Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

Hi Everyone,

I keep getting a CPU error message (6101) within 5 seconds of hitting play. I have eliminated everything in my session down to ONE instance of Omnisphere with about 6 tracks, that's it. No plug ins, absolutely nothing else.

I'm using a brand new Mac Mini 32GB, i7. I'm using an Apollo Twin X, also brand new and PT 2020. I have tried adjusting the settings in Playback Engine to the max 1024 samples and increased the cache. I have 'dynamic plug in processing' on. I keep all my samples on an external HD which is a glyph 'super speed' USB C (3.1) at 7200 rpm.

Any help to get me up and running is really appreciated!!

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

So, I suspect Ommnisphere has got something to do with it then. What happens if you disable it and hit play? Load a different preset in it and hit play?

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

Lots of info there except you missed some of the most useful stuff, especially what exact Pro Tools versions you are using on what exact macOS version?

Rule number one of troubleshooting CPU errors is to always suspect plugins.

Are those Omnisphere plugins up to date? Compatible with your macOS and Pro Tools version (note you need Omnisphere 2 for official compatibility with Catalina). And as Ben says, they seem suspects here. (edit: I fixed a typo that said iZotope not Omnisphere)

And you have a UAD system... are you absolutely sure you are not instantiating UAD plugins in a session? No hidden tracks etc. None of those big slow high IO buffer demanding UAD plugins? Hopefully you understand the overhead issues with UAD plugins within Pro Tools.

What troubleshooting have you tried? Lots of standard stuff you need to go thought. Start at "help us help you" up the top of every DUC web page.

You should have tested by removing all .aaxplugin files from the plugin folder (and just testing only with the default Pro Tools plugins that Pro Tools will put back automagically), trash prefs (keep trashing prefs as you try other stuff, use Pete Gates PT Prefs utility), try other sessions, test with Build-in Output, test from a new admin user account, ... there are a pile of things to try and if you should list exactly what you tried if you want useful help.

Is the system fully optimized? every last thing done, WiFi off, Bluetooth off?
Do it all for now, you can back off some of them later.

Uncheck ignore errors (you want to see errors while troubleshooting).
Hopefully you are working at sane sample rates of 96kHz or lower.
Try dynamic plugin processing off.
Set cache size to a few GB.

If your samples would fit on the super-fast internal PCIe/NVMe SSD then that is likely a better place to run them than the external slow glyph drive. Those PCIe/NVMe SSDs are usually capable of running boot, audio sessions, and samples.

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

I'm using PT 2020.5 with OS 10.14.6
My session sample rate is at 48Khz.
I disabled WiFi and Bluetooth.
I have zero UAD plugins in this session. There is only one instance of Omnisphere.
I've trashed prefs.
My cache size is set to 6GB

I haven't removed the aax plugin files from the plugin folder or tried from a new admin user account.

Everything I'm using is *technically* compatible. One instance of Omnisphere shouldn't be giving me this much grief...

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

OK take the next steps...

You need to check starting with a clean session to exclude session corruption.

Any instance of any unhappy plugin can do anything it wants, even if you are not using it. And you don't know it's not an interaction of some other plugin that you are not using. But for now Omnisphere is the clear suspect, the only logical thing to do next is exclude that. Should take a few minutes to confirm a suspicion there... and if it is a problem then I would then try a full clean reinstall (do a new download) of Omnisphere 2... after removing all .aaxplugin files so Pro Tools only has its default ones there and you a clean install of Omnisphere 2 and *nothing* else at all. Trash prefs and try that... you are now actually hopeful close to a setup that Omnisphere 2 actually tested in. Still having a problem then contact the plugin vendor asap. (edit: fixed multiple typos where I said iZotope but meant Omnisphere)

The MacOS was a full clean install right, and you never used system migration assassin to move stuff to this computer?

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

I've got the same issue on a near identical config both hardware and software. Main difference is my OS is 10.15.5 My plug ins run on a Soundgrid Server and it happens with or without SGS or without any plug ins or instruments. It can happen with six audio tracks from the PT100 surf jingle spot no plug ins no instruments. Still happens with the buffers set to max for a six track, 30 sec spot. So yeah, it's a problem. With Pro Tools. I can load the hell out of any other DAW, playback, instruments, whatever and it will sing. It's a known issue that rears its head on some systems. Doing the tweaks and rebooting every time I launch PT has helped but it still pops up. This box is my personal box that's not used for production. It would be a deal breaker if it were.

On Mojave you can try to disable spindump and tailspind. Those are Darwin processes that are used to monitor and report on systems. They've been known to cause errors for CPU intensive apps. It may not solve it though some users say it helps.

Here's the Avid tech note
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...3D1&popup=true
There's an updated syntax for launchctl that doesn't require the SIP to be disabled but the legacy syntax should still work in Mojave.

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

When you say six tracks do you mean you’re running one multitimbral instance of Omnisphere? If so it might be that you’re overloading one core because I’m pretty sure Pro Tools can’t spread the load of one plug-in across multiple cores.

It might be worth splitting the six Omnisphere instruments in one instance into six individual instances and see what happens.

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

I've read the op's post several times and have no idea where you're getting iZotope possibly being the problem? You're the only one even mentioning iZotope. You're quite knowledgeable but sometimes you make mistakes like this that make people scratch their heads.

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

Dumb question... have you updated your Omnisphere to newest patch version?

Re: Sidelined by CPU Problem on 32GB Mac
 

And is it Omnisphere 2 or the original version? I have the original version and it sometimes causes PT to throw up a 6101.