Plug-Ins=CPU Spikes

[RokVox]

Hello,

I'm having an issue and hopefully someone out here might be able to shed some light on the situation.

When I create a 'new" session at either 44 or 48kHz and then create a stereo or instrument track and insert a plug-in on that track, I'm getting CPU spikes with the old "your running out of power, please remove some of your plug-ins or increase your cpu limit" message.

For example when using IK's Amplitube 2 in the above situation, just going through the presets on Amplitube 2 causes playback to stop and the old error message (listed above) to appear and I can see that the CPU has spiked.
This happens with plug-ins like IK's "Amplitube 2", "Amplitube Jimi Hendrix", Roger Nichols "Detailer", SoundToys "EchoBoy", etc...

I have a pretty powerful computer with a good amount of Ram (see specs below). I have Pro Tools set up where it's using both processors at 85 percent and the buffer is at 512. Increasing these settings has no effect on the problem. Of course, I also made sure that I have the latest versions of ALL of the plug-ins that are in Pro Tools and that they are ALL Pro Tools 7 compatible. I have also contacted all of these companies and they don't know what to say. They have never seen nor heard of this problem. In addition, my computer is very "clean" with only the essentials installed and very well maintained.

I trashed the Digi prefs and the Digidesign Databases with no change in performance, also looked over setup and troubleshooting sticky on DUC and everything is in check. There is no change as well when using one RTAS processor is enabled. I also I tested the Ram with the Apple hardware test.

I was considering moving up to 7.3 but I see from some postings on the DUC that the problem is actually worse (depending on who you talk to).

What could be causing this problem and is there something that could be done about it?

Thanks for the help!

PowerMac G5 DualCore 2.3 (Power PC) with 4.5 GB of Ram, Tiger 10.4.8
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Classic 160 GB (Audio) HD
DIGI 002 with ProTools LE 7.1cs10
Digidesign Music Production Toolkit, Digidesign Producer Factory Bundle, Strike, Hybrid, Xpand.

[Stig Eliassen]

Have you tried trashing the "DAE Prefs" folder yet? Trash it, restart the CPU and launch PT again. Better, worse, the same?

If this didn't help, I'd suggest going through the setup and troubleshooting sticky here at the DUC. Especially regarding trashing preferences.

Do you get the same behavior with one RTAS processor enabled?

[RokVox]

Yes, I trashed the prefs with no change in performance, also looked over setup and troubleshooting sticky and everything is in check. There is no change as well when using one RTAS processor is enabled.

Thanks

[Stig Eliassen]

What about RAM? Have you done any tests on the RAM sticks currently installed? Either with Apple hardware test or Memtest?

You say that all plugins are up to date - what if you only leave Echoboy and the Stereo mixer plugin in the plugins folder? Any change?

I'm just throwing out ideas here...

[RokVox]

Yes, I tested the Ram with the Apple hardware test. I have thought about removing all plug-ins from the plug-ins folder and putting them back one by one but I wanted to get some feedback before going through that tedious process.

Thanks, I appreciate the time and effort PT!

[Delso]

I get that about once a day, but cranking up the buffer size always works for me.

As you can see from my sig, my rig is considerably punier than yours!

PS Have you emptied the Trash, after doing all that trashing? I assume you've got that neat little app from the PT TD/HDM Forum?

[RokVox]

Yes, I always empty the trash.

What App are you talking about?

[Stig Eliassen]

This one

[RokVox]

Thanks PT,

Yes, I know about that one.

I did some further testing and this is what I have found:

I'm only using one plug-in at a time for testing purposes. So, for example I remove every plug-in out of the Digi plug-ins folder and leave only Amplitube 2 in the folder. I then start up Pro Tools and load Amplitube 2 on stereo or instrument track. Then while Pro Tools is in playback I go through the presets on Amplitube 2, playback stops and this message appears:

"You are running out of CPU power. Remove some RTAS plug-ins or increase the CPU Usage Limit in the Playback Engine dialog. (-9128)"

If I increase this to 99 percent for both processors this works for a little while then I get this message:

"The operating system held off interupts for too long. If this occurs frequently, try increasing the "H/W in the Buffer Size" in the Playback Engine panel. (-6086)"

I can increase this to 1024 but then I'm dealing with HEAVY latency trying to play through the Amplitube 2 plug-in. Not to mention it's an empty session with only 1 stereo track with only 1 plug-in instantiated!!!
This happens with Amplitube Jimi Hendrix as well. The other plugs that I had listed above sometime stop playback and always create CPU spikes.

Does anyone know how to disable these alert messages in Pro Tools??? I tried, but maybe I'm missing something.
This is a real pain in the ass and slows down the smooth work flow vibe you try to achieve in a creative environment!
I don't know if this a "bug" in Pro Tools or if some of these plug-ins are not there yet?
More memory???

[RokVox]

Does anyone know how to disable these alert messages from popping up in Pro Tools???

"You are running out of CPU power. Remove some RTAS plug-ins or increase the CPU Usage Limit in the Playback Engine dialog. (-9128)"

"The operating system held off interupts for too long. If this occurs frequently, try increasing the "H/W in the Buffer Size" in the Playback Engine panel. (-6086)"

Thanks so much!