Pro Tools 2020.5 GUI FREAK OUT on Windows 10

[polycorn]

I’ll post a follow up soon, short version: yes, proc affinity solved it.

[polycorn]

Ok, as promised, the some details.

The processor affinity has a lot to do with this issue.
As I responded to support (I'll paste the conversation below, read from the bottom to top), my theory/conclusion: Pro Tools is prioritizing audio during bounce to such an extend that it’s own communication with dwm goes astray.

There's enough power for all that I want to do, but Pro Tools fails to distribute the load in a useful way, with problems like this as a result.

I set processor affinity to all cores except the first two, for my i9-9900k that is a good setting.

To answer your question: I made a shortcut with Processor Affinity set, following this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e565VSxdVhY

Starting PT using this shortcut has so far worked flawlessly, finished a full album mix today and did some other work on a track that gave me big problems earlier this week.

System feels snappy again.

Happy mixing!

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Avid Support conversation below
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Current Response:

Entered on: 6/12/2020 3:20 PM Entered by: Kemuel

Hi Harmen,

Thanks for the response. I'll check with our engineering for further information. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again and have a great day!

Best Regards,
Kem
Avid Customer Care | Audio Post & Pro

Previous Responses:

Entered on: 6/12/2020 7:35 AM Entered by: Customer

Hi,


Yes, that is the same link you sent me before.

Did you also read the thread I linked to? I discussed scaling there. It’s not the issue.

The working solution is also in the thread.

My theory/conclusion: Pro Tools is prioritizing audio during bounce to such an extend that it’s own communication with dwm goes astray.

If processor affinity config by end users is a needed for Pro Tools to work normal (yes, 4k resolution is normal), there’s something wrong with Pro Tools.

Whether you call it a bug or unsupported does not matter, Pro tools is falling short.

Please, please, please communicate this to someone who has something to do with coding so we can all look forward to a more stable and capable DAW.

Thank you, kind regards, Harmen



Vriendelijke groet, Harmen

Entered on: 6/11/2020 12:51 PM Entered by: Kemuel

Hi Harmen,

Thanks for the response. I saw the video and it looks like it is DPI scaling issue. Have you tried to disable the DPI scaling? For more information on how to do it, please check the link below.

Pro Tools and 4K Resolution Monitors on Windows:
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...ors-on-Windows

I would also suggest deleting Pro Tools preferences and see if that fixes the issue. You can also try reinstalling/updating Pro Tools.

Let me know if that works.

Best Regards,
Kem
Avid Customer Care | Audio Post & Pro

Entered on: 6/11/2020 4:44 AM Entered by: Customer

Hi Kem,

Thanks for your fast response. I tried running at 1080, no luck. Check
this video if you want to see what I'm talking about:
https://youtu.be/QdZ_jc7AByU

Did you check the thread on the forum I linked to earlier? I'm
"polycorn" there. Perhaps you can join the discussion there as well,
help out a bunch of users at once.

A couple of things that I think are relevant:

- I've been using a 4k monitor for a couple of years, no problem until
recently
- 1080p was great in the year 2010, we're in 2020 now, going back to a
much smaller screen slows me down tremendously
- the issue ONLY presents itself during bounce, sometimes it takes 1
minute, sometimes up to 10, but if the bounce is long enough it will
definitely show up
- the amount of tracks or plugins does not seem to have a big effect

Thanks, kind regards,

Entered on: 6/10/2020 7:20 PM Entered by: Kemuel

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Avid audio technical support.

To fix the issue, please follow the steps in the link below.

Pro Tools and 4K Resolution Monitors on Windows:
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...ors-on-Windows

Let me know if that works. Thanks again and have a great day!

Best Regards,
Kem
Avid Customer Care | Audio Post & Pro

Case Description:

The GUI freaks out during bounce and leaves me with GUI parts either blank or all over the place and on top of each other. There are some others who have the same problem, more info here: http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=410360&page=6I have tried running at 1080p and several other ideas but nothing really made a difference. I don't recall having this problem with 2019 versions on Windows 10

[thebeatless]

Great that you guys are narrowing in on this thing! I haven't tried processor affinity yet, but I will. I did seem to make a huge improvement by creating a custom resolution with the AMD Graphics card settings for 2560x1440 and then turned windows scaling off. In the time I spent testing, I couldn't make it happen for me the way it has been very repeatably in this particular session. I'll see how working with it tomorrow goes.

I got the 16 core mac pro setup and worked with it for a couple of days, but I really am having a hard time with the cost. Compared to my 9900ks PC build, it actually feels sluggish when clicking to open plugin windows, copying plugins across channels, or copying sends. It even does offline bounces slower!! That's really making it hard to justify the expense! I have another week to decide if I want to keep it, but really leaning towards returning it.

[polycorn]

Try the processor affinity thing on your windows machine, I can help you if you want.

See how good windows can be if you get a hang of it (still learning many things myself after so many years of Apple) and then return the Mac Pro to the fashion factory. ��

[thebeatless]

What in the world is going on here!!!?? hah Like you, I disabled the first two cores, and now this system is doing offline bounces 2x the speed of the mac pro, and track freezes are maybe 10x faster than they were before. This is amazing so far! No GUI freak outs yet, but just doing my typical Monday morning Mix revisions from all the notes that came in over the weekend, so not really adding any new inserts yet.

[polycorn]

enjoy! Hope it stays that good. Thanks to The Weed for pointing us in this direction.

Remember, you might need to set this again after the next PT update.

[thebeatless]

Still all good here. I am setting affinity manually each time, but I’ll figure out the more long term solution soon.

Now I have a question about my recent experiences. It seems like you guys know your stuff. How is it that this 9900ks system is performing significantly better than a 16 core Xeon Mac Pro? Is it strictly cpu frequency? Is single core performance more important that multi? Is Mac OS the bottle neck? I was reluctant to spend the cash, but hopeful that this Mac would get me back to where I’ve been comfortable for the last 20+ years, and be a beast of a machine that could last me years. But.... it can’t even play back session that work perfectly on my lower end custom built pc. Do you think it’s an issue with the Mac, or is it really not much better than a trash can Mac?

[polycorn]

I’m not the person to ask to compare different CPU’s etc, sorry. However, before I made the jump to PC in July I had a Mac Pro 2010 5,1.

To prepare my transition I installed a bootcamp win 10 partition with pro tools and everything on it, just to get used to Windows. At some point I made a test session with a stereo track that had some white noise on it and stuffed it with plugins. Then checked how many instances of that track I could copy before it choked the system. Same buffersize, same interface, same update of ProTools and plugins, and ofcourse, the same computer.

In OS X I could manage 48 tracks.

In windows 10 pro: 92 tracks.


If Windows can do better on apple hardware than apple, I’m done. Decision made.

[The Weed]

Just wanted to check in and see if the Processor Affinity switch was still performing for people. If it is, this optimization should be part of Avid's KB and maybe a Sticky. It certainly is for me.

[thebeatless]

Since I'm still manually setting it, I am forgetting to do it sometimes, but I'm usually taking care of it. I'm not sure if it's affinity, or just the changes to my resolution settings, but my system has been rock solid since making these two changes.