Damnit...more pro tools problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter fris9
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fris9

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So..after a relatively problem free few months, my system starts acting up again tonight. I start doing some editing and stuff and I begin getting a message that says basically pro tools isn't saving any backup files, blah blah blah. No big deal, when I close it out and open it up again, it did save what I have done. Thought it was a glitch. But...it stops responding to my commands, i.e. when I hit stop or forward, etc....it just keeps going. The computer didnt freeze because I can still shut it down, etc. Then, I go to record some new tracks, and everything seems fine. Yet on the playback, somehow it reverts back to the original file, and it didn't record anything. I'm getting so pissed. I bought a Macbook Pro, M Powered Pro Tools, and I've had a shit ton of problems. Am I missing something? Please help!
 
It's M Powered Pro Tools and the Mac is the OS X version 10.4.9. this is really bizarre, its never happened before.
 
again, what is your VERSION number of PT?

and did you try that link I gave you?
 
Ive heard them chatting about this on the DUC.....

I had the same issue at one point.
Id record a take. The take would disappear. And id be left with the take that i was recording over.

I reverted back to 10.4.8, and PT 7.2 and havent seen the problem since.

SOOOO typical....apple has a new os and PT screws up or vice versa.

To hell with consistent updates.
If it aint broke dont fix it.
Ill let the others do the beta donkey testing.
 
By the way....be sure you are running "DISK UTILITY" every now and then

Main drive/Applications/utilities/disk utility

Highlight your hard drive in the menu and then hit "repair permissions"

This helps things alot of times.

Also..... http://web.mac.com/jcdeshaies/iWeb/DeleteProToolsPrefs/Bienvenue.html

That little app is free and will clear your preferences and databases, and aid in irregular pt performance.
 
xfinsterx said:
To hell with consistent updates.
If it aint broke dont fix it.
Ill let the others do the beta donkey testing.
Click to expand...
Now I don't feel so alone :D

I got tired of living on "the bleeding edge" and chasing technology a few years ago. This happens about the time one decides that the computer is more tool than it is toy. We live in a period of technology where if it works, it's obsolete. If that's the case, I'll take obsolete any day.

I much prefer using my car to get somewhere than as a hobby machine to be upgraded and worked upon all the time. I'm the same way with my computers now. I'm tired of tinkering and keeping up, I just want to get something productive done with it. If that means using a 3-yr-old OS and and software that's two versions "obsolete", I'm perfectly fine with that as long as it does the job to my satisfaction.

I miss the good old days when software was beta tested and bug fixed BEFORE it was released to the public :( .

G.
 
With 10.4.9 you should probably be using the latest PT, which is 7.3. I'm assuming the M-Audio version of PT is up to 7.3 as well.
 
It sounds like you've just got a permissions issue somewhere. Make sure you're the owner of the directory and all of the files and that your permissions are set to 755 (or u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx) or anything where you have full permissions
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
I miss the good old days when software was beta tested and bug fixed BEFORE it was released to the public :( .

G.
Click to expand...

But with all the variety of operating systems, versions, service packs, different hardware, driver versions, etc., it's impossible to beta test everything now-a-days before releasing.

So unfortunately we don't have much of a choice. :(

This isn't in defense of plain ol' buggy software though.
 
danny.guitar said:
it's impossible to beta test everything now-a-days before releasing.
Click to expand...
It's always impossible to fully beta test a million lines of code in every situation, of course.

[RANT]
But the fact is that the Interent changed software testing and release procedures for the worse some 13 or 14 years ago or so.

The tipping point, IME, was the onset of the Internet and the start of the browser wars way back when Netscape 0.99 was released to the public while still "beta", in an attempt to overtake Mosaic 1.x. That set the precident of using the Internet as one big beta testing lab and as a competitive environment for software market share. Back then it was OK because it really still was an overgrown DARPAnet with the addition of maybe 10 million civilian geeks testing the waters and taking their first steps into the ocean of HTML and CGI scripting. I admit, I was there and I was one of them.

The problem is, the Internet is not a lab or an intellectual curiosity anymore...at least not to those outside of the Slashdot and hobbyist communities. For 8 out of 10 (give or take) of it's users, it's a production environment unsuitable for beta quality software.

Yet the model of using the Internet as the world's beta test progam - as has been done since the first browser wars back in 93 or 94 - remains in place and is ensconsed solidly into the on-line psyche. This is for two reasons; first because it's a hell of a lot cheaper and more efficient to dump unfinished code to the public and let them test it en masse in trial by fire than it is to run an actual structured beta test program, and second, because the software companies see it as a form of accelerated competition; get the latest stuff to Joe Cablemodem before the other guy does. It doesn't quite work yet? That's OK, we'll placate Joe with free fixes and upgrades. Besides, he's no longer worried about having a greener lawn than his neighbor; as long as he has the k3wlest, latest gadget software, he's golden.

It's ridiculous to expect anything even close to bug-free these days; the software is just way too complex. But if developers worried less about bloating their software with new bells and whistles for the next release that has to get out before the competition's does, and focused more on getting a solid release built before they put it out, we wouldn't have to worry about making sure we have OS service pack 10 (but, God forbid, not SP11) before we upgrade from V3.41 to V3.42 of the latest mousetrap...let alone getting a new computer that has a bloated two ton hog of an OS on it like Vista on which almost nothing that is actually fairly mature in development will even work yet.

[/RANT]

:o

G.
 
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"It sounds like you've just got a permissions issue somewhere. Make sure you're the owner of the directory and all of the files and that your permissions are set to 755 (or u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx) or anything where you have full permissions"

Actually I think the message did say something about permissions. How do I set those?
 
I'm not disagreeing with you Glen on any points. :)

Was just saying, especially for DAW software, it's extremely hard to beta test it with all the different kinds of hardware and interfaces out there, not to mention different driver versions. This is why most software companies usually test it with a few more popular hardware configurations and list those as 'recommended interfaces' on their site, usually in the system specs/minimum requirements page.

I don't think the internet should be a cesspool of beta testers or think people should just dump unfinished products out there and let the users figure out all the problems. That's lazy development (and there's a lot of that on the internet).

Especially with all kinds of companies competing with each other, websites trying to become the next big thing (ie MySpace, YouTube, etc). They just want their ideas out there so they can be the first.

One of the big questions in software development from programmers is "It works fine on my computer when I tested it! But why not on other people's?". This question gets asked more & more as technology progresses and new hardware and software is released.

I personally think things are heading in the wrong direction. Microsoft should ditch Windows and start from scratch, instead of trying to fix old bugs and bringing on new ones. Web browsers should adopt the W3 standards and display things the same way. Web developers should develop accordingly to the standards instead of making buggy, clutterred crappy websites.

Anyway, that's my opinion/rant.
 
Okay, I went to the Digi web site and checked compatibility. 7.1 is officially supported up to 10.4.8, but not 10.4.9. Also, there are a few MacBook Pro models that are not officially supported as well:

MacBook Pro 15" 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (MA609LL)
MacBook Pro 15" 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (MA610LL)
MacBook Pro 17" 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (MA611LL/A)

This doesn't necessarily mean that there will be any problems, just that Digidesign tested these computers with PT 7.3, not 7.1. Likewise, they tested 7.1 up to OSX version 10.4.8, but then tested 10.4.9 with the more recent version 7.3 version of PT.

I personally think that 7.3 is the best version of ProTools ever. It has been extremely stable on my Mac Pro, not a single problem. This is not beta software, it's a mature program. Hopefully, upgrading to the most recent version would also help eliminate the problems fris9 is having.

One thing that points to a some sort of system problem or conflict is that PT was working, and then all of sudden it wasn't. That tells me that something might have been changed or added to the laptop. Like maybe an application was recently installed, or an extension installed that is somehow affecting PT. I'd look at any software that was installed around the time the problems began with PT, and deinstall it to see if that makes a difference.

Trashing prefs is always a good idea, as is fixing permissions.

The other thing I would check is that PT is recording the audio files where you think it is. You can choose where those files are recorded. My brother began using PT a few years ago and one of the things that kind of got him confused for quite a while was that the audio files were not always recorded where he expected.

Hope some of this helps.
 
danny.guitar said:
Was just saying, especially for DAW software, it's extremely hard to beta test it with all the different kinds of hardware and interfaces out there, not to mention different driver versions.
Click to expand...
We are in absolute agreement all the way down the line, Danny.

Hell, even if everybody had all the same hardware, OS version, software and drivers, the sheer complexity of much software these days is such where it's virtually impossible to find all possible code conflicts or typos. I'm not complaining about that; just stating that's the understandable nature of the beast. Add in all the user factors like you say, and it becomes a simply unworkable expectation, you're right.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
We are in absolute agreement all the way down the line, Danny.

Hell, even if everybody had all the same hardware, OS version, software and drivers, the sheer complexity of much software these days is such where it's virtually impossible to find all possible code conflicts or typos. I'm not complaining about that; just stating that's the understandable nature of the beast. Add in all the user factors like you say, and it becomes a simply unworkable expectation, you're right.

G.
Click to expand...

IN A WORLD FULL OF RICH PEOPLE & MACS :D ;) :eek:
 
fris9 said:
"It sounds like you've just got a permissions issue somewhere. Make sure you're the owner of the directory and all of the files and that your permissions are set to 755 (or u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx) or anything where you have full permissions"

Actually I think the message did say something about permissions. How do I set those?
Click to expand...

If you have shell access, you can go to one level above the folder you're working in, and then type (without quotes) 'chown -R yourusername folderofproject' and 'chmod -R 755 folderofproject'
Be aware that I'm not a Mac guy, I'm only able to give that suggestion because of the Unix backend. Hope it helps!
 
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