How often does your Pro Tools crash on your Mac hardware?

[Daveporter33765]

We have two studios, each has an iMac (late 2015 27” and 2020 27”) as its studio computer. Both computer systems are extremely robust and reliable. It is VERY rare that we experience hard crashes with either of these systems when running any of the DAWs (Pro Tools Studio, Logic Pro, Luna, Cubase Pro and Studio One Pro) that we regularly use.

Prior to 2007, when Apple first released the Intel based Macs, we utilized custom built PCs. The reason we moved on to the Mac platform was that we experienced too many issues with our PCs. We have never considered going back to PCs since that time.

[Darryl Ramm]

I know you are very frustrated and it sounds like you have been doing a lot of reading and trying stuff. But hear me out... I do suspect it's worth spending a few hours more trying one last go at troubleshooting this system but with help from folks here and Avid support.

Getting super frustrated like this and spending a long time trying to debug stuff yourself is not unheard of, including for folks who are fairy savvy with computers. But often users benefit from iteratively troubleshooting online on DUC with other users, discussing what they are seeing in detail, what tests have been done and what to try next. That can uncover things that have been missed or misunderstood, or maybe eventually help locate some weird corner case of stuff that is buggy.

In case you do want to do that... (or just confirm you have done these already) here is what I'd do with the partial info I have now:

From reading some of your posts I'm not going to suspect hardware CPU/Memory etc. this has much more of the feel of a software problems, maybe plugins (since they do get to mess with Pro Tools graphics (yes possibly even when not being used) or maybe an NVIDIA driver. And I'll note why I don't suspect hardware as much that maybe some of these ASUS Threadripper boards do seem to run into their share of firmware/BIOS issues, that can affect graphics, but issues there seems to cause blue screens or Windows hangs, but still may be worth resetting NVRAM/BIOS. e.g. see https://www.overclock.net/threads/ze...speeds.1643791. And it sounds like you may have tried this. And again I would suspect software here not hardware. Oh and make sure all Antivirus software, including from Microsoft is disabled or uninstalled.

(It's not clear if you have tried moving all .aaxplugin files out of the plugin folder, maybe you have, if so great, if not ... ) move all .aaxplugin files from the plugin folder, to the Unused folder, and then trash prefs (make it easy/foolproof and purchase Trasher https://www.pro-tools-pc.us/category-s/1514.htm), and restart Pro Tools and see what happens. And leaving Pro Tools in this state try switching to latest or previous etc. NVIDIA drivers. You can also double check that Windows systems optimizations are applied. Does that work OK starting with a new empty session (in case you have (possibly many) corrupted sessions). Maybe also test from a newly created Admin account, but don't spend too much more time here if it does not work... instead grab a spare SSD or partition on an SSD and do a clean Windows 10 install from an installer downloaded from Microsoft.com, just install the bare minimum drivers (like GPU) needed to get the system up, do *not* let Windows run plug and pray and update the system, install Pro Tools and *nothing* else, no plugins, no utilities, no A/V software. Does that work? If not you have reproduced a problem on a bare vanilla install and that is something you should get to Avid support for them to try to reproduce.

Keep making sure you are testing with trivial sessions that are not based on old saved copies, just in case you have a corrupted session(s) or corrupted template(s). I've seen that get across a studio to the point that people were convinced they had so many problem systems...

Hopefully you have disabled Pro Tools sending diagnostics. One thing that can cause UI freezes/pauses in the past.

Unclear what version of Pro Tools you are running but in the (getting on distant) past appmanager could go nuts and cause pauses, that's long been fixed but I still always uninstall Avid Link and Avid Cloud Collaboration bloatware.

Other questions:

Go ahead and post a current SiSoft Sandra report if anything has changed.

Does running at a larger IO Buffer size reduce this problem? (I expect no).

I would set disk cache to some reasonable size to fully cache the session and no larger, watch the cache meter go fully green (fully cached) then start testing stuff. Say set it to 2GB if starting with an empty session.

What does the Pro Tools log file show when this happens (C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Avid\Logs) ? They are just text files, see if anything looks weird there. It may help to have Avid support should be looking at those logs for you. Does the Windows event log show anything interesting around the times when this has happened? Your CPU has no built in graphics, so is it possible to borrow a different GPU and try? Do you have Avid support case(s) open? Sharing the case/incident # here may help get attention on this.

Can you capture a screenshot of Activity monitor when the UI is hung, just to see what is taking CPU/running at that time.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by snowplaysmusic

... I can't stand my Windows computer anymore ...

Originally Posted by albee1952

I know you asked about Mac, but since you are on windows, I felt it worth commenting. I run a properly-built custom PC that is pushing 7 years old and I have not had a crash in several years. My average mix is 60-70 tracks with several dozen plugins with an HDN card and 192 IO. Just so you know its possible

+1. I'm running Windows 11, self-build, optimized & de-bloated, Intel i9, 64Gb RAM, Pro Tools @ buffer64. Works for me!

[elangab]

Originally Posted by snowplaysmusic

Thank you for your replies. I should've been more clear, how often does Pro Tools crash on your Mac system? I am not looking for any help fixing my crashes: been there, done that. In fact, I've been in denial all this time. This super computer machine was a dream of mine but became 3 years of striking out that never materialized. Continuing to try to fix it is insanity. I am a software engineer and deeply knowledgeable about computers. I did everything to try to fix Pro Tools crashing, and by it learned a tremendous amount about operating systems and low latency audio, but this machine just won't get it done. It's been such a sad 3 years that I considered leaving pro audio for good. It's been devastating to my creative and professional life. I put in too much blood, sweat and tears into this machine, and should've sold it 3 months after it was unreliable, but it took me another 2 and a half years to get out of my sunken ship fallacy.

But hearing that many of you have very stable systems, and some cannot even remember Pro Tools crashing, is very VERY encouraging. It gives me hope that pro audio does not have to be like this anymore. There is no career or creative possibility in these conditions. And like I said, I did everything. The DUC would be amazed to learn how deep I took to fixing the Pro Tools crashing, using a scientific and technological approach. It was remarkable how much I tried to make this machine work. But, the machine can be sold on the market, and then I am going to Mac, because I am so disappointed by this build that I will never, ever build my own PC ever again, and I was only into Windows for the hardware commodity. I'm not saying it's Avid's fault or Windows is to blame, just that this was a devastating few years that I am only now starting to understand.

It makes sense that I wait for the M2, and I can't imagine changing my system for such a short time, so the studio is going to be silent for a while, while I take a hiatus from pro audio until next year (or whenever) an M2 Mac Pro is available. Your answers are to help me gauge if pro audio is even a real thing. I know that sounds funny and ridiculous, but so many years of crashing and tweaking and crashing dims one's outlook considerably. But I appreciate it.

I'm a Windows guy and running PT on Windows for few years rock solid and without problems other than your random computer hiccup here and there. Having said that I advise you to switch from Windows to OSX. By the end of the day it's all about creating music or post. It's never about the OS. The OS is a tool to run PT on, which in itself is a tool for creativity. From what you wrote it seems as you need to start again from scratch, and OSX could be the refresh you need to put all of the bad memories behind you. With technology many times if we encounter a problem at first, the bad taste of it lasts forever, and we can't trust the tool again. I will say this, Apple is currently transitioning from Intel to their own chips, and there are problems with that. Some software is not 100% supported yet, some performs worse, and some same or better, so expect some hiccups and research the status of your plug-in or hardware before jumping in. It will all get fixed and compatible eventually, so long term is fine just the short term could be bumpy. Good luck!

[Carl Lie]

It can be just as easy for a mac to get into the situation you're describing. I can see however you being at a point where you are just done and want a machine that is proven.

It would help to know what you want to do. You talk of wanting the creativity but then are willing to wait a year to get it (for an m2). I have very little doubt that you can get a great machine today that will work, but again, I have no sense of your expectations.

Perhaps there are some things Darryl mentioned you haven't tried. Try not to get depressed as there is a solution and many folks do well with PT on current computers (MAc and PC).

C

[Rectifried]

23 years into this at least with Protools just upgraded to an M1 MacBook Pro with 16 gigs of ram… Still get endless crashing…



I could take out all my plug-ins, I definitely know the ones that stop the thing in its tracks… Plug-ins like Gullfoss oh zone…



The frustration is for two decades of throwing money at avid hoping I can make the computer disappear… I know every aspect of this system but in the end of the day it’s just sloppy somewhere down the line… They redid the whole system after the TDMRTAS Band-Aid patchwork…



And yet here we are half a decade later at least and it’s still a cluster…



I compose and push the system more than somebody who’s just pushing dialogue and sound effects around…



however like a broken record the same plug-ins work pretty well on able 10 that I had to learn just to have a system that didn’t stop me every 15 minutes with beach balls… I’ve had cheese graders trash cans… I’ve took all my plug-ins out, I put them all back in I get error messages saying a plug-in is giving me problems… I take that one out and then another one comes up and then another one and it’s a whack-a-mole festival that’s costing me $200 a year



And just to be clear darlings, I like Protools… I’m not going to go to another program because most of them seem like goofy video games… I use ableton and treat it like an Akai sampler which it is…



I want Protools to succeed… I suppose it’s up to me to just use their stock plug-ins and wear the Digidesign golf shirt, and a gray ponytail…

[rampartthemovie]

lmao its fine on both platforms, never had an issue doing sessions in both. check if bad plugin first

[peapodpost]

a few times a week, usually when I edit too fast during playback (or in the window of time between hitting spacebar and PT playing back)

PT also tends to crash for me when I do anything else with the computer when it is opening or closing a session

[audiolex1]

Originally Posted by snowplaysmusic

Hey, I've been in Pro Tools land for almost 20 years. I can't stand my Windows computer anymore. It crashes all the time -- many times per day. I am looking to make a big investment into Mac hardware. I was wondering how often your Pro Tools crashes. Could you please list how often it crashes, what hardware you have, and what you are doing when it crashes? Is it once per day, once per week, rarely? Is it when you are tracking, or doing heavy mixes? Any information would be helpful.

I might get a crash once a year on my Mac.
Sometimes I'll get Pro Tools crashes but it is kind of rare and usually a plugin issue.
Of course, I don't use my Mac for anything but Pro Tools, samples and recording.

Heavy or light load. I think all the Mac's are coming with an HDMI but make sure you get one with that. Otherwise you might end up eating up all your thunderbolt ports.

[supermanal]

My PT crashes a couple of times per week at least, for what seems like no good reason. I have been using PT since 2005 on various Macs and it has always crashed quite a bit in my experience. I use Logic a lot for composing and it rarely crashes and I generally find it way more stable and agreeable.