Max 7: Crash when closing Audio Status window
Hi all,
I am currently in contact with customer support about this issue, but I thought I'll post this here to see if anyone can reproduce the crashes I am experiencing. Up to now, Andrew Pask from Cycling '74 can't explain the behavior I am experiencing.
My system specs:
- Mac OS 10.9.5
- Intel Core i7 2.8 GHz
- 8 GB RAM
- Core Audio driver: Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 (latest update) / Internal Audio (no difference)
To reproduce the crash, open up a patch which uses quite the amount of CPU (all above 10% reproduces the scenario on my machine). I successfully reproduced the behavior with the MSP Polyphony Tutorial on Granular Synthesis (https://cycling74.com/wiki/index.php?title=MSP_Polyphony_Tutorial_3:_Granular_Synthesis).
Open the Audio Status window with the DSP chain activated and the patch active, making use of the CPU (above 10%). Then close the Audio Status window, which crashes Max on my machine.
Questions:
a) Do you experience an audible audio dropout when you close the Audio Status window? If so, could anyone comment why this is so? This also happens when I close other patcher windows while the first patch is running.
b) Does Max crash when you close the Audio Status window?
In some cases I have to open and close the Audio Status window multiple times to reproduce the crash. But it always does, eventually.
The behavior is identical when I open Max in both 32 bit and 64 bit mode.
I would be extremely grateful for some feedback on this.
Cheers,
Matthias
Anyone? I've found that the crash is more likely to happen with longer Signal Vector sizes.
I'd be so happy if anyone could give it a try.
Matthias
Hi
just to let you know you're not abandoned: I tried this under Windows 7 (Max7 32-bit) and it sounds like sh*t, regardless of buffer/vector settings, very distorted audio, but I couldn't get it to crash. Under Max6 I just couldn't get Max to see the poly subpatcher, so I couldn't test it there . . .
Thanks so much for trying, Brendan. I'm still waiting to test it on another mac. I should have a chance within the next few weeks.
Weird that what you're saying about the distortions you're getting, I never experienced that.
Hi,
Tested it out here on OS X 10.10.1 and Max 7.0.0.
Reproducing the crash with your instructions after 4-5 closes of the windows consistently.
However, I tried it using the Max 6 audio status window (from within Max 7) and no crashy.
Here's a copy of the Max 6 version if you're missing it. Try it out.
`
I can reproduce here, with the only difference that the crashes appear more likely when using small vector sizes (32) and by this pushing up CPU usage above 10%.
I also observed that when DSP is globally on (not just in inside the window) before opening Audio Status the color of the Audio On/Off icon inside the Audio Status window is displayed orange (locally enabled) first before switching to blue (globally enabled). When using larger vectors to avoid the crash audio is interrupted for a moment until DSP globally enabled is active.
The latter behavior also occurs occurs with the most simple patcher i.e.: [cycle~ ] -> [ezdac~].
The crash might be related to that switch between global and local DSP.
J
Tested on:
MackBook Pro 15-inch, Mid 2012Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7Memory 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3Software OS X 10.9.5
Thank you so much for trying this. I was really feeling that it was my setup causing the crash, since Andrew couldn't reproduce it, no matter how hard he tried.
Jan, I also noticed the orange and blue Audio On/Off icons and couldn't figure out what the colours really mean. Thanks for clearing this up. And I also noticed that the icon switches from orange to blue immediately after opening the Audio Status window. And then when I close it, crash.
There seems to be something wrong with the Audio Status patcher in Max 7. In Max 6, I can't reproduce the behaviour. And thanks Dan, I'll try this out.
Would it be possible for you to post some crash reports, so I can direct Andrew here for review?
All the best and thanks again,
Matthias
As the Audio Status window is pure Max the bug is most likely somewhere deeper. I also experience crashes occasionally when editing a patch (signal patch cords) with DSP on. Unfortunately I couldn't find a reproducible scenario yet, so nothing useful to report to Andrew at the moment ...
But this bug made me appreciate the recover edits function wich works very! well - except occasionally loosing content of message boxes and sometime formatting options of some objects. :)
Hi Jan,
Thanks so much for your time. I'll pass the info along to Andrew tonight when I'm home from work. I just reproduced the crash on one of my work colleague's computers (Mac OS).
All the best,
Matthias
I am now also getting this crash on my Mac, OSX 10.7.5
The v6 Audio Status Window - where can I find it? I cannot see it in any of the subfolders in Max 6.1/patches ... or does it actually have a different file name?
We have finally successfully reproduced this in house and there will be a fix for it in the next release, due soon
Thanks for your perseverance and sorry for the trouble
Cheers
-A
It is great to see this being fixed but crashing happens a lot more with max 7 than it ever did with 6 in my experience. And for no apparent reason.
Otherwise the new interface is fine and the new tools work well too.
cheers Roger
Hey Andrew, thanks that you kept trying. I'm looking forward to the fix!
All the best,
Matthias
Tested on Max 7.0.1. The update fixed the issue. Thanks guys!
Matthias