CPU Overloads and Crackling Playback

[athillmann]

Hello,

I will try to keep this to necessary information only here:

I am met with "Pro Tools ran out of CPU Power" every couple minutes in just about any mix session of mine. Even when I freeze/commit the majority of my plugins, I can't seem to get my CPU spikes down.

Here is my entire setup along with everything I've tried.

What I've tried:

- Fresh uninstall/reinstall of Pro Tools
- Thoroughly going through my plugins and making sure they are up to date
- Buffer size is always 1024
- Disabling "Ignore Errors During Playback"
- Toggling Intel Turbo Boost (both in Pro Tools and with Turbo Boost Switcher)
- Bypassing my hardware to check if they are the problem (detailed below)
- Crying

My Setup:

- Pro Tools 2022.9 (I've had this issue on previous versions, don't think it's a PT version bug)
- Macbook Pro 2019, Intel i9 8 core, 32gb RAM
- Apollo x4
- 2 UAD Satellites (Octo and Quad)
- I run Sonnox ListenHub as my playback engine
- Soundflow and DropBox run in the background

I've ran my same mix sessions bypassing my Apollo and Sonnox ListenHub, and they are both up to date software-wise and should not be causing my issues. Same thing happens when I just use External Headphones on my laptop's connection. I've also ran my sessions on external drives as well as my internal drive and it doesn't make a difference (therefore it shouldn't be a bad drive).

My sessions will usually run great for about 5-10 minutes before I hear bad crackling and dropouts on playback, then am met with "Pro Tools ran out of CPU power". Restarting the session only buys me another 5-10 minutes of work.

Please help!!

[jeam25]

Hi !

This can be tricky sometimes but here a few things to try .

1.Check your OS optimizations on energy saver etc. as given by Avid

2.Run PT without *anything* running in background and test

3.Remove all the plugins from the Plugins Folder to another place temporary and test

4.Try the mac core driver without any other interface attached

[athillmann]

Hi Jesus,

I have also tried all of what you’ve suggested. No applications running in the background, using the Mac’s audio driver (External Headphones, while also unplugging my Apollo), and all of the suggested optimizations from Avid, like the Energy Saver settings, etc.

I have gone through all my plugins and made sure all of them are up to date that are in the main Plug-Ins folder. If they’re not up to date, then I’ve moved them to the Plug-Ins (Unused) folder or deleted them. So I haven’t tried removing all of my plugins but I don’t think that would be a worthwhile test. I guess it might show if a certain plugin was a culprit, but I’ve done all the updating I believe is necessary.

[jeam25]

Ok the important step with the plugins is not to remove some , is to remove ALL of them and then test without any.

[Darryl Ramm]

Hi welcome to DUC.

Start by reading "Help us help you" up the top of every DUC web page.

Did this ever work OK? What changed? Did it work OK on previous computers for you?

Make sure *every last* standard optimizations are done, however inconvenient for now. So yes disable WiFi, disable blue tooth, do it all for now.

Why is DropBox running in the background? Turn that crap off. I hope you are not trying to record to a Dropbox folder. Even if not intending to make sure you are not recording to a dropbox folder/Dropbox is not syncing your Pro Tools folder.

Info missing:
And your Mac is running what exact macOS version?
Session sample rate? (try testing on 44.1 or 48 kHz sessions for now).
Interface driver actual version?
What exact drive/make/model/specs are you recording you audio sessions to? (assuming you are not recording to a DropBox folder).

For now work with test sessions on the internal SSD and set the disk cache to a few GB... hopefully enough to fully cache any test session.

I would turn turbo boost off for now, just save the fan noise. Just leave all these playback engine dialog settings consistent as you troubleshoot.

What you think "should not be" causing problems is irrelevant... you need to *prove* stuff is or is not causing problems.

Having the latest plugins is good, but no guarantee you do not have a plugin with a bug or compatibility issue, it does not even need to be one you are using in the session, just loaded into Pro Tools. Again prove do not assume.

Stop reinstalling Pro Tools, I have no idea why folks keep doing that, it should be near the last thing you try, and is rarely useful even then.

Running at a large IO buffer like 1024 samples is not unusal since you are choosing to run high overhead UAD plugins in the DAW and those plugins have high latency to get to the DSP processing external to Pro Tools.

Leave the IO Buffer size set to 1024 as you start the following tests, reducing it only if Pro Tools becomes stable, you should be able to reduce it a lot if working with a reasonable number of native plugins, heavy VIs may require you keep it near 1024. Seeing you can reduce it with a reasonable native/non-UAD plugin load is a good health sign, but don't reduce it until you have stability at 1024.

Follow the standard troubleshooting documentation.

Make sure ignore errors is *not* checked. You want to see any errors.

Have you even tried trashing prefs? Use Pete Gates PT Prefs tool (http://petegates.com/pg-pt-prefs.html), you always start troubleshooting by trashing prefs.

Importantly you should be trying to get your setup as as simple as possible. You've got way too much crap here. Physically disconnect all the UAD DSP boxes and UAD interface. Uninstall the Listen Software--few folks here use that, have any idea what it does and it would be an immediate suspect. Uninstall, not just don't use, this is potentially invasive software. Now select the MacBook Pro Speakers as the playback engine. Does that work OK? If so the cause suspects are all the stuff you just removed. Still problems? then working only with the MacBook Pro Speakers as playback engine keep troubleshooting...

Pro Tools troubleshooting tip is *always suspect plugins* and again you are assuming they are OK because you checked versions, not good enough. You need to move all .aaxplugin files out of the plugin folder. Trash prefs. Restart. Pro Tools will automagically put back it's default core plugins. What happens when you try stuff with just those plugins? If it works OK then other plugins you removed are suspect. I would put all of the (non core) Avid and any third party native plugins back in batches and see if you if they cause a problem. If not it's maybe a problem on the UAD side, I would put back one of the DSP boxes and continue returning batches of UAD DSP plugins to the folder and restarting Pro Tools. Remember at all times you are tying to test with the simplest possible config.

Still stuck leave things as simple as possible and create a new admin account and repeat above tests from that account.

Things all look OK, I'd try reconnecting the UAD interface and use it as the playback engine, and so on.

If it looks like the problem is UAD specific, uninstall and reinstall all their stuff from newly downloaded installers... still problems contact UAD support.

[athillmann]

So what are we testing when we remove all plugins? If it’s a certain plugin I understand that, but I don’t see the goal when I am using up to date plugins. I am mixing right now and just committed all my inserts (besides the mix buss and a few sends), and still getting hiccups.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by athillmann

So what are we testing when we remove all plugins? If it’s a certain plugin I understand that, but I don’t see the goal when I am using up to date plugins. I am mixing right now and just committed all my inserts (besides the mix buss and a few sends), and still getting hiccups.

You remove all plugins, Pro tools puts back the core ones, you test. If it works OK you suspect a plugin or plugins that was removed was likely a problem. If it does not work OK you know there is a likely a different problem. You've done a hard test not guessed about stuff.

Is there some magical guarantee you are aware of that an "up to date plugin" means it can not ever have a problem? How about plugins that might interact with each other badly? You think there is somebody out there testing every and all combinations of latest plugins work? You think all the plugin vendors actually have tested already on 2022.9? You think folks have regression tests good enough to find every problem?

Plug-ins are live C++ code jammed into Pro Tools that can do just about anything they want inside Pro Tools from the moment they load. Scribble all over memory, slam the CPU, corrupt sessions, it's the wild west. So the approach is always suspect plugins, until you prove they are not the problem.

Time to do not ask more questions.

[jeam25]

I was gonna add the period at the end but Darryl added too so...

[athillmann]

Update to whoever this may concern:

It was my external monitor. I have a Samsung Space Monitor that was connected with HDMI, using an official Apple adapter. As soon as I unplugged it, any session runs butter smooth. I put back all of my plugins, no change. Mind you I have a 2019 Macbook Pro, and there has been known issues with external monitors, but I never would have thought that Pro Tools would suffer from this.

[milosziv]

Just checking to ask - are you finding it's still the case that your CPU spikes went away upon disabling your HDMI monitor? Can't believe this could be the solve... Maybe I'll look into getting a blackmagic HDMI adapter or something instead for playback..