Do's ans Don't's for a Crash free DP

[daniel.sneed]

[...]don't change hardware settings too much.[...]

Well? I do all the time within a single project.
Low buffers (128) while tracking VIs, and switching to high buffer (1024) for mixing.
My actual setup seems crash-prone, though.

[dixiechicken]

Excellent thread - but I have a question about networking?
Someone here suggested turning off networking while using DP, as a help
to avoid crashes.

DP-8.04.and 8.0.5 always asks about letting it use the networking when you start up DP, and warning about reduced functionality if you don't allow it use the network.

What's up with that? Why would DP want to use the network? Anyone?

Cheers: Dixiechicken!

[daniel.sneed]

[...]DP-8.04.and 8.0.5 always asks about letting it use the networking when you start up DP, and warning about reduced functionality if you don't allow it use the network.[...]

Really? My setup doesn't.
Only at very first DP launch. Once authorization is done, should not pop up anymore.

[NBRJazz]

Looking for help. I was using DP8 with Mac OS 10.6.8 and everything worked fine.

Installed DP 8.03 then .05 Worked fine.

Then Mac OS 10.9. DP 8 tries to open. Spinning wheel of death. Have to force quit every time.
(I still have DP7.4 on my laptop, mid 2007 2.2 GHz duo, 3G RAM. This can still open DP files)

Any thoughts?

[sonicflight]

So this is an excellent post, but who can take the lead (MOTU) and thin this out to be just the primary messages or extract them into another post..?? At 14 pages and much commentary and 'signature' details, it would be great to have about a two page DOC or post that captures it. Or if you (MOTU) can extract all the data into a file, I'll take a shot at cleaning it up and only have detail related to the context of the subject.

Please let me know. Txs..!!!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You make the mistake of addressing MOTU as if they are running, being represented, or even reading this board. Employees of MOTU clearly do read and respond from time to time, but "MOTU" as an corporate entity has neither ownership nor control of these pages.

A post here, as good as it might make a member feel to air their grievances publicly and/or may make some sense (even - in theory -being the best suggestion the company ever had), is not as effective as direct communication with MOTU itself.

We are NOT MOTU and addressing the reader as such is completely misguided and ineffective (generally) in soliciting a meaningful response from them.

[James Steele]

So this is an excellent post, but who can take the lead (MOTU) and thin this out to be just the primary messages or extract them into another post..?? At 14 pages and much commentary and 'signature' details, it would be great to have about a two page DOC or post that captures it. Or if you (MOTU) can extract all the data into a file, I'll take a shot at cleaning it up and only have detail related to the context of the subject.

Please let me know. Txs..!!!

As pointed out, this is a user run board (no affiliation with MOTU) and all contributions are pretty much and unpaid labor of love. The Internet and this user-run board is essentially free, so you have to really adjust expectations to that. If anybody has the free time to take on more volunteer work and do that I'll post it.

[supersonic]

Using the round Blue buttom helps . Once I print the plug-in I deactivate it that way.
I also now use VE PRO a lot. It's ability to have independent buffers per instance (from none to a multiplier of 4) is a a neat trick whereby you can stay in low buffer on DP but have effectively low CPU count thanks to this. And if things get hairy and DP does go out you simply restart and DP relinks to those instances leaded in VE pro without wasting time on reloading the samples. Also a very neat feature is using virtual rack in DP. It kind of works like VE pro. The samples loaded there are independent of sequence. Many sequences can address them and switching from sequence within the project becomes a breeze and is in the end more stable.

[moondog]

Hi - I'm reading a lot about DP crashes from frustrated users. Most are generated from loading or opening files/projects.
However - mine crashes also but only when I stop play. Until then it loads and plays fine. If I let it play through completely - no problem. If I decided to stop the play - gone after a few seconds.
I have had MOTU look at the crash log and they tell me it something to do with BFD2. Once I remove it - no crashes. My only workaround at this point is to freeze whatever drum tracks I have and remove BFD3 which works but restricts any chance of editing the drum tracks.
Anyone else have this problem? I might add that fxpansion is so slow in getting back to me each time it will be Christmas before I figure this out. It's been since May that this started.

iMac 27 Retina 10.12.6
8 Gig
Sierra

[mathygreen]

As much as your workflow permits, don't keep every pgm you own open at the ready. Use them as needed or in the combinations that you need and no more than that. IOW, run DP-only if feasible or as few pgms as you can for functionality.
My personal experience is: don't use Aggregate Devices.
This completely hosed a G4 and had to reformat from the ground up to solve it. YMMV

If you need low buffer settings for low-latency VI response, raise them back up when finished so your Mac's not working so hard.
Whether you need to quit to do this is a matter of discussion.
I do this without quitting with no problems.

Occasionally a certain specific set of actions done very rapid-fire will crash a program.
Sometimes slowing down and letting the computer accomplish each step can help.
A good rule of thumb is let your computer catch up with your commands rather than getting too far ahead of it.
This especially applies to older or slower computers or ones heavily taxed.

Unless needed for your workflow get rid of all extraneous downloaded stapled-on utility skin hotkey enhancement crap, I mean stuff.
Think 'lean and mean' or 'less is more' both about DP, plug-ins, add-ons etc and Mac system add-ons as well.
If you do need one, add one at a time and make sure there are no ill-effects and if so dump it and all associated files if possible.
If in doubt, and it's important to your workflow, people here can usually help you as to which are proven to play nice with DP.

[bayswater]

Occasionally a certain specific set of actions done very rapid-fire will crash a program.
Sometimes slowing down and letting the computer accomplish each step can help.

Interesting. Reminds me of a cousin who was responsible for testing telecom switching software for carriers. Every release resulted in serious errors. He said the software did hundreds of things, and testing for all possible combinations of tasks being executed at the same would take 1,000 trillion years (not acceptable to marketing). If anything DP does more individual tasks than the telecom software. It’s not unexpected that there are lots of combinations of tasks never tested that lead to failures and are best done sequentially.

[mikehalloran]

Occasionally a certain specific set of actions done very rapid-fire will crash a program.
Sometimes slowing down and letting the computer accomplish each step can help.

Interesting. … It’s not unexpected that there are lots of combinations of tasks never tested that lead to failures and are best done sequentially.

I experience that now and then locking DP completely. More than once I've had to Force Quit DP.

[TnMike]

So I have DP 10.13 running on Sierra on a Mac Pro tower with 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TB of hard disk...recording on an external 1 TB drive. This has been working fine for the last 2 years but the other day my plugins/VI's are starting to crash DP when I try to open them.

I forget the procedure to fix this problem, trash preferences? Which ones, can I keep my templates, or do I have to reinstall the entire program?

Thanks for your help...
Mike

[TnMike]

I talked to MOTU tech support today and I think I found my problem.

I have a Mac Pro Tower (2010) running Sierra. On March 11, 2022 Sierra OS users got an update for "Device Support Update" (for IOS and iPad devices). It was after I made this small update that my problems began. Tech Support said they were getting calls with the same symptoms and the common factor was this update.

MOTU is going to check it out further.

Does anyone know how to reverse a small update like this? I'm hoping I can get everything back working again before this update.

Thanks,
TnMike

[brofe]

Also, DP doesn't deal very gracefully with unplugging/replugging audio hardware.

You got this right!

I find doing anything to any hardware that is part of my studio setup crashes the Audio system, or MAS (whatever that is). That is bad enough, but what I have found is that if I add something to the studio set up (with performer not running) and then reopen a project, that project will now NEVER RUN with the new studio set up. MAS and audio system simply crashes non-stop. Is there anyway to make the project realise that there is different hardware connected (all the stuff it had previously plus one more interface), and just get on with it?