Pro Tools 2020.9.1 won't load plugins on startup

[SplitTheDifferenceAudio]

So today pro tools won't start and it had to do with third party plugins.

I removed all the plugins and it loaded just fine.

When I put them back in it got hung up on my UAD plugins so I reinstalled UAD. Now when I start pro tools it loads the UAD but now gets stuck on the next 3rd party plugin in the list. I started removing those but it just gets stuck on the next one.

It seems like the issue is not a single outdated plugin but all.

Does anyone have any ideas?

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[Darryl Ramm]

Do you see any error messages? Are you getting the "invalid AAX" error...

Did you start by trashing prefs?

Problems can rarely be caused by other plugins that appear to load OK but screws the system (so might be the plugins right after UAD loads...)

Have you changed anything recently? Updated or installed any plugins?

If you can't sort it out easilly remove all .aaxplugin files and trash prefs again and reinstal plugins (from new downloaded installers). Starting with the plugins you most need and testing things work after each install.

[SplitTheDifferenceAudio]

So I just reinstalled pro tools and it's loading now. Still around like to know what causes this.

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[Darryl Ramm]

Great. But nobody here will have a clue what is going on... You have not described what error messages you got etc... and did you try carefully trashing prefs at some point? If it was the invalid AAX plugin error... well there is a spate of that going around. But I'm guessing that reinstalling Pro Tools is probably not the fix for that one.

[SplitTheDifferenceAudio]

There are no error messages. Just the pro tools crash reporter and sometimes not even that.

Just spent the entire day completely wiping the Mac book pro and reinstalling everything from fresh/current installers. (I needed to do that anyway to just clean the machine up)

Pro Tools is still crashing on startup while loading plugins.

I've made a ticket but its now two days destroyed by this.

I guess I'll have to try removing all plugins and adding them back in one by one.

For the record system is.

2015 MBP
3 hdx rig
Pro Tools Ultimate 2020.9.1



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[Darryl Ramm]

So do you have third party plugins installed or not?

When you removed all the .aaxplugin files and let Pro Tools restore the default ones did it work OK?

When you reinstalled everything clean did it work OK before you installed third party plugins?

[SplitTheDifferenceAudio]

I have tons of 3rd party.

If I removed all plugins pro tools would startup fine with just stock plugins.

I just went back to 2020.5 and it boots up fine with all my plugins installed.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by SplitTheDifferenceAudio

I have tons of 3rd party.

If I removed all plugins pro tools would startup fine with just stock plugins.

I just went back to 2020.5 and it boots up fine with all my plugins installed.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

OK so you know it's likely a plugin with incompatibility with 2020.9. I expect it's a plugin that has already loaded as things start up... or maybe the very next one trying to load that you might not be seeing yet in the splash screen. That should make finding the plugin easier.

[SplitTheDifferenceAudio]

Any idea on the order of the scan cause it's more complicated then just alphabetical?

The last plugin listed in the log was an izotope plugin but not sure what would be next since it had already been thru the waves shell files.

The curious thing is I've been on 2020.9.1 since it came out. I didn't add any plugins since so not sure what would have triggered the incompatibility.

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[EGS]

Originally Posted by SplitTheDifferenceAudio

...I didn't add any plugins since so not sure what would have triggered the incompatibility...

Weird...
I'd troubleshoot by uninstalling all 3rd party plugs, and then doing a fresh download from the manufacturers website, and a fresh install of each. Trash prefs. Go slowly and methodically.