Cannot open Pro Tools - hangs on MOTU's Machfive3

[rosindabow]

I cannot get Pro Tools to open and it seems to be hanging on MOTU's Machfive3. I'm running Pro Tools 21.10.0.67 on an iMac running OS 10.13.6
I have been trying to bypass all plugins by hitting shift when opening but nothing happens- it just continues on trying to load and always stops on Machfive3. Is there a way around this? If I need to remove the plugin from folders, I will. I am just not sure which folders as I would still like to use Machfive3 with Digital Performer and other DAWs. Any help would be great!
Thanks!

[Darryl Ramm]

Pro Tools 2021.10 is not officially supported on macOS 10.13.6. So that's not a good start. It's not been supported back several releases. You have to pay attention to this stuff. Maybe it'll work maybe it won't, dicking around unsure is often a waste of time much better to get on a supported config unless there are very good reasons and you really know what you are doing. https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...tibility-Chart

"hitting shift"?? You mean holding down the shift key while double clicking a session icon to start Pro Tools?

Presumably you have already trashed prefs and you system is optimized. See "help us help you" up the top of each DUC web page.

Pro Tools will often show plugins apparently having problems during loading, when it's the (edit: fixed typo, thanks Ben) *next* plugin that loaded that is causing things to crap out. But don't guess and don't dink around one plugin at a time (which I know you are wanting to try the right way but got lost with the shift stuff).

Just do plugin troubleshooting the clear/brute force way: Move *all* .aaxplugin plugins out of the plugin folder. Put them in the Plug-Ins (Unused) folder or anywhere else. Start Pro Tools now... does it runs OK. Pro Tools will have automagically put back it's default plugins (don't mess with them/overwrite them.. delete any of the earlier ones of those you copied... incase they are messed up you don't' want to accidentally put them back).

What folders are plugins in? You can just Google for info like that, but on Mac it's /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins.

If it works OK... and if you really need Machfive3 just try moving that one plugin back to the Plugins folder. Does Pro Tools run OK with that? If so it's likely one of the other plugins and you need to mess around moving them back in/out in batches until you find the faulty ones. If Pro Tools craps out with just Machfive3 and the default plugins try reinstalling it from a newly downloaded installer, still no joy contact Motu support.

And of course you are also now going to check that all the installed plugins are up to date/compatible with the version of Pro Tools and OS you are running.

[Darryl Ramm]

Ugh a duplicate of https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=418036

100+ posts on DUC you should know better. Please follow the DUC rules and don't waste other people's time posting duplicate threads.

Maybe a mod can merge threads, or delete this on.e If you are still having problems just reply in the other thread.

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Pro Tools will often show plugins apparently having problems during loading, when it's the *previous* plugin that loaded that is causing things to crap out.

In my experience it's the other way around; the plugin showing on splash screen is the one that has just succesfully loaded, so removing the next (alphabetically) plugin from the plugin folder has solved these kinds of things for me before. Maybe that's what you meant.

[Darryl Ramm]

yep. What I meant. Edited the original to avoid confusing others. In my experience this happens fairly often.. if a plugin is crapping out/hanging on loading.