Pro Tools problems :(

I know PT LE is a different beast but I've had not a single problem either on Mac (10.4.11) or PC (XP SP2) on my MacPro, using PT HD 7.4 - I do know that, despite the initial reports, Pro Tools 7 is not fully compatible with Windows Vista. Pro Tools 8 is. This can be a PITA but I am thinking your problems could originate from this. If you can - again..PITA - you should go for a more reliable and tested OS setup for Pro Tools, which was and still is Windows XP SP3 (as of April 2008 Digidesign reported an "ok to upgrade" from SP2 to SP3..I am still running SP2, however).

I would also expect no problems with Sonar, on the other hand, because it's reported to be fully Vista compatible and ..maybe even 64bit if I am not mistaken.

Again, I know it could be a PITA to downgrade to XP SP2 but if you're getting into PT I might assume you're stepping onto a more serious workflow or requirement, maybe collaborating or interfacing with studios having PT HD? I don't know, anyway, it might be well worth it.

It's been a while since I stopped caring about the latest and went for the safest. With PT and Digidesign it's almost a must. (I am not in any way referring to you or what you've done, I very well know the good sides of Vista especially if Sonar goes 64bit).
 
Although my desktop PC runs XP fine, my mobile computer cannot run XP because HP does not provide XP drivers for this machine. I know that XP is the best and most reliable OS for PC-based DAWs. I switched to PT because I thought, that all the pros use it (I know, they use HD, but the software is not THAT different) and the hardware is tied very closely to the software, they have their very own plugin format (RTAS), so there could be less problems. I didn't expect my computer to freeze, to get weird error messages from PT every 15 minutes, the need to kill PT every 2 hours using the task manager... I hope it's my machine or some software that interferes with PT.
 
I've ran into similar problems. Take anything with a delay, compressor, or reverb onto a new track by recording the audio.

Original track-->Bus-->Record audio onto new track

Another solution. All tracks going to the output Analog 1&2, put them out to a bus (make sure everything is volume adjusted to master fader at 0db without clipping). Just record the audio onto a stereo track instead of bouncing to disk...this way when you get an error, you can simply restart the bounce where ever you stopped. No more cycling back to the beginning.

Hope that helps or gives you an idea of what to do.
 
albertors said:
You definitely got a lot of useful advices here, I wanna give my thumbs up to the posts above mine.

Now, if I had to try and add something new: did you check if any IRQ sharing is happening on your computer? I think I might just start with this question, then depending on your answer I will go further into detail. I don't want to super-spam the thread if you know what I am talking about already.

Anyway, worth a try..lemme know :D
Click to expand...

There doesn't seem to be, which was a surprise because most people that I've talked to that do recording in Vista have told me that they needed to move stuff around to resolve IRQ conflicts.

albertors said:
I know PT LE is a different beast but I've had not a single problem either on Mac (10.4.11) or PC (XP SP2) on my MacPro, using PT HD 7.4 - I do know that, despite the initial reports, Pro Tools 7 is not fully compatible with Windows Vista. Pro Tools 8 is. This can be a PITA but I am thinking your problems could originate from this. If you can - again..PITA - you should go for a more reliable and tested OS setup for Pro Tools, which was and still is Windows XP SP3 (as of April 2008 Digidesign reported an "ok to upgrade" from SP2 to SP3..I am still running SP2, however).

I would also expect no problems with Sonar, on the other hand, because it's reported to be fully Vista compatible and ..maybe even 64bit if I am not mistaken.

Again, I know it could be a PITA to downgrade to XP SP2 but if you're getting into PT I might assume you're stepping onto a more serious workflow or requirement, maybe collaborating or interfacing with studios having PT HD? I don't know, anyway, it might be well worth it.

It's been a while since I stopped caring about the latest and went for the safest. With PT and Digidesign it's almost a must. (I am not in any way referring to you or what you've done, I very well know the good sides of Vista especially if Sonar goes 64bit).
Click to expand...

I've definitely considered switching operating systems after this project is done, just worried about XP acting weird since the computer wasn't built for it. I knew that Vista was going to be a headache but it would have ended up costing me at least twice as much to get the same specs and XP or OSX. Sonar does look pretty badass on Vista, but I went to school for PT so I'm trying to stick with it :erk:

crazykarl said:
I've ran into similar problems. Take anything with a delay, compressor, or reverb onto a new track by recording the audio.

Original track-->Bus-->Record audio onto new track

Another solution. All tracks going to the output Analog 1&2, put them out to a bus (make sure everything is volume adjusted to master fader at 0db without clipping). Just record the audio onto a stereo track instead of bouncing to disk...this way when you get an error, you can simply restart the bounce where ever you stopped. No more cycling back to the beginning.

Hope that helps or gives you an idea of what to do.
Click to expand...

You read my mind; I ended up recording half of the song onto the stereo track, restarting PT, and then recording the last half. For some reason, the session freezes on the same part of the song every time I bounce to disk or play the song from the beginning, and it's not a part with more tracks/automations/plugins. So if I restart right before that part and resume the mixdown then it makes it through. Also, if I disable one of the 3 reverbs that I'm using in the song then it doesn't seem to freak out. Which sucks, because I'm used to having 3 reverbs when I do live sound and I still think that this CPU should be able to handle it :mad:
 
You're right and if you need help or want to get a 2nd point of view always keep in mind I am another hell of a PT user :) I am going to have some spare time tomorrow and I am going to try installing Vista on my computer in the studio. The latest build or Vista Ultimate just arrived in my mailbox. So far I know and agree with everything you've written and more: that thing you said about people moving stuff around to solve Vista IRQ problems: happened to me as well, in XP. So that's a major sign that nothing has changed so far. My HD Core card and my video card were conflicting, giving some very weird feedback in sessions, like a ghost delay. My clients were going: WTF? ehe so I moved the cards around and now my UAD card shares the IRQ with the video card but that doesn't seem to be a problem *I am rarely using UAD in my sessions, at the moment, thinking of selling the card actually*

Anyway..weird stuff. At least I hope the Vista SP1 will "behave" a little more. I still have to go onto Digi.com and double check their official compatibility charts. I am going to demo PT 8 the next month and I want *read: must* to use Vista for the demo..for a number of factors mostly being establishment crap.
 
I've just completed part 1 of the upgrade process..installing Vista. Installation did not go through (fatal errors during the end of the installation process) twice..based on my now long experience I thought some devices might cause the problem: I unplugged everything, PCI cards included (UAD, Core and Accel cards). I left my MacPro completely "factory-default" and the installation went through correctly. So now I have a Windows Vista Ultimate Edition lurking in my studio MacPro. I've installed BootCamp drivers 2.0 - created a Restore Point after that - then installed BootCamp drivers 2.1 - created an additional Restore Point - tweaked the system following Digidesign guides - created another Restore Point.

Now I just have to plug the HD cards in and install Pro Tools. I don't have internet access in my studio for the moment being..meaning I hope no further Vista updates are required for PT to run. Digidesign does not mention any specific update.

More updates soon :D
 
Everything went fine..weird thing I had to plug the Core card alone and turn the computer on, otherwise I would only get a black screen. With the Core card in I installed PT, rebooted, installed latest CS version and rebooted. PT was working fine so I turned the computer off and installed the Accel card and the DigiLink cable. Turned the computer back on, tried PT, everything worked fine.

Everything seems to be fine now..I have Restore Points for every step I've taken.

Anyone knows a good Partition backup software? I used to have Symantec Ghost but I've lost track of what's available. What I would like to do is take a snapshot of the system partition where Vista is in order to do a sector-by-sector restore in case something blows up. Sorry for the "OT" :D
 
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