# VE Pro CPU Spike/Freeze



## mverta (Jul 27, 2013)

The forums at VSL are proving as worthless as ever, so here's hoping you guys have a clue on this:

Please have a look at this screencast, which shows the Activity Monitor's reporting of an intermittent freeze - it's driving me absolutely crazy. Under a modest load (a single instrument, playing a non-note-dense pattern), suddenly everything freezes for a few seconds, and just before it comes back, there's a huge CPU spike. It's intermittent, but happens constantly - if that makes sense.

CPU Spike and freeze

A freshly restarted system will usually run fine for a while, but over time it begins happening more and more, and the pause duration gets worse and worse until a restart is eventually required.

Thanks!

_Mike


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## antoniopandrade (Jul 27, 2013)

Mike, have you tried swapping out your ethernet cables / router? Also, try setting up a fixed IP for your machines if you haven't already. I had similar issues once and resolved them with the cable swap.


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## mverta (Jul 27, 2013)

In my configuration there are 2 Mac's running VE Pro - Two instances on the Host Mac, and one instance on the Slave Mac. The Slave Mac is Ethernet'd directly to the Host Mac; no router. And interestingly, it's only the VE Pros on the HOST Mac which freeze - the slave Mac hums through this freeze just fine, unaffected.

Normally, both Mac's have all other internet/network functions disabled.

_Mike


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## EastWest Lurker (Jul 27, 2013)

mverta @ Sat Jul 27 said:


> In my configuration there are 2 Mac's running VE Pro - Two instances on the Host Mac, and one instance on the Slave Mac. The Slave Mac is Ethernet'd directly to the Host Mac; no router. And interestingly, it's only the VE Pros on the HOST Mac which freeze - the slave Mac hums through this freeze just fine, unaffected.
> 
> Normally, both Mac's have all other internet/network functions disabled.
> 
> _Mike



Never had that here connecting to Logic. You're connecting to PT right? My guess it is a PT issue.


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## maestro2be (Jul 27, 2013)

It is hit or miss trying to use the forums in VSL for something like this because the troubleshooting could go well beyond what another VSL customer is willing to give you. I have had some good results, and other times been completely ignored.

Have you tried opening an actual service request ticket? This always gets me results. Email [email protected] and they will take care of you.

Hope that helps,

Maestro2be


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## mverta (Jul 27, 2013)

PT gets a spike, yes Jay, but the big spike is in VE Pro, so I'm not sure who the culprit is. Either way, I've yet to see a configuration of software and hardware which suits everyone's needs, and is 100% reliable; everyone's got issues somewhere - this is mine, today.

_Mike


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## EastWest Lurker (Jul 27, 2013)

mverta @ Sat Jul 27 said:


> PT gets a spike, yes Jay, but the big spike is in VE Pro, so I'm not sure who the culprit is. Either way, I've yet to see a configuration of software and hardware which suits everyone's needs, and is 100% reliable; everyone's got issues somewhere - this is mine, today.
> 
> _Mike



Absolutely true, Michael, my fine lad, but the combo of Logic, Kontakt orchestral in VE Pro on my host Mac, and Play orchestral in VE Pro on my PC has been as bulletproof as any I have tried over the years.

That said, our mutual friend Ron Aston is PT user and has VE Pro hooked up to it on 3 Mac slaves as well as the host I believe, so it _can_ work. So you might want to have a chat with him.


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## dgburns (Jul 28, 2013)

just as a suggestion,I noticed the mac monitor app itself caused hangups for me when I had it running .Maybe it is polling the ports and causing the glitch?
i noticed when I quit it,my clicks pops and freezes stopped.Not suggesting it is the same for you,but maybe try quiting it and see...
in any case,it sounds like something is polling the ports or monitoring or something like that...


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## dgburns (Jul 28, 2013)

and fyi,the guys at VSL are super amazing support wise.I opened a ticket re a vepro/absynth issue I was having,and they created a beta fix just for your's truly after identifying the issue.Service next to none IMHO.
I'd run it by them for sure.


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## mverta (Jul 28, 2013)

Thank you, though I turned the Activity Monitor on to help diagnose the problem, which occurs anyway, regardless!

_Mike


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## ed buller (Jul 28, 2013)

Have you tried changing the HW buffer size in the playback engine on pro tools ?

I notice that this really effects the load on the CPU of the machine running VEPro. ( might not be applicable in your case as I'm not sure how you've got it configured )

Anything less than 512 sucks for me. 

E


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## mverta (Jul 29, 2013)

Indeed, running at 512, and reduced the processor count, as well. It must be something similar to a memory leak, in that it starts okay, and over time, gets progressively worse until it's unusable and a restart is required. 

_Mike


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