Beach Ball Hell - DP Keeps Locking Up

[Frodo]

I looked in Preferences, General, Audio Pluggins and couldn't find anything that gives the option to run in real time. Global or otherwise.
Am I looking in the right place?

In DP6.01, open your plugin. In the upper right corner click and hold on the triangle with the circle around it.

"Run this instance in real-time" works on a plugin-by-plugin basis.

"Default to real-time" appears to be a global setting. It's a little confusing because they are in the same place, but whenever I've tried "default to real-time", all instances of a particular plugin have automatically been set to the same real-tim default.

As for the Preferences, take another look. (This is DP6.01.) Scroll down to GENERAL and the second item is "Audio Plug-ins". If you look at the bottom of the darker gray area, you'll see the following options:

-- Default for new projects: "pre-gen mode when possible", "virtual instruments in real-time", and "all plugins in real-time"

--Current project: same options as listed under "default for new projects".

[Sean Kenny]

Well for what it's worth

Having made sure all my plugs were up to date I was still experiencing the "beach ball of doom"!!!

Then I read this thread and I'm almost hesitant to say it, but I have been pushing DP hard now for about 4 hours and have had no hangs.

I know 4 hours isn't very long but bearing in mind that I was 15+ hangs a day, it's certainly looking promising

Thanks for the information guys. It's great to find quality threads like this one

Cheers

Sean Kenny

www.ten21.biz

[ozheri]

i hate to say this, but this was the main reason i switched to Logic...

[FMiguelez]

i hate to say this, but this was the main reason i switched to Logic...

And I suppose everything works PERFECTLY there, every time, zero issues??

Just curious.

[mattfort]

I can't believe we've been posting about this since MARCH and we have NO real solutions!!????!!!! I tried the "always run in real time" "FIX" the other day and although it was WAAAAY more stable, it used about 2/3rds MORE CPU to do it!
Now, I work in all 24/96 files, so the plugs REALLY add up quickly.... Using a lot of Waves, Altiverb, UAD, Strip Pro, etc.....

Magic Dave, I will GLADLY bring my entire rig to MOTU this week and show you guys first hand what happens. I have several projects that I can open right up and make crash with a few fast clicks of the space bar... No charge.. Hell... I'll BUY lunch for ya at the Temple Bar....

Whaddya say????

The thing is is that this isn't a REAL deal killer in the sense that you just have to force quit and re open... But damn... It is SUCH a flow breaker... AND it's kinda embarrassing to my clients to watch over my shoulder and ask "WHOA.. What the f*** just happened????!!!!".....

To be honest, I got Logic Pro and I've been tempted to just mix there, but I just can't get myself to do it.....

[NealF]

I found out why I couldn't find the pref to run all plug ins in real time. I've got DP 6.0. That's only available in the latest version.

Whew! Thought I wasn't seeing things.

[Frodo]

i hate to say this, but this was the main reason i switched to Logic...

And I suppose everything works PERFECTLY there, every time, zero issues??

Just curious.

Hi FM:

There seems to be better memory management, almost no beach balls that I can recall, and pre-rendering VIs has been standard with Logic for a while. Freeze is darn near instantaneous, and BTD takes seconds-- depending on the size of the project. No volume surges at all nor any crashes since the last (and only) update released last Spring. Those are among the positives.

The issue remains that a DP-to-Logic transition throws many for a loop in terms of workflow. DP is just more comfortable to use for me. But it's crash-city in both DP5.13 and 6.01 with both Tiger and Leopard.

[FMiguelez]

.

Hi, Frodo.

I hate to see you are (and have been) so heavily plagued by DP issues for quite some time now. Believe me, I can definitely understand your frustration.
I remember reading a few times some of the issues you've had for the past several months. It's just so ironic that one of the most helpful forum members like you is one that has been annoyed with so much software faults to the point of wanting to scream

And if you've found that Logic lets you complete your work more painlessly, you do what you (or anyone) have to do. At the end, the only thing that matters is that the work is finished successfully and on time.

I truly hope next DP revisions give you at least less headaches... Or make it a pleasure to work with again.

[JMage]

Well, I guess my sessions are not taxing the cpu as heavily as some, but I have to say that for me the run in real time fix has been a godsend, and the sessions are much more stable and running really well. I am back to singing the praises of DP. As a matter of fact, I like Logic quite a bit too. They have different strengths and inspire different kinds of writing.
I only switched my WAVES plug ins to run in real time, not my native dp ones or other third parties, and the result has been really positive so far.

[Frodo]

.

And if you've found that Logic lets you complete your work more painlessly, you do what you (or anyone) have to do. At the end, the only thing that matters is that the work is finished successfully and on time.

Thanks for the kind thoughts, FM--- but Logic doesn't let me complete my work *more painlessly*, per se. I'm actually *finishing* my work in DP 5.13. However, I use Logic with increasing frequency as a subsidiary utility to DP. In effect, I've circumvented those things that will cause problems in DP so that if there is a crash or a beach ball or some other error message, a restart will fix it in 2-3 minutes. That's a lot better than spending an entire day troubleshooting.

Yes- let's hope the next DP update is a truly meaningful one.

[mattfort]

Well, I guess my sessions are not taxing the cpu as heavily as some, but I have to say that for me the run in real time fix has been a godsend, and the sessions are much more stable and running really well. I am back to singing the praises of DP. As a matter of fact, I like Logic quite a bit too. They have different strengths and inspire different kinds of writing.
I only switched my WAVES plug ins to run in real time, not my native dp ones or other third parties, and the result has been really positive so far.

Interesting... Did you have the beach balls prior to this? What other plugs do you have?

[JMage]

Yes, look at my earlier posts in this string...lots of beachballs, like 4 an hour. Waves, Stylus, lots of NI. Now, I never get the beachball crash if all waves plugs are set to run in real time! It makes other glitches, but not the dreaded bball freeze.

[kassonica]

Yep bring on the update only been 5 months since the last one

[jnunally]

For some reason best know to... well, not me, DP has started locking up several times an hour. Sometimes it's after I change a parameter. But sometimes it happens when i just move the mouse. It might even happen when I just look at the screen. Not sure.

I'm running a lot of audio tracks. Maybe 20. No MIDI or VI at the time. Got a bunch of pluggins. Mostly Waves Ren Maxx and Musician 1. Got the buffer set to max since I'm just mixing now.

It happens in several files (maybe all of them) so It's not file related.

I've also got two firewire drives hooked up for my sample library. But I've always had that with no trouble. Not sure if it's related to my updated to 5.13 from 5.11.

Any ideas?

I have the very same issue now and then. I am running 5.13 on a Macpro. Here are two culprits I have found that cause crashes or "Beach Ball Hell".
The first one has to do with auto beat detection. When I turned that off my machine started functioning much better.
The second, and this is kind of a strange one, seems to have to do with corrupt fade files. When my files start to save slow, or is having extended spinning ball times. I merge the soundbite. This often solves my issue.

Hope this helps,
Jim

[waterstrum]

Whoa!
I just returned to see this thread.
Wha! Frodo is about to jump ship?
MOTU company, y'all better take heed!

Yikes!

I'm not sure what's up with the lockup/beachball stuff.

I'm running very happily on 5.13 and Intel 10.5.6.
The transition to this was very hard, but my current system is the most stable I have ever experienced.
I'm running tons of plugs and VIs.

I bought Logic, and use it occasionally, but DP is my main squeeze.

I'm still waiting to go to DP6, but meanwhile, I have a great system with 5.13. (maybe something DP6 installs is bad?)

I have yet to experience an extended beachball with this setup.
So far after one month of heavy use...
Zero crash!

I guess I'm just posting this to say that it is possible to have a professional dependable recording environment with DP.

I'm hoping there is a simple solution to the crash/beachball problems that you are experiencing.
There is nothing worse than the tension on a session when you don't know if the system is reliable.