FabFilter User Forum

Pro-L Memory Leak

Since version 1.20 (I think) Pro-L has been causing memory leaks until eventually either my system hangs or the host crashes.

It took me a while to figure out that Pro-L was the culprit because the error reports always listed either other plugins or the host itself but that seemed to be only the case possibly because that plugin/program performed the final action to push it over the edge when there was no memory left.

I've been able to confirm this through:
- removing Pro-L from the project while the leak was occurring immediately returned memory usage back to normal levels
- crashes occurred in projects with a single empty track and a single instance of Pro-L, no other plugins
- project files with NO instances of Pro-L are able to run normally for 72+ hours without crashes or increased memory usage.

Host: Reaper 5.x (issue persisted through several host updates)
OS: Win 7 Pro 64-bit, issue has also been recreated on Win 10 Pro 64-bit

Also, possibly unrelated but it started around the same time/update as the memory leaks, it seems after extended periods of time Pro-L sometimes defaults it's release time to 0ms regardless of what the release time is set to (knob has no effect). Reloading the project resolves the issue.

Dan — Apr 24, 2016

Forgot to mention, this doesn't seem to be a global FabFilter issue - I've had no issues with Pro-Q2 causing crashes - it's specific to the Pro-L.

Dan — Apr 24, 2016

I feel that I've been battling a long-time memory leak with Pro-Q 2 in WaveLab. Back in WaveLab 8.5 and continuing in 9, as soon as I start using Pro-Q 2 on clips (not on track or montage master), I get frequent crashes during and after file renders.

It's been hard to prove but I really feel that a FF memory leak is the cause after collecting all the data and crash reports.

Justin Perkins — Apr 25, 2016

Hi Dan,

I've done a brief test with Pro-L but wasn't able to reproduce this behavior. Can you perhaps send a small test project to us by email (use the contact link at the bottom of this page) that we can use to try to reproduce the memory leak? How long does it take approximately until there's no memory left and the crash occurs?

@Justin: I don't think a memory leak is responsible for the crashes that you've been seeing. Do you see the memory usage for WaveLab increase while you're working with our plugins?

Cheers,

Frederik (FabFilter) — Apr 26, 2016

I'm not sure how long it takes for it to BEGIN leaking. It's at least several hours before it gets to the point that it has tied up all of my system's memory (16GB) and causes a crash, at times I've caught it mid-way before a crash but already using 8GB+ of RAM, so it's a very slow leak, it doesn't always suddenly jump to max usages and crash.

I will e-mail a copy of a very simple Reaper project that experiences this.

Dan — Apr 26, 2016

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your email, I'm going to look into the problem.

Cheers,

Frederik (FabFilter) — Apr 28, 2016

Hi Floris,

I emailed you some more info regarding the crashing in WaveLab.

It seems to be related to a memory error when Pro-Q 2 is inserted on a clip in a WaveLab montage.

When Pro-Q 2 is inserted only in the montage master output effects, there is no problem.

I really hope this can be resolved because after a few years of this, my only choice is to not use Pro-Q 2 which would be bad because it's my favorite digital EQ.

Justin Perkins — Apr 29, 2016

Hello,
I would like to reply to this topic because I have the same problem in FL 12 with PRO-L.
After some testing I've experienced various crashing of FL due to this plugin.
I've been able to isolate the problem:
If you load an instance of PRO-L set to compact mode, Ram memory start to fill with no reason untill the Daw crashes. This is even more evident when you load many instances. The ram fills up by 10MB/sec. This happens only if the gui is visible.
Once you remove the instance or hide the gui, the ram stops from filling but it doesn't empty. After opening it a few times you reach your ram limit and the daw crashes.
This happens only with PRO-L and only if set to Compact mode.
Pointed out to FL's technical support and they confirmed that behaviour.

Madma — Mar 11, 2017

Hi Madma,

We are aware of this issue (which you described correctly) and will fix this in an update next week! It actually might affect other plug-ins (with a realtime display) as well, and we'll release updates for all of these!