Catastrophic Aux I/O issues since Sonoma upgrade

[Frank Kruse]

Apple fixed a bunch of audio issues in the latest Sequoia release, does this improve the AUX I/O issues or is it a PT-bug?

[chrisVVS]

I can tell you how I made it work for me. I hope this helps someone.

I run a VO/Mix studio that's entirely online, where clients attend on SessionLinkPro (SLP) Conferencing, and VO artists join on SLP Recording and SLP Video, all on Chrome. I use AuxIO without problem, but it took some time to get it right. I did a three hour VO session this morning with SLP Recording, Conferencing, Meet and Zoom and didn't have a glitch. My session template is a Mix Minus thing of joy.

I'm aware of the Nexus Suite, but I prefer working with:

-AuxIO instead of Source Nexus IO - it's built into Pro Tools.
-SessionLinkPro Conferencing instead of Source Nexus Gateway - simpler for clients to join, and gives solid 1080p.
I don't need MuteOn, Review, Router etc.

This is what I've learned over time:

1 - Startup order matters. Open and configure anything that will go through AuxIO BEFORE you open Pro Tools, so that they properly allocate resources before Pro Tools allocates what it needs. This one practice has fixed nearly everything for me.
If one app crashes, you have to close everything, then open everything again in the same order.
Source Nexus does not have this requirement, apparently, so maybe that's why everyone is having success there.

2 - Any app that you run in Google Chrome (iPDtl, Cleanfeed, SLP, Source Connect Now etc) works best when run in its own window in its own browser - as in different Chromium apps. I've found that Thorium and Microsoft Edge work best for me, but you could use Firefox, Google Chrome, Chromium, and others. I have SLP Recording in Edge, SLP Conference in Thorium and Meet in Google Chrome, when I need it.

3 - Tabs in a single browser window share resources and can conflict with each other, so open everything in a browser in a separate window. For example, I have SLP Video and SLP Recording in one browser (Thorium) but in two windows so that if one crashes the other won't. I can't believe it took me so long to work that one out. Just never use tabs. And don't use 'install as an application' where Chrome makes a web app that you can put in your dock, not matter how convenient - these glitch badly too for some reason.

4 - If you can change your connection to IPV4 instead of IPV6, do it. Apparently IPV6 is not 'universally supported by all devices'.

5 - Disk cache at least 8GB for Pro Tools.

6 - Buffer size at 512.

I am very eager to be corrected on any of this, but it works for me.

I also share my screen with a few scenes in OBS - this is off topic but needs to be described to give you a true idea of what I'm running. I convert MP4 to DNxHD 720, and send to SLP Video and Conference at 720 3Mb/s. I set my OBS Video Bitrate 6000Kb/s using the Apple Hardware Encoder. My Mac mini M2 Pro with 16GB RAM can't handle capturing my 4K screen, so I use a non-HiDPI resolution in the MacOS Display System Setting.

My sessions typically have lots of incoming comms, Music, FX tracks etc, a VO track recording, Talkback and a load of plug-ins. I have system audio going to a track in Pro Tools through AuxIO to playback audio from Youtube and Finder too, and I'm never over 35% CPU and 40% GPU. It was always a miserable experience before I implemented all the changes above, but things work smoothly now.

[Vedat]

Originally Posted by chrisVVS

1 - Startup order matters. Open and configure anything that will go through AuxIO BEFORE you open Pro Tools, so that they properly allocate resources before Pro Tools allocates what it needs. This one practice has fixed nearly everything for me.

I find I have to start Pro Tools first, and then Zoom to stop glitching.
The other day, simply switching between sessions sent everything into a spin and I couldn't even playback due to an AUX I/O error. I had to quit and reopen Zoom to get it back.

I never had any problems with AUX I/O on Ventura when I had Zoom, SC, OBS recording all at once. But Sonoma update did something to ruin it for me.