ProTools: Waves plugins are missing

posted 2014.06.06

Problem: Waves plugins are not being recognized after successfully installing Pro Tools HD in standalone mode onto a Macbook Pro.

Try this fix:

1. Quit Pro Tools.
2. Make sure that the Waves folder is at /Applications/Waves.
3. Open up the folder /Applications/Waves/Waveshells.
4. Copy the file WaveShell-DAE 8.0.dpm and paste it into the folder /Library/Application Support/Digidesign.
5. Relaunch Pro Tools.
6. When Pro Tools prompts you for the location of the Waves plugins, navigate to /Applications/Waves/Waves Plug-Ins and select that folder.
7. Pro Tools should continue to launch normally, now with the Waves plugins installed.

Works for me.™

ProTools: PT LE error -6093

posted 2007.06.23

While bouncing to disk, I get this error:

The Operating System held off interrupts for too long. If this occurs frequently, try increasing the "H/W Buffer Size" in the Playback Engine panel. (-6093)

The Digidesign website and suggests several workarounds, including:

• Reduce CPU Usage to "below 95%"
• Connect Digi 002 to FireWire port on Mac G5’s front panel
• Reduce number of active plugins

What works for me:

• Quit ProTools, re-launch, and try again (works sometimes)
• Connect Digi 002 to FireWire port on Mac G5’s front panel

Alesis ADAT HD24: How to loop playback of two songs

posted 2007.11.10

Although the Alesis ADAT HD24 lets you loop the playback of a single song (or a region therein), it doesn’t let you loop several songs in a row. The solution is conceptually simple, if a bit cumbersome in practice: merge (i.e., concatenate) the two songs into new song, and loop that one.

Here’s how to concatenate two songs. We’ll assume that Drive1 contains "Song1" and "Song2", and that Drive2 has enough free space for one copy of Song1 and two copies of Song2.

1. Select Drive1 and copy Song1 and Song2 to Drive2. [see p. 54 in the manual]
2. Select Drive2. (From here on we’ll only need Drive2)
3. Select song "Song1" and rename it to "Merge" [p. 33]
4. Select song "Song2" and write-protect it
5. Set the Edit Start and Edit End points to each end of "Song2" [p. 56]
6. Select a track (or group of tracks) to copy.
7. Copy
8. Select song "Merge"
9. Set Edit Start to the end of "Merge".
10. Select the track(s) to paste (must be the same as the track(s) you selected in step 6!).
11. Paste

(If your songs are long, your HD24’s copy/paste buffer may not be large enough to copy and paste all your tracks at once, and you’ll get an error message. If this occurs, try copying/pasting fewer tracks at once.)

You’ve now appended a copy of one (or more) track(s) from "Song2" to the corresponding track(s) from "Song1". If your songs contain additional tracks, repeat the following steps as needed:

1. Select song "Song2"
2. Select the next track (or group of tracks) to copy
3. Copy
4. Select song "Merge"
5. Select the track(s) to paste (must be the same as the track(s) you selected in step 2!).
6. Paste

Now you can create a loop for your merged song, as described on pp. 45-46 of the manual. And don’t forget to write-protect your merged song!

Alesis ADAT HD24: ProTools WAV file transfer via ftp

posted 2007.11.10

After many wrong turns and much hair-pulling, here’s how I managed to upload ProTools sound files from my Mac to the Alesis ADAT HD24. Here are some notes to spare me (and possibly you?) future grief.

• Bounce desired audio from ProTools to WAV files. [I haven’t tried this with AIFF.]
• For each file: import it into Audacity and export it as a WAV file. [For some reason, the ADAT HD24 doesn’t recognize WAV files created by ProTools — the ftp client hangs after a few hundred bytes into the upload.]
• Rename the files as described in the HD24 manual ("TrackXX.wav" — refer to p.86 of the manual). [The ADAT HD24 doesn’t recognize WAV files created by ProTools — I can’t even upload them.]
• Connect the HD24 to the Mac via an ethernet hub. [I simply could not establish a direct ethernet connection, with either a direct or a crossover cable.]
• Use Fetch to upload files to the appropriate directory. [Cyberduck connects with the HD24 OK, but it displays each folder in the HD24 as empty!]

ProTools: Import Audio Error

posted 2008.06.02

While trying to import an AIFF file, ProTools handed me this message:

Could not complete the Import Audio Command because Assertion in “FFAudioProcessRequantize.cpp”, line 150

Fortunately, I happened to know in advance that this particular AIFF file was corrupt. (That’s what I get for rolling my own sound files.) The meaning of the message is thus fairly clear. Translation:

That file is corrupt and I refuse to deal with it. Have a nice day.

ProTools: 2GB file size limit

posted 2010.01.25

While trying to import an audio file, I see this message:

Explanation: ProTools files are limited to a 2GB (2048MB) maximum size. See Digidesign website.

ProTools: Volume set to "Transfer" only

posted 2007.03.06

Sometimes when trying to open a PT session that was previously saved on an external disk (LaCie 232GB), I get this dialog box:

The session is saved on a volume set to "Transfer" only. If permitted, set the volume(s) in question to "P" (Playback) or "R" (Record) in the Workspace. Otherwise, choose OK to save a copy of this session and its media to a valid playback volume. The session copy will automatically open from the chosen location. [Cancel] [OK]

Fix: Cancel out of the dialog and, from the Window menu, select Workspace. This brings up a window that lists the available volumes (hard drives, etc.). Look at the "A" column associated with the suspect volume. It probably shows up as "T" (for transfer). Click on the "T" and, from the little pop-up menu, select "R" (for record).

That’s it. (Note that this is exactly what the dialog box tells you to do!)

ProTools: D-Fi plugins won’t authorize

posted 2008.10.26

After I upgraded to PT LE 7.1, my D-Fi plugins wouldn’t authorize. When launching 7.1, four consecutive D-Fi splash screens come up, asking for authentication of the D-Fi plugins. I tried authenticating it with the code I was given when I purchased 7.0, but the authorization code was rejected. I never used D-Fi anyway, so I’d be happy to just get rid of it so I can get back to work. Trouble is, there’s no plugin named "D-Fi" in the PT plugins folder!

Fix: Remove the following plugins from the plugins folder (/Library/Application Support/Digidesign/Plug-Ins/): Lo-Fi, RectiFi, SciFi, and VariFi. PT will launch without trying to load D-Fi.