UAD spark and HD driver

[JamesG602]

Hey everyone,

I remember seeing a while back the UAD spark software was seemingly causing some issues with the HD driver for Protools. Has this been fixed/a non issue with 12.6 and 2022.9? Running a Mac Studio ultra, HDX, and 12.6. Anyone running a similar set up with UAD spark installed and working well?

Thanks

[abc1mce2]

I have a Hackintosh but my problems were on the Windows11 side.

On PT in the Playback Engine, HDX was not even an option to select. I even reinstalled the Avid HD driver several times with no success.

Finally, I tried uninstalling the driver and got an error message saying "Can't uninstall cause the driver's being used by another program". The program was the UA Connect app that UA Spark uses. Seems the UA Connect app starts by default when Windows11 is booted (starts up in macOS by default as well though I never had a problem with it in macOS). I just disabled the UA Connect app from starting up when Windows11 is booted. This solved my problem. After a PT session is launched and I select a session with or insert a UA Spark plugin, the UA Connect app starts and doesn't interfere with the Avid HD driver no matter how many times I quit and restart PT.

Now HDX is always available in PT playback engine. I should mention that I have to start UA Console before or after PT is started for the Apollo Twin|X to be listed as a playback device in PT playback engine.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by JamesG602

Hey everyone,

I remember seeing a while back the UAD spark software was seemingly causing some issues with the HD driver for Protools. Has this been fixed/a non issue with 12.6 and 2022.9? Running a Mac Studio ultra, HDX, and 12.6. Anyone running a similar set up with UAD spark installed and working well?

Thanks

I have the same configuration but no issues with Spark. Have you contacted UAD?

[noah330]

Same here. HD Native/Spark/UAD-2/HDN PCIe.

Mac Studio No issues.

[abc1mce2]

After my previous post, I decided to update my OS from Catalina 10.15.7 to Monterey 12.6. I also didn't realize I hadn't tried using HDX on macOS after installing UAD Spark. Of course, I had issues immediately. Error message in PT when trying to change the playback engine from PT Carbon to HDX. The error was saying that the HDX card couldn't connect to an interface. Rebooting my entire rig didn't solve the issue. I finally stop the UA Connect app from starting when the computer starts and I still got the same error message. I have an Apollo Twin|X connected so I shut it down thinking maybe the Thunderbolt Driver might be the issue. Rebooted my rig and I was able to use HDX in PT finally. It seems when I open the Console app before I start PT all is well with the Apollo and Thunderbolt driver.

This might or might not have anything to do with my issues, but when the Apollo is listed first in the UAD Meter and Control Panel before my UAD2 Octo card, I noticed that I get a UA error that a UA DSP plugin(s) has stopped working while a session is playing or stopped. This plugin(s) is always loaded in Apollo's DSP chips. If the Apollo is listed after the UAD2 Octo card all is fine. Now I just power up the Apollo after macOS is fully loaded and before I launch PT.

No problems with PT Carbon so I believe the issue is related to UA Connect app and the HDX card/HD driver combo. If I run into any other issues I'll report back.