# Problems with an OWC Thunderblade v4 8Tb SSD and an iMac Pro. HELP PLEASE!



## VHCMusic

Hi everybody!

I recently bought a new OWC Thunderblade v4 external SSD with 8tb. It's connected via Thunderbolt 3 to my iMac Pro. The idea is using it for storage of all my samples libraries, so they can be read fast into my DAW ( Logic Pro X). I am currently using Mojave, and I wouldn't like to update it as I am in the middle of a project.

The problem I have is not really something specific, as it happens in an aleatory way. But basically, I can be working on a project fluently, and unexpectedly the sound while I am reproducing the music in the DAW, or when I am recording a new instrument, just goes away, and comes back, with some kind of clips. ( It is weird, and I am afraid I cannot describe it in a better way).

If once I've had that problem, I stop the music, and if I try to bounce the project just to check if it is a library specifically the one causing the problem, Logic Pro directly stops working and I need to force the exit. If I open Logic again, the problem persists. If I try to restart the iMac at that point, it never restarts, and I need to go on forcing the turn off.

This didn't happen to me before, and just started when I used Thunderblade. So, I assume the problem would be in the Thunderblade. I checked it with the software it comes with ( SoftRaid latest version ), and it keeps saying Thunderblade is perfectly working. I had it configured for Digital Audio use. I am using the latest version available in Logic Pro X ( latest version in Mojave), and the Thunderblade is compatible with Mojave.

Is anybody there using this SSD and can help me with it? I am afraid I'll need to return it and search for different options...but I would love to keep it as long as I get it work correctly!

Thank you all so much in advance!


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## rnb_2

I have not worked with a Thunderblade, but I think you should probably contact OWC support - they're generally very good, and I'm sure they'd like to keep you happy (that 8TB Thunderblade isn't cheap!). Looks like their tech support chat will be available at 8am CDT (GMT -6) tomorrow.


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## VHCMusic

rnb_2 said:


> I have not worked with a Thunderblade, but I think you should probably contact OWC support - they're generally very good, and I'm sure they'd like to keep you happy (that 8TB Thunderblade isn't cheap!). Looks like their tech support chat will be available at 8am CDT (GMT -6) tomorrow.


Thank you very much Rick!

Yes, I sent them an email, but will definitely contact them via their support live chat when they are available later today. Thanks again for caring!


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## kgdrum

@VHCMusic 
If you can call OWC tech support via phone you generally will get better results quickly. I’ve used OWC for many years and I agree with Rick OWC tech support are very knowledgeable and helpful.
Good luck 👍


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## VHCMusic

kgdrum said:


> @VHCMusic
> If you can call OWC tech support via phone you generally will get better results quickly. I’ve used OWC for many years and I agree with Rick OWC tech support are very knowledgeable and helpful.
> Good luck 👍


Thank you! 

I think this is the first OWC product I own, but read really nice reviews about it and also about the brand so decided to get it. I am sure this is just a failure in some configuration as the SSD itself looks like working pretty nicely and it is actually super fast as they said. The only "problem" with the phone call is that I don't live in the USA but in Europe and also not really confident about my speaking English when it comes to solve a tech problem. Will try with the chat I think first. But thanks, it is always useful to know they are specially helpful by phone.


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## kgdrum

@VHCMusic 
Well if you’re in Europe calling via phone can be an issue as there’s often long hold times to get a rep.
In either case contact them,OWC wants long term happy customers.


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## Brobdingnagian

@VHCMusic Yes, I too had this problem and I think I managed to solve it on my rig (New Mac Pro/Catalina) I run my Thunderblades in Raid 0. It seems to stem from a low level security preference on Macs with a T2 chip. Once I changed this setting, my seemingly random glitching errors went away. Fingers crossed this continues....

While I happen to be on Catalina, perhaps this will help in Mojave as well? Please keep us posted.









Step by Step instructions for changing the Enhanced Security level for your Mac with T2 chip - SoftRAID


For more information and technical details, please read our blog post regarding Secure Boot and macOS. For additional information or assistance in disabling Secure Boot, please visit the discussion in our forum. 1) Boot into Recovery Mode Restart your Mac with T2 chip, press and hold Command...




www.softraid.com





Best Regards,
-B


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## VHCMusic

Brobdingnagian said:


> @VHCMusic Yes, I too had this problem and I think I managed to solve it on my rig (New Mac Pro/Catalina) I run my Thunderblades in Raid 0. It seems to stem from a low level security preference on Macs with a T2 chip. Once I changed this setting, my seemingly random glitching errors went away. Fingers crossed this continues....
> 
> While I happen to be on Catalina, perhaps this will help in Mojave as well? Please keep us posted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Step by Step instructions for changing the Enhanced Security level for your Mac with T2 chip - SoftRAID
> 
> 
> For more information and technical details, please read our blog post regarding Secure Boot and macOS. For additional information or assistance in disabling Secure Boot, please visit the discussion in our forum. 1) Boot into Recovery Mode Restart your Mac with T2 chip, press and hold Command...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.softraid.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Best Regards,
> -B


Thank you very much! 

I am going to check how I can do that! Really, thank you a lot for letting me know. Will definitely let you know if that's the problem in my case too! 

Best


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## Brobdingnagian

@VHCMusic Please do. It was a seemingly random thing that would happen and was very concerning. I thought it could be too much flex-timing of audio in my logic sessions, or too large symphonic sessions to picture, with tempo changes, etc, then I thought it would happen after I took a break and it was due to some strange root-level, sleep parameter - who knows? I took to the habit of constantly 'cleaning up' my logic session every so often. in the hopes of preventing it.

I only wish I had researched more into the SoftRaid documents to see this. If this is truly the culprit, then it should be better highlighted when purchasing the product. Big red letters, front and center, to save those of us whom are new to the T2 Macs some time and stress.

Best,
–B


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## VHCMusic

Brobdingnagian said:


> @VHCMusic Please do. It was a seemingly random thing that would happen and was very concerning. I thought it could be too much flex-timing of audio in my logic sessions, or too large symphonic sessions to picture, with tempo changes, etc, then I thought it would happen after I took a break and it was due to some strange root-level, sleep parameter - who knows? I took to the habit of constantly 'cleaning up' my logic session every so often. in the hopes of preventing it.
> 
> I only wish I had researched more into the SoftRaid documents to see this. If this is truly the culprit, then it should be better highlighted when purchasing the product. Big red letters, front and center, to save those of us whom are new to the T2 Macs some time and stress.
> 
> Best,
> –B


I totally agree. Will be in the studio later today so I will try to follow the process so hopefully it is solved. 

And yes, it was similar to me, I was already thinking "maybe this is because of too large project here" but then I checked the use of RAM and CPU and I was far from the limits. Also it happens to me in all the projects I create on Logic, no matter if they are big or small. So really was getting worried about it. 

Thanks again, your comments have help me feel much relaxed about this! 

Have a wonderful day. 

PS: Will update later today once I can check that and hopefully after talking to the OWC Support too.


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## VHCMusic

Brobdingnagian said:


> @VHCMusic Please do. It was a seemingly random thing that would happen and was very concerning. I thought it could be too much flex-timing of audio in my logic sessions, or too large symphonic sessions to picture, with tempo changes, etc, then I thought it would happen after I took a break and it was due to some strange root-level, sleep parameter - who knows? I took to the habit of constantly 'cleaning up' my logic session every so often. in the hopes of preventing it.
> 
> I only wish I had researched more into the SoftRaid documents to see this. If this is truly the culprit, then it should be better highlighted when purchasing the product. Big red letters, front and center, to save those of us whom are new to the T2 Macs some time and stress.
> 
> Best,
> –B


UPDATE: Tried to do that but it was already configured in that way, and it didn't work for me. I thought the problem could be probably on Logic Pro X then, as it is mostly where I find issues... ( this computer is only used for composing music)... and uninstalled it with the intention of installing it again....but then it seems Logic can't be installed in Mojave and it at least needs Catalina....So here I am installing Catalina finally, even when I didn't really want it in the middle of a project I am working on. 

Will try again now and will update later today! 

Thanks again!


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## ChristianM

You can have sound problems as described with Mac if you have open many internet connections...
Try also to kill the daemon "coreaudiod" in activity monitor (coreaudiod restart immediatly)…
I have problems of sound with 28 cores with 512 GB of RAM for this 2 reasons !!


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## VHCMusic

ChristianM said:


> You can have sound problems as described with Mac if you have open many internet connections...
> Try also to kill the daemon "coreaudiod" in activity monitor (coreaudiod restart immediatly)…
> I have problems of sound with 28 cores with 512 TB of RAM for this 2 reasons !!


Thanks Christian, will try that about "coreaudiod". The problem now also is that I can´t even load older projects in Logic. Once I open an older project, it shows a message " the state of some Kontakt instances cannot be recalled correctly. Please open any Kontakt instance to resolve the problem."....which seems fine since I changed the location of the libraries to the Thunderblade. But once I open one Kontakt instance, and I indicate it where it should search for the missing samples ( all the libraries are missing), it starts searching, and then the program collapses, and I need to force the exit.


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## ChristianM

Did you test the speed of the disk? UCB-A instead of USB-C/Thunderbolt? (bad cable)


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## VHCMusic

Yes sir, I tried with a different Thunderbolt 3 cable, different port too. And also made the BlackMagic test to the disk and everything seemed normal.


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## ChristianM

Your crash is always with same library in Kontakt ?
PS : OWC is also in Europe : https://owcshop.eu


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## VHCMusic

ChristianM said:


> Your crash is always with same library in Kontakt ?
> PS : OWC is also in Europe : https://owcshop.eu


No, it happens with different ones. Basically it crashes in some different situations. 

a) when I open an project I made without Thunderblade in my computer. As I relocated the samples libraries, Kontakt says the message: " the state of some Kontakt instances cannot be recalled correctly. Please open any Kontakt instance to resolve the problem.". Then I open any Kontakt instance from that project, and I have the typical window for searching for missing samples. I select "Thunderblade" ( because it is not just one or two libraries missing), and then it starts searching. At some point, it stops, and the DAW crashes. 

b) Some times, while reproducing the project in the DAW, or while recording some instrument, the sound disappears, and appears randomly, with some glitches and clips...like if it had not speed enough for reading it, or as if the CPU was struggling ( when it is around 10-15% used). 
In these cases, if I stop the recording or the reproduction, and for example try to bounce in situ, some libraries don't show any problem, but then some others crash the daw while doing that bounce in situ. Same for freezing them. Same if I want to bounce the whole project. Same if I want to bounce the solo passage of these libraries that give the error. 

I searched for the message Kontakt was showing me, and I saw more people with similar problems, and their DAW crashing. Starting to suspect it might be a Kontakt bug??? 

This situation ( the (b) one) happened to me before, but it was sporadically, not common at all, so I didn't really worry too much. Now it seems to happen quite often, so I guessed it was something related to the Thunderblade or its softRAID software. 

Talked to the OWC support, and they don't seem to have it clear either, so the final solution they told me would be erasing the Thunderblade with softRAID, removing all the data inside of it, uninstall softRAID, and then with Disk Utility I should reformat the Thunderblade and set it as a RAID 0. Then copy everything inside again, and.....pray for it working.

Will also contact tomorrow the Native Instruments support regarding to this problem, just in case this is something Kontakt related. 


Thank you all that tried to help! I really appreciate your comments, your suggestions and most of all the desire of helping me. You all rock! :D


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## Brobdingnagian

VHCMusic said:


> No, it happens with different ones. Basically it crashes in some different situations.
> 
> a) when I open an project I made without Thunderblade in my computer. As I relocated the samples libraries, Kontakt says the message: " the state of some Kontakt instances cannot be recalled correctly. Please open any Kontakt instance to resolve the problem.". Then I open any Kontakt instance from that project, and I have the typical window for searching for missing samples. I select "Thunderblade" ( because it is not just one or two libraries missing), and then it starts searching. At some point, it stops, and the DAW crashes.
> 
> b) Some times, while reproducing the project in the DAW, or while recording some instrument, the sound disappears, and appears randomly, with some glitches and clips...like if it had not speed enough for reading it, or as if the CPU was struggling ( when it is around 10-15% used).
> In these cases, if I stop the recording or the reproduction, and for example try to bounce in situ, some libraries don't show any problem, but then some others crash the daw while doing that bounce in situ. Same for freezing them. Same if I want to bounce the whole project. Same if I want to bounce the solo passage of these libraries that give the error.
> 
> I searched for the message Kontakt was showing me, and I saw more people with similar problems, and their DAW crashing. Starting to suspect it might be a Kontakt bug???
> 
> This situation ( the (b) one) happened to me before, but it was sporadically, not common at all, so I didn't really worry too much. Now it seems to happen quite often, so I guessed it was something related to the Thunderblade or its softRAID software.
> 
> Talked to the OWC support, and they don't seem to have it clear either, so the final solution they told me would be erasing the Thunderblade with softRAID, removing all the data inside of it, uninstall softRAID, and then with Disk Utility I should reformat the Thunderblade and set it as a RAID 0. Then copy everything inside again, and.....pray for it working.
> 
> Will also contact tomorrow the Native Instruments support regarding to this problem, just in case this is something Kontakt related.
> 
> 
> Thank you all that tried to help! I really appreciate your comments, your suggestions and most of all the desire of helping me. You all rock! :D


@VHCMusic " the state of some Kontakt instances cannot be recalled correctly. Please open any Kontakt instance to resolve the problem."

FWIW, I found success here with this problem by simply clicking the "search (or locate, I forget) in Spotlight" option on the left side of choices on that Kontakt prompt (rather than trying to point to the culprit manually)....wait a short while...and then all of the older Kontakt instances fall in line correctly. Hope this helps.


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## VHCMusic

Brobdingnagian said:


> @VHCMusic " the state of some Kontakt instances cannot be recalled correctly. Please open any Kontakt instance to resolve the problem."
> 
> FWIW, I found success here with this problem by simply clicking the "search (or locate, I forget) in Spotlight" option on the left side of choices on that Kontakt prompt (rather than trying to point to the culprit manually)....wait a short while...and then all of the older Kontakt instances fall in line correctly. Hope this helps.


Tried that way some mins ago, but it didn't make a difference in my case. Logic still freezes. Honestly, I think the only "solution" ( if it finally works that way), is going to be the one OWC told me to do. Also contacted the NI support, because I'm not sure if it's going to be a problem with Thunderblade, or Kontakt. Will keep updating. 

Thank you!


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## Brobdingnagian

VHCMusic said:


> Tried that way some mins ago, but it didn't make a difference in my case. Logic still freezes. Honestly, I think the only "solution" ( if it finally works that way), is going to be the one OWC told me to do. Also contacted the NI support, because I'm not sure if it's going to be a problem with Thunderblade, or Kontakt. Will keep updating.
> 
> Thank you!


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## Brobdingnagian

FYI @VHCMusic there is a new version of Soft Raid available. It is now in v6, with support for new M1 macs and Big Sur. I don't know if this helps, but thought I would share.


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## VHCMusic

Brobdingnagian said:


> FYI @VHCMusic there is a new version of Soft Raid available. It is now in v6, with support for new M1 macs and Big Sur. I don't know if this helps, but thought I would share.


Thanks!

Finally I got to solve the problem. It wasn't related to the Thunderblade, or the iMac Pro. It was apparently the latest version of Kontakt 6. Kontakt v6.5.3, and its new way of searching for missing samples libraries. SoftRAID seemed also to have some kind of weird interaction with my DAW, not completely sure why...but I uninstalled SoftRAID v6 and configured the Thunderblade as a RAID 0 directly through the Mac Disk Utility and now everything runs smoothly, and super fast. Didn't have problems again. I honestly don't know the real advantages of having SoftRAID installed... so I'm fine with the "normal" RAID 0 configuration for the Thunderblade. It seems I'm getting enough space for at least the next 5-6 years in terms of libraries with (now) a super nice performance!

Again, thank you so much for worrying and for the help everybody gave me on this post! Such a pleasure being a member of this forum


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## rnb_2

You should probably let SoftRAID know about the issue - I'm sure they'd like to get that fixed. If you're only running RAID 0, there probably isn't a big advantage to using SoftRAID vs Apple RAID (probably slightly less overhead) - you'd see more benefit if you were running RAID 4/5 (which probably goes without saying, since I don't think Apple RAID can do anything beyond 0/1).


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## VHCMusic

rnb_2 said:


> You should probably let SoftRAID know about the issue - I'm sure they'd like to get that fixed. If you're only running RAID 0, there probably isn't a big advantage to using SoftRAID vs Apple RAID (probably slightly less overhead) - you'd see more benefit if you were running RAID 4/5 (which probably goes without saying, since I don't think Apple RAID can do anything beyond 0/1).


Yes...actually this is the latest solution OWC proposed.

They didn't know what could be happening... And I don't really know what happened with SoftRAID... I am only using the Thunderblade for samples libraries with the idea of having more than enough storage, and of course low times when reading the libraries. I'm really happy with it now that it is working nicely. 

Also contacted last week NI support about the problem with Kontakt, they asked for downloading an app that evaluates some things and create a report that is useful for them....Today they contacted me again asking me for a screenshot about the security-privacy configuration and hopefully they detect where is the mistake so they can work on that in the new update of Kontakt once it's ready. Really hate these kinds of problems and hopefully nobody else needs to suffer from this specific one.


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## Brobdingnagian

@VHCMusic did NI ever get back to you with more information about your particular problem?

Also, when you re-formatted the drive for Raid 0 using the Apple Disk Utility, which chunk/block/stripe size did you use? 32mb, 64 or 128 - just curious....

Many thanks!


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## VHCMusic

Brobdingnagian said:


> @VHCMusic did NI ever get back to you with more information about your particular problem?
> 
> Also, when you re-formatted the drive for Raid 0 using the Apple Disk Utility, which chunk/block/stripe size did you use? 32mb, 64 or 128 - just curious....
> 
> Many thanks!


Sorry for the late response! Was about to answer yesterday but got busy at the same moment and then I forgot about it!

NI asked me for a couple of screenshots once I sent them the report generated by that app they provided me, and after that, I tried myself to install an older version of Kontakt 6 ( 6.4.2 ) and then everything was working, so I told them about it....and they said that was weird, because there were not more problems registered with missing libraries in the current version of Kontakt. I'm still working with the 6.4.2, and I think I only have one library that is not working because it needs newer version of Kontakt.... and I barely used it anyway, so everything is fine for now.

About the RAID 0....honestly I don't remember exactly. I think it was 128 due to the size of the files ( I had no idea about these things, so at that moment searched for some information on the internet and selected that option that was supposedly the best one for reading big files). Sorry I can't say better.

Thanks for worrying!


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## yellow hat

VHCMusic said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Finally I got to solve the problem. It wasn't related to the Thunderblade, or the iMac Pro. It was apparently the latest version of Kontakt 6. Kontakt v6.5.3, and its new way of searching for missing samples libraries. SoftRAID seemed also to have some kind of weird interaction with my DAW, not completely sure why...but I uninstalled SoftRAID v6 and configured the Thunderblade as a RAID 0 directly through the Mac Disk Utility and now everything runs smoothly, and super fast. Didn't have problems again. I honestly don't know the real advantages of having SoftRAID installed... so I'm fine with the "normal" RAID 0 configuration for the Thunderblade. It seems I'm getting enough space for at least the next 5-6 years in terms of libraries with (now) a super nice performance!
> 
> Again, thank you so much for worrying and for the help everybody gave me on this post! Such a pleasure being a member of this forum


Hey!
I also have a Thunderblade (4TB)
Experiencing the same thing on a iMac 27” 2020 (new bought two weeks ago)
I’m on Catalina 10.15.7 and Logic Pro 10.6.3.
I uninstalled SoftRaid XT also
Super weird because its a fast machine but I get random freeze in logic and the iMac automatically reboots.
Totally out of the blue.
Disabled the T2 security boot also.
Any tips you can give?

Regards

Jakob


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## VHCMusic

yellow hat said:


> Hey!
> I also have a Thunderblade (4TB)
> Experiencing the same thing on a iMac 27” 2020 (new bought two weeks ago)
> I’m on Catalina 10.15.7 and Logic Pro 10.6.3.
> I uninstalled SoftRaid XT also
> Super weird because its a fast machine but I get random freeze in logic and the iMac automatically reboots.
> Totally out of the blue.
> Disabled the T2 security boot also.
> Any tips you can give?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Jakob


Not sure Jakob, in my case it all ended up being a problem with the Kontakt version I had at that moment. I installed an older version and everything started working nicely. I updated later to more recent Kontakt versions and everything is working well since then. Also I configured the Thunderblade as a RAID 0, and I'm not using the SoftRaid XT which I uninstalled. 

Maybe you can try with older versions of Kontakt? which version are you using currently? Did you configure your Thunderblade as a RAID 0?


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## yellow hat

VHCMusic said:


> Not sure Jakob, in my case it all ended up being a problem with the Kontakt version I had at that moment. I installed an older version and everything started working nicely. I updated later to more recent Kontakt versions and everything is working well since then. Also I configured the Thunderblade as a RAID 0, and I'm not using the SoftRaid XT which I uninstalled.
> 
> Maybe you can try with older versions of Kontakt? which version are you using currently? Did you configure your Thunderblade as a RAID 0?


Hey!
Thunderbolt is Raid 0
And I think it actually reads faster with Apple Raid knstead of SoftRaid XT.
I’m on Kontakt 5.8.1
For Catalina I believe 5.7.3 is the lowest you can go?I’ll try that
I’m even considering open/save all sessions as Kontakt 6 instead.
Its just weird because the freeze is completely random.
And I never experienced a freeze of everything (cant do anything) and an automatic reboot following.


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## VHCMusic

yellow hat said:


> Hey!
> Thunderbolt is Raid 0
> And I think it actually reads faster with Apple Raid knstead of SoftRaid XT.
> I’m on Kontakt 5.8.1
> For Catalina I believe 5.7.3 is the lowest you can go?I’ll try that
> I’m even considering open/save all sessions as Kontakt 6 instead.
> Its just weird because the freeze is completely random.
> And I never experienced a freeze of everything (cant do anything) and an automatic reboot following.


I am using the latest version of Kontakt now and for me it works perfectly. Also in Catalina 10.15.7 and in Logic Pro 10.6.3. Maybe you can try with Kontakt 6.6.1 (R139)... I have it configured with the Disk utility as a RAID 0 too.... and it works super fast and smoothly for me. Sorry to hear you are having issues!


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## yellow hat

VHCMusic said:


> I am using the latest version of Kontakt now and for me it works perfectly. Also in Catalina 10.15.7 and in Logic Pro 10.6.3. Maybe you can try with Kontakt 6.6.1 (R139)... I have it configured with the Disk utility as a RAID 0 too.... and it works super fast and smoothly for me. Sorry to hear you are having issues!


I’ll try 6.6.1
But are you not using Kontak 5 at all?
I have to for backwards compability of older projects...🤦🏼‍♂️


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## VHCMusic

No... I updated to Kontakt 6 once it was available, and didn't go back to Kontakt 6. Most of newest libraries only work in Kontakt 6.... 

One thing I usually do is exporting all the patches as audio files for every project.... and in that way I don't really need Kontakt for getting the stems or mute any instrument as needed...even if I open the project years later. Maybe you can try that too from now.


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## yellow hat

VHCMusic said:


> No... I updated to Kontakt 6 once it was available, and didn't go back to Kontakt 6. Most of newest libraries only work in Kontakt 6....
> 
> One thing I usually do is exporting all the patches as audio files for every project.... and in that way I don't really need Kontakt for getting the stems or mute any instrument as needed...even if I open the project years later. Maybe you can try that too from now.


Yes and Amen!
That IS something I started to do and kicckng myself for not having done a long time ago.
Still have those old projects that resurface and I have to use an old computer to launch🤦🏼‍♂️
Thanks for the chat!


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## yellow hat

yellow hat said:


> Yes and Amen!
> That IS something I started to do and kicckng myself for not having done a long time ago.
> Still have those old projects that resurface and I have to use an old computer to launch🤦🏼‍♂️
> Thanks for the chat!


It was the memory modules!!!
Man thats crazy
I installed the Apple Ram that came with iMac and no more freeze🤦🏼‍♂️


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## WandaS

I'm assuming your running in RAID 0.
Just as a test you could try turning off SIP and see if there's a difference.


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