FabFilter User Forum
Spectral add crashes ProTools and silences all audio
So, almost every time now when I try to change an EQ node to Spectral it SILENCES my whole system. It’s like my main output is just gone and only solution is shut down ProTools and restart. No bueno. Latest PT and Mac OS.
Is this an isolated incident or is Fab Filter the problem?
Bill Briare — Mar 26, 2025
Hi Bill,
That's strange. Can you send us a small video of the session and possible a project file so we can have a look?
To the OP: do you get any error messages in PT?
Ralph, Yes I can send a video on Friday. Can you be more specific on the “project file” I should send?
In reply to the 2nd question in the thread, no there is no error message in ProTools. I click on a EQ node and convert to Spectral, poof. All sound gone. I save, close and reopen and everything is fine. Spectral works great. But obviously, I can’t keep shutting down every time.
ProTools often crashes when adding a spectral layer (another one already exists) or when changing parameters. If no automation is changed, the plug-in works fine. It's not compatible with the Q3. If it's in the same session and the spectral layers are used, ProTools crashes.
Great features, but not yet stable.
Hi Kai,
Can you elaborate on this, and give us instructions on how to reproduce? I mix in Pro Tools every day and have not encourtered these issues.
Hi Ralph,
I have various Q4 instances in the session. As a rule, the plug-in behaves normally, but when I sometimes make an edit (write the automation), it always crashes at the same point. There are only 7-9 filters set (icon style) and 1-2 of them are connected with spectral layers. If I copy and paste the automation from before, it passes over the position without any problems. The sessions are sometimes somewhat larger and comprise 2-4 43min mixes. Thin automation does not give any improvements.
Hi Kai,
That's interesting. Do you get the same crashed when you put the Pro-Q 4 instances that use spectral bands in linear phase mode in the bottom bar?
Hi Ralph,
2 passes have so far shown no crashes in the same place. I will continue testing. Would be nice if it could fix the problem.
Hi Kai,
thanks for the update. We're still looking into this but it's a rather complex issue.
I’m kind of curious if this was ever resolved. It still happens pretty regularly when I’m mixing. To recap, I have instances of Q4 on nearly every track and fairly often, when I add spectral nodes or convert an instance to spectral, ALL SOUND DISSAPEARS! Very frustrating and only way to get it back is to close ProTools and restart it. Instance appears with spectral and all is good.
Doesn’t happen every time but it’s probably 20-25% of the time which is pretty annoying.
Other than that FF4 rocks!
Hi William,
We've never been able to reproduce Pro-Q 4 going silent when switching to Spectral mode. Do you have a session in which you can reproduce this? If so can you send it to us at info@fabfilter.com?