Glory, Glory. Plugin Disable Now Available (with some drawbacks)
2005-10-20 by Michael Sirotta
I think this is new to 7.1.1. Awhile back I inquired here about disabling the loading in of plugins, because it was so annoying to have them reload each time one switched between multiple open song files (a common and necessary operation when working with MIDI data). No one here had any solution for this at that time, so I assumed there was none then. No more. Under preferences there is a handy little item: "Start up AU Manager". A dialogue will arise advising that Logic will need to quit for a moment, which it does after a save prompt (you can also cancel out at this point). A window then opens that lists all the Audio Units in your system. Each has a check box that indicates, when checked, that the Unit is employed by Logic. Unchecking them will block their respective plug-ins from loading, next time the file is opened. Unfortunately, there are some time and labor costs involved with doing this procedure (and doing the reverse, i.e., re-enabling the plug-ins). When the AU Manager is dismissed, Logic will automatically restart with one's designated "new file" template and the music files one had been working on will have to be manually re-opened. Also, when re-enabling the audio units, Logic will need to re-authorize and rescan the units, which can take some time (under a minute, I think. Maybe a bit more depending on the data density). But happily, none of one's plug-in choices or settings will be lost after this procedure, and, given the frustration of constant plugin reload occuring with such a simple action as just switching windows in intensive MIDI editing-copy-paste sessions, the few inconveniences incurred by the above are well out-weighed by the savings in angst and lost time that had been our lot to endure before. Someday, maybe it will be as simple as just unchecking a box in each track, but not yet, I'm afraid. Till then, this is a much better life than the former. Michael