The classic 9173 CPU spikes, might be graphic ?

[Guilla]

Hello everyone,

I am sorry to bring that subject to the table again, I really wish I won't...

My setup :
Macbook Pro i7 mid 2015. 16 Go Ram, 512 Go SSD. OSX Sierra 10.12.1
Mixing from a 512 Go external SSD.
Apollo Silver rack as an interface (although changing interfaces or using PT aggregate does not help).
Pro Tools 12.6.1

I am having constant CPU spikes at the end of mixing sessions.
I have tried a lot of things :
- All the Avid optimisations.
- Disabling Hyper-Threading.
- Stopping the Hard Drive to sleep.
- Removing plugins one by one to find a culprit.
- Trashing pref.
- Deleting computer cache (booting in safe mode).
- No Dynamic Plugin Processing.
- Changing Disk Cache Size.
- No Wifi or Bluetooth when using Pro Tools.
- All size of buffer (keeping the highest buffer seems to work best, no surprise so far).
Etc...

And it is still a nightmare.
The workaround I have found was to reduce the PT windows. That way I can print the stereo mix with a lot less CPU spikes.
Everytime I load a graphic type of plugin ala Fab Filter Pro Q2, with live graphic display, it increases the CPU spikes. If I use the same plugin without the analyzer display it reduces them.
I seem to have less CPU spikes in mixer view. Especially if I push the mixer window down the screen so I can only see the top half of it.

Also it seems (I am not sure here it is hard to tell) that the more auxes I create, the harder it is to avoid those CPU spikes. Especially when comes the time to create a mixbus with some processing on.

I have tried different display scale (bigger,smaller...), it did not change anything.

I know 9173 are as common as curry in India. And that some of you found a solution and others live with them, accumulating anger and frustraion in their heart.

So I was wondering if some of you had similar situations (I guess so) and if you find a solution.
I am really getting desperate about this...
I even tried updating to the last Pro Tools version to date, even the HD version (I am not HD, which sucks when using outboard by the way). And I saw no improvements what so ever...

Thanks to all of you that might chime in to help...
Thx !!

[jeam25]

Hi friend i think you are suffering the click plugin 9173 bug. Im not 100% shure but i think you are on the PT click bug version. Try removing the click plugin from the plugins folder.

If that fixes it, just update to 12.7 or newer version and you will be good.

[Guilla]

Originally Posted by jeam25

Hi friend i think you are suffering the click plugin 9173 bug. Im not 100% shure but i think you are on the PT click bug version. Try removing the click plugin from the plugins folder.

If that fixes it, just update to 12.7 or newer version and you will be good.

Wow thanks for the quick answer ! I really appreciate it !

I have forget to mention that I tried this and it did not worked !
When updating to higher PT version it did not change anything too, unfortunately :/.

[jeam25]

Ok no prob. All your SSD are the ones that comes with the computer ? If no, check if they are trim enabled on system details.

[Darryl Ramm]

If it's not click....

9173 are common... yes on Pro Tools 12.... dramatically reduced in 2019.x. If they were bothering me I'd be getting off Pro Tools 12 as soon as possible onto 2019.6. If you have actually tried 2019.6 (ideally on a full clean Mojave install) and still have this problem that is a whole different discussion. TYou need to tell us exactly what you have tried for "later versions" etc.

What is a "512 Go external SSD" What exact make/model connected how?

What do you mean by "at the end of the session".

What exact version of Pro Tools... disk cache was added to Pro Tools 12.2 (standard) are you running 12.2 or later and is disk cache actually enabled (set to a size)? - I see you say you are changing it. Just set it to a few GB and leave there.

What sample rate? Give us some idea of your session. How many tracks? Plugins?

Folks have reported clear graphics related CPU issues in the past here that were solved by moving to Mojave. ... do not test/take risks by doing an in-situ macOS upgrade. Go get a spare SSD drive or partition one you have now if you have space, and do a full clean Mojave test install on that. Looks like have run down lots of slow individual tests, time for some bold tests, get 2019.6 onto Mojave and test.

[Guilla]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

If it's not click....

9173 are common... yes on Pro Tools 12.... dramatically reduced in 2019.x. If they were bothering me I'd be getting off Pro Tools 12 as soon as possible onto 2019.6. If you have actually tried 2019.6 (ideally on a full clean Mojave install) and still have this problem that is a whole different discussion. TYou need to tell us exactly what you have tried for "later versions" etc.

What is a "512 Go external SSD" What exact make/model connected how?

What do you mean by "at the end of the session".

What exact version of Pro Tools... disk cache was added to Pro Tools 12.2 (standard) are you running 12.2 or later and is disk cache actually enabled (set to a size)? - I see you say you are changing it. Just set it to a few GB and leave there.

What sample rate? Give us some idea of your session. How many tracks? Plugins?

Folks have reported clear graphics related CPU issues in the past here that were solved by moving to Mojave. ... do not test/take risks by doing an in-situ macOS upgrade. Go get a spare SSD drive or partition one you have now if you have space, and do a full clean Mojave test install on that. Looks like have run down lots of slow individual tests, time for some bold tests, get 2019.6 onto Mojave and test.

Excellent thanks a lot !

So when I tried the new version it was Pro Tools 2019 HD indeed. It did not helped. But I tried on Sierra.

The 512 Go SSD External is the classic Samsung one.

I am running Pro Tools 12.6.1. I tried every "size" of disk cache available. I usually stay at "Normal".

I usually mix at 48 khz, more and more at 88.2khz, never at 96 khz (or extremely rarely).
Sessions are ranging from 40-45 tracks to 100 tracks sometimes. But more often 40-50 tracks count. Let's say I used around 60 plugins on each sessions (probably less to be honest as I now do a lot of Audiosuite to avoid CPU hassle and I do auxes processing more).

Good advice about taking a spare SSD drive and try a full clean install of Mojave. If I do a Time Capture thing of my actual setup on an external hard drive (SSD only ?), I will still be able to go back to this at any moment if anything goes wrong. But I will first be at Mojave + Pro Tools 12.6.1 since I already used my trial for the latest PT version (my subscription is over so I will have to pay to upgrade PT).

Thanks a lot !!

[Darryl Ramm]

Time Capture?* You mean Time Machine? I personally would not be using Time Machine to back up the internal/boot drive. I would be making (multiple) Carbon Copy Clones.... but you can/should backup any way you want. Including before doing this macOS install test... but the point of the test is you are not going to touch the installed system (at least deliberately-but mistakes happen... so have a backup).

And to be clear there is no need for you to be using an external audio/session SSD, unless the internal SSD does not have enough space. The late 2015 15" MBP have 4 x PCIe 3 internal SSD drives (first with PCIe 3), they are stinking fast, faster than any external drive you can connect to that same MBP.

I hope you have a current license that can run 2019.6 Ultimate, or just 2019.6 standard should be fine to at least test with.

---

Make a plan, something like:

Copy over several session to the internal boot drive, to use in testing, and confirm it had the same problems running there. Leave them there. Disconnect your session drive and put away some where safe (I hope that is backed up as well).

Download the macOS Mojave installer to your current internal drive.

Connect up a new external SSD, a low-cost T5 is fine for this test (but is SATA so will say boot slower than your current internal PCIe SSD).

With Sierra booted, run the Mojave installer from the internal drive, but in the installer **select to do a new install on the external SSD**, not an upgrade to the internal drive.

Once the install is finished boot from that external drive (hold down option while powering on the Mac).

Once Mojave is booted, create a new admin account and use that. Install Pro Tools 2019.6, latest ILM only. Do not use the system migration tool, do not restore anything from Time Machine, and do not install anything else for now. Test that session works with just the basic Pro Tools plugins and using Built-In Output. If it does then install your interface drivers and test with that. (If it does not, then ouch, check back here). Then start adding other plugins you most need... testing again as you go with those sessions. If all that keeps working eventually you will end up with everything you need reinstalled on that external drive, and all tested and working. At which point you clone that drive back over the internal boot SSD (again, Carbon Copy Cloner).

---

Mojave will get you to APFS at least on your boot SSDs. You want to be there, and those drives are readable from macOS Sierra, but be aware they are not readable from older systems.

If you have a large internal SSD with lots of space you can partition it and do a clean Mojave install onto that new partition, but that is more error prone than using a separate external drive.

And likewise if there is a lot of space on your external audio/drive... but again a mistake there could cost you all your session/content... do not do that unless you have all that backed up in multiple places and you have tested the backups work.

[jeam25]

Adding to the more than enough correct info daryll gave you, remember to enable trim mode dor those SSD you add. Ive seen systems with 9173 fixed by just enabling this.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by jeam25

Adding to the more than enough correct info daryll gave you, remember to enable trim mode dor those SSD you add. Ive seen systems with 9173 fixed by just enabling this.

In this case I suspect it's a Samsung T3 or T5, and so enabling Trim will not do anything for those USB drives. Which is why I asked *exactly* the drives and how they are connected....and did not get that clear info. It its a SATA drive in a Thunderbolt enclosure, then sure you could enable trim... and would be good advice in general.. but is unlikely to fix any issue here since we already have disk cache involved.

[jeam25]

Yes and correct, i was referring to the ones who applies . Want to add that the cases i've seen, the internal SSD have been replaced.