Pro Tools was the most unstable daw I’ve ever used. It posted errors and just shut down constantly on my rig. Glad I got off that wild ride. Dp and Reason are stable for me and I’ve not had any issues with either really

Yeah, in 2001 I switched to Logic and experienced that, then v7 came out and Logic crashed 8 times a day. You can exchange the DAWs with other ones if you want, recently Reaper crashes if I attempt to use VST3s, but other than that it’s solid. I’ve had a solid year without a crash, but then I have hundreds of plug ins, and on occasion a DAW and plug in will not be happy together.

Mostly if I get a crash in any DAW these days it’s not impossible to figure out why. DAWs don’t just develop crashing behavior out of the blue. Dude earlier mentioned an incompatibility issue with Metric Halo for instance.

Yeah. Crashes happen. I think there are things you can do to minimize them. And its not always the fault of the DAW. For instance I have an SSD that has a faulty USB connector. I have the replacement. This has caused some crashes. At least one. Then I don't know but I suspect some of these activities like Blaze or Time Machine might come on and cause some kind of interruption which might crash or hang. I tend to have multiple files open - like a browser and other apps. I forget. Sleep mode.

Here's a new one: in the midst of making an adjustment in Superior Drummer, sound stops abruptly. And then I notice the dreaded DP-bug-with-alert-icon bouncing in the dock. So DP has crashed--and I confirm this by sending MOTU a crash report. Yet, it also hasn't crashed, because I'm staring at a moving transport and all the usual windows. The only thing missing is sound.

When I go to close the file, the crashed app asks me if I want to save it. (This seems like asking for trouble, so I don't--fortunately I hadn't done much since the last save.)

DP 10 Bug of the Week: Schrödinger's Crash.

that's a typical plug in bug related crash. At least for me with DP. It's about 50/50 that an update in the plug in or in DP resolves it. It's better than what happens with Reaper etc. where it's a hard crash, Reaper just disappears, and I never got around to setting up auto save in Reaper..

I am definitely not trying to be that guy, I have my own issues with DP, mainly slow development of features like MPE and Articulation/Expression mapping etc. but I just don't find DP that crashy, not anymore or less than any other DAW I use.

I guess I’ve just been super lucky till now. I do remember one particular integer version (4, maybe?) that was a buggy mess, but since then it’s been smooth sailing for me.

What is it about DAWs anyway, I wonder? They are literally the only type of application that ever crashes for me. Graphics, video editing, browsers, office stuff...all 100% stable all the time. And DAWs are like, save every 5 seconds if you value your life.

It's almost always plug ins. No one uses DAWs without any third party plug ins.

I give Bitwig big props for their plug in sandboxing, and the ability to run them without it, for a little better CPU performance. If you have a plug in that crashes all the time you still want or need to us, sandbox it and only the plug in itself crashes, and you can restart the plug in instead of the entire DAW etc.

FWIW, I'm going to cross my fingers and knock on wood and say that 10.13 has solved my stability problems for now. I've been using it pretty intensively for two weeks and haven't had a single crash. It's been quite a while since I could say that. It seems crisper, too.

Good news, I got no more stability than before. Honestly I was a little disappointed in the update, the UX of 10.13 etc. is off, Clips and looping need some deeper integration into the system, at the moment it all feels tagged on.

Fortunately apparently there's a new version update etc. right around the corner, a trusted end user educator etc. stated as much recently.

DP10 had been a disaster for me and I've beed using DP as my only DAW since DP3.
DP9, no issues at all.

I'm kinda done with DP which makes me sad. But it's not stable anymore and the .13 update made things worse.

Studio One is an easy transition and it has a dedicated hardware controller. I'll probably still master audio only in DP but as a creative tool I'm out.

Is this true for new projects created in DP10.x? If you're having issues with stuff created before 10.x try creating a new empty project and then "Loading" all the chunks from problem projects. This goes for templates also. They've changed file formats for DP10 and methinks maybe the translation isn't perfect. This has solved a couple of issues I was having.

Thanks for this. Unfortunately this is for 10.x projects.

The thing is, any problems will not get fixed by Motu until the next update which will be a long long way off. That's the problem with DP and Motu these days.

Unfortunately there aren't many DAWs that have an aggressive update cycle. Bitwig does, but it's not a DAW anything like DP. Most DAWs take 6 months to a year between even bug fix updates, it's the only advantage of the subscription type service that Bitwig has that updates come quicker.

The uniqueness of your issue makes me think it's due to some errant third party plug in and DP.

You're probably right about errant plugin.

Interesting about subscription services and frequency of updates..if it means stability I'd happily go subscription.

Presonus do update quite regularly. But Motu are generally yearly which is not enough.

DP has been a complete and total disaster for me as well. Basically recording multiple tracks it very often crashes RIGHT AT THE END OF THE TAKE. I record about 20 odd audio tracks and a midi track, mostly at 96k. Very frustrating. I still mix in DP because I'm very familiar with it. But I record other ways when I record multiple tracks, Metric Halo's Record Panel is my go to. Logic and PT do not crash. ONLY DP. I've complained. I had a MOTU ticket that was basically abandoned.

Yeh it's a real blow as DP's thing, it's USP back in the day, was that it basically never crashed..like ever. That's why it was used on huge live shows to run multitrack backing. I did the same, running show after show with zero problems. It just didn't crash. A Motu 828 Mk1 on the output, solid as a proverbial rock.
I'm getting all nostalgic

Mind you after two weeks with Studio One it's not exactly solid.

It really is terrible. I've been using Performer since 1985 version 1.22 and DP since 2000 with 2.7. I loved it. I had a recording date a year ago. Flew guys in from all over the country. It constantly crashed. VERY embarrassing and upsetting. It was my date. It was salvagble, kind of. I lost a lot of important takes though.

Automation in DP 10 just sucks. I think it has something to do with prebuffering. I'll make a change with a fader ride, next time I play back, it sometimes plays the old automation, as if the pre buffers hadn't caught up yet. And, consistent automation on heavy files using lots of Aux and Master bus plug ins that are automated Always plays back so bad, I have to do tens of punches on a mix to get the correct mix. Each pass, different automations read wrong. Its amazingly ********. I got Pro Tools because of this. Unfortunately, I have many "almost finished" master in DP to complete. Each one a night mare starting when I am at that full "maxed out ready to bounce the mix" state. I usually have to run from the start of the song to get a correct automation pass, and even then, not always. So I end up with a jigsaw puzzle of stereo punches to merge for my "almost there' just make a few tweaks" mix. DPs automation feel apart after 8.07. Unfortunately, 8.07 and 10 overlap in plug ins that are used so that if you install 8.07, you screw with 10s plugs, and vice versa.. So going back to 8.07 mist easy. Add to that Mohave difficulties with 8.07 and security, and you have a mess. I am a long time veteran user. I appreciate Motu fixing automation pasting after me asking fro that for 15 yrs. But, they have, like often before, taken one step forward, and two steps back. If automation would work on a PRO level, I'd be thrilled. Waiting....

In the end, that's my conclusion. I'm sitting here messing around in Logic, and articulations can be hit or miss. I've had it crash etc. Same with DP, Reaper, Live and Bitwig. All them are not bug ridden messes, but I can find the bugs.

Currently I'm torn between Logic and DP. I hate Logics MIDI input limitations, but it's got basic MPE up front at least. Articulation mappings, a current and ridiculously great iphone and ipad app, that you can run multiple versions of. It's buggy though, just got a system overload message running no CPU intensive anything, and now the computer keyboard froze for a minute. Reaper is probably the most bug free, but it still crashes with certain third party plug ins that don't crash DP etc.

Suffice to say the grass still has some brown patches, no matter which direction you go in. I think my fear with DP is that it's not funded well enough, and developers get pulled to work on hardware drivers, iOS apps that currently work for their AVB networks etc.

Underneath it all I still really believe in DP, I just wish it didn't feal like we're in a limbo stage. On one of the webinars a trusted retailer and beta tester admitted a new update is in the pipeline, so there's that.

Thing is next year I'm definitly getting the 16" Apple Silicon Macbook Pro when it comes out. I can't see how it's not going to literally be twice as powerful as the 12 core 3.33ghz mac pro I'm typing this on. The question then becomes, will DP be able to run on it? and will it be useably stable?

I used Logic for about 8 years straight between 2001 and 2009, so I can make do, but I'm rooting for the weirdo old school independent DP.

Yup I agree. Stability and plugins are not happy bedfellows. I'm sure developing an DAW that has no external apps wanting to sit within it is a lot easier.