UAD cards losing connection.

[mboudreau]

Hello all,

Here is an intermitent problem I'm having.

The setup:
First Generation G5 Dual 1.8 Ghz./1 gig of ram/ OS 10.4.6/ Pro Tools HD2 Accel version 7.1 cs10/4 slot Magma chassis with 4 UAD-1 cards.

When the system works it works great. However, sometimes the cards stop responding in the middle of a mix. I then get an error message about running out of RTAS juice and cannot continue the mix since playback stops. On the UAD meter the gas meter is at 0%. It usually resolves itself when I restart Pro Tools and reopen the session. Drag.

Any thoughts, advice or wisdom?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Fundy]

It sounds like it's going offline and giving a reading of 0% resources (as if it never existed). My guess is, it's the drivers or your software. I can't determine which though.

 

[mboudreau]

As far as drivers go I've installed the latest 4.5.1 UA installer.

One other thing to consider is that this is all occuring on a system where everything is a fresh install. (OS, PT, UA etcc.)

I had a theory that since the dual 1.8 has only one PCI buss shared amongst the three that the buss was becoming too congested. The HD cards take up the other 2 slots.

Matt

 

[TheHopiWay]

I have a similar set up, G5 Dual 2.3, Protools 7.2 HD2 accel in the G5 plus a Avid 7 slot exp card/chassis with two UAD and one Powercore in it.

I have the same issue but it's never occurred just using the UAD plugs, only if I initiate one of the Poco Plugs as well.
It's random and simply closing and reopening the session will cure it for a couple hours or minutes as the \"ghosts\" allow.

At least it's nice to know I'm not alone in this. I've had little luck with Digi support as technically my setup is not \"approved\", UAD was nice but frankly a bit surprised my set up works as well as it does.
If you find a solution please contact me, I'll do the same for you.

 

[mboudreau]

I wonder if there is a better chassis for this? I'm thinking of selling my stuff and making a sidewise upgrade to a Mac Pro/PCIe HD2 and new chassis setup.

I'll let you know if I come up with a solution.

Matt

 

[mboudreau]

Update to losing connection

Today I had success with this problem by just hitting play in Pro Tools until the meter sprang back to life and the session played. Took 4 or 5 repeated space bar hits to make it happen but it worked. Not the solution I'm looking for but in the short term at least I could finish my mix without quiting Pro Tools and launching it again.

Matt

 

[TheHopiWay]

That occasionally works for me too but most times even though PT will start playing again the plugs are either disabled or no longer have ADC.

Per suggestions on trouble shooting at the Digi DUC site I just installed CHUD and deselected \"allow processor nap\".
I have no idea if that will have an effect (in fact I'm not sure what a processor nap is) but I thought it worth a try.
I've also considered a new chassis set up IF I could find one that would assure my PT cards, UAD and PoCo would all play nice together.
More news later as the saga develops.

 

[mboudreau]

Let me know how your knap thing works out.

Are your HD cards in the chassis as well or are they in the G5?

On a semi related topic.....I was getting these horrible crashes where the screen freezes and the fans rev like a jet engine. I would then need to shut down via the power button on the front of the G5.

I read online that if you reseat your cards primarily the video card all would be fine. I did that and since then no crahes and none of the problems we've been discussing with chassis/UAD stuff.

Matt

 

[TheHopiWay]

MY HD, HD acell and Avid host card reside in the G5.
The chassis itself has 2 UAD and one Poco in it though I'm in the market for 1 or two more UAD cards as budget vs good deals show up.
Good news that you've solved the issue for yourself with a simple card reseat.
Guess what I'm about to try..............

 

[mboudreau]

I reseated all of it, ram, HD cards, video card and host card. Good luck!

Matt

 

[TheHopiWay]

Well after re-seating everything, adding a third UAD card and putting some time into slot order tests on the 3 UAD and the 1 POCO mkII card the results are in.
No Matter what I do the UAD cards work flawlessly until a PoCo plug is added.
With the PoCo in use connections randomly drop out every 3-5 minutes or once every half hour to hour depending on the mood of the TC demons.
To make life easier I'm considering selling the PoCo MkII and investing in a few more outboard verbs and call it good.
If UAD would come up with some verb options in addition to the plate 140 that were on par with the quality of the plate and their comps the move would sure be a lot easier.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[mboudreau]

update to losing connection

I reseated all of it, did a fresh install on a new drive, burned sage, prayed to all gods technical and it's still happening a little bit.

My next stop is to try a new chassis cable and then after that a new chassis. I talked with Casey at UA. He has a very similiar setup to you and I and he doesn't have this issue.

More to come.

Matt

 

[TheHopiWay]

Here's an update from my end.

My UAD cards continue to work well at a 512 buffer until I initiate a Powercore plugin.
I've discovered that if I change my PT buffer to 1024 the Powercore and UAD will work with no loss of connection.

Unfortunately with the ProTools restriction of 4095 samples of ADC added to it's bizarre added delay amounts on Aux sends/Busses the 1024 buffer renders my use of UAD plugins impractical as two plugs on a channel exceed the ADC ability.

As The UAD plugs are essential to my workflow I'll need to leave my buffer set to 512 and deal with the PoCo instability by tolerating it in the short term and selling the card and replacing it with other software or hardware verb combinations once I find ones I like.

Unless Digi revokes the darkside and removes adc limits on a future version........ but given the previous tension between UAD and Digi I doubt they'll increase ADC limits to service UAD cards. No other plugs (PoCo included) have long enough delay times to make the 4095 limit a problem.

Makes me wonder if it's an intentional limit added by digi....

 

[mboudreau]

UAD connection loss

I replaced the cable on my expansion chassis. Suprisingly I have a had excellent results. I too am doing the 512 thing. I'm not sure what the beef is between UA and Digi.

Matt