STP2 frequently crashes on me. I am current on all application and OS software, and on a quad core Intel Mac Pro. I'm working on a 90 minute film project, the video editing having been done in FCP, so it is not an insubstantial amount of data. The data is all on a 1.5TB external drive operating over a Firewire 800 connection. It often crashes when I try to Save the project. It will go into the spinning beachball and never come out, so I have to Force Quit. It is now often also blurring over the screen when I try to Save, as if display memory is getting hugely corrupted. I had thought maybe it has a bad memory leak, so I upgraded from 4GB to 8GB of memory, but it did not even increase the time between crashes. It has gotten so bad that I may have to go to the video editor with my current STP files and ask that he produce an OMF export so I can work in Logic Pro instead. (STP has no OMF export - only import.) Does anyone have any STP suggestions or workarounds that might be helpful?

Hi Brian, Welcome to the forums :) Have you tried deleting the STP2 preferences? Users / Username / Library / Preferences / com.apple.soundtrackpro.plist I wonder if that will help? Also, is it possible to work with smaller chunks of the 90 minute film in STP2? Rounik

Thanks, Rounik. Deleting the preferences file seems to have helped. I've spent one hour working on the project so far, saved the project file twice now, and no crashes. I'll update this post if this success doesn't continue. Also, for those who have the Apogee Ensemble A/D-D/A unit, I have found that apparently starting up STP2 first, then turning on the Apogee unit, seems to help. Presumably this helps by loading in the Ensemble device driver after STP2 has started. And if I have to restart STP2, I always restart the Mac and start back up in the same sequence. Brian

After a few more days of using STP2, it still continues to crash, though I can go for an hour and maybe a little longer before it does. At least this is an improvement, though still extremely frustrating and time wasting. It is unclear what actions or conditions cause it to do so or what further workarounds would be helpful. I continue to delete the preferences file after every crash, just in case it helps. When it crashes, it still completely messes up the display, leaving me to have to reboot by hitting the power switch. Brian

Hi Brian, Glad you can at least save your project, but this shouldn't be happening! Have you installed 3rd party ram in your Mac recently? Any other apps / drivers / updates installed recently? What is your Mac? Are you up to date with the latest versions of Quicktime, FCP, STP2, Pro App updates, etc? Thanks Rounik

Hi Rounik, Yes, I'm up to date with all apps and OS levels. It is an Intel quad core Mac Pro. I keep this machine pretty clean - never go on the internet other than to download updates, and keep all but the needed apps off of it. I don't have FCP itself installed, rather I have the Logic Audio suite that includes STP2. I use the Apogee Ensemble A/D-D/A and have its most recent driver installed. I do run a Dell 30" monitor rather than the Apple 30" monitor, along with a second 20" monitor, both on the digital outputs, but I don't think the Mac knows the difference. The project is all on an external Seagate firewire 800 drive. STP2 has been unstable from the start, though the display memory getting corrupted is fairly new. And it has always crashed as a result of trying to Save a project. It originally had 4GB of factory installed RAM, and I was seeing all these issues then (including the display corruptions), and thinking it might be a bad memory leak, I installed another 4GB of RAM of the right specs (though not via Apple). It made no difference good or bad. I will run my TechTools 5 deep diagnostics again, but nothing has come up so far. Any other diagnostics you might suggest? Might re-installing STP2 help? I might try to work on the project on my new Macbook Pro, to see what happens - I would just have to plop another $100 down to get the proper video interface cable. Thanks for your help! Brian

Hi Brian, I'm a little puzzled by this. Seems like you're doing everything right... I'm not a huge STP user, but the times I've needed to use it I've been fine. What kind of files are you importing into STP? What is your process of bringing them in? Can you try using the built in audio (disconnect your Apogee and switch the System Pref > Sound to Built-in) Does it still crash when trying to save? In fact, does it ONLY crash when you try and save? I'm gonna have to do some more digging (research) to see if we can find a better solution for you on this. Please give me a little time for this though :) two things I would try - quit all apps and then run Repair Permissions on your startup drive using Disk Utility (in Applications/Utilities) - Try running the STP project files from your internal drive if possible Let me know how it goes :) Rounik