Pro Tools 9 and Macbook Pro Acting Weird. Never Seen Anything Like This

[drummer_viper]

I just bought Pro tools 9. I bought the cross grade from Pro Tools LE. I have a digi 003 rack + interface that i bought two years ago. I also have a MacBook Pro 2.66 ghz Intel Core i7, version 10.6.8 with 4 gb of ram. I installed the digi 003 update drivers before installing PT9. After activating my activation card from avid, I downloaded Pro Tools 9.0.2 full installer. Once Pro Tools 9 finished installing, I installed Pro Tools 9.0.3 updater. Once it finished installing, i restarted my computer. As soon as I opened Pro Tools, I begin to hear "pops" or "crack" noises coming from my computer. I got kind of scare of my laptop. When I opened a project I've done in PT8, all of a sudden it wont play. "Error 6101" message would pop up. When I try to play a project through my laptop's speakers (after having built-in output on playback engine), my computer starts making crack noises and it wont play. I tried hooking up my headphones trough my laptop and when I hit play I start hearing an annoying noise in my headphones and it wont play. On the screen it says "try increasing buffer size or removing some plugins." This occurs still even though I make a new project with only two tracks without any plugins. When the setting is Built In Output and press play, my laptop or headphones makes a weird noise. When the sound comes through my laptop speakers, my computer sounds like a "popcorn machine"

I also bought a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 (Pro Tools 9 Ready) interface that i wanted to use as my main interface but when I try to record something it wont record. When I play something, it wont play. "Try increasing buffer size" message would pop out also, even though i have 2 tracks with no plugins. When I hear my self talking on a mic it sounds distorted. When set up a instrument track with Mini Grand Plugin, it also sound distorted.

So far everything runs well and smooth when my digi 003 interface is hookup in playback engine as my main interface. There's no errors or problems. Can someone please help me cause I am frustrated with this since I want to use the Focusrite interface as my main interface and want to mix my projects on the go with just my laptop only and a headphone.

this is a list of my hardware:

Mac Book Pro 10.6.8
2.66 ghz Intel Core i7
4 gb 1067 mhz DDR3

I am using a G-Drive external hard drive (7200 rpm)

digi 003 rack + interface
Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 interface

[Darryl Ramm]

When you select the Built in Output playback engine what is your buffer size and all the other Playback Engine settings?

You very likely need to increase the buffer size from what you are used to with a 003. Do you have "Ignore Errors during Playback/Record" checked?

Some simple question/checks (others may have better ideas)...

Are you selecting the Saffire Pro 40 in the Playback Engine dialog directly? Or are you trying to aggregate the Saffire in the Audio/Midi setup? What are all the settings for the PlayBack Engine for the Saffire? How does the Saffire sound with iTunes if you ignore Pro Tools completely and set Mac OS X audio out to use the Saffire? How are things chained together on the Firewire bus? Are you physically removing the 003 when its not used etc? Try swapping the chain order of the FW drive and the Saffire or even remove the FW drive altogether and do a quick test with a single audio track playing off the internal system drive (yes I know you don't want to do this in real life, just to test if you can get it working at all with the simplest Firewire config). What clock rates are you running stuff at?

And you probably know this already but 10.6.8 is not yet qualified with Pro Tools. You can read the other DUC posts on that.

Darryl

[Darryl Ramm]

One other check - when you say you have "built in output" as the playback engine - you mean you literally have selected "Built-in Output" in the playback engine dialog right? You are not using the Pro Tools aggregate device? (if you are/want to then the next thing to try is make sure "Resample" is not checked in the Audio/midi control panel for the aggregate device. If you don't need/want the aggregate device then just stick with trying to use built in output.

Darryl

[francois]

looks that you are on 10.6.8
that could be it