Pro Tools Studio severely unstable for me

[regis]

I am at my wits end with PT Studio and looking for a little help. Many of my issues have been plaguing me for years but the more I try to "upgrade" to a better system the worse things get. I can't tell where the bulk of my issues are even coming from but for starters I unfortunately use PT Studio to not only produce/record/mix audio but MIDI as well (VI's etc). I thought upgrading to an M2 macbook pro with 96 GB ram (from a 16 gig machine) would finally end my woes. They only got worse from there.

As an added bonus I can't run PT in apple native mode for the simple fact that a few of my crucial plugs do not support it yet. It's just not an option right now. I miss the years around 2008-2012 where everything worked pretty well for me and the many spinning beach balls I got even back then usually recovered. Now they all crash pro tools completely and I lose several minutes of work every time. It's like the early 2000's all over again for me. What is happening here? Is it UA Apollo hardware?
Is it Native Instruments? Is it Autotune? Some random old plugin? Why would that cause such massive instability? Sorry, I'm just venting here. Working toward switching to a better daw for MIDI tracks but it's hard to make the switch after so many years.

Thanks.

PT Studio 2023.6.0 (Rosetta)
Mac OS 13.3.1 Ventura
UA 10.2.4
MBP M2Max with 96GB
External Samsung 4TB work drive

[regis]

To clarify, the main issues I am having are frequent spinning balls that never recover (they used to), and sometimes pro tools will just completely disappear instantly. it doesn't seem to matter what I am doing at the moment, but things like quantizing or dragging a clip, or opening a plugin window, etc.

[ja_allen]

One thing to check, as this happened to me a year back, is that, this can be a symptom of questionable physical RAM errors. Do a ram check with the Apple system tool, see if the simms come back clean. Just one thing to check, and scan storage for bad blocks as well. Hope it helps ya.

[climber]

you provided no info on how you set things up... did you do a clean install, or transfer stuff from your previous system? many people have this all working just fine. this really sounds like a plugin issue.

[regis]

Originally Posted by climber

you provided no info on how you set things up... did you do a clean install, or transfer stuff from your previous system? many people have this all working just fine. this really sounds like a plugin issue.

Honestly it’s probably a combo of clean installs and some transfers. All of the plugs and main software was clean installed. I might have transferred some email accounts and photos etc. I realize I omitted a lot of info but some of that is due to a long history of trying suggested things (like the RAM check, which seems unnecessary for factory integrated non-expandable apple RAM), and seeing no improvements. So yeah, I’m a little jaded after 30 years. I’m beginning to think it’s just something inherent in the way I push this stuff. I work fast and furious sometimes and I’m not exactly “organized.” Blame it on a messy creative process that gets me where I need to go when things are working right, which is not happening near as often as it used to. I was really just curious if anyone out there with a similar workflow (hardware and software) has had experience with similar issues. For those who are indeed reporting no issues and using lots of VI’s, Kontakt, UA, etc.) I would love any wisdom or experiences you’ve learned along the way to get a stable system.

[regis]

Originally Posted by climber

you provided no info on how you set things up... did you do a clean install, or transfer stuff from your previous system? many people have this all working just fine. this really sounds like a plugin issue.

If it is indeed a plug-in issue it would be really helpful if avid had a list of plug-ins with really bad compatibility issues (running on CURRENT hardware and software) resulting in crashes etc. Maybe that list exists and I’m just running out of energy to look for it. I’m willing to admit that. Perhaps it is a Ventura issue. But getting back to my point, I think I just need to hear from folks who are running specifically everything I listed in that first post and still having no issues. OR… folks who are aware of issues that are causing them to steer clear of a particular version or update. Here again is my *condensed* setup:

Protools Studio 2023 on Rosetta (latest ver)
Mac OS (latest ver)
MBP M2 Max 96GB
UA Apollos (latest ver)
Native Instruments, Omnisphere, a few others VI’s, latest ver.
Samsung external 4tb SSD

Thanks.

[regis]

Originally Posted by ja_allen

One thing to check, as this happened to me a year back, is that, this can be a symptom of questionable physical RAM errors. Do a ram check with the Apple system tool, see if the simms come back clean. Just one thing to check, and scan storage for bad blocks as well. Hope it helps ya.

My ram is integrated into the machine and not upgradable but I’m going to try this anyhow. Thanks for the suggestion

[climber]

Have you tried removing ALL the plugins, every single one?

[regis]

Originally Posted by climber

Have you tried removing ALL the plugins, every single one?

no. i already know that will fix my issue. i get that it could very well be a single plugin or a few that are causing most of my issues and it makes sense to start eliminating them to see which ones (which I will do). but i suspect it's more of a big picture memory or workflow thing. the more plugs i have, especially the memory hogs, VI's etc, the more unstable things get. If I load up a blank session there are no issues per se. but with 96gb ram and an M2 Max, memory or CPU issues should be a thing of the past.

I'm gonna keep messing with removing specific plugs (or committing to audio) even though I'm pretty sure all of my plugs are supposedly current and compatible. I did just try committing the following plugs: Korg M1, UA Waterfall Organ, Omnisphere, and Massive, and my crashes have dramatically gone down in this particular session. But I still have an Omnisphere VI in the session and it's not having an issue. Perhaps there is an issue with one of the other three plugs I committed, or it's just a cumulative VI/Ram/memory thing. i do appreciate the suggestions. i'm just getting kinda fed up with all this technology. i don't have these issues with Logic or Studio One. Unfortunately I'm not as fast in those DAWs.

[regis]

quick update. while things are better since committing all VI's to audio, I'm still getting crazy stuff every few minutes. The craziest...

a: pt instantly disappears. no spinning ball or anything. just vanishes.

b: pt hangs with a tiny slice of audio looping loudly like a machine gun. at this point i just have basic tracks in the session. but i am using a few plugs. namely autotune pro. wtf.

will continue removing plugs. haven't had a system this unstable in well over a decade. stumped.