Audio Drop Outs on Some Channels

[Caatalyst]

Hi Everyone,

I've been having a problem with Pro Tools for some time now regarding audio drop outs.

It appears to happen to both audio and midi channels.

Whats strange is it only happens to a one or two tracks specifically. The tracks that are effected is different between projects.

When it happens I can hear a sustained noise in the background it sounds like a sine wave.

When I stop playing or hit play again the noise goes away but the effected tracks no longer play.

Restarting the session is a temporary fix but it keeps fruhstrating after doing it every 10 minutes.

In one of the projects I can hear the auxilary channel which I use for reverb playing the Superior Drummer cymbals which are sent to it but I can't hear the cymbals going directly to the mains out.

Is anybody else having the same problem and if so is there a solution?

Cheers,

[Caatalyst]

I also had this same problem on my previous computer which was am AMD build

[Caatalyst]

Hmmm, I've tried everything I could. Updating plugins, reducing background services and following optimization guides. I think the projects are struggling due to the amount of midi instruments and project data.

When I hit ctrl+alt+delete and check the memory useage it's well over 4GB. I hope a 64bit, software instrument friendly Pro Tools isn't far off.

[cwsand]

Yeah, I've had symptoms like this before when using VI's that take up a lot of memory. I've gotten in the habit of bouncing down the instruments to audio tracks so the MIDI/Instrument tracks can be made inactive, which frees up resources (Processing/RAM). It's also a good habit to bounce them down so that you have that particular performance in a physical track form, in case you go to a DAW that doesn't have that plugin, or if you lose the plugin settings.

[Caatalyst]

Yeah thanks a lot for the advice! It doesn't seem to take much for Pro Tools to start struggling. I bounced down most of the tracks leaving mostly audio and a couple of VIs but the problem persissted. Is there a faster way to bounce each track individually rather than soloing the track and waiting for it export from start to finish?

[jasonthurley]

I have also hit the VI ceiling on occasion... You can easily use reaper to host all your VI's and wrap them into Pro Tools to make use of the 64 bit (virtually unlimited RAM storage and access) application. This will relive PT of the need to host the VI's and it should perform well.

Once PT goes 64 bit this wont be an issue.

[cwsand]

Originally Posted by Caatalyst

Is there a faster way to bounce each track individually rather than soloing the track and waiting for it export from start to finish?

No, it has to be done in real time. You could possibly bounce a few all at once though - and by "bounce" I don't mean the Bounce To Disk feature in Pro Tools - just set up audio tracks, send your instrument output to a bus, and set your audio track input to that bus and record the track(s).

Reaper/rewire is a good alternative, though I personally still prefer to record the VI's to audio.

[Caatalyst]

Great thanks a lot for your help guys. I'm going to try bounce all the tracks first and see if that helps.

I really enjoy working with Pro Tools which is why im so reluctant to move to another platform for composition.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Caatalyst

Great thanks a lot for your help guys. I'm going to try bounce all the tracks first and see if that helps.

I really enjoy working with Pro Tools which is why im so reluctant to move to another platform for composition.

Don't use bounce but the method cwsand mentioned. Much better and you'll see right away if something is amiss in the file being created as it shows in the Mix window.