Dorico and VST Audio Engine continuously crashing

Dorico
#1

Hi,

I’ve recently purchased Dorico 2 but I’ve been having a hard time running it. Just after installing I used to get a lot of crashes (eg. after clicking P or Space bar to play the score). After a few days running okay I started having the same issues, but now every time I open it. The softwre just opens and even before I hit the Play button it hangs forever and I have to Force Quit it.

I suspect it may not be a software related issue, once it also happens when I try to open Cubase (I also have to force quit it). I usually get two crashes messages, one saying that “Dorico 2” is unresponsive and another one saying that the “VST Audio Engine” is unresponsive.

I already tried deleting the Dorico folder and VST Audio Engine folders from /Library/Application Support and Library/Preferences in order to reset the software settings but I keep having the same problems on and on. I’ve attached a log file from my Console.
I’ve been using Cubase for 10+ years and never had this problem. It all started since I installed Dorico, that is why I’m associating the VST Audio Engine with it.

Any ideas would be higly appreciated.
Thanks

Otavio
Mac Pro (early 2009) Quad-Core Intel Xeon 2.66GHz, 32GB, OS 10.11.6 El Capitan, firmware 4,1
Console Error log_Dorico.zip (95.5 KB)

#2

I’m sorry to hear that you are experiencing problems. I can’t tell much from the console log. It would be more informative to have a diagnostic log. The next time you experience a crash, ensure that the Dorico and audio engine processes aren’t running and then run Dorico again and do Help > Create Diagnostic Report. This will create a DoricoDiagnostics.zip file on the Desktop. Please attach that here.

#3

Hi, thanks for the input.
I opened a random project inside Dorico and hit Play. It freezed again and I got the unresponsive message related to Dorico and Audio Engine as usual. I forced quit and reopened, and then created the file you asked for, which I’ve attached here. Hope it helps us understanding what is going on this time :wink:

Thanks
Dorico Diagnostics.zip (1.18 MB)

#4

Hi Otsantos,
unfortunately, from the diagnostic files I can not see anything, except that Dorico and the audio engine are not crashing but just hanging indefinitely.
First thing we need to establish therefore is, does the same thing happen when you start with a new project?
If you start with a simple project from piano template and add a handful of arbitrary notes, does that play back or also freeze?
If not, save the project, close and reopen and try again. What happens?

If both Dorico and the audio engine freeze again, please go to Activity Monitor and create spindump.
At the top of that window is a little cogwheel icon, click on that and a popup menu appears where you can choose ‘create spindump’ or similarly named.
The output also please attach here. Thanks

Hoping to fix my hangs - any Big Sur issues?
#5

Hi Ulf,

I opened a new project, added a piano, inserted a few notes and just after hitting Play the same thing happened. With Dorico and Audio Engine still hanging I opened Activity Monitor and created spindump, which I’ve attached here.
Hope it helps finding what is going on. Thanks
Spindump_Dorico.zip (1.87 MB)

#6

We haven’t been able to take a look at the spindump just yet, but could you please download the 3.0.10 update and see if you still have the same problems?

#7

Unfortunately otsantos is running Dorico 2 and macOS 10.11, and it’s not possible to run Dorico 3 on this operating system. We’ll look into the spindump to see if we can find out what’s going on.

#8

otsantos, it looks to us like the problem is related to the eLicenser on your system. Can you try running eLicenser Control Center and let it run its maintenance tasks? If that doesn’t help, please download and install the latest version of eLicenser Control Center from here, to see if that helps.

#9

Hi,
I was already using the latest version of eLicencer, but I reinstalled it anyway. The first time I opened Dorico after it I still had the same issues, both with already existing projects and new ones. What I did then was going to the Preferences right after opening Dorico, then Audio Device Setup, changed the main device (my Apogee Quartet) to a random one and then changed back to my Apogee, and closed Preferences. I don’t know if it really did something or not, but after that Dorico started running normally, and since then I did not experienced that issue again.

Today is the second day I can run Dorico smoothly. I can say, at least for now, that the problem was solved :wink: However, I’m still considering it like a “test” period, and I’ll still give it some time before confirm the issue was permanentely solved. So far so good.
Thanks a lot for the support

#10

Good news. Let’s hope it stays that way.

#11

I’ve been having similar sound problems to the extent that Dorico is becoming unusable. It usually hangs on opening a file. Sometimes it plays if I go to engrave mode and then back to write mode - but not always.
I cannot change the output device without it freezing up.

So I decided to follow the FAQ advice and run the script to reset everything.
I’m on a Mac running OS Catalina with Dorico 3.0.10

I downloaded the Mac cleanup script but this seems to be unrecognised by Dorico (does not recognise .sh), Apple Script nor the Terminal app.
What should I try next - a complete re-install of everything? (but I’m not sure I can get rid of all the components since there are probably some hidden away where I can’t find them). I attach a diagnostic file in case it’s helpful.
Dorico Diagnostics.zip (665 KB)

#12

I don’t think reinstalling will help, I’m afraid, Andy. We need to look into these engine crashes on Catalina, which we will do as urgently as we’re able.

#13

Hi there, - was there anytime a real solution for that problem?
I’ve got the same issue here: Dorico doesn’t even real start, but is freezing after a few seconds with the start picture.
‘CleanMyMac’ says: “Not reacting programs: Dorico / VST Audio Engine”.
Running ‘maintenance’ in eLicenser didn’t change this behavior.

Its frustrating!

Thank for help,
Marc

#14

Hi Marc, sorry to hear about your problems. There could be several reasons to your problem.
Could we have a remote screen sharing session, as that is probably the fastest way to figure it out. Please send a mail to ‘u dot stoermer at steinberg dot de’ and we’ll sort the details.