Strange Read/Write Issue with MacOS MuLab 9

[CobaltHeart]

Hello,

Over the last few months, I've been encountering a strange Read/Write error with MuLab 9. When it started happening, I was running 9.0.x, but I recently updated to 9.4.12 and the issue has not changed.

What's happening is that I'll boot up my 2012 Mac Mini running MacOS 10.14, start MuLab, and it'll behave fine for somewhere between 15-30 minutes, and then it will suddenly complain that it cannot open a bunch of analog audio files that are associated with a project, usually straight after recording, even though no file locations have changed, and sometimes unloads files that were actively being used in the same project that were fine moments before. This condition will also make MuLab refuse to save the project at all, and sometimes UI icons will fail to load. Initially, I thought it was something to do with the external hard drive or the adapter I was using overheating, but I have since loaded those files onto the desktop folder (including MuLab itself), so that should remove the adapter and hard drive being the problem, plus MacOS is installed on a SATA SSD so the speed of the drive shouldn't be a problem. Has anyone also encountered this problem? If so, is there a fix?

[mutools]

My first suspicion is that, after some time, there are too many open files in your system.
Try closing other (background) apps and see if that makes a difference.

[CobaltHeart]

My first suspicion is that, after some time, there are too many open files in your system.
Try closing other (background) apps and see if that makes a difference.

When I run MuLab on that particular Mac, I make sure MuLab is the only running application. The machine slows way down when I run Firefox and MuLab, so I got into this habit quickly. By that logic, there should not be a writing conflict because something else is running, as there are no other apps running.

I suppose it is possible that there is an issue with my MacOS install, the external hard drive, or both. I do want to explore all possible options first, before resorting to formatting things and moving things around more than I already have.

I do have a MacBook Air that has been working fine with an old copy of those files, as far as I can recall, so when I get a chance I'll poke around with MuLab on the MacBook and see if I eventually get the same symptoms

[CobaltHeart]

After further review, I think the MuLab app somehow corrupted, probably due to a file system error or something. I loaded up one of my current projects in a freshly downloaded MuLab copy after confirming that the symptoms were still happening on the old copy. I'm not 100% confident that fixed the issue, but I was able to play through one of the songs with no loading or unloading issues with the fresh install. Some odd things may have happened with that old install being on an external hard drive, likely resulting in corruption of critical parts of the program.

I will assume the issue is fixed for now, but I will keep my eye on this for a while

[CobaltHeart]

Welp, spoke too soon. The issue is persisting even though have a completely new copy! Fak!!!
I did some recording with analog audio and the cannot save/open file bug started again. This time, I noticed that MuLab was unable to see any volumes that it could save to, making it so the entire volume structure of the Mac straight up not show up. It showed the top "Volumes" option, and when I clicked on that, nothing popped up below it, as if "Volumes" was an empty folder (which is obviously wrong). It's worth noting that I haven't noticed any read/write issues with the rest of the system, though MuLab is practically the only program that I use on this Mac that heavily writes data.

I tend to record in small chunks, so I don't believe this is a file size error.

I have not tested with a fully new song yet, as it can take me a long time to get to the point that this song is at and has started failing. I also don't want to sink that much time into a project if I know that those files are going to be unusable anyway.

This does not look like a permissions issue, as for a while the program can save normally, and everything was contained in a folder on the desktop. Everything therefore was saved on the internal SSD of the system.

The really funny thing is that like 95% of the time when this save glitch happens, its right when I pull of a good recording session with my bass. I don't believe the bass itself is the problem, as I record my guitar with the same Scarlett Solo that I also have been recording my guitar into since I got this Mac. I have only noticed this issue with a couple of my recent projects made with MuLab 9. I have produced several albums with MuLab, most of my semi-early stuff and two official albums with M7, and an EP with M9 starting in late 2022. I have only ever seen these specific issues after that EP released in 2023, and so far only with a couple of unfinished projects.

I do have GTune, which doesn't seem to have perfect compatibility with MuLab for some reason, but it is not being used in the projects with this issue.

At some point in the future, I could see if M7 does this as well, but again, I don't want to sink that much time into a project if I know that those files are going to be unusable anyway.

At this point, there could be a handful of possibilities, in order from decreasing likelihood

- Those projects, for whatever reason, are just ruined
- There's something wrong with my saved Racks and/or modified MuLab instruments (some of which were from M7)
- MuLab doesn't like being limited to 4 GB of RAM (which I didn't initially think could be a problem but I guess it's possible)
- There's something wrong with my MacOS install in general that MuLab doesn't like
- MuLab 9, for some reason, doesn't like MacOS 10.14

[CobaltHeart]

I am *still* having major saving issues with MuLab on Mac. At this point, I have tested the software between two different Macintosh machines, one Mac Mini from 2012 with 4 GB of RAM, and the 2017 MacBook Air with 8 gigs of RAM. The Mac Mini runs Mac OS 10.14, and the MacBook runs 12.7. neither of these machines are particularly powerful, but they have more than enough headroom in theory to run the software correctly.
At this point I have ran three different versions of V9, including the most up-to-date version as of making this post. This does not appear to be isolated to a specific sub-version of the software.
What has been happening is that after a certain point of recording with the software, it will get itself into this semi crashed state, where it fails to open analog audio files that were just recorded, and I also have noticed that when the software is in this state, it refuses to save the project that I'm currently working on, and sometimes refuses to save things out right, but sometimes can save a copy of the project that I'm working on. The last time that happened, the new copy of the project did technically save, but for some reason was entirely unable to record anything, and for some reason over wrote the original project file, despite the fact that I named the file differently.
I have also seen the save as dialogue box completely fail to read the operating system, causing the dialog box to only show the top level of the file system and no subfolders whatsoever, and usually when this happens, some UI elements also fail to load. That hasn't happened recently, but has happened on more than one occasion.
This error does not appear to affect new projects immediately, thought seems to happen if I have been recording audio for a while.
Most of the time when this error happens it happens pretty quickly after saving an iterative copy, but today this error started happening with the original project after working on it again for a little while.
I must also point out that this exact error has happened now with several different songs, so this is no longer isolated to a specific song or a specific copy of a song that saved incorrectly. I have also tried a handful of different completely freshly downloaded versions of this software, and the issue is still happening.
I don't recall having any issues even remotely close to this type of issue with V7 on Windows.
I had decided to migrate to the Mac side of the software a few years ago as I found that the Windows implementation of audio drivers was very temperamental, at least with the hardware that I had at the time. I find this frustrating because although all of the audio driver side of things is working correctly, I think, this save issue is incredibly annoying and has genuinely gotten in the way of finishing several songs.
When this initially started happening, I thought it was because I was using a hard drive with a potentially failing USB adapter, but this issue is persisting through that said hard drive, a SATA SSD installed directly into my 2012 Mac mini, the onboard storage of my MacBook air, and a reasonably fast SD card connected to my MacBook Air. I've also recently cleared a bunch of storage on the MacBook that should be more than enough to record audio on my MacBook air, but this software is behaving identically to some of those other conditions.
I should note that there are a decent amount of times where I would have to control z out of bad take that I just recorded, maybe this is over inflating the audio folder, but even then, this shouldn't be a file system issue, as APFS should have no problem accessing a large library of files, especially since I've started working with solid state technology. I am using this software the exact same way that I always have this entire time since I've started using V7, though I am using a Scarlet solo deck for significantly better audio quality compared to when I first started recording music. The only other devices that I have connected to this MacBook is an Apple keyboard from 2005, a wireless adapter for a cheap trackball mouse a cheap midi plus keyboard, and a USB hub so I can connect a bunch of these devices to the computer. I am not running the storage that I'm using to keep these files in through that USB hub, USB activities should not affect this program or my files at all.

[Michael L]

in theory

Your files + 'newer' macos are probly overloading your old machine's memory, so it has to write to the drive.

Or mebbe sumpin' else?

Anywho, open the 'Activity Monitor' and check the CPU and memory tabs to better understand and diagnose your system in action.
https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/a ... elcome/mac

Also, checkout EtreCheck for examining in depth. https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

It's free

Best o'luck on your learnin curve!