Unable to Open Logic Pro X Projects Without Crashing

And then at some point in the last year, it just stopped happening; it may have just been updating to Mojave and updating Logic, but my guess is it was also to do with rebuilding all my preferences, which I remember doing at some point between then and now.

 

Sorry this is so vague, but maybe it will help . .

Thanks that is helpful. It fits with my instinct, and what amnestic said, that this isn't due to a single problem plugin (because the issue moves around).

When I get time I need to look into rebuilding all the preferences and maybe reinstalling Logic.

des99, I appreciate your efforts to help us find a solution, but you've mentioned this thought previously in this thread, to which I tried to explain that this is actually not a solution to the issue. This doesn't seem to be the run-of-the-mill specific, single plugin that is persistently causing the issue, and all it takes is to "isolate" that one or two plugins and remove them. The issue is that, technically, all the plugins are the issue.

It's very difficult to diagnose seemingly random or intermittent problems, and it's hard enough when you can test directly, letting along indirectly via forum posts. People are just trying to share known issues that are similar that other people are experiencing to help them track down your issue.

If you suspect the crashing is not tied to a particular plugin, and you've done the usual Logic problem solving steps by trashing your preferences (including the control surface prefs) and aucache etc, there are not many easy steps left to try - you may have other software or drivers on your machine that's having problems in Catalina, and that's manifesting in weird or unrelated problems like you see. Have you tried running Logic in a new temporary user account? Is this project specific (ie if you start from a clean template, not from existing projects, do you still get the issue?). How did you do the upgrade to Catalina? This can have a bearing on user account permissions that can be problematic.

Anyway, since you say you're no longer using Logic I don't know if you can even investigate this more. Suffice to say, there is something going on with your system that the upgrade to Catalina seemed to cause, but what that is we don't know. It's certainly not commonly occurring with your specific symptoms to be a general Logic issue, from what I've seen here and on other forums since Catalina was released...

Have you tried running Logic in a new temporary user account? Is this project specific (ie if you start from a clean template, not from existing projects, do you still get the issue?). How did you do the upgrade to Catalina? This can have a bearing on user account permissions that can be problematic.

des99, thanks for this response!

I never upgraded to Catalina on this system. I bought a 2019 15’’ MacBook Pro in Jan 2020 with Catalina as the startup OS, that replaced my old MacBook.

I did test out clean projects that always seemed to work fine with all plugins. The issues usually started once the projects were getting more developed. I always predicted it would happen halfway through the production of a track, always after I’ve saved and closed the project. When I would try to reopen it, the plugins would start crashing.

Never tried this in a temporary user account, however. Maybe someone else with this issue can try this as well?

I never upgraded to Catalina on this system. I bought a 2019 15’’ MacBook Pro in Jan 2020 with Catalina as the startup OS, that replaced my old MacBook.

Sorry, I'm getting confused as to who I'm talking to as there are multiple people on this thread with different circumstances

I was more or less replying to thesheep, who regretted his upgrade to Catalina.

I never upgraded to Catalina on this system. I bought a 2019 15’’ MacBook Pro in Jan 2020 with Catalina as the startup OS, that replaced my old MacBook.

 

Sorry, I'm getting confused as to who I'm talking to as there are multiple people on this thread with different circumstances

I was more or less replying to thesheep, who regretted his upgrade to Catalina.

No worries, understood!

Although the upgrade to Catalina seems to have started the problems for thesheep, this bug seems to have existed since High Sierra, as mpmusicny pointed out in an earlier post.

So, I don’t think this issue is particularly tied to Catalina. But it’s anyone’s guess now what is at the heart of the issue.

When I get time I need to look into rebuilding all the preferences and maybe reinstalling Logic.

I’m old school when it comes to rebuilding preferences.After saving my current key commands in the Key Commands > Edit window, I then take screen captures of every Preference page. The i quit Logic. Then I drag the "com.apple.logic10.plist” out of ~/Library/Preferences, then I boot up Logic again, and then reset each preference pane manually, using the screen captures as my guide. Finally I go back to the Key Commands window and go > Import Key Commands, and import the set that you just saved. Obviously if you failed to save your key commands previously, you are SOL . . Probably completely unnecessary these days, but it takes me half an hour, and I know it’s done right. Also gives me a chance to review any settings i might want to adjust . .

Hey all!

Sorry to dig this thread out from the grave...

But of course, now that Logic 10.6 is out, I have a small hope that maybe they fixed the third party plugin crashes that were happening in 10.5 and 10.5.1.

For those who had these issues and decided to update to 10.6, can you keep me updated?

I'd love to come back to Logic. I've been doing a trial of Ableton since my Logic trial expired, and I really prefer Logic. IMO it's a superior DAW... But then again, Ableton hasn't crashed once with any third party plugins.

Anyways, I know that even if someone updates and the plugins are not crashing, it wouldn't necessarily mean that this issue is fixed for everyone else. But it would be enough for me to try my luck, buy Logic, update to 10.6, and hope for the best!

Thanks in advance, everyone!

So... an update to my own post above.

I bit the bullet and bought Logic, downloaded version 10.6.

When I opened Logic, everything worked perfectly. I even opened up all the troublesome projects, no issues whatsoever. Everything played without a hitch. Hallelujah, I thought to myself.

Then, I closed Logic, and reopened it again, just to make sure. Plugins crashing on startup. Restarted MacBook, same thing. It seems like nothing has changed.

*sigh* I guess I'll have to see about a refund from Apple, if they do that kind of thing. And continue on my way with Ableton, annoyingly.

Interestingly, one of my earliest projects from April was using many instances of a plugin called "Tantrum" from Creative Intent.

Whenever I try to open that project, I get this:

But then, I tried to open up another project I worked on around the same time, which has as many (if not more!) instances of Tantrum. Opened up, no problem.

You can even see here a small snapshot of the many instances and the project works fine:

Again, no rhyme or reason to which plugins suddenly start to cause issues, and nothing is persistent amongst different projects.

Maybe this will be fixed by Logic Pro 11.

Start reading at post #54 for more info.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/apple-logic-pro/1314562-logic-pro-x-10-5-1-out-2.html

Yes, I do!

It seems to be a known issue with the Pace/ILok system.

See here for more info and workarounds:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=152787

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=149772&p=801956#p801956

So it seems it's not a Logic problem as such - despite it looking like random plugins are crashing, it's because the iLok stuff is corrupting the memory of other plugins.

Interestingly, one of my earliest projects from April was using many instances of a plugin called "Tantrum" from Creative Intent.

Whenever I try to open that project, I get this:

Seems like Logic having a Tantrum?

WOW! Presence & des99, thank you both so much!!

At first, when I was reading these threads, I was thinking: "Yes, but none of my iLok plugins have caused any crashes, from Soundtoys to Softube..."

But, as I got further, I realized it was indeed (as des99 wrote above) iLok/PACE affecting other plugins. So yes, I can imagine this is what it all comes down to.

Excuse my ignorance, but would the Apple/Logic crash reports show anything of PACE's involvement with a crash? Is there a way I can confirm this for myself?

Very helpful to read about the workarounds. I believe I've tried the "load up crashing plugin in a new project" method, and it's been hit and miss with me.

I'm going to try this workaround right now, and see if I have any success.

But, this is definitely a Eureka (!!!!!) moment, after months of scouring message boards for solutions.

Now it's just a matter of seeing if it can ever be fixed. I read on the Gearslutz MB that Presence linked that PACE actually has responded to a few people who have been emailing them about this issue:

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is currently being reviewed by our engineering team. If the behavior is related to our software and can be resolved by us, we will be in contact with software publishers on the solution. Until then, please make sure to have authorization available and present for all your products or uninstall those you do not have licenses for."

So, fingers crossed!

Also:

Seems like Logic having a Tantrum?

Well played!

Excuse my ignorance, but would the Apple/Logic crash reports show anything of PACE's involvement with a crash? Is there a way I can confirm this for myself?

I've had one (because in this case it was actually an iLok protected plugin that crashed), but no, in general not - it seems that the Pace software is interfering with *other plugins* (even non iLok ones) memory space, so it is *them* that end up crashing, but the trigger is because the Pace stuff which is not related to the plug crashing, is corrupting the plugin randomly.

I have exactly this problem. Been running Logic on my iMac on Mojave without issues for over a year. About a week ago I thought, I may as well upgrade to Catalina now, surely everything will be fine. Now I have exactly the same issue as is described here.

 

For example just now I tried to open the project I've been working on and it crashed. The crash screen said it was Arturia's Pigments causing the problem. I click 're-open' and again it crashes but this time it says the problem is with Spitfire Audio's Felt Piano. Next time it's the same.

 

As with other people, I can open other (simpler/smaller) projects with these same plugins in, and they don't crash.

 

Can't believe that at the moment there is apparently no solution for this. How much do I wish I had not upgraded to Catalina now?...

I feel your pain. It's been how long since this OS update?! And still no remedy for this issue. Ridiculous.

I don't know if you've already tried this, but I've found sometimes you can open one of these problematic projects by doing the following:

1. Open an empty project

2. Turn Core Audio Off (logic - preferences - audio)

3. Open the problematic project

4. Turn core audio back on

5. If it works, you can go ahead and close down the empty project and work within the problematic project.

Also, another way is simply opening a project you know works, then trying to open the problematic project. This has worked for me in the past.