"Audio processing deadline was not met"

[MDGenerato]

Originally Posted by Arno Peeters

That's great. I normally wouldn't go for support that easily, but since this can be any plugin and the error occurs randomly, I thinks only logs could tell us more as to why this is happening. Like said: the horsepower should be more than enough to avoid this happening.

No problem! I saw the troubleshooting article and it needs to be updated. But in the meantime, we have to take a look at your issue so we can know what's the fix, and then we can update the article properly for the current version.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Arno Peeters

2023.12.1 Ultimate Native on Apple M2 Max with 64GB memory running Ventura.

Indeed, I have been wondering too: PT needs to inspect the plugins-folder to determine what can be loaded, so that might be an explanation. Also sessions load faster after the first loading (so opening a second time seems faster).
And 2.5 GB for a 30 min documentary is not huge in my opinion.
I'm doing a radio-play now: 8 episodes in one session, over 35 GB...

So is the slow startup the session startup time or the plugin load time?

Pro Tools runs entirely either as an Intel or Apple silicon executable and the correct binary parts of plugins are just loaded in either case. All done at low level parts of the system with high efficiency. And regardless of binary environment the slow part of scanning plugins is done once and cached, and the rest is done at startup/plugin load time which should be relatively fast. Slow loading of plugins can be caused by the plugin cache not having been built correctly (is it created? Are there any errors at plugin load time? After trashing prefs letting the cache get built is it faster restarting the next time) or if an individual plugin bugs in that plugin initialization code that runs as it is loaded (that these plugins are all “alive” is also why plugins just loaded, not even being used can cause problems). And one specific issue there is plugins with memory leaks, which is why to keep an eye on memory pressure, and yes memory leaks can cause CPU errors as paging memory introduces latency that triggers errors). All standard stuff that has been causing problems forever, no need to try to think there is something about Intel vs Apple silicon to cause these issues.

Sessions likely load faster after previously loading because they are now cached in memory. This is different to the plugin cache file being built that affects plugin scan/load times.

If you are talking about 2.5 GB session files, (not the size of any media, just the session files), then yes they are potential candidates for problems caused by bloated with content from some plugins and that may contribute to slow startup. IZotope RX is on example that can do this. Is there a correlation with session file size and slow startup? Did some session files start getting bigger after the recent systems change? You can try save session as copy In and see if that helps. Try removing suspect plugins before doing that. Even without the size being huge it can be the specific broken plugin involvement with reading the session file that causes issues.

Avid support might be able to help you, but frequently log files will not finger a suspect plugin, you frequently have to do the standard plugin troubleshooting… it may be the slow plugin load or slow session startup and other problem has a common cause. There is likely nothing unusual going on here than the usual crap caused by plugin problems, and your usual best weapon is doing standard troubleshooting, including early on trying to quickly show it is not a third party plugin problem.

[thin ice]

Not sure if this is coincidence, but every time I had Avid Link running in the background there were these errors. As soon as I delete it, the issue goes away for me.

[Arno Peeters]

So is the slow startup the session startup time or the plugin load time?

PT itself starts in under 30 secs when not using Rosetta. The session I'm working on takes 1,5 minutes to load. Not a very complex thing and no dense automation.

Pro Tools runs entirely either as an Intel or Apple silicon executable and the correct binary parts of plugins are just loaded in either case. All done at low level parts of the system with high efficiency. And regardless of binary environment the slow part of scanning plugins is done once and cached, and the rest is done at startup/plugin load time which should be relatively fast. Slow loading of plugins can be caused by the plugin cache not having been built correctly (is it created?

Thanks for clearing that up: indeed, I should have posed it as a question.

Are there any errors at plugin load time?

Nope. And another misconception on my part: I meant the whole session, not just the session-file, which is 1.9mb.

I completely understand the need for thorough checking plugs, trashing prefs, the works. But this error pops up completely random and unfortunately, I currently don't have the time to work without certain plugs (which I need) to wait and see if it happens again.

[Arno Peeters]

Originally Posted by thin ice

Not sure if this is coincidence, but every time I had Avid Link running in the background there were these errors. As soon as I delete it, the issue goes away for me.

Yeah, will make that undone again. Good point.

[Tweakhead]

Originally Posted by thin ice

Not sure if this is coincidence, but every time I had Avid Link running in the background there were these errors. As soon as I delete it, the issue goes away for me.

The first thing I do after install of every new version is to zip and delete both "Application Manager" and "Avid Link".

[Arno Peeters]

I feel almost naive: bought myself a machine that should run roughly 4 times as fast. I thought I was over this kinda tweaks. Guess not...

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

The first thing I do after install of every new version is to zip and delete both "Application Manager" and "Avid Link".

Application Manager should be a thing of the distant past. But yes Avid Link gets uninstalled on every system for it's bugginess, my concerns about it's huge security attack surface, and maybe it causes problems for Pro Tools because it is buggy and chews on resources at times, or maybe it's even fairly well behaved but it's just enough to push Pro Tools over the edge if it's having problems. Overall Avid Link is just unnecessary poorly implemented bloatware.

[smurfyou]

Did you do any sort of migration or a clean install of everything?

I usually migrate but I decided this time to go clean. And I was pretty brutal, cutting out any plugin or software I hadn't used recently no matter how much I liked it. Not saying it actually makes a difference or should be necessary but a thought.

[itsjustmeee123]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

The first thing I do after install of every new version is to zip and delete both "Application Manager" and "Avid Link".

I've been getting this same message off and on for about a year now. It always seemed to revolve around Guitar Rig 7 and Superior Drummer, but the message would pop up even with just 3 or 4 tracks in the session. Thanks for the tip about deleting Application Manager and Avid Link. Every little bit helps when trying to pinpoint an issue and streamline your system.