Pro Tools 11 - CPU usage holding off USB Audio Error -6104

[brummy17]

HEy so I got this from Avid Support. It's a workaround and has made a huge difference for me. Haven't had a single error since

On your Pro Tools, set the Playback Engine as Pro Tools Aggregate I/O.
Go to Hardware and click launch Setup App.
On Audio Device Window, select Pro Tools Aggregate I/O put a check mark on Mbox to add the inputs and outputs of it (I unchecked the other options).
Go to Setup>I/O and in Input tab click on Default button to refresh the available inputs. Do the same on Output tab and Bus tab.
Create a new Audio track and test record.

[eufemistic]

I am having the exact same issue as Greg. Was there a resolution?

I had to get a new iMac in January after my old one lost its mind. I never had any issues with Protools 10 on that iMac. When I got this new Mac, PT 10 was not compatible so I upgraded.

I can't playback or record anything without that nasty USB buffer warning. I updated my PT to 11.1.2 yesterday and that didn't help.

I also get the error when I simply try to do one vocal track, not using any other digital instruments. I set the buffer to maximum available.

Here's my equipment:
Avid Mbox 3rd gen (purchased in 2010)
package 1.2.0
firmware: 1.0.8

iMac, OSX 10.9.2
(4 USB ports) - everything removed except the USB license key for PT and the Mbox

Hardware Overview:
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac14,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 3.5 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Boot ROM Version: IM142.0118.B00

Keyboard: Yamaha P250

UPDATE: I see there's an updated driver for my Mbox. Do I dare install it? I am not 100% sure it is compatible with my computer because it doesn't specify OSX 10.9.2
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/d...d/Mbox-Drivers

Any help would be appreciated.

[eufemistic]

Originally Posted by brummy17

HEy so I got this from Avid Support. It's a workaround and has made a huge difference for me. Haven't had a single error since

On your Pro Tools, set the Playback Engine as Pro Tools Aggregate I/O.
Go to Hardware and click launch Setup App.
On Audio Device Window, select Pro Tools Aggregate I/O put a check mark on Mbox to add the inputs and outputs of it (I unchecked the other options).
Go to Setup>I/O and in Input tab click on Default button to refresh the available inputs. Do the same on Output tab and Bus tab.
Create a new Audio track and test record.

I tried this and it did not work for me. Thank you for sharing, though.

[brummy17]

ok well i can only speak for my setup but everything is working perfectly now. I downloaded the latest mbox driver and I have Mavericks 10.9.2 so yes it is compatible (on my system at least). My avid support guy said that there should't be a problem with it either. Note on the avid site they're now saying that our iMac's aren't compatible and have known 6*** issues. But as I said, mine now works perfectly - search back through this thread i've got my specs listed.

the only thing i couldn't see in your post was what external harddrive you're using? if any? I have a firewire 800 drive connected via thunderbolt to firewire converter

those steps in my previous post solved my problem (or at least gave me an excellent workaround), so maybe try them again.

and good luck (also get onto Apple Care about this, they know there is a fault with these computers..)

[eufemistic]

I am not using an external hard drive at the moment.
I will install the mbox update and see if that helps.
Dumb question here: I know Mbox has a firewire port, but the Mac doesn't. Do you just plug the firewire to the thunderbolt port?

Thanks for your help!

[brummy17]

you need to buy a firewire to thunderbolt converter from apple. the mbox 3 doesn't have a firewire port though, do you have an mbox 3 pro?

one thing as well, i've split up my fusion drive so now it's an SSD (with the OS) and a HDD (for storage). not sure if you've done this but maybe that's why the workaround isn't working for you.

if you wanted to do that get someone at applecare to talk you through it

[Rectifried]

Originally Posted by eufemistic

I tried this and it did not work for me. Thank you for sharing, though.

me neither

[Scott Carter]

Hi all,

Tried the fix posted by Brummy - got my system working as well. So far there have been no gliches and haven't seen the 6104 error for over a week.

Fingers crossed.

cheers

[roboman01]

This is not just a FUSION problem. I run TWO SSDs in Raid 0 using HighPoint Rocket 640L. I also use 2400mhz memory and now a new i7-4770K. I didn't have this problem with my previous build that was using FUSION drive. I shouldn't even get this on using just ONE plugin, noway this should happen.

[roboman01]

Well I changed some things up and have better results. It appears Pro Tools 11 doesn't like RAID and I am guess FUSION setups. Avid needs to fix this issue big time. I really hate that I had to break my raid 0 setup to use PT 11. I am a hard core 64 bit player and don't use PT10 at all anymore.

Hopefully the mods on here will advise Avid of this issue.

Also it appears that PT11 is not utilizing Hyper Threading properly. If I load just one VSTI like Nexus 2 and look at my System Usage its only utilizing maybe three threads. This should not be like this and it should use all the threads to help in performance.

Is there a setting in pro tools I am missing with the hyper threading? If not this is an issue I hope they fix.