I am not using any samplers, so no big sample libraries to load. Just guitar amp sims, effects and a few Cab IRs (small file size samples).
I do replicate most parameters in widgets though, so I got loads of them in my rackspaces.
About 7 rackspaces, low number of variations, 42 Songs.
My Gig File (which is around 600KB) needs a little more than 1 minute to load on my 2017 MB Pro. It’s very long and as annoying as warming up an amp with tubes on standby before you can play it.
What is causing the long loading time? The many widgets? The maybe 40 plugins I am using? The number of songs? The Cab IRs?
What would I have to simplify to make it quicker?
I’ve got a massive gig file of 450 rack spaces and it loads in 3 1/2 minutes. No variations and an average of 6 to 10 plugins per rack space. Running on pc.
But then you’d miss out on all the crazy sounds you get while strumming away as it loads If the tuner was accessible you could at least do something productive while it loads.
I’ve got a similar MBP so I’ll see if my load times are comparable.
More seriously, loading times can be long, but it is typically due to individual plugins taking a long time to load…sometimes they want to connect to their home servers, sometimes an AV program slows them down.
My sense is that some plugins are either taking a very long time to load or are trying to use the networking.
Try the following…
Open the Plugin Manager and disable one of your plugins
Reload the gig file and see if there is an improvement.
If not - return to step 1, enable that plugin and disable a different one until you find the one that is taking a long time.
This will not help you with your loading times, but at least you could watch for an update or ask the developers of the plugin to improve the loading time.
If the tuner was accessible you could at least do something productive while it loads.