Hi guys,
I would like to report a recurring issue I have been experiencing since upgrading to Nuendo 15 (currently version 15.0.21) on macOS Sequoia 15.7.4.
The issue is difficult to reproduce consistently, because it happens randomly, approximately once every 7–10 days, but it has now occurred multiple times on different projects.
My system:
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Nuendo 15.0.21
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macOS Sequoia 15.7.4
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Mac Studio M4 Max
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Universal Audio Apollo X8
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Projects are mostly audio-only mix sessions
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No MIDI or virtual instruments involved in many of the affected sessions
The issue:
Some projects suddenly become unusable.
The project opens normally and completes the loading process correctly:
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audio files load correctly
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plugins load correctly
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no missing files
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no crash during loading
However, immediately after the project has fully opened, Nuendo enters a complete freeze/deadlock state:
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macOS beachball appears
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the application becomes permanently unresponsive
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no crash dialog appears
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no plugin blacklist or plugin error message is shown
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I am forced to quit Nuendo manually via Force Quit
Important detail:
this is NOT a crash.
Nuendo freezes indefinitely.
What makes the issue particularly strange is that:
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it happens even on projects containing only audio tracks and plugins
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no MIDI tracks
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no virtual instruments
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no orchestral templates
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no Kontakt or sample libraries involved
Troubleshooting already performed:
I already tried the following extensively:
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launching Nuendo in Safe Mode
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disabling preferences
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disabling third-party plugins
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opening the project without loading plugins
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removing EuCon completely
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disconnecting and powering off my Avid Artist controller
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testing without EuCon installed
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checking hardware and audio interface stability
The freeze still occurs.
Most important observation:
The affected project becomes functional again ONLY if I:
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create a completely new empty project
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use “Import Tracks From Project”
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import all tracks from the problematic session into the new project
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save the newly created session
After doing this, the newly rebuilt project works correctly again.
This behavior makes me suspect that:
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the issue may not be caused by plugins themselves
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but rather by some form of internal project state corruption or invalid project structure inside the original .npr file
My intuition / possible cause:
I suspect the issue may be related to the new Nuendo 15 Folder Track routing functionality, where Folder Tracks can automatically behave as Group routing containers.
The reason I suspect this is because:
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the problem started only after moving to Nuendo 15
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the affected sessions often use the new folder/group workflow
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the issue appears project-structure related rather than plugin-related
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rebuilding the project via import regenerates the session and fixes the problem
It feels like some internal routing graph, mixer state, or project container state may occasionally become inconsistent or corrupted.
Additional observations:
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the freeze happens AFTER the project has fully loaded
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not during plugin scanning/loading
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there is no specific plugin identified as problematic after restart
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the issue is completely random and difficult to reproduce intentionally
At the moment my only workaround is rebuilding the affected projects by importing them into a fresh empty session.
Hope someone find some feedback or idea or suggestion to try!
Ciao
Pier