OS4 + PT8 Issues

Hi,

First of all, great work on OS4. I love the new look of the Browser, I love the new sound sculpting possibilities, and for some reason, it works GREAT on Logic 9. Before I could never use the USB outputs (latency was too much for me), now it's practically real-time.

I use two sequencers actually, Pro Tools and Logic. On Logic, everything's working excellently.

There seem to be new problems with the RTAS version though ever since the upgrade to OS4. Note: it was working well before the upgrade (minus latency issues inherent to Pro Tools itself). Now (and I think someone else mentioned this on the forum?) there are some graphical issues (not a big deal) but a serious sound problem.

When you open the plugin, no matter which sound you select, all you get is the default -Init- sound coming out...and it's very crackly, and only plays some of the notes (i.e. if you press 5 piano keys in a row, only 2 or 3 of them will produce a sound). And in some cases the sound plays on both the USB and analog outputs at the same time. Very strange. Wondering if the Access team has noticed any of this, given this setup:

OS: Mac OS X 10.6
DAW: Pro Tools 8.0.3

Thanks

Hi Marc!

I did step one: didn't help like you thought.

Then I did step two, uninstalled, rebooted, reinstalled, rebooted. Exact same problems. But it still works perfectly well in Logic 9.1.

Have you tried it with Pro Tools LE 8.0.3 specifically? I'm curious if it's just a problem with LE, or just the latest update of PT?

Okay I'll talk to support and see what they make of this. thx

.

I to have the same issue and must start a project through the tutorial

Im working with the updated Pro Tools LE 8 and constantly have to battle with latency issues, all for that authentic Virus sound

Zitat von berni

I have had my TI for a year & a half & have tried EVERY RTAS version available...they all suck. Sync/ latency/stability issues...theyre all there. I too now just use midi leads & analog outs, its much less frustrating that way although not very totally integrated. If I need the VC I use the VST version in Live which performs much better. I can live without more distortion & filters...how about a stable, usable RTAS version Access?

I concur.

I'm using windows 7 and it's WORSE than it was with XP sp2 or sp3, but it's NEVER worked properly for me either.

SOMETIMES I can get it to work fairly well with ableton 7, but eventually it starts buggin' out and I just quit cuz it's so frustrating.

I'm using my MPC1000 with no USB connect right now and the virus is STILL being strange, hanging on notes sometimes.

If I play a sequence from my mpc, often the virus acts like one of the notes is still on even after I press stop on the MPC.

THIS SUCKS ACCESS!!!

I should have come back to this thread and updated it...I HAVE finally gotten it to work after a few days of troubleshooting with the Access support guys.

First thing to note is that the Virus is just as picky as Pro Tools is. Any long time PT users know what this means, i.e. there IS a way to get it to run rock-solid but you have to know all its little quirks. This is what I've determined:

If you have "weird" problems like:

- The interface looks messed up
- That Init sound problem
- Notes dropping out or getting cut off (sounds like polyphony problems but you know there shouldn't be any yet)

What you actually have is USB issues. I know, me too, you've followed all the steps, TI and the Control Center aren't reporting any problems, it works fine in Logic, etc. Can't explain it. It seems the RTAS version just needs the clearest, most untouched USB line from your Virus to the computer. I confirmed this by unplugging every damn USB device I have, and then checking every single USB port on my Mac (each time you do that, you need to do the 30-second Virus reboot plus a computer reboot), then opening Pro Tools, then loading the tutorial song (which always seems to work), THEN starting a new song, to see if the plugin was okay.

Finally found the right USB port (#3 for me).

Then, one reboot at a time, brought the other USB devices back in and still checked if the RTAS was still working. You gotta be careful what ports you plug the rest of the stuff into. Behind the scenes the Mac is sharing some of those USB ports with each other.

Now it's stable as a rock.

One other thing to try: if you're starting a new session from a template you made or one of the built-in templates, shut down Pro Tools, start it up again in a minute, then start an all-new BLANK session (not from a template), then try to load your RTAS. If that doesn't work, shut down PT, wait a minute, restart PT, load the tutorial song, play it for like 20 seconds, close it, THEN start an all new blank session.

Once you DO have a working Virus RTAS inserted, you should save THAT as a template. It'll always work.

Not very scientific I know but it's working now.

How to deal with the massive delay problem:

Fist of all, stop shitting on Access for this. I love my PT but this happens because PT doesn't have automatic delay compensation, and the RTAS plugin architecture is pretty crappy compared to the newer Audio Units and VST specs. But you've heard all this before on the DUC.

This is exactly what I do to get the Virus playable in PT:

1. To get the Virus to respond quickly to your keypresses (so you can actually compose with it), set Pro Tools to the lowest buffer size possible. Go to Setup > Playback Engine..., change H/W buffer size to 128. Click Ignore Errors and Minimize Additional I/O Latency. This makes PT snappy and makes the Virus very playable. Make sure to switch this all off and raise the buffer size when bouncing, otherwise you'll have reduced sound quality. Also your computer won't be able to handle it after 20 or 30 tracks so do your Virus stuff first.
2. Create an Aux track, call it Compensated.
3. Insert multichannel Delay > "TimeAdjuster long" on it
4. Set both sliders to 4106 samples on TimeAdjuster
5. Now, what you do for every new track you make, whether it's an instrument, audio, etc, instead of them going to your Output 1-2 (your main outs), route them to this Aux track instead (including your click track!). Just takes an extra second to set up. So have all of your tracks going through this Aux channel EXCEPT the Virus.

This pushes all the other music forward so it lines up with the Virus. Manual delay compensation.

If you can't deal with this extra delay while trying play an instrument that's not the Virus, you can always temporarily switch its output to Output 1-2, play the part, and switch it back to line things up.