third party plugins not loading but can see them in chache folder

[briannn]

my buffer size is at 128 samples on my interface but it doesnt let me go higher or lower for some reason, just stuck at 128.

id mostly like to focus on the plugins part since its the most annoying issue for me but the other things are still just as annoying. the only way i can sometimes fix that native plugins issue, is i have to restart my pc a couple times or pro tools or just, wait.

i will do all the troubleshooting you told me, i dont know if this will actually be useful but this is some images attached of what i see in the folders.

the photos are showing me looking in the plugin folder and thats what i see with some plugins?

sandra report: SiSoftware Sandra


Host Name : brian
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : GigaByte B450M K B450 MB
Serial Number : Default*******
Chassis : OEM Desktop
Mainboard : GigaByte B450M K-CF
Serial Number : Default*******
BIOS : AMI (OEM) FA 09/22/2023
TPM - Trusted Platform Module : AMD 2.0 2018 (24PCR 64Ses 2Obj)

System Memory
Total Memory : 16GB DDR4

Processors
Processor : AMD Ryzen 5 5600 6-Core Processor (6C 12T 4.45GHz, 1.33GHz IMC, 6x 512kB L2, 32MB L3)
Socket/Slot : AM4 (PGA1331)

Chipset
Memory Controller : AMD F19 (Ryzen3/TR3 Matisse) Host Bridge 13x 100MHz (1.3GHz), 2x 8GB DDR4 2.67GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Corsair/SK Hynix CMK16GX4M2Z3600C18 8GB DIMM DDR4 1Rx8 PC4-28800U DDR4-3598 XMP (18-18-18-43 5-61-20-3)
Memory Module : Corsair/SK Hynix CMK16GX4M2Z3600C18 8GB DIMM DDR4 1Rx8 PC4-28800U DDR4-3598 XMP (18-18-18-43 5-61-20-3)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : AUS VG2791R
(1920x1080, 27.0")
Monitor/Panel : BNQ BenQ EW2775ZH (1920x1080, 27.2")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (3584S 14C SM6.6 1.79GHz, 2.2MB L2, 11.9GB 15GHz/15GHz 192-bit, PCIe 3.0 x16)
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (3584S 14C SM6.6 1.79GHz, 2.2MB L2, 11.9GB 14.6GHz/15GHz 192-bit, PCIe 3.0 x16)

Graphics Processor
CUDA : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (3584S 28C SM8.6 1.79GHz, 2.2MB L2, 12GB 14.6GHz/15GHz 192-bit)
OpenCL : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (3584S 28C SM3.0 1.79GHz, 2.2MB L2, 12GB 14.6GHz/15GHz 192-bit)
D3D 11 : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (3584S 14C SM12.1 1.79GHz, 2.2MB L2, 11.9GB 14.6GHz/15GHz 192-bit)
OpenGL : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2 (3584S 14C SM4.60 1.79GHz, 2.2MB L2, 12GB 14.6GHz/15GHz 192-bit)
OpenGL : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2 (3584S 14C SM4.60 1.79GHz, 2.2MB L2, 12GB 14.6GHz/15GHz 192-bit)

Storage Devices
Disk : WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Disk : Samsung SSD 840 Series (500.1GB, SATA600, SSD)

Logical Storage Devices
1 TB HDD (D:) : 932GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
SSD SYSTEM (C:) : 464GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Samsung SSD 840 Series (500.1GB, SATA600, SSD)
Hard Disk : 673MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Samsung SSD 840 Series (500.1GB, SATA600, SSD)
Hard Disk : 517MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Samsung SSD 840 Series (500.1GB, SATA600, SSD)
Hard Disk : 96MB (FAT32, 1kB) @ Samsung SSD 840 Series (500.1GB, SATA600, SSD)

Storage System
Storage Pool : Primordial (1.36TB)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller : Gigabyte FCH LPC Bridge
LPC Hub Controller : T2 86-89
Audio Device : Gigabyte GA106 High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : nVidia 009F
Audio Device : Gigabyte F17/19 (Ryzen2/3, TR/2) HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi 0897
Disk Controller : ASMedia 400 Series Chipset SATA Controller
USB Controller : ASMedia 400 Series Chipset USB 3.1 XHCI Controller
USB Controller : Gigabyte F19 (Ryzen3/TR3 Starship) USB 3.0 Host Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller : AMD SB900 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4 (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Print To PDF (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Biometrics
Voice : Analog NUI Voice Virtual Sensor (Voice)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller (Ethernet, 1Gbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 11 Professional 10.0.22631
Platform Compliance : x64

[Darryl Ramm]

You have to work out how to change the HW buffer size. 128 sample buffer size may just be too small a setting to expect to run at reliably, especially with an ASIO4ALL driver. And if the computer has not been optimized that may make things worse, and you should go through that, but you need to get the interface working better first.

Make sure Pro Tools has exclusive access to the interface and there are no other apps trying to use that interface. You may have to try setting the buffer size in the ASIO4ALL control panel, then starting Pro Tools. Look at the instructions on the ASIO4ALL web site. Again this is a not great third party utility that Berringer is inflicting on you because they do not do a proper ASIO driver.

You likely need to get yourself able to set the H/W buffer size. Then do other optimization and troubleshooting.

---

Lets see a log file(s) to see what the plugins are doing. Post one or more log files on a file sharing site and put the link here. there *might* be antispam things that stop you as a new registered DUC member posting links and require a mod to approve the post... they will get to that.

---

Nothing horrible showing up on the Sandra report.

With only 16 GB watch out for having many large apps running at the same time. Even web browsers. Especially if you want to work with lots of VIs.

Especially because you are running Windows 11, make sure that OneDrive is fully disabled or better uninstalled. Lots of directions online for how to do that. It's toxic bloatware that can destroy systems performance. This is missing from the optimization instructions, no idea why. Follow all the other optimization steps you can.

You have a SATA III HDD and an SATA III SSD, I would be placing sessions on the SSD, but either should work, but best not to put sessions and any VI samples on the same HDD. Sometimes poor storage performance and help trigger AAE CPU errors. Pro Tools is more of a PITA than most other DAWs to get running stably, with maybe one excuse that it is good at detecting any real time errors and will let you know by throwing AAE errors (make sure "ignore errors" in the playback engine dialog is *not* checked, you want to see any errors, especially while troubleshooting, ignore errors can also mess up latency correction, just don't use it).

From Sandra Memory DIMMs are an exact pair which is good, but I am not sure they are VQL approved parts for that Vermeer CPU even if they are approved for Matisse. Modern DDR memory is so incredibly complex that I would always prefer to see exact VQL memory used. Ignore this for now, but if you have crashes/errors that keep happening then you may want to revisit that.

Check the BIOS is up to date, no idea if it is or not, but there have been recent reminders here of the importance of doing that.

Somebody will be along soon with an unhelpful comment that Avid does not officially support Pro Tools on AMD systems...

[briannn]

okay i will try to find out about the h/w as 128 is the only option available BUT, when i go into my interfaces settings, i can change the speed varying from highspeed all the way down to slow with 5 options, and another 5 options on another tab. and that also effects the MS i record my vocals in not sure if that will help at all if i lower it down.

as for log files i am not sure about what you mean because i remember i tried to find my log files but they just werent actually there? at all nowhere to be found but if you mean to show you more images of my plugins list and file explorer i dont mind at all IF that is what you mean so please quote this and let me know as i dont mind.

i dont think that any other apps are using my interface at all, but i do have TWO daws that are installed which are fl and pro tools ofc, now fl isnt opened at all but it is connected to my interface, for some reason i highly doubt fl would have any correlation to my problem, or maybe? you know your way more smarter in this area than me so you might know if it is the issue or not because im too dumb to know on my own lol.

but just remember, i did tell you that i can make a whole song recording my voice putting WAVES plugins on my voice and pro tools actually works how its meant to, ive been using it for 3 days and litteraly the only issues i have with it is the AAE error which has been happening ALOT, and of course the plugins issue that i still cant grasp my head around why the hell this is happening especially since i got waves over to pro tools all my waves plugins are there and some other third party plugins like voxengo recorder and izotope actually do load, but not any of the other ones which i need, and of course the other issue where i cant load a 44.1k hz session with me hearing stuff at all but 48 just works so wierd.

i dont know how to quote your texts but now im replying to when you said if my sessions are in my SSD, so yes all my sessions are in documents which i hope is my SSD.

as for my bios, i think it should be up to date key word (should) as i got this motherboard completely new not even 2-3 months ago alongside this CPU so i bassically built a new pc.

when you say AMD isnt meant for pro tools how can that be possible unless you meant that in a different way and i misunderstood.

i wanted to thank you for taking your time to help me also this is a issue i never had before and im very determined to fix it as i actually enjoy pro tools so much more than fl and it would just relieve me if these issues were fixed.

one main thing i also forgot to mention its a small detail you might want to know. when i open my template or the session i work on its 48k hz obviously since i cant use 44.1k hz, when i do load it up my interface quickly flashes, and then comes back to life, as if it shows me its switching to the 48k hz instead of 44k hz, so wierd.

[Darryl Ramm]

The interface is a mess, you have to get on top of the mess here. When did you buy the Berringer interface? Can you return it or swap it for a better interface? I would do that or throw the damn thing in the trash, they are so awful.

If you want to keep going with it you have to get the interface working. Meaning you can change sample rates for Pro Tools and can change H/W buffer sizes.

The first response of any user with any DAW when getting CPU related errors should be to increase the H/W buffer size. If you can't do that you are fundamentally screwed.

If there is a control app that lets set H/W buffer size and/or sample rate for this interface then set the parameters there with no Pro Tools open there and open Pro Tools with the same settings. Hold down the 'N' key as Pro Tools is starting and select whatever the ASIO4ALL device is called as the Playback Engine. Then create a session at whatever sample rate you set the interface to. Even if Pro Tools can't change things as it should be able to doing things like this often gets you to the settings you need.

If you can't sort this out just about any other interface from RME, UAD, Focusrite or Motu which all have real ASIO drivers would be a much better choice. RME is king of the hill for driver smarts/quality, but you pay for that. Even low cost Focusrite interfaces have real ASIO drivers.

And what audio device is Windows Sound control panel set to use?

Once you have this sorted you can try with larger H/W buffer sizes and see if the AAE CPU errors go away or not. If not then you keep going with standard troubleshooting, especially troubleshooting plugins (by removing *all* third party ones from the plugin folder), etc.

---

Log files should be in
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Avid\Logs\ProToo ls_*.txt (I misstated the log file names on Windows they are ProTools_*.txt like ProTools_2025_01_07_00_16_23.txt. On Mac they start Pro_Tools_*.txt)

It is extremely unlikely Pro Tools is running without creating log files. You need to find them.

AppData is a hidden folder by default you should show all hidden folders, or use C M D .e x e. (i.e. the command shell, the stupid web app filter Avid is using blocks me saying the name here without spaces, you know things that might be useful to be able to say on a technical forum ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

You have to sort this out and get some log files as a clue to what is going on with plugins. If you can't find stuff, don't know how to unhide system folders, want to know how to do a recursive search with dir /s etc. just google stuff and follow the instructions you find. Just power through and find those files.

OTOH if you can't get the interface working properly you might as well give up, so I'd do that first.

[briannn]

honestly if it is the interface i dont mind saving up to just get a new one as this one is pretty bad overall it does do the job but its very buggy at times and its outdated but i dont understand why something so simple is so impossible to figure out as this could be a million things.

i have been trying to change the h/w buffer size and all it shows is this i will attatch images below to show you. it only shows one option and thats it but as i said i can access the inside app of my behringer to lower down the ms and the speed it works at lowering down im guessing the usage? look, i dont care if this is an issue that happens to me one second then i restart my pro tools and it goes away, but it is worth fixing but if its just not possible since my interface is ancient then it is what it is.

as for the plugins do you have any idea? also i attached a screenshot below that shows you that when i go into app data as you say and i try to find the logs i am greeted only by a single razor folder and i have a razor mouse so i just cant find the logs folder or maybe its in documents or where i installed pro tools but i installed it in my SSD so idk why its not showing up i even pressed show hidden items...

its just so wierd how everything works in fl and then just corrupts on pro tools but im guessing pro tools is so much more advanced than fl itself so.

as long as i can get my plugins to actually work i will be happy, i also tried to get rid of the plugins then put them in another folder, and then i loaded pt they obv werent there. then i wasnt sure what to do next so i just put the plugins back into the folder, i remember you said install the plugins again or run the exe of pro tools and yet, i still couldnt find it. maybe im just looking in the wrong place.

[Darryl Ramm]

Why are you not selecting the ASIO4ALL device as the playback engine? Or maybe try the FL interface... that is likely the FL ASIO4ALL wrapper for the same interface.

What is this other control app you are talking about, give a screenshot of that.

FL includes its own ASIO4ALL setup for non ASIO interfaces. Pro Tools does not. Relying on ASIO4ALL in either case is not good. I suspect you are just selecting the wrong interface. Or having two copies of ASIO4ALL setup or tried to be installed messes stuff up.

Nothing to do with being old, Berringer is just selling cheap and nasty junk.

If you want to fix plugin issues produce a log file.

[briannn]

i have attatched the images for you to see this is all i see on my interface :/ nothing really crazy.

the behringer audio is the one im meant to use for recording and output not my asio4all since i tried it and it went through my monitor.

[Darryl Ramm]

I'm curious what device is Windows Sound set to use? Can you show a screenshot of the Windows Sound Control Panel.

--

There is likely at least two installs of ASIO4ALL here, maybe a third if you did a manual install. This is likely all part of this mess and even if you get it working you get higher latency/less stable ASIO4ALL. You could try uninstalling all the drivers/driver related things and then try installing just the Behringer software (with supplied ASIO4ALL stuff) and see if that works but if you want to use Pro Tools I suspect time is better spent getting a better interface.

The Focusrite 2i2 is the canonical beginners interface, it's very widely recommended on DUC and other audio forums as the go-to beginners interface. It's not fancy but its simple (often a benefit for getting started) and it has a real ASIO driver (and it is USB audio class compliant which is nice for Macs and iPhones/iPads and other devices etc.). And it can be handy to keep as a portable little interface even if you outgrow it. You can pick one up from Amazon or similar, try it out and return it if it does not solve all these interface issues (but be sure to uninstall all the ASIO4ALL, FL Driver and Behringer related software then install the 2i2 software/driver).

If you want to look at more complex/fancier interfaces then let us know your needs and budget and folks here can suggest specific models.

--

Find those log files for help with plugins. Search the whole system with dir /s if needed.

[briannn]

Find those log files for help with plugins. Search the whole system with dir /s if needed.

how do i do that? whats a dir /s if u dont mind explaining

this is the screenshots of sound from windows, i was looking at the audient id4 mk2 interfaces heard from a friend their good.

oh also forgot to mention, yeah this aae error is happening alot more but ONLY on one specific plugin its doing it if i turn it off its fine, but i cant hear anything, but i see the meters moving can u help

[Darryl Ramm]

Here you have the Windows default sound device selected as the Berringer interface, something I pointed out way early in this thread *NOT* to do. Set it to any thing like your display speakers and try again. The Windows setting sample rates or buffer sizes *may* be what is preventing Pro Tools being able to do this. Either way don't set Pro Tools to use an audio interface used by Windows or any other app.

I have no experience with that Audient interface, I have used (and other folks here much more so) some Audient ADAT preamps and they are good value. Audient is a trustworthy UK headquartered company. The legacy Audient company had a good reputation with their high-end studio gear background, since being acquired in 2013 and have been going down market with consumer/prosumer focused gear, which seems well regarded. And more importantly the box you mention comes with a real ASIO driver. Like most other folks their lower end gear is made somewhere in Asia. If you know somebody with with one that works well, then getting the exact same interface and being able to help each otherr using them or if there are problems is a great benefit. Heck that's what I say about DAWs... get the same one folks you want to work with, are bandmates with etc. This interfaces is also simple, like a 2i2, which can help, like more expensive interfaces can have sophisticated hardware mixers built into them that are nice if you need to do more sophisticated low-latency monitoring, but can also just trip up folks trying to get started or just frequently never get used. (OTOH the fancy TotalMix FX in my RME interfaces or the DADman routing/monitoring software in Avid/DAD high-end interfaces is so lovely if you need it. But again you pay $$$ for that).

AAE CPU errors happening with a specific plugin can be signs of the plugin being buggy/incompatible with Pro Tools, the system not being optimized properly, and/or just that plugin happening to be a heavy CPU user... (e.g. some of the FabFilter EQ plugins can sure get very heavy depending on the mode they are in... not a criticism of the plugin, they are amazing good), and/or you just running at too small a H/W buffer size for what you are trying to do on your particular setup... which is wait for it..., is why I am trying to get you to sort your mess out and get on a setup where you can increase the H/W buffer size as the fist step at troubleshooting the CPU errors.

(and I'm serious about buying stuff that has easy returns if there are problems, like Amazon or pick a trusted local company).

---

And as pointed out earlier if you don't understand stuff google it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dir+%2Fs

First result there explains everything you need to know.

So in CMD:

C:> dir /s C:\ProTools_*.txt

(where C:> is the CMD prompt you don't type)

Will search all over C: looking for files that start "ProTools_" and end with ".txt".