CPU maxing out on M1 Mac Mini

[theguitarfreak]

Guys who are running Pro Tools on M1 mac, i am having a hard time mixing a big session with 100+ audio tracks. I have barely mixed half of the tracks with an average of 2-3 plugins per track and already my CPU is maxing out and PT is throwing errors. I am on 2021.10. This is the first time i am mixing such a big project and clearly the M1 chip is not powerful enough to run such big sessions. I think i need to look a more powerful machine. M1 Max/Pro is out of the budget for now.

For guys on Windows using Intel i7/i9 or Ryzen CPUs, how is your CPU holding on such big mix sessions?

[Sardi]

What sort of plugins have you got on each track?


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[theguitarfreak]

Originally Posted by Sardi

What sort of plugins have you got on each track?


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Mostly Crave Eq on almost all tracks, also Waves F6, Gullfoss and Kelvin on some tracks

[Sardi]

From what I recall when demoing Gulfoss, it was quite CPU heavy. The EQs should be OK and I’ve never used Kelvin so can’t comment on that.

Is it throwing up any specific errors?

TBH, from all reports, the M1s, even running in Rosetta, seem to be VERY capable machines. Perhaps others with similar specced machines can chime in.


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[its2loud]

You fail to give your system specs.
I’m running an M1 Mac Mini 16GB RAM with 300+ tracks in a Dolby Atmos session with picture. Although the system is running at high CPU usage, it is not throwing up any errors. I’m also running it with 3 displays.

Gulfross is a CPU intensive plug-in. If your system only has 8GB RAM, I suspect this might be the issue.

[Stephen Bond]

I concur, Gullfoss sucks up the CPU so apply liberally with caution.

Consider using Gullfoss Live instead which will save on cycles.

https://www.soundtheory.com/support

Stephen

[theguitarfreak]

Originally Posted by its2loud

You fail to give your system specs.
I’m running an M1 Mac Mini 16GB RAM with 300+ tracks in a Dolby Atmos session with picture. Although the system is running at high CPU usage, it is not throwing up any errors. I’m also running it with 3 displays.

Gulfross is a CPU intensive plug-in. If your system only has 8GB RAM, I suspect this might be the issue.

I have an 8GB 256GB M1. My earlier Intel i7 10700 Windows machine could handle such sessions better so i guess till Avid can utilise the 4 efficiency cores, the M1 is just a 4 core machine for the time being.

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by theguitarfreak

I have an 8GB 256GB M1. My earlier Intel i7 10700 Windows machine could handle such sessions better so i guess till Avid can utilise the 4 efficiency cores, the M1 is just a 4 core machine for the time being.

8 GIG is not going to cut it with Pro Tools still running under Rosetta.

Also, if you do not need the Avid Video Engine for your sessions, turn it off. You’ll find the disable under the Playback Engine menu.

[Ben Jenssen]

HW buffer size set to max?

[theguitarfreak]

Originally Posted by its2loud

8 GIG is not going to cut it with Pro Tools still running under Rosetta.

Also, if you do not need the Avid Video Engine for your sessions, turn it off. You’ll find the disable under the Playback Engine menu.

I thought unless using VIs, the RAM doesn't have much say in the CPU load of native plugins.

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

HW buffer size set to max?

Yes, tried both 1024 and 2048.