FabFilter

Hi,

In the last month or so i'm getting an error message in Pro Tools quite often (which i never had before) saying:
»Audio processing deadline was not met. This may have been caused by the following plugin:
Plugin: FabFilter Pro-Q 4 (4.01)
Track: AMB.st 2
Insert: A
Try inactivating the plugin, increasing the HW buffer size, or disabling "Optimize Performance at Low Buffer Sizes" in the Playback Engine Dialog.
(AAE -9173)«
It happened several times both for Q3 and Q4 and on different systems. And it's recurring on the same spot on the timeline but only if i play from way earlier.
My main system is an M1 Mac Studio running Ventura, PT is 2024.10.0

Thanks!
Peter

I'm having a similar issue. Pro tools will crash sometimes due to Pro Q 4 or I will receive the same message above. Just now I was using it on my drum bus and it completely messed up the timing of the drums and I had to remove the plug in. I did not have this with Pro Q 3, though.

iMac, 2019, 3.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7
Mac OS Catalina, 10.15.7
Pro Tools 21.12.0.97

Im having the same problem :(
Q3+Q4

M1 Mac Studio running Ventura PT 2024.10.2

I've seen this same error as well. It seems to be more prevalent in Pro-Q3 v 3.26 than it was in version 3.24.

I haven't got enough Pro-Q4 instances running so haven't had it from that plugin.

I'm on M2 Ultra Mac Pro / Sequoia 15.2 PT 2024.10.2 although the problem is reproducible in ProTools back to 2024.6 here (and probably earlier versions as well).

It is also more likely with a longer run-up. This is probably due to how ProTools dynamic plugin processing works (aka - not processing silence) so the plugin kicks in when audio is coming up on the track.

Curious to see if turning off the Fourier waveform makes a difference... will test that tomorrow.

Hi,

We've gotten a few reports about this as well. It seems this is a dynamic processing issue inside Pro Tools. Can you see if disabling dynamic plug-in processing makes a difference?

Well the issue there is that in huge sessions, dynamic plugin processing is the only way they will play, because it avoids ProTools attempting to process silence. I have 700 tracks…. I can’t turn it off realistically.

Also FabFilter is the ONLY plugin being called out by ProTools for this error. None of the others - and it’s almost always Pro-Q3 and it seemed to get worse around v 3.26. Will inquire around ProTools as well.

That's interesting. Can you see if rolling back to 3.25 makes a difference:

cdn-b.fabfilter.com/downloads/ffproq325.dmg

Same issue is here on Pro Tools 2024.10.2 (macOS Sonoma 14.7.2). Version 3.25 doesn't make a difference.

Same here, it started a few months ago, and upgrading to 3.26 didn't help.
I'm on PT 2024.10.0, MacOS Ventura. M1 Ultra.
It's starting to become quite annoying. I've purchased ProQ4 but have yet to implement it in my template but judging by what other users say, the problem has persisted apparently.

Hi,

We are on the same boat here also.
I've noticed like the other since ProQ3 last version i guess. And now i have it with ProQ4, last update.
I had it with Pro tools 2024.6, 2024.10 and now 2024.10.1

Hi Ralph,

Empirically I thought that 3.24 made a difference. (Less probability of this type of error).

I have the same issue as well. I switched all my ProQ3 to ProQ4 and enabled all my bands to work in spectral mode. I thought that might be it but it's not. I might have to switch back to ProQ3.

I've unfortunately had to switch back all my ProQ4 instances to ProQ3. It's a shame because I really want to use it but I will get a click/ pop every time I stop and hit play again. Exact same template, same plug in's, same everything, the only difference is ProQ4 so it's definitely the culprit. And also, I understand that they are "different" plug in's but not being able to copy at least the basic layer of eq's without Dynamics or Spectral engaged is pretty annoying. That should be fixed. And honestly it's really unfortunate, I have every Fabfilter plug in and they are consistently the best and most reliable. So this is a pretty big miss for FB. I know you'll fix it asap.

If I'm not mistaken - Pro Q3 3.25 had some issues, I cannot remember what. So I think using 3.2.4 for testing this issue would be best (with Spectral turned off)

If 3.24 doesn't fix the problem I'd try Pro Tools 24.3.1, or even 23.12.1 - because in 24.6 the "deadline missed" error came up with some other plugins UNLESS I disabled Dynamic PlugIn Processing. According to Avid this was fixed in 24.10, but testing a version of Pro Tools before the issue came up might be best.

Note - the bug introduced in 24.6 (and fixed in 24.10) wasn't exclusive to Speakerphone - that's just how the bug was reproduced/written.

Pro Q3 3.24 backrolling in itself does not help unfortunately.

CPU Audio Processing Deadline Not Met AAE-9173” - here too!

The only system changes made were upgrading to Windows 11 and also upgrading to PT 2024.10.2. But it was functioning just fine over weeks of multiple session openings. Both completed and sessions-in-progress were working fine, and now… Help!

Tried inactivating all plugins (Shift Key depressed on session launch) and then activated them one at a time – no help in identifying. Adjusted HW Buffer, Cache size, ‘Dynamic Plugin Processing’ to no avail.

Placed all plugins into a temp folder and then went through the laborious process of bring small batches of the plugins back into PT and restarted a session. It became immediately obvious that the FabFilter products were the culprit. Both Pro-Q3 and Pro-R2 are causing the issue; with Pro Q3 being the worst offender. When I reinstalled the Pro-Q3 and Pro-R2 plugins back into the PT’s Plugin Folder, the System Usage CPU meter bounces up & down (sometimes up to 100%) even before I hit Play, and then during playback would also hit 100% and crash. To confirm, with the Pro-Q3 and Pro-R2 removed from the PT Plugin Folder, the CPU meter reads (Playback) fairly stable and peaks at ~45-50%.

The only limited success I had was with deleting the “AAXPluginCache” which did work for a period of time.

I love, and I was always impressed with the FabFilter products, but this is a real concern. Please Fix ASAP!

Update to "CPU Audio Processing Deadline Not Met AAE-9173” - here too!

‘Trash Preferences’ (Windows: %appdata%, Avid Folder, delete Pro Tools Folder, restart computer / launch) works, but for a limited number of session openings and then the CPU problem returns???? Somehow, rebuilding the plugin list works until some internal process occurs or a corrupt buffer builds up… just guessing, beyond me.

Rolling back to PT 2024.3.1 definitely helps.
Had a long session playing through a 2-hour music documentary film several times with a lot of Pro Q3s and a few Q4s in the session, automated a ton and lots of dynamic EQing and only had this issue once.

Hi,

does anyone have any experience of this issue also making trouble with commiting and offline bounce?

I've tried to roll back to 2023.12 which was very stable here.
But there are always some glitches with i guess FFProeq4.

With big sessions and Proq4, it's very annoying. I'm going to finish the movie i'm on with that setup but surely, for the next one, i will stay with proq3.

Can we have a expecting date or something to hope in that bug resolution ?
Do you with Avid identify the problem ??

Thanks

Hi Mikael,

We're not really sure what causes these messages. We know that Avid is investigating though, but we don't know more than that.

I've seen this message before with other than FabFilter plugins and usually when using plugins that take a good bit of processing in a session with different developer's plugins. If you watch the system usage metering in PT you'll probably see it go red in the top line. This is on an ancient MacPro cheesegrater running OSX 10.13.6 and PT 2021.6 combined with low buffer settings. One of the things that seems to trigger it is opening a plugin gui and making changes in said plugin. Reverbs seem to be the worst culprit.

Hi,

Not sure to have seen that message before, i mean with older setup.
But surely, since i'm working with a MacStudio M2Ultra, they were no errors at all since the last ProQ3. I think i've seen the first error in october, or november.

Maybe it's a pro tools thing, i just don't know.
I will change to proEq3 in my next project and see if it's better.

(I am at the mixing stage, and the computer is less powerfull than mine , and it's a Xeon MacPro 2019 ; i have errors also.)

I am having exactly the same errors in PT2024.10.2, MacMini M4pro, Sequoia 15.3.1

Disabling the "dynamic plugin processing" avoid stopping errors, but i get every 10min of play glitches in the sound (not recorded in the mix, but that are audible in the speaker chain).

Please find the fix ! ProQ4 is too much helpful in spectral mode !!!

Still happening all the time. With all FF plugs. Not the worst thing because you can still work but it's super annoying and needs to get fixed. Probably happening at least once every 5 minutes for me.