MOTUnation.com

Hi everyone,

I posted about this before, but got no solid answers. Slight update. Because of how I have to bus audio and sync ProTools to DP, I am forced to use both the MOTU 828x and RME HDSPe MADI FX hardware drivers simultaneously. Everything works fine in 9.02 with pre-gen turned off. In 9.13 (and 9.12), using the exact same config, I experience a multitude of clicks, pops, processor spikes, tempo shifts and digital audio garbage coming from DP. If I use only the RME driver in 9.13, DP is fine. There seems to be some issue with the new pre-gen engine and resolving performance across two or more different drivers. Has anyone had this issue and solved it? I've tried everything I can think of to clear this up, but nothing works. Doesn't matter if the session is new or old, big or small, track count, VI types, VEP engaged or not used, buffer size, etc. Only using a single driver stabilizes DP. I'm stumped, especially since 9.02 is rock solid on the same rig.

I've been having about the same issue. I have random clicks and pops on a couple of tracks with DP 9.13. They appear even when I'm not recording. I followed your remedy and installed 9.02. No pops or clicks so far, 45 minutes or so with DP 9.02 running in the background. I haven't disabled pre-gen though, so I can't say that's the problem here.

Since it's a rather simple process to uninstall and reinstall other versions I'm going to try all versions from 9.02 to 9.12 and see what happens.

(Edited: Moved a sentence just to clarify)

This is timely as I have had a boatload of issues with 9.13 and 9.12. 9.02 keeps coming up here at MOTUNation - is that the last version before they changed pre-gen? I wasn't in on those earlier versions as I just recently went from 8.07 to 9.1x (and OS 10.9.5 to 10.12.x) so I'm kind of playing catch-up on this info. At least one issue I had with Slate pointed to the pre-gen issue.

I'd give about anything to go back to the very stable 10.9.5 and 8.07 combination but it's way too far into the game to turn back for me.

philbrown wrote:This is timely as I have had a boatload of issues with 9.13 and 9.12. 9.02 keeps coming up here at MOTUNation - is that the last version before they changed pre-gen?

I think so. Thus says the http://motu.com/techsupport/faq.html

What do I need to know when updating to Digital Performer 9.1?

As you may have heard, the newly released Digital Performer 9.1 update introduces a number of improvements. One of these improvements is the Next-gen Pre-gen™ engine. While earlier versions of Digital Performer have included the option to render plug-in audio in pre-generation to reduce CPU usage, this feature has been highly optimized in the 9.1 upgrade.

I'm having doubts about how the optimization has fallen out. Apart from not having the pops and clicks issue in 9.02 the fans spin at half the speed compared to 9.13.

Thanks e-snobben! That's very helpful info.

Unless you have renamed it, the last version of 8 or 9 is simply called Digital Performer.

Rename it to anything else (DP 9.13 for example). Now go to motu.com, download and install 9.02 — click on the pointer to the left, then older versions to find it. This will install as Digital Performer without overwriting 9.1.3; you can rename it if you want or leave it alone. Both versions will run and you can open and save projects in either.

For me, clicks, pops and distortion while monitoring went away when I stopped using 9.02 and I can now use lower buffers. As annoying as they were, my mixes were never affected.

mikehalloran wrote:Both versions will run and you can open and save projects in either.

For me it's much easier to keep track on what happens with a particular version if I only have one of them installed at a time. I work with a project until something happens or until I'm convinced that nothing will happen. I'm now on 9.1 and so far so good.

philbrown wrote:Thanks e-snobben! That's very helpful info.

You're welcome!

Pops and clicks have reappeared in 9.1. Going back to 9.02...

Since I haven't had any pops and clicks issues with 9.02 I'm going to contact the MOTU Support.

In the Setup/Configure Audio System/Configure Studio Settings dialog box there's a difference depending on the version of DP. In DP 9.02 Prime Seconds is set to 2.50. In DP 9.13 Prime milliseconds is set to 125. I was advised to change this setting in DP 9.13 to 500 milliseconds. I've just made the change so I can't say if it helps but all of you having the pops and clicks issue could also give it a try.

e-snobben wrote:In the Setup/Configure Audio System/Configure Studio Settings dialog box there's a difference depending on the version of DP. In DP 9.02 Prime Seconds is set to 2.50. In DP 9.13 Prime milliseconds is set to 125. I was advised to change this setting in DP 9.13 to 500 milliseconds. I've just made the change so I can't say if it helps but all of you having the pops and clicks issue could also give it a try.

That's interesting info and I appreciate your updates on this e-snobben. please post whatever you find out. I don't have that exact issue but I'm still troubleshooting endless crash-on-quits. For me DP9 has been the worst version ever and I go back a long long way (like decades).

Phil, do your crashes-on-quit affect your file at all? I save my files before quitting, and when it quits, it makes no difference if it crashes. It only happens rarely, anyway, perhaps because I DO save before quitting.

Shooshie

Shooshie wrote:Phil, do your crashes-on-quit affect your file at all? I save my files before quitting, and when it quits, it makes no difference if it crashes. It only happens rarely, anyway, perhaps because I DO save before quitting.

Shooshie

No these COQ's don't affect the file as far as I know and I've been able to live with it as an inconvenience as a result. And as timing would have it, I rebuilt my day-to-day editing template up from scratch (no loading from earlier files) a couple of days ago. It took a couple of hours but I had some reason to believe my issues were due to using files created in 8.07. As of a couple of hours ago I really have to say it's pointing more and more to Waves to whom I will write again ASAP. I tried 9.02 to determine it wasn't a pre-gen issue and ruled that out and the 'files created in 8.07' theory I ruled out just today.

I appreciate any ideas- just a little while ago I was reading through a bunch of crash reports and... well, you know- I appreciate any ideas.

I just now realized I'm highjacking e-snobben's thread.
Sorry e-snobben

e-snobben wrote:In the Setup/Configure Audio System/Configure Studio Settings dialog box there's a difference depending on the version of DP. In DP 9.02 Prime Seconds is set to 2.50. In DP 9.13 Prime milliseconds is set to 125. I was advised to change this setting in DP 9.13 to 500 milliseconds. I've just made the change so I can't say if it helps but all of you having the pops and clicks issue could also give it a try.

Was their suggestion to up prime ms for pops or for something else? I dunno what that even does.