GUI lagging
 

Hi!

Since a long time i have problems with my Macbook Pro Retina 15" mid 2015, i7, 512 GB, 16GB RAM, AMD Radeon R9...
When using PT when playbacking, the GUI lags every 10s cca... audio is passing normally, just the graphics stop and then continue after 2s... Also mouse and keyboard are stuck in the meantime, and then jump to a new location afterwards...
Is there a fix for this? In the link I have a screen recording where you can see the problem.
It does not matter which PT version, which MacOS version, track count, audio device used, plugin count...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxncyiwrzf...55.24.mov?dl=0

Re: GUI lagging
 

Not sure what's causing this - are you able to pull up the PT disk and system usage meters? Also, I don't recognise all of your menu bar icons - I can see Dropbox, UAD, screen mirroring and Time Machine - there are four others that I don't recognise - I'm guessing one is screen recording so the other three (open door?, 5 blocks?, igloo?).
I'm assuming Time Machine is off? Any chance you have an anti-virus scanner running, or a dodgy external disk which is causing trouble?
How full is your internal disk?
How much memory are you using?
How hot is your CPU? It might be throttling.

Dominic

Re: GUI lagging
 

I'm not sure why you say these don't matter. In fact these are probably the main reasons that there are GUI lag issues. There are know issues with some PT version with GUI lagging. Certain MacOS version don't work well with certain version of Protools or Plugins. Depending on the audio device, certain drivers work with only some OS versions. Many plugins have not been rewritten for all OS version or Protools versions and all it takes is one non compatible plugin to cause issues including GUI lag. Sometimes it is a whole family of plugins or a certain manufacturer for plugins, but even some Avid plugins have issues. Offending plugins don't have to be active and used in a session to impact performance as simply having them installed or present in the used plugins folder has been know to cause problems. Track count probably is not an issue unless you are using up the RAM with running other application and background utilities or running low on disk space.

Re: GUI lagging
 

Because this problem persists now for 5 years...
Which means 5 years of different MacOS and PT versions used, but the problem was always present. Current is: PT 2021.12, MacOS 10.15.7 Catalina
This is an example of the session on the link:
Disk usage is 0%, 65GB free, Memory at 4%, CPU 0%. And it is still doing the lagging as in the video. Data from PT.
Until now used various audio devices(UAD,MOTU,DN32,Waves Soundgrid), it does not matter if recording or only playbacking.
No disk attached or USB sticks, Time Machine is off... no anti-virus...

All plugs are regurarly updated...
As for the other 3 icons: TodayRemote, Paragon NTFS, proXSign(digital signature)

Re: GUI lagging
 

Hard to know or guess, but I will assume that something that you have installed is hitting the CPU and/or disk every 10 seconds and the screen refresh isn't getting priority.

I would start by moving all your plugins to a folder called "unused" and see if that stops the problem. After that, I would either uninstall a your memory-resident applications one by one, or, much better, just image the disk as it is (with something like Carbon Copy Cloner) and start again from scratch. Install a fresh version of Catalina and then install PT with absolutely nothing else, and see whether it still misbehaves. After that, add things in and test after each install.

Specific questions - what buffer size do you have set in PT - does increasing or lowering it make any difference?
What format are you using for your internal disk - is it APFS? Do you just use Paragon for mounting external disks?
Have you tried to install some anti-virus software (you can uninstall later) to check that you haven't got any malware lurking? I recommend Malwarebytes Free and Intego (also free) - just install, do a scan and then uninstall.

Dominic

Re: GUI lagging
 

Wow! Running for 5 years with GUI lag? If you've ruled out Protools versions, OS versions, track counts, audio devices, and plugin counts, then I'd suspect a wayward Plugin. Try dominnicperry's troubleshooting method posted above to see if you can isolate the plugin. Other than that, all that is left to suspect is the computer hardware because not many have reported experiencing GUI lags for 5 years. Most of the post I've seen for GUI lags happened with Big Sur and Monterey with Protools 2021.3 to 2021.10 which coincides with Apple's transition to Apple Silicon (M1) processors but this does not appear to be your situation.

One thing to try. Turn off Wifi. Just to rule out that something is calling home to check for updates of authorizations. I'm assuming you are using a physical Ilok and not Ilok Cloud.

Re: GUI lagging
 

Going on for so long, especially with lots of other stuff installed… have you been updating this system insitu at different macOS upgrades? Might be time to try a full clean macOS install, and just install Pro Tools and test for the gui problem.

Re: GUI lagging
 

Turn off Turbo Boost on the Mac. You can use something like Turbo Boost Switcher

Re: GUI lagging
 

You can use the switch inside ProTools for this too now, since 2021.10 I think. Certainly in the latest version. (under Setup -> Playback Engine)

Dominic

Re: GUI lagging
 

I would strongly suggest taking a look at your display connections and arrangement. This exact problem usually happens when you have two different screens connected (with different resolutions), like a standard display and then a TV display for example... Unplug the secondary display, reboot the machine, and your problems go away. ProTools is absolutely kneecapped by this issue in certain scenarios. Definitely check it out...