CPU power problems

[juh]

Hello

I’m working on PT12.8.3 with a Macpro (late 2013) hexacore 32Go ram on Sierra, and a Apollo 8 quad thunderbolt.

I often work with multiples instances of Kontakt (around ten), and since I updated to 12.8 there are many sessions I can’t read anymore.

First of all when I open a session it takes a while before I can use it (beachball cursor several minutes) - I had the same problem before...

Then when I hit ‘play’ it starts and stops at the same time. I have the following error message : ‘Protools ran out of CPU power. Try de-activating or removing Native plug-ins (AAE-9173)’.

I tried to de-activate every plugins (not the virtual instruments) but it had no effect.

Those are sessions I could play before I updated to 12.8 !

Is it a known issue ? it really bothers me as I work on PT everyday !

Other question, commands are really not reactive, I mean when for instance I duplicate/repeat a clip by using the shortcut several times and quickly, it takes a latency time and it’s jerky.
Although it doesn’t look to be a complex task..?

Thank you for your answers !

[Darryl Ramm]

Are all your plugins up to date?

Why are you leaving VIs plugins active? (Kontakt would be near the top of my list of suspects to look at).

Have you tried trashing prefs?

What buffer size and sample rate are you running at?

Turn off dynamic plugin processing. Make sure ignore errors is not checked. Make sure disk cache is enabled... set to several GB, not "normal".

Move all .aaxplugin files out of the plugin folder and trash prefs then restart Pro Tools (which will put back the standard plugins). Can you then even open a session or not? Put back and remove plugins in batches until you find the plugin(s) causing problems.

If this is only happening with one or very few sessions then suspect then you should suspect session is corrupt.

Still having problems create a new admin user and test from their account with new empty and old sessions. Also test using built in output as the playback engine.

[juh]

Hi Darryl, thanks a lot you helped me to find a temporary solution!

I made all the settings / tests you suggested, then the last one (creating a new user account) and it perfectly works, the sessions open and read easil!

So the problem comes from my main account, something’s wrong in my system…

What’s the best solution at that point ? Create a new user account and erase the current one ? (that will take a long time …)
Or try to find where the issue comes from in my installation ?


Here’s the responses to your questions :

Yes my plugins are up to date, and I trashed prefs few weeks ago.

I leave VI's active because I need to have all my instruments available when I'm composing.

Buffer size is usually 256, or 512 when it can't read with 256. Sample rate is 48KHz.

I removed all plugins from the folder and put them back until I found wish one caused the problem, everything was ok (I could easily read the session) until I put back kontakt 5.aax.

But I have to say that my sessions contains very few plugins, CPU is essentially used by kontakt instances.

So when I open the session I have to wait few minutes (beachball cursor) then the cursor becomes normal and when I hit ‘play’, I have a message the message error (AAE -9173).

I tried other buffer size, but it had no effect.

Actually it’s worth when 'ignore errors' is not checked, and when disk cache is set to ‘normal’ (I tried 4Go / 8Go), as the cursor is in beachball mode for very long time (I had to force quit after 20 minutes waiting)

The only solution I found is to deactivate every kontakt instances, quit PT, restart computer, relaunch the session, check it plays and reactivate the kontakt instances. It takes a long time as I have to wait minutes each time I deactivate, but at the end it works.

Thank you for your help