Pro Tools sticky performance.

[Thenewexhibit]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

I already described how to remove third party plugins, but again just drag all plugins out of the current plugin folder (to any location/folder it does not matter) and then start pro tools, it will magically put back the standard plugins. Then test to see if things appear better. If they do you can put third party plugins back in batches and try to find which one(s) cause problems.

You have 16 GB of memory and small sessions, unless there is a horrific bug somewhere you don't need all that memory and might as well make the timeline cache bigger. As I said before, that is unlikely to have any effect on this problem.

If doing things like resetting pram helped before try that again.

Check the GPU/energy settings and see if Pro Tools is even using the GPU.

Cool, thanks Darryl!

Do I need to remove the settings folders too? I noticed that there is the Avid folder, AND the digidesign folder. Do I need to remove the plugs from both folders? Also, when I put them back, I just drag and drop them in the correct spots, and that's it?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Thenewexhibit

Cool, thanks Darryl!

Do I need to remove the settings folders too? I noticed that there is the Avid folder, AND the digidesign folder. Do I need to remove the plugs from both folders? Also, when I put them back, I just drag and drop them in the correct spots, and that's it?

No. I told you all you need to do. In Pro Tools 11 there is only one plugin folder (full of .aaxplugin files) under the Avid pathname...

[Thenewexhibit]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

No. I told you all you need to do. In Pro Tools 11 there is only one plugin folder (full of .aaxplugin files) under the Avid pathname...

Oh, crap, you sure did.. Thanks again, Darryl.

[Thenewexhibit]

Ok, so tried it, and everything ran much more smooth. No issues during recording 8 tracks simultaneously either. SCRATCH THAT, there are issues even like this.

Now, I tried switching the resolution for more real estate (next size up), and then I got the lagging meters during record, BUT, only when zoomed in on the edit window. If I zoomed out mega far in the edit window, then it didn't happen.

Now, another thing I noticed was the read out of "Requires High Perf GPU" in activity monitor said "No" for Pro Tools, which I would've figured Pro Tools needed the high performance GPU. Is that normal?

Also, I remember coming across some threads back in November when I got this talking about disabling App Nap. Should this be done, or does it matter? I know the only way to do so is through Terminal.

Any way, these are my findings so far.

[Darryl Ramm]

app nap won't affect Pro Tools as it is in the foreground and busy and just will not nap. The only things disabling app nap is useful for are background processes that are not doing much but still need to have low response latency... Like the EUCON software.

I would pursue plugin troubleshooting. Put third party plugs back in batches and see what happens. Take your time. Since some of these plugins are also instantiated when you put them back in the folder you should try disabling them from Pro Tools and see if they cause problems just being installed or if they need to be active. Ideally just remove those plugins from the insert.

Those denormalization problems that cause cpu burn/spikes with some plugins won't happen for a plugin in the folder but not used in an insert.

And of course it may not be a plugin that is really bad, it might be done thing else wrong that just needs s little CPU load to trip up.

You do have GPU switching in the energy settings in the System preferences disabled right?

I don't have a similar Mac here, maybe Chris could check what his Mac shows for Pro Tools GPU usage (link to instructions in one of my earlier posts).

[Thenewexhibit]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

app nap won't affect Pro Tools as it is in the foreground and busy and just will not nap. The only things disabling app nap is useful for are background processes that are not doing much but still need to have low response latency... Like the EUCON software.

I would pursue plugin troubleshooting. Put third party plugs back in batches and see what happens. Take your time. Since some of these plugins are also instantiated when you put them back in the folder you should try disabling them from Pro Tools and see if they cause problems just being installed or if they need to be active. Ideally just remove those plugins from the insert.

Those denormalization problems that cause cpu burn/spikes with some plugins won't happen for a plugin in the folder but not used in an insert.

And of course it may not be a plugin that is really bad, it might be done thing else wrong that just needs s little CPU load to trip up.

You do have GPU switching in the energy settings in the System preferences disabled right?

I don't have a similar Mac here, maybe Chris could check what his Mac shows for Pro Tools GPU usage (link to instructions in one of my earlier posts).

Hey, Darryl,

Thanks again. I will start some more testing. I do have Automatic Graphics switching unchecked, however, I didn't realize that after I did the PRAM, that it put it back. I tested both ways, but no difference. Same kind of performance.

I look at the activity monitor too, and the energy level of pro tools will be around the 70's area, ex. 70.3. Is this considered high? The energy level graph that reads left to right (blue color) goes pretty high when doing this stuff, and when I quit pro tools, just shoots back down pretty low. Is this normal?

Also, I turned my cache up to 5 GB. Doesn't seem to change anything. It shows in the system usage window in PT that memory is at 41% (in orange), and Disk Cache is at 4% (in green). Seem normal? The session is only 1.36 GB, and was much lower before I started doing tests (i.e. Recording more audio etc.).

Also, how do I post images on here? Computer illiterate over here..

[Thenewexhibit]

There we go. This shows the usage of PT when it was open (where it was before I quit) and after I quit PT. As you can see, the blue graph goes considerably down when that's closed. Normal?

[Darryl Ramm]

Ah yes, but I am not sure why you are looking at this.

Time to focus on plugins...

[Thenewexhibit]

Ok, so did another test.

I can replicate the sticky graphics depending on how zoomed in I am in the edit window.

These tests were done with the the plugins folder removed, removing all the 3rd party plugs, and this test was also performed when closing all the plugs, wether active or not, that were in the session.

It was also performed while adding just stock digi eq, and stock trim plugin. Sometimes across all channels, sometimes just on the 8 tracks that were recording simultaneously in all 5 first inserts, sometimes with no plugins instantiated anywhere.

I did these tests by grouping my 8 channels and doing rapid fader movements in groups, or by holding control and doing single faders. Sometimes slow movements too, wether grouped, or using control to do just single faders. No change in these cases.

Also, this stuff would be somewhat responsive (still not completely smooth) UNTIL the cursor played over the fader that I had my mouse clicked on and moving. After it moved past that fader I was moving, it went back to being considerably more smooth, but not what at least I expect.

Once again, this was done with all 3rd party plugins removed, and with no plugins in the inserts, and sometimes with. No difference.

Also ran into a 6106 error again. CPU problems.

Am I missing anything in terms of testing my plugins?

Thanks in advance, Darryl, and the rest of you.

[Thenewexhibit]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

app nap won't affect Pro Tools as it is in the foreground and busy and just will not nap. The only things disabling app nap is useful for are background processes that are not doing much but still need to have low response latency... Like the EUCON software.

I would pursue plugin troubleshooting. Put third party plugs back in batches and see what happens. Take your time. Since some of these plugins are also instantiated when you put them back in the folder you should try disabling them from Pro Tools and see if they cause problems just being installed or if they need to be active. Ideally just remove those plugins from the insert.

Those denormalization problems that cause cpu burn/spikes with some plugins won't happen for a plugin in the folder but not used in an insert.

And of course it may not be a plugin that is really bad, it might be done thing else wrong that just needs s little CPU load to trip up.

You do have GPU switching in the energy settings in the System preferences disabled right?

I don't have a similar Mac here, maybe Chris could check what his Mac shows for Pro Tools GPU usage (link to instructions in one of my earlier posts).

Hey, Christopher, I know you're probably busy, but when you get a moment, I was wondering if you could tell me what your GPU usage is like for PT on that system? Also, how did the new song go??