Major instabilities with Pro Tools and UAD. -38 Errors and Pro Tools freezing.

[dominicperry]

Originally Posted by DJ Hellfire

Mac Pro 7,1
Big Sur 11.6.2
Apollo Silver w/TB3 option
Octo Satellite TB3
Octo PCIE
UAD 9.15.1
Pro Tools 2021.12
Apple Pro TB3 Cable from Apollo to Mac
Apple TB3 Cable from Satellite to Apollo

You are running a different version of UAD software to the only other poster who has specified - s.d. finley is running 9.14.7

I would start there before you begin with hardware swaps.

It would also be helpful if other posters stipulated the exact version of MacOS, PT and UAD software they are running.

Dominic

[DJ Hellfire]

So I think the problem might be the Satellite. Not sure if it's defective or if it's something software related. Yesterday I turned the Satellite off and mixed a song with just the Apollo and the PCIE Octo. Loaded the session up with UAD plugins and maxed out the DSP. Worked for hours with no issues. Session sat open overnight, no issues in the morning.

So then I remove the PCIE Octo and turned the Satellite back on and load the same session back up. Played it back a couple times, all was fine. Let the session sit and after about 7 or so hours I hear a loud ass vibration noise coming from my studio. I go in and it's the sound of a -38 error and Pro Tools freezing.

Is anyone able to read MacOS crash reports? Occasionally this -38 issue will cause my entire computer to crash after rebooting the Satellite. It just happened again. Here's the report from the Kernel Panic. Can anyone get an idea of what the problem may be from this?

Crash report: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uq33739jh5...-2022.rtf?dl=0

[Darryl Ramm]

I doubt anybody here can get anything useful out of that crash report Something calling kernel spinlock routes and timed out waiting on a non maskable interrupt... does not help locate potential causes, and it's not clear the stack trace etc. you see is the actual thread causing issues. But all at least consistent with the possibility of a hardware problem. I would disconnect 8 everything you can... displays, soundgrid, external drives etc. and put back one UAD device at a time and try to test for stability... or just put the satellite back and test for more instability?

[DJ Hellfire]

OK. So the Satellite is NOT the problem. I ordered another brand new Octo Satellite to try and just hooked it up and registered it, loaded a session with nearly 90% DSP and the -38 error happened within 5 minutes of playback. So the problem has to be with Pro Tools. I was thinking possibly a UAD plugin being the issue, but when the Satellites are taken out of the equation, the issue doesn't happen. And I'm not using the CL1B which does currently have a known bug causing -38 issues for other users.

So here's the different scenarios I've tried (all scenarios using PT 2021.12 and UAD 9.15 except where noted):

-Mac Pro 5,1, Mojave, Thunder Ridge TB3, Octo PCIe, Apollo SF TB3, Octo Satellite TB3 - Problem happens

-Mac Pro 5,1, Mojave, revert back to Apollo SF FW, Octo PCIe, Quad Satellite FW - No problem

-Mac Pro 5,1, Mojave, Thunder Ridge TB3, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe, Octo Satellite TB3, changed all TB3 cables - Problem happens

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe, Octo Satellite TB3 daisy chained to Apollo - Problem happens

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe, Octo Satellite TB3 connected directly to Mac - Problem happens

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe, Octo Satellite TB3, use Luna instead of Pro Tools - No problem

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe, Octo Satellite TB3, full uninstall reinstall Pro Tools 2021.12 - Problem happens

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe - No problem

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo Satellite TB3 - Problem happens

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe, Octo Satellite TB3, full uninstall and downgrade to UAD 9.14.7 - Problem happens

-Mac Pro 7,1, Big Sur, Apollo SF TB3, Octo PCIe, NEW Octo Satellite TB3 - Problem happens

[Darryl Ramm]

So kernel panics stopped?

Grasping at straws, but try an SMC and PRAM/NVRAM reset on your Mac. yes this is the fancy version of trashing prefs for your Mac,... but it's surprising what hardware like things corruption in these can trigger. So just a good idea to try... and Apple and UAD support likely would have had you do that by now if you were troubleshooting with them.

If that doesn't fix things I think you need to get with a support org, I expect you might make faster progress with UAD support.

[DJ Hellfire]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

So kernel panics stopped?

Grasping at straws, but try an SMC and PRAM/NVRAM reset on your Mac. yes this is the fancy version of trashing prefs for your Mac,... but it's surprising what hardware like things corruption in these can trigger. So just a good idea to try... and Apple and UAD support likely would have had you do that by now if you were troubleshooting with them.

If that doesn't fix things I think you need to get with a support org, I expect you might make faster progress with UAD support.

Yeah, I've done those steps as well. Didn't help. Also deleted Cloud Collaboration and Avid Link and those didn't help either. I have a ticket open with UA but haven't heard back from them in over a month.

[Darryl Ramm]

Ugh. Can you bug them on their forum about the ticket? I thought there support was pretty good? -- my impression from other UAD owners.

[DJ Hellfire]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Ugh. Can you bug them on their forum about the ticket? I thought there support was pretty good? -- my impression from other UAD owners.

Yeah, I'm going to make a thread there.

[DJ Hellfire]

Update:

This actually turned out to not be a Pro Tools issue. I still don't know exactly what the problem is but I've been able to replicate it in other audio software. So it's definitely a UAD hardware/firmware issue of some sort related to the TB3 Satellites. I even purchased a second Satellite to see if my original one was defective but the issue exists in the brand new Satellite as well. When taking my Apollo and my Octo PCIe out of the equation the problem still happens. When I take the Satellites out of the equation, the problem goes away. But it's hard to believe two Satellites purchased 5 months apart are both faulty. So it must be a firmware issue.

[s.d. finley]

Originally Posted by DJ Hellfire

Update:

This actually turned out to not be a Pro Tools issue. I still don't know exactly what the problem is but I've been able to replicate it in other audio software. So it's definitely a UAD hardware/firmware issue of some sort related to the TB3 Satellites. I even purchased a second Satellite to see if my original one was defective but the issue exists in the brand new Satellite as well. When taking my Apollo and my Octo PCIe out of the equation the problem still happens. When I take the Satellites out of the equation, the problem goes away. But it's hard to believe two Satellites purchased 5 months apart are both faulty. So it must be a firmware issue.

https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/art...rmware-Updates

have you seen this article? You can grab the BINs and drop them on the UAD Meter to start the firmware update. The great thing about how UA implemented this is if you pick the wrong firmware for any of your devices it won't even load. But if it does load you must follow UAs instructions.