Logic Pro 11 on Apple Silicon: Are CPU Cores Fully Utilized?

Summary

In this video, the presenter tests Logic Pro 11's performance on Apple Silicon chips, including the M1 Max and M2 Pro, to see if it can better utilize efficiency cores than its predecessor. Despite improvements, Logic Pro 11 still fails to fully engage efficiency cores, with performance similar to version 10. The presenter suggests that for Logic users, the number of performance cores is more critical than total cores when selecting a Mac with Apple Silicon.

Takeaways

• 🎛️ The video tests the optimization of Logic Pro 11 for Apple Silicon chips, focusing on core utilization.
• ⚙️ Logic Pro 10 struggled to fully utilize efficiency cores in Apple Silicon chips, and the video tests if Logic Pro 11 improves on this.
• 💻 The chips tested were the 10-core M1 Max (2 efficiency cores, 8 performance cores) and the 10-core M2 Pro (4 efficiency cores, 6 performance cores).
• 🔍 The testing method involved duplicating a track with Fabfilter's Saturn 2 plugin to stress the CPU until a system overload occurred.
• 🧑‍💻 Results showed no improvement in core utilization between Logic Pro 10 and Logic Pro 11; efficiency cores were not fully utilized in either version.
• 📊 Both versions could run about 145 tracks before reaching system overload, and the M1 Max performed about 20% better than the M2 Pro due to having more performance cores.
• 🎚️ Tests with the new ChromaGlow plugin in Logic Pro 11 also showed no improvement in efficiency core usage.
• 🤔 Interestingly, ChromaGlow performed slightly better on the M2 Pro compared to the M1 Max, a rare occurrence in previous testing.
• 💡 The main takeaway is that Logic Pro mostly runs on performance cores, so users should prioritize performance core count when choosing an Apple Silicon Mac.
• 👍 The video concludes with a call to action to like and subscribe for more tech and music production content.

Q & A

What was the main focus of the video?

The main focus of the video was to test if Logic Pro 11 has improved its utilization of Apple Silicon chips' efficiency cores compared to Logic Pro 10.

Which Apple Silicon chips were tested in the video?

The chips tested were the 10-core M1 Max chip with 2 efficiency cores and 8 performance cores, and the 10-core M2 Pro chip with 4 efficiency cores and 6 performance cores.

Why did the presenter return the M3 Pro MacBook Pro?

The presenter returned the M3 Pro MacBook Pro because, as shown in their review video, it wasn't much of an upgrade for audio processing compared to the previous models.

What was the testing method used to evaluate Logic Pro 11's multicore utilization?

The testing method involved adding a mono guitar DI track with an instance of Fabfilter’s Saturn 2 plugin, duplicating the track as many times as possible until Logic Pro showed a System Overload pop-up, then reducing until playback was smooth.

Why was Fabfilter’s Saturn 2 plugin chosen for the test?

Fabfilter’s plugins have been fully optimized for Apple Silicon chips, so Saturn 2 wouldn't bottleneck the performance and would accurately test the DAW's utilization of the chips.

What was the significance of running the test for at least 15 minutes before recording results?

Running the test for at least 15 minutes ensured that the laptop was fully warmed up to account for thermal throttling, which could otherwise affect the accuracy of the results.

What was the conclusion regarding Logic Pro 11's core utilization?

Logic Pro 11 showed no improvement in core utilization over Logic Pro 10, as it still did not fully utilize the efficiency cores in the tested Apple Silicon chips.

How did the performance differ between the M1 Max and M2 Pro chips in the test?

Logic Pro 11 performed 20% better on the M1 Max chip compared to the 10-core M2 Pro chip, which was attributed to the M1 Max having more performance cores.

What was the result of changing the buffer size to 64 in the test?

Neither Logic Pro 10 nor Logic Pro 11 fully used the efficiency cores when the buffer size was changed to 64, on either the M1 Max or the 10-core M2 Pro chip.

What was the outcome of testing the new ChromaGlow plugin included with Logic Pro 11?

ChromaGlow, like Saturn 2, did not make full use of the efficiency cores. However, more tracks with ChromaGlow could be run on the M2 Pro chip compared to the M1 Max chip, which was an unusual result for the presenter.

What advice was given to Logic users looking to buy an Apple Silicon Mac?

The advice was to focus on the performance core count rather than the total core count when choosing an Apple Silicon chip, as Logic mostly runs on the performance cores only.