DP slow to load due to VST window

[darrell]

Hi all,

DP (11) spends a long time loading MAS VST stuff on startup. Have checked into plug-in prefs, but don't see anything there. I use only AU and MAS plug-ins. Running on a Mac Pro 11.1

Any ideas?

[bayswater]

Not sure what you mean by “MAS VST”. But if you don’t use VST versions of anything, have you tried deleting them, or moving them to an “unused” folder?

[Killahurts]

That happens here too. It takes over a minute to analyze the MAS VST and VST3 plugs, the longest part of launching the app by far. I don't even use VSTs. I think it started with DP11..

I've noticed it is longer when the computer has been rebooted and I launch DP for the first time, but much quicker when DP has been quit and restarted.

[CharlzS]

You can uncheck both MasVSTSupport and MasVST3Support at the top of the plug preferences and it won't process/load or look at any of those. If however you are using VST3, it does take an inordinate amount of time loading them - VST2 not so much after the first scan.

[cuttime]

Side note: VST has become a generic label for all plugins, much to my dismay. Leads to lots of confusion.

[mikehalloran]

Side note: VST has become a generic label for all plugins,

In what universe?

much to my dismay. Leads to lots of confusion.

No doubt

[cuttime]

In what universe?

In the universe of careless nomenclature. Spend any time in amateur producer forums, and you'll see what I mean.

[bayswater]

So with that confusion in place, when we say MAS VST do we mean MAS or VST?

[nk_e]

FWIW, it happens here too. The start up logo or badge (whatever you call it) stays on the screen a very long time, first on ‘MAS VST’ then ‘MAS VST3’. I’ve got ‘too many plugins’ so I thought maybe that had something to do with it (though I don’t recall it taking this long in previous versions).

I’ve gotten into the habit of launching DP then leaving for 5 minutes to get a cup of coffee or whatever.

[Phil O]

So with that confusion in place, when we say MAS VST do we mean MAS or VST?

I'm guessing it's a reference to the MAS VST Support plugin that gets loaded at launch. There's also a MAS AU and MAS VST3 Support plugin. Or I could be completely wrong.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[bayswater]

So with that confusion in place, when we say MAS VST do we mean MAS or VST?

I'm guessing it's a reference to the MAS VST Support plugin that gets loaded at launch. There's also a MAS AU and MAS VST3 Support plugin. Or I could be completely wrong.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

Thanks. So this delay must be another V11 thing. In V10 it’s fast enough that I’ve never noticed it. Lite V11 doesn’t seem to do this either.

[darrell]

Yes Phil, I was referring to the 'MAS VST Support' load. Wasn't at my workstation at the time and couldn't remember the full name.

[mikehalloran]

There’s no context. Let me explain.

DP should load slower after a reboot than after quitting due to caching. Reboot clears the cache.

Computer speed, bus speed, type of drive and how it’s connected, whether you have your plugins on the System drive or not… It all makes a difference.

I have just under 500 plugs and I let them all load. Running some tests this morning, DP 11.1.1 takes around 30 seconds to load after a reboot; 17 seconds after quitting without a reboot. Sometimes that VST screen flashes; usually it doesn’t.

Ok, I have an 18 core iMac Pro, a very fast machine. I’m guessing that MOTU has moved on from the MP 5.1. Even though nearly everyone with these has replaced their System drives with SATA III SSDs (or better, NVMe blades in PCIe cards), it’s still a slow Mac by current standards. Boot and load times along with BTD and AV rendering are where we notice the differences. With normal operations such as tracking and editing, the differences won’t be as noticeable.

It would be interesting if others weighed in on this by timing start times and listing what they’re running. Or not. One could open up Console.app and the Activity Monitor and look at all the processes involved—if you have a fast machine, that could reveal an old app or plug that’s gumming up the works.

Back in the bad old days, I ran 150 tabs in Chrome over 3 monitors on my 2010 iMac. With its original HHD, I’d press the start button, grab breakfast and some news on TV, 20 minutes later I’m at work. When I replaced the drive with an SSD, the process dropped to 45–60 seconds depending on how fast my internet connection was that morning. With my iMac Pro, it dropped to 25–30 seconds, internet speed being the bottleneck. I’d been working remotely since 2005.

[bayswater]

I have just under 500 plugs and I let them all load. Running some tests this morning, DP 11.1.1 takes around 30 seconds to load after a reboot; 17 seconds after quitting without a reboot. Sometimes that VST screen flashes; usually it doesn’t.

I have about 700 plugins, not including MAS. My times are 21 and 13 seconds on the 2018 i7 Mini, Mojave and DP 10.13. I expect this depends more on the plugins you have than most other things.

[Maxxy]

Hi

I have also been very frustrated with the first DP start after computer bootup…. VST and VST3 loads drag on and on ….At one stage it was up to almost 10 minutes to get DP started!!… However, as others mentioned, the problem effectively disappears when starting DP after that

It felt like all the VST and VST3 plugs were all being re-examined in the background… I don’t know…. I had about 700 VSTs and 400 VST3s …. In retrospect too much accumulated dross in there for sure

As I can’t make sense of Console data I decided to try and find offending plug-ins manually … But that testing effort was so time-consuming to accomplish methodically that I simply ended up moving all the VST(2) plugs into a ‘VST Unused’ folder and tried that. The VST load time after bootup just disappeared. Great! ( :

As VST plugs are basically a discontinued legacy format now (as I understand it), having a totally stripped down VST folder is generally no problem for me… Point is that I can easily drag back any plugs that I might need for old projects or special needs etc

Similarly, I then ended up moving all VST3 plugs into a ‘VST3 Unused’ folder except for the ones I knew I needed…. Again it’s a snap to drag back any ones you find you need later

Trimming/pruning the two folders to the bone fixed that first- start glacial delay problem

I think this behaviour started in DP 11 … it feels like a bug to me…. But I’m happy now keeping only the VST and VST3 plugs that I need in their proper folders… and all startups are snappy as …

Thanks to all for this … I thought for ages that it was only me ( :

Cheers

Maxxy