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Q: Spinning Beach Ball of Death in Sountrack Pro/Logic/iTunes-one solution

I fired up the MacPro this morning to finish an audio project started yesterday. Soundtrack Pro was essentially unresponsive. I got the SBBoD after every action and the material would not play. The project originated in Logic so I tried that - with the same SBBoD result. I opened up both iTunes and QT Player and tried to play a selection - again with the same SBBoD result.

Other programs - Safari, Text edit and non- A/V media programs worked fine.

First attempt at a solution - simple reboot. It did not fix it.

2nd attempt - run DiskWarrior on all media drives. Did not fix it.

I open up Activity Monitor and look for strange things hogging the CPU. Nothing there.

Now I'm worried. Has QT gone kaboom? What would have caused QT to go south when it was working fine yesterday. How do I reinstall it? But why would just QT go bad?

Because I really don't want to start mucking about with system components, I start thinking- beyond QT, what else does audio playback on my system have in common?

Well, the audio output from all these programs goes through my Mackie firewire mixer - and I left it on last night.

For grins, I turned off the mixer and computer, unplugged the mixer's firewire cable from the computer as well as the fw800 drives used for backup and went to have another cup of coffee.

15 minutes later, I plug everything back in, turn on the mixer then the computer and everything works normally.

Hope this helps someone in a similar situation.

x

512k MacPlus with 40MB external SCSI drive, Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier

Posted on Jan 23, 2011 8:20 AM

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Q: Spinning Beach Ball of Death in Sountrack Pro/Logic/iTunes-one solution

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  • by NLEdit,

    NLEdit NLEdit Jan 23, 2011 10:28 AM in response to Studio X
    Level 4 (1,645 points)
    Jan 23, 2011 10:28 AM in response to Studio X
    Thanks for that.
    I've had something similar but at a more root level. I have a very nice G-Tech mini raid. One of the new ones that's eSata/firewire 800/400/USB. Really nice little unit that I cart around. But sometimes, when I have it plugged in and I power up the MacBook Pro, the computer hangs at the gray screen right after posting. I'm sitting here waiting and nothing happens. Well, not until I unplug the drive and then I get her started.
    Add that to the list.
  • by Greg Vrchoticky,

    Greg Vrchoticky Greg Vrchoticky May 9, 2015 9:48 PM in response to Studio X
    Level 3 (615 points)
    May 9, 2015 9:48 PM in response to Studio X

    X

    Since Soundtrack is not available anymore. What audio program would you recommend?

  • by Studio X,

    Studio X Studio X May 10, 2015 12:47 AM in response to Greg Vrchoticky
    Level 7 (27,059 points)
    May 10, 2015 12:47 AM in response to Greg Vrchoticky

    If you have access to the FCS 2009 suite, while not officially supported, it does work for some on various versions of OSX. It still works running OSX 10.8 on my MacPro and running OSX 10.9 on my MacMiniServer.

     

    As an alternate, I'll use Audition (i have the 2014 CC suite).

     

    Good luck,

     

    x

  • by Greg Vrchoticky,

    Greg Vrchoticky Greg Vrchoticky May 10, 2015 7:42 AM in response to Studio X
    Level 3 (615 points)
    May 10, 2015 7:42 AM in response to Studio X

    X - Adobe requires a monthly/yearly fee?  You just cannot buy the software outright?

    What are your thoughts on Logic Pro?  I am looking for an alternative to SoundTrack Pro - something a little more than a basic program.

    Soundtrack fixed that need - I am just afraid that Logic/Audition may be a lot more than I really need...Thanks for the feedback!

  • by Studio X,

    Studio X Studio X May 10, 2015 10:48 AM in response to Greg Vrchoticky
    Level 7 (27,059 points)
    May 10, 2015 10:48 AM in response to Greg Vrchoticky

    Yes, the Adobe CC software is on a subscription model. I looked at what I spent on software updates for all the software (AfterEffects, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom) over a multi year period and decided that it was just about a wash for me - so I went for it. My hope is by the time I'm start to scale back, they'll have a one time "buy out and stay at your last level" option.

     

    I've have Logic Express 9 and only used it a few times - mainly for remote recording with multi mike setup. Could have done the same thing in STP. I haven't used Logic X.

     

    Sorry I can't offer more insight.

     

    x

  • by Greg Vrchoticky,

    Greg Vrchoticky Greg Vrchoticky May 10, 2015 11:42 AM in response to Studio X
    Level 3 (615 points)
    May 10, 2015 11:42 AM in response to Studio X

    Thanks

     

    Greg Vrchoticky