Pro Tools Drops to Background in Mac

[Cayce]

Something just starting this morning is that when I have my Edit window active, recording, playing back, or even idle, it suddenly loses foreground focus, as if another program has come forward, though I have no other programs running. I noticed this when, as I'm recording, stopping and starting with my keyboard, it suddenly loses communication with Pro Tools, and my edit window title bar is grayed out, indicating it's in the background. I don't even have to be doing anything. I clicked into the window, activating it, watched for a few minutes, and it suddenly changes status to background. Something in my system is taking the foreground, but my activity monitor and console aren't showing what it might be.

Has anyone else experienced this, and is there a way to force Pro Tools to stay in the foreground?

Thanks.

[dominicperry]

Which OS?
Big Sur seems to be doing some odd focus things, and I wonder if it's that rather than PT.
Also, masses of Microsoft applications are bad for stealing focus. There may be some kind of auto-updater firing off in the background which is removing focus from PT.

[originalscottyg]

Are you using video? I have found that the video window can steal focus sometimes, but usually not randomly. It's usually when I click on the video window that I can't use keyboard shortcuts until I click back onto the Edit or Mix window.

[Cayce]

Yeah, this isn't a PT thing. Of all the unending weirdisms PT can throw at us, this isn't one of them. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had the issue and what it might be. Sometimes when I'm using PhotoShop a finder window will suddenly jump onto the screen, pushing PS back, but in the case of PT, that part isn't happening. It's messin' with my workflow in PT 'cause I can't use any key commands until I mouse into the screen and regain focus.

I'll do some more research and post my findings.

Thanks.

[musicman691]

Again - what OSX are you running? That's about the only thing not in your sigfile or profile.

I wonder if this might have something to do with that blasted Fusion drive you have?

[Cayce]

Hey, MusicMan;

Running Catalina 10.15.6. As for the fusion drive, when I first upgraded to Catalina I ran into so many issues I took it to the Apple Store for a fix and thought they swapped the fusion drive for an SSD, but apparently it's still fusion. Recently I nearly updated my system to a Mac Mini with the M1 chip, but the current one doesn't support the monitors I need, so I'm holding out for the next gen, M1X, supposed hitting the streets this fall.

[Cayce]

I just got a clue: I shut down all programs, restarted PT, pulled up my session and activated a short playback loop. After a few minutes PT lost focus. In my icon bar I noticed that just before it did, Terminal activated, showing a dot under the icon. It didn't open a window: just activated. I noted the time, killed Terminal, brought PT back into focus and waited. Exactly 4 minutes later, Terminal activated again, PT lost focus. I repeated the process. Exactly 4 minutes later, Terminal activated again, PT to lost focus. I watched it do this a half dozen times.

Any idea on why Terminal would be activating itself this way?

I'm researching.

[Cayce]

Following up again, I found an incident online from 2016 where Terminal was randomly opening, stealing focus, and the person tracked it down to the Avid App Manager. Check it out here:
https://origin-discussions-us.apple.com/thread/7621308

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Cayce

Hey, MusicMan;

Running Catalina 10.15.6. As for the fusion drive, when I first upgraded to Catalina I ran into so many issues I took it to the Apple Store for a fix and thought they swapped the fusion drive for an SSD, but apparently it's still fusion. Recently I nearly updated my system to a Mac Mini with the M1 chip, but the current one doesn't support the monitors I need, so I'm holding out for the next gen, M1X, supposed hitting the streets this fall.

I learned when I had problems with my iMac to not trust Apple tech support. As Metallica says: sad but true. 'Tis a shame they apparently they screwed you over like that.

[Cayce]

Got it resolved:

1: Updated to the latest version of PT, 2021.6.0.
2: Updated Avid Link, which also updated AvidAppManager.
3: Launched PT, opened my session, activated a loop playback.
4: Went to the kitchen, made a sandwich on rye bread with sliced turkey, romaine lettuce, sliced tomato, Swiss cheese and Gulden's mustard (don't use anything else!), chased that down with iced tea, came back and PT was still in focus.

I'm no expert, but I'm thinkin' the sandwich was key. This one's going into my Pro Tools Cookbook.

Thanks to all who assisted on this.