Pro tools 12 extremely slow (unusable), freezes on Windows 10 PC. Fresh new install.

[lorenzo.stavros]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to such forums so please forgive me if I'm posting out of line turn here.

I appreciate there is already a very similar topic on this here:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t...low+windows+pc

However unfortunately, the solution that resolved the issue did not work for me (removing CD/DVD from drive).

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Issue
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Pro Tools 12 is very slow (unusable), it take around 5 minutes to start up, then whenever I try to create or load a project it takes another 5 minutes or just becomes completely unresponsive.

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Background / More Details
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This is the first time I have ever purchased or installed an Avid product. My PC and Software Specifications are as follows:

- Microsoft Windows 10 Professional (64-bit)
- Pro Tools 12 (standard edition, perpetual license)
- CPU: Intel i7 2.93 GHz (Quad Core)
- RAM: 16GB (4 x 4 GB)
- Hard Drive: 250GB Solid State (Samsung Pro Evo 750)
- Audio Interface: Zoom R16
- Audio Driver: ASIO 4 ALL

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What I have tried so far
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- I have tried disabling any Antivirus and Firewall software (Windows Defender is all I have).

- I have tried disabling any other "drives" within Device manager such as SD card slots

- I do not have any other removable media e.g. within my CD/DVD Drive

- I have tried going into the BIOS and disabling any instance of "Floppy" drive, but the bios does not have any reference to Floppy drives

- I already have the latest possible version of my Bios software

- I have tried providing Pro Tools "High Priority" within the Task Manager

- I have been monitoring my CPU + RAM + Disk usage whilst Pro Tools is trying to work, but there are no unusual spikes or high usage of anything

- I have fully installed all my Windows 10 updates and latest drivers for all my hardware (audio, graphics etc..)

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What next?
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I feel I have completely exhausted all possibility of isolating this issue, and I would be extremely appreciative if anyone could offer any more ideas on this.

Thanks in advance,
Lorenzo

[Benoni]

Did you trying using the drivers for the Zoom instead of ASIO4ALL?
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/pro...ller#downloads

[lorenzo.stavros]

Just tried it now after you suggested it but unfortunately the same issue persists . Thanks for the suggestion though.

[mjslakeridge]

ASIO4ALL is kind of a "last ditch effort" driver to use. As said above it is always better to use the drivers specific to the interface you are using.

Is this computer a new build? Do other programs work fine on it? Looks like you have done some of the Avid recommended optimizations, but have you done them ALL? See the Additional Resources section at the top of this page and select the optimization guide for your version of Windows and ProTools. It took me 2 or 3 passes through the optimization guide to get every one of them right.

Do you only have the one storage device (the ssd)? Avid recommends that the audio sessions be on a different drive than the operating system drive. (You may be able to get away with one drive if using a SSD, maybe someone else has some advice in that regards). How much free capacity is on the SSD? That might affect the functioning of ProTools if the drive is too full (say over 90% utilization).

[lorenzo.stavros]

I just followed all the advice given within the Avid Optimisations page and still no luck

I also tried connecting an external USB hard drive with a small project to test loading that but still get the extreme slowness and freezing

I uninstalled the ASIO4All driver just to make sure 100% it is not affecting anything, and double checked I'm using the Zoom R16 drivers

I only have the one internal hard drive (Samsung SSD 250GB). There is currently 160GB free.

All other programs work fine, including Cubase 7.5 which I have "stress tested" with many tracks playing back simultaneous.

This is not a "new build" PC. I bought this PC years ago (Dell Studio XPS 8100), but upgraded the components including:

- Original Graphics Card replaced with: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650

- Added 8GB extra RAM (2 x 4GB). Originally only had 8GB total, now it has 16GB

- Disconnected the original 1TB HDD and replaced it with the Samsung Pro Evo 750 SSD and installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Professional (I have tried connecting both the 1TB HDD and the 250GB SSD the same time but this does not help at all).

I hope I've been clear and concise with my response, sorry if it is a bit messy!

Do you think I should wipe the whole hard drive and re-install everything again from scratch? I can't think of what else to do

[The Weed]

Post a Sandra report, there may be something someone will see.

Do you have a CD or DVD in a drive?

Have you gone into BIOS and, if there is a floppy controller there, disabled it?

[Benoni]

Have you tried installing ASIO4ALL and DISCONNECT the ZOOM before starting Pro Tools?

What about using the Zoom drivers, but make sure you disable the ZOOM drivers from being used as the computer audio source?

[lorenzo.stavros]

BINGO!! I did as you suggested:

1) Disconnected the Zoom audio interface
2) Opened Pro Tools (it started up super fast!)
3) Changed the drivers to ASIO4ALL
4) Closed Pro Tools
5) Re-connected the Zoom audio interface
6) Disabled the Zoom audio interface from the Windows Recording Devices
7) Started up Pro Tools again (still started up super fast)
8) Opened a project and hit Play, and its running super fast with no issues now!

Thanks very much all for the help. I will not touch the Zoom drivers every again haha!!

[cplaza]

On my system I was getting extremely slow launch and 'out of cpu resources' error on playback. Somehow (I don't know how) in the playback engine settings, the disk cache buffer size was set to 1GB. After setting it to 'normal', all the problems disappeared. Hope this helps some one out there.