How to Install Blue Cat Audio in Pro Tools 11

Blue Cat Patchwork and Pro Tools Instability

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Hey guys,

I recently started using Blue Cat Audio's Patchwork so I can use Slates VCC in Pro Tools 11HD, until that mythical day when all the Slate stuff if AAX 64. Anyway, since then my formally rock solid system has been getting random crashing and frequent hangs on any session using Patchworks. Load times are also much longer. That I get, it's got to initialize Patchworks and the plugin inside of it on every track. But the stability issue is killing me. I've had it straight up quit and go back to the desktop multiple times in an hour span, which hurts productivity enough as it is, but then it takes forever to load the session again. Anyone else using this workaround having the same problems? I've tried the normal fixes, done the standard troubleshooting. Last night I installed Pro Tools 11.2.1, so I'll see if it's any better. If it doesn't, I'm going to try and erase and install unless I hear from everyone that this is just life with wrapped plugins. I figured I'd post and ask about others experiences before I go through that trouble (particularly since I'm on a hackintosh)

Here are some of my system specs (again, system ran flawlessly and I had never had it crashed before using VCC in Patchworks)
Sandy Bridge Core i7 clocked to 4.0ghz
16gb of 1600mhz memory
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD5 (I think)
Mac OS 10.9.2, all other updates applied.
Issue occurred in 11.1.3, then in 11.2 as well. Just installed 11.2.1, so gonna see how that works.

Any way guys, any advice, similar experiences, fixes, commiserating, all will be appreciated.

Lives for gear

Quote:

Originally Posted by darbyclash34 ➡️

Anyone else using this workaround having the same problems?

Same problems. I had BC Patchwork installed for 5 minutes, primarily for hosting Slate VCC and FG-X. 5 minutes was enough for me. Uninstalled it again.
I'm using PT HD 11, Win7.

Gear Guru

i had a lock up / crash with PT11.1.3 last week (demoing paychwork) … i got a couple straange error messages .. i removed all plugins from plugins folder - replaced them a few letters at a time (plugins alphabetically) .. if i tried to add too many plugins at once i found a couple plugins gave me trouble for no reason / as i would go back and load them again with less at once it finally worked … no rhyme or reason for this .. as everything is back the way it was and everything works .. hours of troubleshooting and not heop of ever knowing why i got my system back working … i posted this in a thread at Avid DUC … i asked if there could be a Plugins Foler Re-Build (automatically) so we do not have to go through this … very painful .. but might work for you as well ..

know this … if you remove all the plugins from the plugins folder, PT11 (pretty sure HD is the same) will rebuild the main default plugins on it's own .. never seen PT do this before … and then after that you can add back in other plugins .. very strange behavior IMHO

cheers john

Lives for gear

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwh1192 ➡️

know this … if you remove all the plugins from the plugins folder, PT11 (pretty sure HD is the same) will rebuild the main default plugins on it's own

Just now, I:

- Quit PT HD 11
- Moved all plug-ins to the Plug-Ins (Unused) folder.
- Launched PT again

No plug-ins were rebuilt. Folder is empty. No plug-ins available from inside PT.
Maybe if I moved them to another, non-PT folder, it might behave as you described.

EDIT: Nope, no rebuild.

So you removed all of your Pro Tools plugins, and then added them back in small groups, and this resolved the issue? Are you still using Patchwork? You did just give me an idea, seeing as I only use Patchwork for VCC and I may use FG-X, maybe I should take all the other vst and audio units installed on the system, since I only use Pro Tools on that computer. Couldn't hurt.

It seems as if a new version of Patchwork has been released that fixes some mac crashes, going to download and give that a try as well.

Lives for gear

My above experience was with version V1.4 (2014/07/24).

Gear Guru

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metrik ➡️

Just now, I:

- Quit PT HD 11
- Moved all plug-ins to the Plug-Ins (Unused) folder.
- Launched PT again

No plug-ins were rebuilt. Folder is empty. No plug-ins available from inside PT.
Maybe if I moved them to another, non-PT folder, it might behave as you described.

EDIT: Nope, no rebuild.

yes, i am srry i did create a PLugins unused 2 folder … my bad .. sorry man !!

Blue Cat Audio

Hi,

Slate VCC is indeed known to be causing problems when hosted as a VST thru Blue Cat's PatchWork in Pro Tools 11 (random crashes). Slate is aware of the problem and we are looking at it together. Several other Slate plug-ins used to have similar problems in the past, and the latest update fixed these issues. There is unfortunately nothing we can do on our side to fix this problem.

Blue Cat Audio

By the way, it has been reported by several customers that the Audio Unit version of some Slate plug-ins was running properly in PT11 using our plug-in while the VST version crashed. So you may want to try if the AU version of VCC runs better on your system.

I do believe I was using the vst version of VCC so I'll try the AU. Versus them putting out an update to fix issues with patchwork I'd rather get an AAX 64 update, but the Patchworks fix seems closer.

Lives for gear

I just installed the demo "just for fun" partially thinking I would be able to use AAX plugins in Logic (which is not the case). I was able to run some VIs in PT11 that aren't AAX yet like Alchemy. It's a neat idea if you're really stuck.

Gear Nut

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluecataudio ➡️

By the way, it has been reported by several customers that the Audio Unit version of some Slate plug-ins was running properly in PT11 using our plug-in while the VST version crashed. So you may want to try if the AU version of VCC runs better on your system.

The VCC AU is randomly crashing for me also using Patchwork 1.4 in PT 11.2.1. Seems to happen most often while I'm loading VCC into Patchwork.

Damn, I was hoping the AU thing would be the trick. I do see it most often when enabling the plugin, but it happens other times as well.

I'm having some issues with softube plugs not showing presets and sampletank not finding its content, so I may go ahead and do an erase and install and see if that helps. I've also been in touch with slate digital about it, so maybe we'll get somewhere with it.

I've had the same issues with Slate plugs and also with Nebula when using Patchwork to host it and yes it does slow the work flow to a halt.

I see Black Cat Patchwork allows "up to 8 audio channels"

Trying to watch some videos on how to use BCP and VCC together, but I know VCC is something you'll want on a lot of your tracks in your DAW. Does this mean I'll only be able to place VCC on 8 track if I use BC Patchwork or I should be able to place it on as many tracks as I want, I just need to learn how to work VCC and BCP together?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

cogginsthetting.blogspot.com

Source: https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/948689-blue-cat-patchwork-pro-tools-instability.html

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