Pro Tools won't let me import audio

[GuitaRoy]

So I'm in a bit of a pickle here. I have Pro Tools 12.4.0, perpetually, which I run on MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6. Recently when I tried to Import audio into a Pro Tools session, this came up:

"Could not complete the Import Audio command because Assertion in "/Volumes/Development/158347/ProTools/NewFileLibs/Cfd/MacOS/Cfd_ImportAudioDialogMacOS.mm", line 603."


So I did a little research and, if I'm not mistaken, Pro Tools 12.4.0 isn't compatible with Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.16. In fact, from what I gathered, I'm not sure any version of Pro Tools is compatible with that OS. I could be wrong.

So my question is, what should I do? I really want to Import audio into sessions, and overall I just want Pro Tools to function as it should.

So do I have no choice but to bite the bullet and fork over some extra dough for a subscription? Or is there some other unconventional way, maybe downgrading my operating system?

Keep in mind, I would like everything in Pro Tools to work well in general. If that means a subscription, so be it. If there's some other way around it, great.

Also, why would no version of PT be compatible with High Sierra 10.13.6? What does that mean? It seems to have been working fine until I came across this issue. How important is it that your Pro Tools version be compatible with your OS?

Thanks all

[albee1952]

Try drag and drop instead of using the File>Import>Audio method

[GuitaRoy]

I will try that in the meantime, thanks!

To avoid any future problems, what would you all recommend? That I get an active subscription to Pro Tools, or that I downgrade my OS? Or both?

[Darryl Ramm]

This specific problem is a known issue, as the OP suspects, but I don’t know if you saw this exact note so I’ll post here

https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...rra/?q=asser_1

My general advice would be to move forward. Get your Pro Tools update plan up to date and maybe even get your Mac updated to Mojave... if your a Mac and interfaces/drivers are compatible. And do a clean full macOS install, not an in-situation update... more reliable and what Avid recommends. Do that install on a spare drive or partition and test before flipping over. If you give details of your Mac and current drives I can suggest good SSD choices there.

Avid has made significant efforts in Pro Tools stability improvements in 2018 and that alone makes me want to have the latest builds available.

High Sierra is supported in 2018.12. But you need to be careful what exactly to worry about and being “officially supported” or not is not just some gold check mark to look for. Running 2018.10 on Mojave has been very good for many of us, and we’ve posted about this widely in DUC. One hold up for Avid with these certifications seems to be a stability issues at small buffer sizes, that Avid has documented on the Product release note pages. And folks here have been reporting how disabling hyperthreafibg may be a cure for that. Avid has *never* been aggressive about rapid support for new OS releases and the continuing churn of MacOS releases clearly tax them. OTOH if you do a little homework here there is likely great options to use.

What filesystem do you run on? Many of us Mac users are using APFS... also not officially supported by Avid, works great and I’ll wager money that it’s more robust than HFS+. So again, what Avid officially supports is a useful guide, but you have to combine that with other info to make practical decisions.

[GuitaRoy]

I have a mid-2012 MacBook with a hard-disk drive. It took me a bit of research to know what filesystem I run on but it's HFS+ (Journaled), since my MacBook is older. (I believe the APFS came a bit later.) I'll also look into doing the full, clean MacOS install.


Thanks a lot for the advice. Just the note in itself was helpful because it gives a work-around to the problem. The only issue I'm having is that I want to import multiple tracks from one session into another, but have them maintain their positions relative to each other, if that makes sense. I suppose I can just use Spot mode and drop them exactly where they were on the previous session, but I was wondering if there could be a simpler solution to just having all the tracks I import maintain their relative positions.

You may or may not notice at some point, but I'm a little bit in over my head with this stuff. I bought Pro Tools 12 along with an Apollo Twin interface about 4 years ago, seriously underestimating the amount of expertise needed to actually use this stuff. Luckily, there's lots of info and resources on the web, such as this forum, that can help you out.

[The Weed]

If you want the audio in place, why not us Import Session Data and bring in the tracks the audio is on? Do remember to check copy from source media.

[GuitaRoy]

This is great advice and something that would work perfectly, except for that apparently, the previously discussed compatibility issues extend to Importing Session Data as well. My Import Session Data Window won't show anything under Session and Destination, not even the "Match Tracks" button, even though the session from which I'm attempting to import data obviously contains several tracks.

I've attached a Screen shot of the image in case anyone cares to look.

I've tried it with several sessions, and those things are always empty.

Oddly enough, one time, it showed the tracks on the Import Session Data window, for some strange reason. When I tried to Import them, it just kind of froze.

Still, thanks for mentioning Import Session Data, as it prompted me to check out a whole 10 minute video on it and understand what's it all about.

Good point on checking copy from source media, btw. That could lead to several headaches down the road.