Core Audio Overload mystery

I've read countless posts on this issue and it's still a mystery to me. I've been to: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304970, read it thoroughly and tried almost all the tweaks mentioned in there (except for an external fast hard drive) and nothing works.
Mystery problem: yesterday I played my track one last time before switching off my macbook - no problems, in fact I haven't had a Core Audio overload message in a few weeks.
Today I switched it back on tried to play the exact same track with NO changes at all and I can't play it, I get a Core Audio overload message every 3 seconds of track played. I've restarted my macbook hoping it was just something weird going on and I ended a number of processes but still no luck. What's different? I have no clue. The track played fine ever since I started working on it a few weeks ago but now it won't play. Any ideas?
Thanks

I didn't mean anything extraordinary; just look at each Channel (even those which may be hidden) & see if there are any plug-ins present as sends or inserts which aren't actually needed. If so, choose +"No Plug-In"+ instead. And if there are any plug-ins which are bypassed, then — the same thing. And if you've loaded any Audio Instruments or samples or patches you're not using — ditto.
Since Templates allow you to load plug-ins automatically, it's possible that some may have crept in that way without your realising it. (I'm not saying they did, but if they did, then purge them.)

Similar Messages

Core Audio Overload - Will a New Fire Wire Unit Help?

I use a G5 2.5Ghz Quad with 6GB of RAM and an Edirol FA-101. I'm finding that the 'Core Audio Overload' is becoming a huge irritant and I've tried multiple driver configurations in Logic Pro 7.2 to correct the problem.
Watching the performance, I had 64% of my processor power idle and 1.79GB of RAM free when it last occurred. Given that so much system resource is idle, my only conclusion is that my Edirol FA-101 is not adequate for the tasks I'm setting it. Before I spend the money, does anyone agree or am I barking up the wrong tree? Can Core Audio overload due to the sound unit being used?
I'm thinking of a Fire Wire 800 unit like the RME Fireface - if anyone has experience of FW800 units I'll be glad to hear from you and from anyone who knows whether it will help Core Audio process information in time.

I'm not using a seperate drive for my Logic files. I've worked through the link you posted on settings several times, and it's Steinberg's 'Halion Symphonic Orchestra' that's crippling my system. I watch the system performance as the song plays and the second core peaks out every time while the Disk I/O meter barely registers a blip which is why I haven't put anything onto a seperate drive, though I certainly shall be.
Will getting Logic projects on a seperate drive work to a greater extent for Core Audio? Halion Symphonic Orchestra uses huge files, but I can't understand why I have such a large amount of Idle system with the Core Audio Overload?
Would an RME Fireface not help Core Audio in its processing? If I can avoid the cost, I will. I'm even using a Pro Care appointment on Tuesday afternoon to see if there's anything else I can do, I'm that desperate!
If I move the Halion Symphonic Orchestra to a seperate drive and then the Logic files to another, would that be more benificial to system performance?
Beer anyone?

'Core Audio Overload' with Halion Symphonic Orchestra

I use a G5 2.5Ghz Quad with 6GB of RAM. I have 59 tracks open on my Autoload that I whittle down during mix time by comping the various instruments and generally never have a problem.
I installed Steinberg's Halion Symphonic Orchestra and have been experiencing Core Audio Overloads frequently since then. Watching the performance, I had 64% of my processor power idle and 1.79GB of RAM free when it last occurred. I'm stumped!
I may be wrong, but I think with that much Idle system resource I should be able to get away with an I/O Buffer size of 512 to avoid latency? It will run fine in 24 bit on 1024 or 16 bit in 512. I used to find the I/O buffer at 64 was enough.
Steinberg are as interested in my query as a monkey reading poetry - the helpline guy even told me he hadn't configured his software properly, so unfortunately could not help. Hilarious. Steinberg have no Genius's apparently.
Halion aside, does anyone else have this problem where system resource seems adequate but Core Audio is still overloading?

Have a look at my post - Core Audio Overload...
Similar problems with the Vienna Instruments - and again, I'm simply stumped. I vaguely remember this happening less with OSX 4.8, but that may be a dream of times gone by when such things didn't seem to frustrate me as much as they do now.
I have everything maxed out on the buffer side and still to no avail. Certainly, when I did a DiskWarrior rebuild it help for a while. My most recent one, however, told me that it couldn't replace my drive because it was too severely damaged. Had to Clone it to keep the repaired version. Running out of places to put all my back-ups.
Am about to re-install entire operating system and Logic and see if that helps. Will return to my post and update it if things do improve.
G5 Dual 2.5 with 8 Gig RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Is core audio overload error a ram issue or a processor issue?

I have a macbook 2ghz with 2gb of ram, external 250 gig 7200 rpm lacie hard drive. I am running ivory pianos, superior drummer 2.0 and waves plugins. I get the core audio overload a lot. Its really annoying. I have disabled airport and shut down all programs. All unused tracks have no inputs. I am thinking about buying a new macbook with 4 gigs ram(my macbook can only handle 2) but wondering if it will even make a difference. Am I getting it because I only have 2 gigs of ram? I will be really upset if I purchase a new macbook and spend a ton of money and it still happens. Any suggestions?

I noticed it happens when I mix.
Not when recording though.
Upon loading a project the first time accessing a resource hungry effect or plug-in, the core overload pops up. When the problematic section has been successfully played once, the problem doesn't reappear.
As such, It really doesn't bother me. I figure it's some sort of caching issue. It's annoying, but never affected my work.
Similar experience for you?

How many tracks max without a core audio overload?

How many tracks is everyone able to obtain before getting a core audio overload. I have a dual gig G4 with 2 gig of ram. I've got my audio on external D2 firewire drives. I have a project that may be about 45 tracks or so at the time of the mix. I would love to mix everything in L7 if possible.
Thanks

I think you'll probably find that we are using our systems to do work (sorry - couldn't resist!) - we've just never hit the max to find out. I've just done a mix using 38 audio tracks, 6 Aux and 8 busses and so many effects you wouldn't believe (Logic and third party) and my Mac was very happy. I did have a problem once when using a lot of virtual instruments and had to freeze a couple of tracks, but even that's working ok now with the new version of Logic.
I guess that's the point, Logic has ways round maxing out.

Optimizing tips - the usual issue: Core Audio Overload error

Hi,
Having recently upgraded to Logic 8, my question remains the same: any additional tips (besides what has already been posted)on optimizing Logic 8 so that I stop getting the much dreaded Core Audio Overload error? I'm on a 17" Macbook pro bought last year, have replaced the original 2GB RAM with 4GB and use a Firewire 800 external harddrive. I feel a bit frustrated with Logic although it's an excellent software but what are the ideal specs for it? 100GB RAM and 50GHZ quadruple processors? Any tips on external hardware to help take the load off the laptop? Help please! My creative flow is taking a bad hit...

Thanks for the reply. I've only just started my first track in Logic 8 and so far it has 9 ultrabeat tracks, 1 EXS24 warm strings and 1 Sculpture with modeled Bass and some very basic "draft" vocals recorded in mono. I've got channel EQs on most of these and Multiband Compression on a couple of auxes. I'd hate to think what will happen when I want to add some effects...
It happens 90% of the times I audition the track and I don't know what to do when I record my vocals because I obviously won't have backing music as it keeps stopping midway, so in a way using the large buffer is good but not if you want to record vocals because of the latency, any suggestions on this?
I have about 40GB left on my laptop harddrive and about 225GB on my external.
I'm almost sure I've formatted my HD when I first got it but will try that option.
Question about firewire bus: are you saying that my mackie onyx satellite which is FW400 is on the same bus as my HD (FW800)? This seems odd because I had this issue even before I got the hard drive, in fact, I got this hard drive to try and stop these annoying messages as I figured my system wasn't powerful enough for Logic.
Thanks

Core Audio Overload....

Rather than include this one in my earlier post, I'm hoping someone might be able to explain why I get a Core Audio Overload if I'm using a Digi 002 Rack connected by Firewire?
Am I right to believe that the audio should be handled completely by the 002 rack? If so, why would Core Audio overload.
I'm using Vienna Instruments, and this usually occurs when I have between 7 and 10 instances playing, but particularly when the instrumentation in the score increases suddenly.
Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas gratefully received.
Thanks
Nick
G5 Dual 2.5 with 7 Gig RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

You could also do a couple more things:
1. if you are using vienna inst's in exs 24 then you could reduce the number of voices in each instance of exs24 open. I normally leave a voice or two over the number that i need just to be sure. That should help the cpu out a bit.
2. Also might be good to carry out some weekly maintenance if you don't do so already. Something like repairing permissions after and before installing new software....making sure you have lots of disk space free on your internal and project drive(s).
3. Another option (but one of my least favourite - but others love this one) is to freeze tracks as you're going. Much better than bouncing and preserves your plugins etc and you can unfreeze during the project without having to re set up an instance of vienna instruments say.
If i think of anything else I'll let you know. But really it seems strange that with 7 GB of ram your computer is struggling. How many tracks, voices and effects are you running? Have you monitored what's happening with Logic's "system performance" thing?
Hope that helps. <edited by host - see new [url=http://discussions.apple.com/help.jspa#terms]Terms of Use[/url]>
Rounik

Logic 7.2.3 core audio overload

Hi
I'm using Logic 7.2.3 on a new macbook (2 gig ram upgrade) and I'm getting a core audio message almost every time I initially play back a track I'm working on. The message says 'system overload. The audio engine was not able to process all required data in time (-10011)
It's not like I'm using many tracks. On my current arrange page I have 5 audio instrument tracks in use and nothing else. The message usually pops up about twice and then doesn't reappear until I shut Logic down and use it another time, so it's not a totally debilitating problem just very irritating. Almost as irritating as apple support telling me it will cost £145 or something for them to help me despite having apple care......please help someone.

djanebeing wrote:
oh, well that's simple enough thanks - I have a formac 250 gig external harddrive, which I have only been using to store stuff on. SO what you're saying is (forgive me for being a naive simpleton, we all start somewhere) I should create my music on my mac in Logic and all my saving should be on the external hardrive. Then once I've saved onto the external hardrive I can play back from there? Is that what you mean?
thanks
jane
Yes, absolutely.
And, remember to keep 20% of your system hard drive EMPTY. this will help the computer deal with it's own processing.
Cheers

Core Audio Overload -10011

Hi... I have just installed logic pro a week ago and I'm having constant overload error messages with just 2 audio tracks... I have an rme multiface on a Dual 2GHz G5 with 3.5 Gb RAM... surely this can't be normal.
Is someone having the same problem? I have read every answer regarding this overload error and it hasn't helped... any clues?

Thanks hank... here goes, hope this helps:
Logic Pro 7.1.1
OS X 10.4.6
No 3rd party plugs
rme multiface II
System drive: 152.7 GB Maxtor SATA
Recording to: 279.5 GB Maxtor SATA, also internal. 7200 rpm 16mb cache
Using the multiface through core audio, 1024 buffer. software monitoring is off.
I'm linking to two snapshots of the system exactly where the overload happens... as you can see there is nothing unusual about what i'm doing.
http://signalis.net/logic/pic1.jpg
http://signalis.net/logic/pic2.jpg
Thanks in advance

Infamous Core Audio Overload...I know, i know....

I'm getting the overload in a project that I don't really think deems overloads, and it happens in the same 6 or 7 spots during the song. This is on my Intel Core Duo Mini, 2gbRAM, 30g hd space free. I am running the project off the internal drive, which is a concern, but I can't use my Liquid MIx and Lightbridge w/ a fw hd....
The "System Perfromance" meters in Logic aren't peaking until the moment the overload happens, only one of the two cores is even loaded up to 50% at any given time. The disk i/o gets up around 80-90% occassionaly, but not during several of the dropouts.
I'm running about 5 space designers on stereo busses, and about 10 channel eqs. The rest are Liquid Mix plugs.
Some dropouts will happen when only 10-15 tracks are playing, even at the start of the song, which is pretty sparse really. All in all, there are 95 tracks in the arrange page, though I've hidden a little more than half of them. At most, I would say about 25 tracks are running during the more intricate parts.
Many of the tracks are comped together and include several edits and crossfades. Is this a problem?
I've read through the many pages on this subject (cleaned up the hd, ran onyx, i have 2gb ram, etc.), but can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for.
Is there a better way to manage a session like this?
Powerbook G4 1.67 ; Intel Core Duo Mini Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 gigs RAM, hd24XR, UA 610, Liquid Mix, 3 Presonus Firepods

actually I think it's your edits that could be tipping you over the edge. in my experience with logic, once you start having an arrangement that has a lot of regions in it, and you start having a lot of cuts and crossfades, you can run into a lot more system overloads than you otherwise would. this is probably being exacerbated even more by the fact that you're using your system drive for audio now. is it really impossible to share that FW bus between your audio interface and the liquid mix in your setup? that's a pity.
anyway the other advice so far has been on the money I think. if you commit to your edited tracks by glueing them, or exporting them as one audio file, that could potentially be all you need to let your system go back to handling the tracks and plug ins without being bothered by extra disk access. you can always keep the cut up/crossfaded version there, just mute those tracks and hide them, with the unified version now on a copy of the same tracks.
also with a lot of edits and a lot of things in your audio window, the undo history can get clogged. try reducing your undo history to less steps, I think by default it is set quite high. and in your audio window, manage it so that the files you need are there, and you get rid of extra audio files that you aren't going to use in the song.
don't worry too much about what the disk access display is showing at any given time, I think it's pretty inaccurate so it's not always going to be helpful in telling you why you hit an overload at a certain point in a song. I do think that your edits are contributing to the problem, particularly due to running off of a less than ideal drive.. so try consolidating as many of those tracks as you can and see what happens. also, as was suggested here too, freeze tracks is your friend.

Dangerous 20db Spikes during Core Audio Overload!!!

When I'm really pushing a mix hard and it finally overloads, instead of just dropping out like it should, i get terrible distorted spikes of audio that I'm afraid are going to damage my monitors. I reach for my volume control ASAP, but this doesn't seem right at all. Why doesn't it just stop playback? I was told by an Apple rep that this issue was resolved with 10.4.5, but clearly it is not. Does anyone else experience this?

Just what do u mean by pushing your mix hard?
looking at your it seems you got G4 and it doesn't hold much power under its belt
so try and let freezing be your best friend
freeze tracks that you think it sounds good or bounce em as audio and play import em back
this way logic will or the mac will have free CPU to process FX when mixing
because thats nothing worse than trying to concentrate and the CPU doesn't wanna co-operate with you
and the only way it'll co-opereate is by taking some loads of it and giving it to the harddrive
so freeze to the harddrive or bounce Audio file(s) to the drive
less CPU usage, problem solved

System Overload/Core Audio Error Message when recording/playback

Well ive been experience this problem for a while now but ive read up on it and done some troubleshooting and think i may have found a solution.
Well what happens is ill be recording say one track or 2 tracks in mono or stereo or playing back about 3 or 4 tracks and logic will stop everything and give me an error message which either says system overload or core audio overload or something. Well i figured i was overloading my cpu so what i tried doing was restarting my computer and then only operating logic as the only program. this worked temporarily sometimes but not in the long run. well i did research and came to this.
apparently its too overbearing for my Powerbook processor to record in 24 bit/96 Khz which is kind of a bummer because it was one of my attractions to my i/o box that i could do that. also freezing tracks will help greatly apparently which i have yet to try but hope will work too.
also i recently deleted about half of the stuff on my internal drive and put my 42.41 GB of music onto my external HD so now i have 54.6 GB on my internal HD which holds about 93 GB total. should this help me greatly? or will it only be a minute difference?
well any more solutions/suggestions as to what i can do to better my situation? also am i correct as to why i think i get those error messages.
ps: sorry for the uncapitalization, i got a bit lazy here
thanks
-Mike

Mike,
Bit depth is more important for recording quality than huge sample rates. If you're going to change your settings, I'd stick with 24 bit, but reduce sample rate to 48 kHz.
When you say you've put all your music on the external drive, what exactly do you mean--your Logic files or your mp3/AAC files? Normally you would want to use an external drive to record onto from Logic. That way your internal HD can run the OS and Logic, while the external is free for all the fast recording tasks. (This assumes your external HD is pretty fast, and ideally is firewire.)
Freezing works wonders, too, if you're processing tracks.
-Eric

Core Audio Disk too slow or System Overload message

Hi, I hope somebody can help me. I've seen the topics about this already posted, but my situation is a little different. I'm only playing back three tracks of recorded audio and two EXS24 sampler instruments. I have the Logic compressor on my bass track and thats it! My Disk IO meter shows no load at all as well as the audio meter. However, I'm still getting the core audio disk to slow or system overload message. I figure with a dual 2.7 G5 and 2.5 Gigs of ram I should be unstoppable. What's happening?
By the way I'm using Logic Pro 7.1, and my sound card is a Delta 1010 from M-Audio.
Thank You, anybody for your help!
Dual 2.7GHZ PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4) 2.5 Gigs of ram

Same or similar problem to you check out my recent thread
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=245528&tstart=30
Powerbook, 512, 1GHz, 60 gig Mac OS X (10.3.6)

Core Audio errors?!

I recently purchased a PowerBookG4 running LogicPro. I had no problems until a month ago, when I started getting "Core Audio / System Overload" errors during playback. At first I thought the issue was that I was running too many tracks with too many plug-ins, so I started to cut back. This didn't help. The problem has gotten so bad that I can't playback even two single-channel audio tracks at once. MY LOGIC PROGRAM HAS BEEN RENDERED USELESS! I'm hoping someone can help....
I've accounted for a few possible problems: first of all, I have more than a third of my harddrive space still available, so that's not an issue. I've purchased DiskWarrior and defragmented my drive, and this didn't fix the issue (though it did help other programs run faster). Finally, I ran a virus scan and got rid of some bugs, but nothing has effected Logic.
I don't know if anything outside of Logic might be a problem; I've noticed my computer has slowed down over the few months I've owned it, particularly at start-up. (DiskWarrior helped this a bit, but not much) I called AppleSupport, but of course, they want to charge me hundreds of dollars to help. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears!
Many thanks,

allow me to add, if I may, that I also have had mega coreaudio/overload problems. This can happen with like one "vanilla" track at times.
I am not sure I can pin it down. Usually, it happens on any song the first time I open it up.
My setup is
dualcore imac 2.0
LP 7.2.1
osx 10.4.7
motu traveler
1.5 ram
buffer 512
I do run at 24/96 all the time, so clearly that is going to put more strain on the system, but, let's face it......my system should easily be able to handle that.
So, from the first post, and as many people complaining that I have seen, I am wondering what else it might be?

HOW DO I GET RID OF CORE AUDIO??!!!

Can someone please tell me if I can use something esle then this completely CRAPPY thing called core audio or am I am doing something wrong?!
I am working with my Logic 6 program, and every time I push the play button (Either just playback or record) the message:
Core Audio-System overlaod. The audio engine was not able to process all the data in time (-10011). The sad thing is, it is not even a lot of data. This happens on even only two small tracks. Is there anything else I can use?
Thank you so much for any suggestions. As you can tell, I am pretty frustrated.

Jord,
No offense intended mate, and I'm not necessarily directing this at you, and all I just want to provoke more thought on the Core Audio issues as well as others, but I think we may well be "settling" here...
Once again:
"Why do we have to go through all this in the first place? If it's "a bug in Logic," shouldn't it be fixed? "
All this talk about order of importance just sounds like excuses. I've worked in the IT industry so I understand all this what you're saying. I just think it's time we're left with something more than just work arounds, and "excuses' which we pass on to each other.
"As long as it doesn't introduce a cascade of other problems"
Meanwhile, virtual instruments mysteriously stop working, and then there's behaviour that looks suspiciously like song file corruption, where the song suddenly crackles, runs slower (sometimes half-speed), then stops. Once this syndrome hits a songfile, it's been my experience that it never leaves. I've got one file that's been rebuilt six times just to remix it, including being buit on a newly constructed Autoload and fresh Preferences file... Now admittedly this may not be Core audio related, but it is weird.
And this is before you get to he fact thart one processor will be slammed red while the other is at zero. You stop and press play on another occassion in the same session, and the other will be slammed while the first one is at zero.
Again, yes, I've tried ALL kinds of suggestions and settings listed on this forum. So please, unless it's something revolutionary or constructive...
I just don't understand why the issues with core audio aren't being resolved quick enough. and you all know I'm not the only one with Core Audio issues. There are people with 2 and 3 times the machine I have getting that same error.
I've been using logic since V2.5.4, and I'd never seen anything like this until Version 7.1. No it doesn't stop me from working, but it's REALLY beginning to try my bleedin'' patience...
Just a real answer to my question, as opposed to Microsoft sounding excuses.
Don't worry Apple/Logic, I'm not mad at ya'. I still luv y'all. (just taken delivery of an iPod AND a 20" iMac for my 9 year old daughters birthday). It's just I'm getting a little worn down by this...

Core Audio Overload mystery

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