Issues with DP after moving to Ventura

[dix]

[cross posting most of this from my post in General Macintosh]

Ever since migrating to Ventura launching DP has become glacially slow. On initial launches after starting the intro/splash screen gets stuck for a couple of minutes on VST MAS plugins, and another couple on MAS VST3 plugins. Subsequent launches are normal, until I restart. Clearly there is something wrong on my end. I tried reinstalling DP, but no help there.

Another annoying thing since moving to Ventura is that Smart Tools will intermittently stop showing. The tool behavior is there, but the tool doesn’t show. Restarting DP fixes it, but it’s irritating.

Any ideas about these? Thanks!

[HCMarkus]

No ideas, dix. I am not seeing this on my Mac Studio, latest Ventura (migrated at the .5.0 release IIRC).

[Phil O]

Everything fine here on my M1 Mac Mini and Ventura 13.5.2

[mrgkeys]

I removed the audio unit cache 64-bit file from user/~account/Library/Preferences/com/motu/MotuAudioSystem/Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit to fix a different problem and once I let it rebuild all 1200+ AUs I have it speed up DP amazingly as a side benefit of fixing a crashing problem. YMMV

[mikehalloran]

Good to know! Thanks

[James Steele]

I removed the audio unit cache 64-bit file from user/~account/Library/Preferences/com/motu/MotuAudioSystem/Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit to fix a different problem and once I let it rebuild all 1200+ AUs I have it speed up DP amazingly as a side benefit of fixing a crashing problem. YMMV

Oooh... nice... Flag this one!

[cuttime]

Flag this one!

Is there a way to do this with the current board software?

[James Steele]

That’s what I get for being recklessly figurative. Short answer: no.

[mikehalloran]

I removed the audio unit cache 64-bit file from user/~account/Library/Preferences/com/motu/MotuAudioSystem/Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit to fix a different problem and once I let it rebuild all 1200+ AUs I have it speed up DP amazingly as a side benefit of fixing a crashing problem. YMMV

I forgot about the com.motu.MotuAudioSystem folder over the years, Wow, there was a lot of crap in there including AudioDesk configurations from year 2000 or so plus 32 bit info docs. Cleaning that folder out sped up my load times by 50% or more. The only files that rebuilt were Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit, VST3 Info Cache v2 and VST Info Cache 64-bit as one would expect. I kept the EffectCategories.xml and InstrumentCategories.xml along with the Logs folder and Audio Plug-In Prefs file.

I found the file easily enough on my Mac but here is the correct path:
/Users/(account name)/Library/Preferences/com.motu.MotuAudioSystem/Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit

I don't know the path for Windows users, sorry.

If you haven't done this yet, do so — there is no down side. Thanks again for the heads up!

[dix]

If you haven't done this yet, do so — there is no down side. Thanks again for the heads up!

If anyone's interested this didn't help my slow-launch issue. I trashed all the plugin Caches and rescanned, and my com.motu.MotuAudioSystem only has the basics you mention, plus PannerCategories.xml. ...for better or worse I'm getting used to a five minute DP start at the beginning of each day, or if I have to Restart my Mac for some reason.

[mikehalloran]

There are other possible causes.

My normal go-to is to reset the Launch Services if not done in a long time, this will speed up DP.. This sets them to Default for all of your apps as well. I do this about every 6 months or so and after every version update.

Reset Launch Services

1. Open Terminal and run these commands:

2. /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -seed -lint -r -f -v -dump -domain local -domain system -domain user -domain network <Enter or Return key>

3. killall Dock <Enter or Return key>

4. sudo mdutil -E / <Enter or Return key> (enter Admin password when prompted, then <Enter or Return key>)

5. Restart your Mac

[mikehalloran]

If DP is crashing on launch, I start DP with the Shift key held, Quit and restart again. This rebuilds paths between DP and the Shared Resources folder. I often have to do this after plug-in and VI updates. I consider it normal maintenance.

None of this was helping that much in 11.22 these last few months. Removing and rebuilding those 64 bit cache files has restored DP launch times to a speed and reliability that I have not seen since 9.52 over High Sierra. I also took the occasion to remove outdated plugs that no longer verification (and sent a current one to PSP tech Support).

[dix]

There are other possible causes.

My normal go-to is to reset the Launch Services if not done in a long time, this will speed up DP.. This sets them to Default for all of your apps as well. I do this about every 6 months or so and after every version update.

Reset Launch Services

1. Open Terminal and run these commands:

2. /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -seed -lint -r -f -v -dump -domain local -domain system -domain user -domain network <Enter or Return key>

3. killall Dock <Enter or Return key>

4. sudo mdutil -E / <Enter or Return key> (enter Admin password when prompted, then <Enter or Return key>)

5. Restart your Mac

Thanks for this! Unfortunately, no relief

Something else: I didn't notice it before, but even before I see any plugins loading I get a beachball for a minute or so while the intro splash screen is up - again, after I do an initial (long) launch DP launches normally. If I remove all the AUs from the Components folder, DP's launch time is normal (with no plugins though). ...So, it seems like the OS is having trouble loading all plugin information into RAM when I launch DP.

[UPDATE]I hadn't tried iMovie or Logic, which only use AUs, since updating to Ventura. I get the exact same (initial slow-launch) behavior with both. So something is weird with my plugins folder after updating to 13.5. This confirms, as Mike suggested above, that my issues is an Apple problem and not a DP problem.

[dix]

I removed the audio unit cache 64-bit file from user/~account/Library/Preferences/com/motu/MotuAudioSystem/Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit to fix a different problem and once I let it rebuild all 1200+ AUs I have it speed up DP amazingly as a side benefit of fixing a crashing problem. YMMV

I found the file easily enough on my Mac but here is the correct path:
/Users/(account name)/Library/com.motu.MotuAudioSystem/Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit

Wait. Is this correct? My com.motu.MotuAudioSystem folder resides in my user prefs (user ~/Library/Preferences/com.motu.MotuAudioSystem). Should the com.motu.MotuAudioSystem folder just be on the top level of the Library?

...And now I'm wondering if where I have things installed is part of my problem. Honestly, I've never paid much attention to where I have things until now. Everything just went where the installers installed them, and I've always been fine.

Plugin installers have always put plugins in the System library (/Library/Audio/Plugins). I know DP looks in both the User and the System Library on launch. Where should they be? Maybe Ventura is pickier about this? Where do yous all's plugins reside?

[mikehalloran]

Except for MAS, audio plug-ins install on the System drive in Library/Audio

It’s the plug-in Cache files that are stored in the Users Library. Until a few days ago, I’d quite forgotten that. Deleting those causes DP to rebuild them. (Same as deleting Preferences). My 64 bit cache files dated back to 2012. I had 32 bit caches and Audio Desk caches going back to before 2000. Way, way past time for a clean out and it made a big difference on my machine.

Before I did this, I was seriously considering switching to Logic just to get my work done. Not anymore.