Pro Tools Playback Issue on M1 Mac Mini - Audio Dropouts Every 15 sec

[DEliker]

Hoping someone has an idea about this but I don't see any other post on it.

Testing a new 2020 Mac Mini M1 with Monterey 12.3
Previously using 2018 MacBook Pro with Big Sur

Having a playback issue in ProTools:
Audio dropouts every 15 seconds for <1 second

Only seems to affect ProTools 2022.5.0
Browser audio playback unaffected
App Playback (Quicktime, Apple Music) unaffected
Garage Band unaffected

In PT:
Input Monitoring - affected
Playback - affected
Bounce files - affected

However, the actual Recording of the audio is NOT affected. The wav pattern appears uninterrupted, and when the dropout occurs, immediately replaying the section affected I'm hearing what was missed until the next dropout 15 seconds later.

Issue is not remedied by Reboot of either ProTools or System.

Additional Setup Info:
Focusrite Clarett 2Pre USB
Focusrite Control 3.11.0.1983
Firmware 1246

Everything plays fine when I switch back to the MacBook Pro setup. It's only on the Mini.

Any guesses?
Thank you!

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by DEliker

Any guesses?
Thank you!

Anything on the master output?
Like with a demo audio dropout every 15s?

[nednednerb]

Checking if any plug-ins obviously are not license activated could be a first step, then a second step is deactivating (not bypassing) any particular manufacturer's plug-ins.

If the problem goes away unless you use a specific plug-in, maybe try refreshing license activations.

The regularity and description of the dropout does seem like one of the slightly less invasive versions of demo control due to license issues.

Maybe it's a license that cannot be activated to more than one, two, etc machines, so there might not be warning but something told it to act like a demo time period is up.

[Emi]

If there was any drop outs or some kind of errors pro tools would stop, I believe. So you should look somewhere else, like mentioned above, like plugins.

I run pro tools 2022.5 on Mac mini m1 without issues.

And as always, first trash preferences.

[DEliker]

Yep. That was it.

Had an iZotope RX plugin bypassed but not deactivated in my template.
The license authorization prompt didn't show until I clicked on it.

Deactivating or removing it clears the error. Will have to check the iLock authorizations.

Thank you.