Warning RE: UADx Update 8/8/23

[James Steele]

So there's a new update that came out within the last day or so. I ran UA Connect because a couple more plugs that I already had DSP versions for were released as native.

When I ran UA Connect I got a notification at the top of the app:

newuadextension.jpg (25.92 KiB) Viewed 14866 times

So I installed it and it also proceeded to update all my installed UADx plugins to newest versions. Most of them have modification date 7/20/23.

So as a test, I first launched Logic and it scanned all of the newly-updated UADx (AU) plugs with no problems.

When I then launched DP 11.22 the initial AU examination popup that appears as it's own little app had no problems and the UADx AUs all validated. However, when it got to the DP specific "Gathering Info" phase (that appears in DP's splash screen) it crashed like a big dog. I kept re-launching DP and it would make a little more progress before it crashed again. Some UADx plugs that appeared to pass "Gathering Info" once... would show up again. Finally, after FIFTEEN crashes during "Getting Info" I got TWO "clean launches" IN A ROW! I sometimes got one, but I would quit DP and re-launch to find it wasn't *really* finished with the "Gathering Info" process and would proceed "Gathering Info" on some of the UADx plugs again.

Actually that has been a long standing behavior I've observed with DP: you can install new plugs and it may take a few successive launches and quits to get all the plug ins validated and "info gathered." Never understood why that is, but DP never seems to get ALL newly-installed plugs squared away with just one launch after the installation.

I reported this to MOTU. Your mileage might vary. But if you do crash after the update like I did... just keep relaunching and relaunching and eventually you'll get through it. I haven't thoroughly tested if they are stable after going through this, but preliminarily it seems okay. I'll keep an eye out for projects containing them crashing on load. Sometimes that was an issue for some users.

[labman]

Thank you for this info James. Did you also have to run safe DP boot too?

[mikehalloran]

I have found that holding the Shift key and starting DP in Safe Mode can lessen the time it takes to load new plugs and VIs. This loads without extensions—after Quit, a restart forces those paths to rebuild.

Last week, NI, UVI, and IK updated over 40 items. I thought I would keep relaunching to see how many crashes it would take. I gave up and went into Safe Mode after 15.

[James Steele]

Thank you for this info James. Did you also have to run safe DP boot too?

No... I just "brute forced" it and it took about fifteen crashes before I got though it all. I sent all the info to MOTU and the crashlogs and they think it has something to do with iLok in the case of the UADx plugins. What's odd though is Logic didn't have any problems with it. This issue seems to happen during DP's "Gathering Info" process which seems to be a DP specific process as opposed to basic AU validation (which they all got through just fine).

[corbo-billy]

But if you do crash after the update like I did... just keep relaunching and relaunching and eventually you'll get through it. I haven't thoroughly tested if they are stable after going through this, but preliminarily it seems okay. I'll keep an eye out for projects containing them crashing on load. Sometimes that was an issue for some users.

Yes, after this many crashes, the Universal Audio plug-ins are stable: this also happened after previous Universal Audio plug-in updates.

[Black-Man]

I've had nothing but DP startup issues when using UADx. In the crash logs, it always seems to be the same culprit: LA2 or the Fairchild. And this update seems to be the worst yet - multiple crashes at startup. I have the complete SoundToys suite, Audio Damage, Valhalla and (don't hate me) a few Waves plugins. None of these have issues. Only UADx. WTH... I'm about done w/ UAD. This is getting ridiculous.
Has anyone opened a support ticket w/ either MOTU or UAD on this issue?

[James Steele]

I've had nothing but DP startup issues when using UADx. In the crash logs, it always seems to be the same culprit: LA2 or the Fairchild. And this update seems to be the worst yet - multiple crashes at startup. I have the complete SoundToys suite, Audio Damage, Valhalla and (don't hate me) a few Waves plugins. None of these have issues. Only UADx. WTH... I'm about done w/ UAD. This is getting ridiculous.
Has anyone opened a support ticket w/ either MOTU or UAD on this issue?

I haven't opened an official ticket, but I have some contacts there that I've emailed directly about the issue. I'm told they're going to reach out to UA over it. I sent all my crash logs to them from my first run after updating UADx and it has something to do with the copy protection. I did point out that it didn't happen in other DAWs and that the actual "validation" process went fine. It was when DP did it's own "Gathering Info on..." process that the crashes happened. So I think they know about it.

[mrgkeys]

I've opened an official ticket, Matt reported back they could reproduce. This has been a problem for a long time. I had an open ticket from last year about the same thing and just piggy backed onto it.

[mrgkeys]

So I believe I have been able to fix this.... I turned off VST and VST3 support then I deleted the Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit file AND the Audio Plug-In Prefs file. I let DP go thru all my AUs on startup-and I have a lot of them-1235! And once it finished, ZERO boot up problems with the UADx plugins, it boots MUCH faster and there's ZERO "Gathering Info" messages. Projects open faster too. YMMV but this has worked for me. I'll forward this on to my support ticket.

[James Steele]

So I believe I have been able to fix this.... I turned off VST and VST3 support then I deleted the Audio Unit Info Cache 64-bit file AND the Audio Plug-In Prefs file. I let DP go thru all my AUs on startup-and I have a lot of them-1235! And once it finished, ZERO boot up problems with the UADx plugins, it boots MUCH faster and there's ZERO "Gathering Info" messages. Projects open faster too. YMMV but this has worked for me. I'll forward this on to my support ticket.

Did you leave VST and VST3 support off? I can do that with VST, but not VST3. I need that for Console 1 and Melodyne. But I’ll give that a shot. I have about the same number of plugins!

“Gathering info” messages is normal when you first run DP after installing a new plug-in, but should only happen once.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mrgkeys]

no I turned the VST3 support back on, I leave VST 2 off.. I tuned them off because it was long enough to wait for 1235 AUs to scan, I didn't want a little less than that of VST3s to scan too.. I use exactly 1 VST 3 in DP (Arturia's Vocoder) but I install VST 3 along with AUs for Nuendo post projects. But the good news is it's just fine after all my VSTs rescanned too. Still going strong.

[mrgkeys]

also just anecdotally, DP is snappy as hades post this. I've NEVER had boot up times this fast. Not sure if I'm the record holder for AU hording, but I gotta be up there. YMMV

[mrgkeys]

I pulled up some old projects with UADx plugins this morning just to check things that had been problematic in the past, and no word workarounds like loading a non UADX project first. First project of the day is one with a ton of 1176, 176 and LA-2A UADx and a Waterfall Organ UADx instrument. right out of the gate it pops up and runs no problems. Informed UA tech support as I have an old case opened there too.

[James Steele]

…and no word workarounds like loading a non UADX project first.

Good to know. That workaround was one of the first that was tried back when UADx plugs had just come out and we were still fumbling around with the problem and was somewhat effective, but far from ideal.

I look forward to trying this new “fix” later today.

[Black-Man]

I have always had VST2/3 disabled on the plugins preferences. Seemed not to matter. That said... I start DP today multiple times and it comes right up w/ no crashes. Of course, I've seen this behavior before where it works until there is another UADx 'patch'.