond very slowly, but then you're done.

If this works, it might be a bug in Play.

[ShreddingSix]

"Purge" did free up inactive memory, but I am still maxing out my CPU in Logic 9. Could it be a problem with Logic? As I'm looking on the Activity Monitor, everything says "Intel (64 bit)" under the futhest right hand column titled "kind" with the exclusion of Logic. I'm pretty darn sure I have a 64 bit version of Logic so I'm a bit confused as to why that doesnt say "64 bit" as well. Could this the issue?

EDIT: I have to give myself a Facepalm Award for being enough of a n00b to forget to switch to 64-bit mode of Logic... I've had the program for over 6 months now and JUST made the connection.

[Krusky]

Was going to recommend how to make switch to 64 bit, then read your edit. Glad to hear you figured it out. In reading your post I noticed you're running Lion. I'm considering making the switch to Lion but am little hesitant about how sessions will run. Can you shed some light? Are Logic, PLAY/EW, etc. (now that you're in 64 bit mode) running well in Lion?

[ShreddingSix]

Though I'm not sure how much of a difference there is between the two, but I'd, first, like to make note that I'm running "Lion" and not "Mountain Lion".

Regarding "Lion":

Within the first 6 months of owning the computer (my first mac), I have had a few issues running the Logic app, mostly with the primary topic of this thread regarding Word Builder issues. I have had issues with Logic itself, which I chalked up as general hiccups and bugs. I'm somewhat of a novice in regard to Mac computers so I couldn't tell you what the error messages were or mean. If there's a way to tell or an error log, you're probably gonna have to walk me through accessing it; I'd be happy to copy/paste the log. Further, any frustration I've experienced in using Logic I could easily attribute to my inexperience in using the program. It's a pretty steep learning curve for me.

I'll have to get back to you on "how things are running now that they are running as 64-bit". I've been avoiding my large projects because of these cpu / crashing issues, but now that I've connected the dots, I'll be spending a bit more time on them. Check back here or PM me in a month and I'll let you know what I've experienced.

If you are looking to upgrade any time soon (within the next few weeks), I would be the LAST person you'd want to consult because of my inexperience with Macs, Logic 9 and its interaction with PLAY.

I can say that on my present system (running in 32 bit) I was able to load and run at least 12 individual Midi instruments using all 3 EWQL SO mic positions on a 6 min song for hours on end without much issue. Word Builder just seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

[Krusky]

Understood, ShreddingSix. Appreciate the feedback. Thank you!

[ShreddingSix]

I have switched to 64-bit on my Logic application and tried TGV's suggested memory purge and did not have any conclusion to my problem. Logic still continues to crash when I load the WB multis. Perhaps I'm still doing something wrong?

[TGV]

Which version of Play do you use? I'm on 3.0.31.

I can also recommend you to try out Plogue's Bidule (http://www.plogue.com/products/bidule/). It's a very versatile package, that can do very weird things with MIDI and audio, but I use it to host plugins, and control them from Logic. I actually use it to host the macintosh VST version of the Play plugin, since that works better with WB than the AU version.

Bidule is still free to download and use, so give it a try. I can send you a Logic file and a Bidule file to get you started.