Protools freezing randomly when recording

[tvon]

I'm having a problem with my protools setup. Its freezing at random during record. It even freezes up with tracks are record enabled. By freezing, i mean the audio just disappears. Meters drop to zero, just nothing. Then it comes back. On playback, that part of the recording is just gone. Wondering what I can do? I"ve done all the recommended Avid optimization tasks. I haven't had latencymon open when any of these things happen.

Thanks for any assistance.


Here is the specs of what i'm running
Protools 23.9


Dell Optiplex 3070
Intel i5-9500 CPU @ 3.00GHz

16 gb of ram
300gb HD (40% used)


Using focusrite control (13.6.0.176)
Scarlett 18i20 (2nd generation)

[basslik]

Originally Posted by tvon

I'm having a problem with my protools setup. Its freezing at random during record. It even freezes up with tracks are record enabled. By freezing, i mean the audio just disappears. Meters drop to zero, just nothing. Then it comes back. On playback, that part of the recording is just gone. Wondering what I can do? I"ve done all the recommended Avid optimization tasks. I haven't had latencymon open when any of these things happen.

Thanks for any assistance.


Here is the specs of what i'm running
Protools 23.9


Dell Optiplex 3070
Intel i5-9500 CPU @ 3.00GHz

16 gb of ram
300gb HD (40% used)


Using focusrite control (13.6.0.176)
Scarlett 18i20 (2nd generation)

First thing is to shut everything down.



Process of elimination. check the interface cable thoroughly.

[albee1952]

Couple of things to check:
1-interface connection. If its USB, make sure the Power Management is turned off for all USB ports(or USB Root hub) in Device Manager.
2-What drive are you recording to? SSD or spinner? If its a spinning drive, how fast is it?(5400 rpm, 7200 rpm). If its a spinning drive, is it a separate drive from your system drive(drive C:)?

[tvon]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Couple of things to check:
1-interface connection. If its USB, make sure the Power Management is turned off for all USB ports(or USB Root hub) in Device Manager.
2-What drive are you recording to? SSD or spinner? If its a spinning drive, how fast is it?(5400 rpm, 7200 rpm). If its a spinning drive, is it a separate drive from your system drive(drive C:)?

Good items to check. It is a USB connection to the focusrite. In device management, usb power management was enabled, so i disabled that.



Also, its a NVMe SSD drive.



Maybe it was just the USB thing, but its very intermittent.

[basslik]

Originally Posted by tvon

I'm having a problem with my protools setup. Its freezing at random during record. It even freezes up with tracks are record enabled. By freezing, i mean the audio just disappears. Meters drop to zero, just nothing. Then it comes back. On playback, that part of the recording is just gone. Wondering what I can do? I"ve done all the recommended Avid optimization tasks. I haven't had latencymon open when any of these things happen.

Thanks for any assistance.


Here is the specs of what i'm running
Protools 23.9


Dell Optiplex 3070
Intel i5-9500 CPU @ 3.00GHz

16 gb of ram
300gb HD (40% used)


Using focusrite control (13.6.0.176)
Scarlett 18i20 (2nd generation)

Should also geek-bench this (DELL), look for bottle necking.


What's your recording buffer at ?

[tvon]

Okay, its still happening. Heres my latency mon results.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. Also one or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates. 
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  0:21:48  (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        PROTOOLS
OS version:                                           Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 19045 (x64)
Hardware:                                             OptiPlex 3070, Dell Inc.
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9500 CPU @ 3.00GHz
Logical processors:                                   6
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  16193 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   30 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   1674.50
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   2.289564

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       1671.70
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       0.843914


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              1560.355333
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0.078899
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0.096046

ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   1489517
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs):               325
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              10
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              2214.422667
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0.333819
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0.409442

DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   5256123
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs):              780
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs):              44
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs):              1
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count:                 msmpeng.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults                       568
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          542
Number of processes hit:                              12


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       52.133680
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs):                1560.355333
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s):                   7.538157
CPU 0 ISR count:                                      1489824
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs):                2214.422667
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s):                   31.777069
CPU 0 DPC count:                                      5119029
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       5.865304
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs):                47.1290
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.000817
CPU 1 ISR count:                                      28
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs):                72.483333
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.076118
CPU 1 DPC count:                                      30548
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       5.796539
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 2 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs):                58.977667
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.074651
CPU 2 DPC count:                                      31324
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       5.430589
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 3 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs):                61.6820
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.06240
CPU 3 DPC count:                                      26257
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       5.355374
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 4 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs):                57.447667
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.081474
CPU 4 DPC count:                                      32598
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       5.522623
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 5 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs):                681.363333
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.066707
CPU 5 DPC count:                                      17192
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by tvon

By freezing, i mean the audio just disappears. Meters drop to zero, just nothing. Then it comes back. On playback, that part of the recording is just gone.

Freezing is not the best description, its more audio drop outs.

All inputs drop out at once? they are what inputs? Mic inputs on the interface? Line inputs? ADAT inputs? Look for things on the inputs failing... like a preamp or phantom power failing, intermittent faulty connections etc. It may help if you describe your setup, including posting a Sandra report, and exactly what you are doing/recording in more detail. If you have a different interface then test with that.

One cause of periodic dropouts is having a plugin in the signal flow that drops out audio periodically when it is in demo mode. Check all your plugins have valid licenses. Actually check do not assume.

Failing that check you do not have unintended volume automation on tracks.

But neither of these that would normally drop a waveform out on an input track, but depends on the input signal routing.

---

This will have nothing to do with systems latency, and running latency tests will likely be a waste of time, if latency causes a problem Pro Tools will fail with a clear DAE error, its very good at falling over when there is a problem.

[tvon]

I'm doing a live recording, multiple mic inputs via my focusrite scarlett. Multiple mics, both dynamic and condenser. I only have one plugin on a few of the tracks (drums) and its a UAD plugin that is 100% confirmed paid for and not in demo mode. The track is a blank, new track without any automatons. Below is a clip of what it sounds like playing back to "frozen" part. I can see it visually, all meters stop in place (freeze) then resume after 2 seconds.





https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/a8h22...r0fg7p5n8&dl=0

[Darryl Ramm]

Yes that shows audio cutting out. But me hearing that does not help.

You describe inputs cutting out so that no waveform is recorded. You did not answer the question if this was happening on one input or multiple inputs at the same time? Or at different times?

OK you provided a mixed audio with a drop out in it... that drop out happened at playback time right? So you see the normal waveform on all the already recorded tracks going into the mix but the output meters drop and you hear no audio at that time? In this case I assume you actually bounced the audio (in real time? or offline... and does changing that change what happens?) ... what *exactly* did you do there and what is it supposed to show? Just throwing stuff over the fence expecting people to make sense of it is a waste of time.

With no further clue what is going on you should try aggressive troubleshooting. Make big bold changes to simplify stuff as much/quickly as possible.

e.g.

Disconnect any control surfaces, MIDI systems etc., make the setup as absolutely simple as possible. Reboot the computer.

Start with a totally empty session (not from a template), drag and drop a known good commercial MP3 or similar file into that session and let Pro Tools create the tracks, play that back... does playback ever drop out? Just leave it looping if necessary to try to get it to happen.

If that does not happen with that audio playback try adding a mono track and recording to that. Now do you see dropouts on the recording audio track? On the overall playback at the same time? etc. etc. Describe exactly what is happening.

Is the interface driver up to date? Does anything weird happen on the interface when this happens? Any lights blinking etc... the interface will has to be there on the USB or else Pro Tools would freak out. No I really don't suspect the interface (getting dropouts in an offline bounce should really excludes that interface).

If it is happening do standard troubleshooting (under "help us help you" up the top of each DUC web page): esp. Trash prefs, move all .aaxplugin files out of the plugin folder (and leave them out for now). Create a new admin account and test from there. etc.