Mac Pro (Early 2008) Model 8,3 Pro Tools 12 AAE-6101

[OldMacPro]

Newbie asking for some feedback from Mac Pro (Early 2008) Model 3,1 users running Pro Tools regarding AAE-6101 error.

When I run Pro Tools 12.7.1 on my

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,3
*Processor Name: Intel Core i7
*Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
*Number of Processors: 1
*Total Number of Cores: 4
*L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
*L3 Cache: 6 MB
*Memory: 16 GB
There are no problems.

Running Pro Tools 12.7.1 on my
Mac Pro (Early 2008)
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5462 (Harpertown/Penryn)
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Processor): 12 MB
Memory: 28 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz

the playback (even at 512 and 1024 samples) is distorted / fuzzy on and off. It can be temporarily fixed as described here:
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=360282&page=2
also
Activity Monitor shows
Pro Tools QuickTime Server (Not Responding)

I followed the Avid Knowledge Base
Mac Guide - Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan Optimizations and Troubleshooting without success.


Then contacted Avid support. Here is part of the trouble shooting:

Thank you for that detailed report. It appears you have a decent system. Now it looks like the issue is inside the session in Pro tools. I want to know. Is there a specific time of your session that you are hearing the buzz/distortion? I want you to try the following step so wen can narrow down the possible cause.

1. Open the session while holding the "Shift" key on your keyboard. (This would disable all plugins.)
2. Try to playback. Check if there is distortion. If there is no distortion, proceed.
3. Go to Setup>Playback engine> and change the H/W buffer size. Start from the lowest (32/64) then move up to the highest buffer size and check if there are any distortions. By this time, there should be no distortions.

One more thing, What is the project sample rate?

Best,
Avid audio

__________________________________________________ _____________________________

Under playback engine I had the Focusrite Scarlett 6I6
I changed it to Pro Tools aggregate I/O
6 in /6 out
The right hand panel shows
Pro Tools Aggregate I/O
Clock Source Scarlett 6i6 USB (grayed out)
Sample Rate 48000.0 Hz
Subdevices Scarlett 6i6 USB

under USE
Only the Scarlett has a checkmark

The results are the same with or without plug-ins
using looped playback without using any keyboard or mouse interaction.
64 Samples
128 Samples
256 Samples
all 3 produced AAE-6101 immediately after playback button is pushed.

When loading the Avid sample session:
Kelly Malone - Earth & Stars

with 64 samples
I get the same AAE-6101 immediately when I push the playback button.

With 128 it starts to play back but as soon as I adjust a screen I get the AAE-6101 error.

Kind regards,

__________________________________________________ _____________________________

Thank you for the update. It appears that this issue is directly caused by the interface/system compatibility. Since the interface you have is not qualified by Avid. We can't really say if it will work with your system flawlessly. And the Mac Pro early 2008 is not qualified by Avid for Pro tools 12 (http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...m-Requirements). With all that said. We can't really have a fix for that. But as a workaround. Just set your H/W buffer size to 512 to 1024 samples.

Best regards,
Avid audio

__________________________________________________ _____________________________

My question now is which older Pro Tools versions are you running; will run on a Mac Pro (Early 2008) Model 3,1. Thanks.

[fourthtunz]

What is your hard drive setup on the Mac Pro?
Its been a couple of years but I ran Protools 10 on the same Mac pro 4 years ago with a pile of tracks, both HD and vanilla..I think I had 7200 rpm record drive and may have tried external firewire.
Maybe try An internal SSD record drive?
How about checking the ram?
Good luck!

[OldMacPro]

Originally Posted by fourthtunz

What is your hard drive setup on the Mac Pro?
Its been a couple of years but I ran Protools 10 on the same Mac pro 4 years ago with a pile of tracks, both HD and vanilla..I think I had 7200 rpm record drive and may have tried external firewire.
Maybe try An internal SSD record drive?
How about checking the ram?
Good luck!

Startup Disk: S-SSD-2TB

*S-SSD-2TB:*
Available: 561.81 GB (561,807,876,096 bytes)
Capacity: 2 TB (1,999,404,957,696 bytes)
File System: Journaled HFS+
Writable: Yes
Physical Drive:
Device Name: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 2TB
Medium Type: SSD
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified


Secondary disks:

Available: 673.17 GB (673,166,835,712 bytes)
Capacity: 4 TB (3,999,443,582,976 bytes)
Mount Point: /Volumes/Bay1,2,3,4 RAID
File System: Journaled HFS+
Writable: Yes
Physical Drive: (all 4 drives are 7200 rpm)
Device Name: ST31000528AS
Media Name: Bay1,2,3,4 RAID
Medium Type: Rotational
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
__________________________________________________ ______________

Memory: 28 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
The RAM should be fine.

I noticed that it might be a flaw in the Pro Tools engine. I use the same setup and session with Cubase 9 and it works flawless.

I seems that Pro Tools has a problem with multiple monitor configurations which then causes the CPU error.

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4095 MB
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 4095 MB
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: VBIOS 84.04.1f.00.02

Displays:

Wasabi Mango *KJT4K2K60DP:*
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Connection Type: DisplayPort

*DELL U3415W:*
Resolution: 3440 x 1440 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Connection Type: DisplayPort

*Slate RAVEN MTi2:*
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz (1080p)
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Display Serial Number: 1234567890123
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported