Audio cutting in and out mBox Pro 3rd gen, Yosemite

[noevenable]

I’m having a strange, seemingly glitchy problem with my new ProTools set up. I’m using the mBox Pro, 3rd Generation, along with the ProTools 11.2.0. (Before this I was using a Digi 02 with protools 7 for about ten years, so I’m an experienced lay user.) My computer is an iMac (21.5 inch Mid 2010, 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 Processor, 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM, operating system is Yosemite.

My designated hard drive for recording is a GTech 2 TB drive, 7200 rpm, 64 mb cache. Because my computer has only one firewire port (800), I’ve followed instructions in these forums for how to daisychain my harddrive for optimal performance. My computer connects to the harddrive, (FW 800 - 800) which then connects to the mBox Pro.

I have searched the forums and been through the troubleshooting suggestions, and nothing I've tried has helped.

Here is my problem. When I start a session, everything starts out fine. I’m not taxing the program, particularly as far as I can tell… All I’ve been working with is a single audio track and one reverb aux track. That’s it. I can record fine for anywhere between one and five minutes. Then, suddenly, the audio starts flashing in and out. Cutting in and out like a tremelo pedal, kind of. It sounds a little like what might happen if there was insufficient buffering, and once when this happened, ProTools asked me to increase the HW buffer size, but my doing this didn’t help.

The audio in and out madness continues for about fifteen minutes. During this time, I have tried quitting the program, turning everything off and then on again, even restarting the computer. But the only thing that seems to help is letting it run its course. Which takes a LONG time and is very frustrating when I’m in the middle of a session.

I've also tried swapping out all of the other elements-- mic, preamp, cables, etc, and this is definitely something going on within the program, or in the computer - interface - harddrive chain.

Help? This really feels glitchy… I just can’t figure out what could be causing it. Could it have something to do with the way my hard drive is coming before the mBox in the chain? Any suggestions much appreciated!

Warmly,

Noe

[Craig F]

well to start with:
a) there is no driver for Yosemite yet for any Avid interfaces
b) the i3 is not a qualified CPU (not that I think that is the problem)
c) yes, 4GB is the minimum RAM spec but 8GB is really the minimum amount for a system to run well

and welcome to the forum

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Craig F

the i3 is not a qualified CPU (not that I think that is the problem)

I think that will be a problem. For all I've seen, PT11 really really really loves (=needs) an i7 CPU.

[noevenable]

Thanks so much for these helpful responses! I'm actually not at all attached to having ProTools 11... How far back in versions do you think I would need to go to have a version that my i3 computer could handle better?

Would going back to 10 be far enough, and downgrading also to Mac OS 10.6.8?

Again, thanks. I really appreciate the help.

Warmly,

Noe V

[noevenable]

Okay, one more question. I've searched and searched here and in the reference and installation guide and cannot figure out...

How do I uninstall Protools 11.2.0?

Can you direct me to a link with this info?

Thanks so much!

Noe