Workaround for DP crashing when loading project with UADx plug-ins

[James Steele]

I'm creating a new topic in the Troubleshooting forum so it's easier to find for someone having issues with DP crashing when opening a project containing UADx plug-ins. I sort of arrived at a solution in this thread starting here:

viewtopic.php?p=600384#p600384

But the short answer and workaround confirmed by another user is that the crash only seems to happen when opening a project containing UADx plugins as the FIRST project opened after launching DP. If you launch DP, open a project without UADx plugins, then CLOSE that project (without quitting DP) and then open the project with the UADx plugins, you should not crash.

This seems like it might be a viable workaround until MOTU and/or UA can fix this problem.

[James Steele]

Well today the other user that reported this workaround worked, says it's not working today. Either we were just lucky before, or there's a possibility that the "UAD-less" project might need to have some sort of condition present for it to work, like certain types of plug-ins present, etc. Maybe I'll dig into this further. I generally use the UAD2 versions so this hasn't been an issue I've run into before.

[Black-Man]

I'll have to try this today. I upgraded to Ventura (and made sure all of my plugins were Ventura compatible) - thinking it was caused by UADx having a new Ventura-compatible upgrade was having issues with Monterey. It wasn't happening prior to this upgrade.

What I found was, the project loads... and as I get the spinning beach ball while the sound files are loaded - it crashes. Then... I re-open the project and it loads fine. It's more of an annoyance than anything. Just kinda pissed that (as usually is the case) I upgraded to the latest UADx and just didn't keep things as they were... working. LOL

It seemed to be one of the Pultec EQ plugins causing the issue. I disabled it and things worked for a while but I must have added another plugin with the issue. I only have LA2, 1176, the Roland Dim D clone and Pultec suite in UADx.

[James Steele]

I noticed that UA pushed out an update to UADx plugins today. I was hopeful that it would help with the DP issue, but it doesn't. I still have to open a project without UADx first, then open the project with UADx plugs afterward.

Also, the validation process was painful. They all appeared to validated, but then when DP launched, many of the plugs seemed to cause DP to crash during DP's "Gathering info" process after installing/updating plug-ins. I ignored the crash and re-started DP multiple times until all of them seemed to pass.

Then before opening a project, I went it to DP's Audio Plugins Prefs and found a few of the UADx plugins "failed." I re-examined them one-at-a-time until they all passed. Still, as I mentioned, it still didn't solve the issue of crashing when first opening a project.

[James Steele]

I'm going to make this same post in a number of threads where this UADx issue has come up. I don't know that this is the answer, but I'd ask people try this. My thinking was that UADx plugs do something unusual. It appears UA programmed some mechanism so that when you simply open a project containing UADx plug-ins, the UA Connect app is automatically launched. Honestly, that feels pretty damn intrusive to me. I never liked how UA sets UAD Meter & Control Panel to automatically run at boot either.

I could barking up the wrong tree here, but try this:

• Manually launch the UA Connect app. Let it do its thing and settle.
• Launch Digital Performer 11.21
• Open a project that does not contain any UADx plugins
• Close that project without quitting DP
• Open the project that does contain UADx plugins.

Note the first step highlighted in bold above. This is the only difference with my previous "workaround." I just did this four times in a row and it worked all four times. Hardly proof at this point, but maybe some folks could try it and let me know. It might do nothing. It might not work 100% of the time, but it might help???

[James Steele]

Just going to drop by here quickly and tag this on to the end of this thread.

I came across this thread at UAD forum:
https://uadforum.com/community/index.ph ... net.64291/

We know that when you load a project containing a UADx plugin, the UA Connect app is launched (which is annoying). I that thread above I recall it being discussed that you could either delete UA Connect (or maybe archive it, THEN delete it... and unarchive when needed). There's a possibility that if the app is not present, it can't "phone home" which is what might be causing the issues. Worth a try. Alternatively, there was someone in the thread mentioning some app he had made that helps with this issue.

Just passing it along. I tried to get some projects to crash briefly with UADx but couldn't recently, so didn't try the solution of removing or "hiding" the UA Connect app.

[James Steele]

Just adding on to this thread with some news. Looks like UA pushed out an update tonight to all their UADx plugins and although I did have some initial rough going after I installed them which required me to launch DP and then make DP reexamine a plug that vailed validation. After that, it looked like DP did the "collection info on [plugin name]" bit that you see on the main splash screen, and after that all was good.

So far, it appears I can launch DP and load a project with UADx plugs and it opens fine and doesn't crash. It still starts up UA Connect, but it happens quickly and it seems a bit faster now, too.

[Black-Man]

I grabbed the latest UADx update and am still having issues - but only with the LA2 suite. All of the other's work fine. And this is not related to the issue where you can open a project without using a UADx plugin. I am literally opening an empty project, the LA2 suite (though it goes thru its plugin validation stage) crashes DP. I remove it from loading - all is well.

[James Steele]

You might find this helpful. Shot in the dark, but I've been concerned (on a visceral level, I don't necessarily have solid evidence to back it up) that this scheme of UA's where opening a project containing a UADx instance causes their UA Connect app to automatically launch itself might cause an issue.

I found a post in a thread at the UA Forum here:
https://uadforum.com/community/index.ph ... ost-463956

In that post he has a link to "UA Disconnect" which is a utility app of his you can download from Google Dive. He also has a utility that helps clean up UAD plugins that you don't have licenses for.

Anyway, I ran "UA Disconnect" which claims to decouple UA Connect into two parts: UA Connect.app and UA Connect Helper.app. From what I gather if you want to check for updates for your UADx plugs you can launch the "new" UA Connect app (which is created after your run this utility), but otherwise, if you simply open a project containing a UADx plugin, it will just run a smaller UA Connect Helper.app (also created after you run this), which is the minimal background process. You thus don't get the menu bar item appearing and I guess it's a smaller memory footprint.

Either way... I installed it and opened a project and then added a UADx plugin in and was pleased to no longer see the UA Connect icon added to my menu bar.

It might be worth a try to see if this utility helps stabilize things and reduce crashes. You can go back to the old app if you have any problems. The author explains how to do it.

Here is the read me:

Usage Instructions:

Before you start, copy the 'UA Disconnect' utility from the disk image supplied to your hard drive, for example in your Applications folder. Avoid running the utility from your Desktop, Documents or Downloads folder as this may cause issues on some systems.

1) before running 'UA Disconnect', make a backup copy of the LUNA sessions folder. If you are unsure where your sessions are stored, launch 'UA Disconnect' which can locate the folder for you, if any exist on the system.

2) follow the on-screen instructions (nobody wants to read the small prints, but they help you understand what will be done!

3) once the utility has completed, decide whether to make additional manual cleanup in the folders revealed in Finder, but be aware that this may result in additional downloads and potential inconveniences.

Important: if this is the first time you run 'UA Disconnect' , you will need to control / right click it and choose 'Open' in Finder’s contextual menu to be able to override the operating system security restrictions.


Why UA Disconnect?

For better or worst, UA customer support casually instructs users to delete various preferences from the user's system, indiscriminately, without considering the inconvenience that this may cause. 'UA disconnect' attempts to make life easier for users as well as inject a bit of engineering into the clean up process, improving the experience, as well as hopefully resolving the issue(s) you are trying to address.

One particular aspect of the UA ecosystem that has been introduced in recent years and is, factually, causing ongoing pains, is UA Connect. 'UA Disconnect' 's other declared goal is to put that child on the naughty step and control its mood and tantrums. Specifically, the 'Download Manager' part of UA Connect has been pushed into the background and is only active when the user decides, for example to download Spark/UADx software updates, or install newly purchased native plug-ins or instruments.

To this effect you will find that, after running 'UA Disconnect', UA Connect now appear as a two-pronged utility, 'UA Connect' and 'UA Connect Helper'. The later is the Download manager we mentioned above, and essentially corresponds to what Universal Audio ships as 'UA Connect'. The counterpart is just the iLok license bridge and will be called as required and as it always has.

Importantly, neither of the above are custom coded applications, they are untampered applications that UA made at the disposal of users. You can therefore trust that no additional stability issues will result from using 'UA Disconnect'. Nonetheless, if you believe my approach is uncalled for, you can easily revert it, using the following method:

1) delete both the 'UA Connect' and 'UA Connect Helper' shortcuts you will find in your Applications folder
2) move the 'UA Connect' application tucked away in the 'Universal Audio' folder directly into the parent Applications folder

Enjoy!
HAL