[Audacity-users] Crashes with new MacBookPro and Sierra

Hi Jack,

There are bugs in Sierra that are affecting Audacity on some
machines, but they don't involve crashes when idle:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Partial_Support_for_Mac_Sierra_in_2.1.3 .

2.1.3 is not released yet, but is in the process of "release candidate"
(RC) testing. You could try those RC builds as they appear on
https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity-devel.html/

but they are not finished releases and might not behave any differently
for the crashes on idle. Is Audacity completely idle, or still playing or
recording?

Have you tried right-click or CTRL-click over Audacity.app, choose "Get
Info", then enable "Prevent App Nap"?

Have you tried resetting Audacity settings? Quit Audacity, open Finder,
choose Go > Go to Folder and type or paste:

~/Library/Application Support/

Delete the "audacity" folder that you see.

If that does not help, are there any recent Mac crash reports for Audacity
in Applications > Utilities > Console.App? If so could you attach them?

Gale Andrews

Post by Jack Hodgson
I've been a weekly user of Audacity for over ten years. Although there have been occasional crashes, it's never been a significant problem. But for the past few months, likely from the time I moved to a new MacBookPro and the Sierra version of MacOS, I've been getting a lot of crashes.
These are not crashes while I'm using the program, but while it is sitting "idle" in the background. It's becoming very frustrating.
Are there known bugs around the new MBP and Sierra?
// Jack Hodgson
Audacity 2.1.2
MacBookPro Fall 2016
MacOS 10.12.2
16G ram
1T SSD storage
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Jack Hodgson

2017-02-28 14:24:48 UTC

Responses within your original...

Post by Gale Andrews
Hi Jack,
There are bugs in Sierra that are affecting Audacity on some
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Partial_Support_for_Mac_Sierra_in_2.1.3 .

I've not seen any of those issues, though some of them are in features of Audacity that I don't use.

Post by Gale Andrews
2.1.3 is not released yet, but is in the process of "release candidate"
(RC) testing. You could try those RC builds as they appear on
https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity-devel.html/

I may take a look at that.

Post by Gale Andrews
but they are not finished releases and might not behave any differently
for the crashes on idle. Is Audacity completely idle, or still playing or
recording?

Not recording or playing. Although it is usually PAUSED as opposed to STOPPED. FWIW.

Post by Gale Andrews
Have you tried right-click or CTRL-click over Audacity.app, choose "Get
Info", then enable "Prevent App Nap"?

That's interesting and I'll give it a try. Didn't AppNap exist in Yosemite too? I had no problems with Yosemite.

Post by Gale Andrews
Have you tried resetting Audacity settings? Quit Audacity, open Finder,
~/Library/Application Support/
Delete the "audacity" folder that you see.
If that does not help, are there any recent Mac crash reports for Audacity
in Applications > Utilities > Console.App? If so could you attach them?

I'll look for those reports, but, each time I find it has crashed, the bug reporter pane is open but also frozen (The one that asks me if I want to send in the crash info). So I wonder if it's gotten as far as writing those logs. But I'll look.

Post by Gale Andrews
Gale Andrews

Thanks for getting back to me on this. I have like another half dozen Audacity bugs that I tried to report some years ago, but none of them have risen to the frustration level of this one.

// Jack Hodgson

Gale Andrews

2017-02-28 16:03:17 UTC

Post by Jack Hodgson
Responses within your original...

Post by Gale Andrews
Hi Jack,
There are bugs in Sierra that are affecting Audacity on some
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Partial_Support_for_Mac_Sierra_in_2.1.3 .

I've not seen any of those issues, though some of them are in features of Audacity that I don't use.

I may take a look at that.

Post by Gale Andrews
but they are not finished releases and might not behave any differently
for the crashes on idle. Is Audacity completely idle, or still playing or
recording?

Not recording or playing. Although it is usually PAUSED as opposed to STOPPED. FWIW.

Then you are in paused recording or playback. The audio stream is
open, so you also have to consider problems with whatever audio
device you are playing or recording with. What device is that?

Are you trying to play audio in some other application while playback
is paused in Audacity?

If it's an external device, does it have correct drivers and firmware
from the manufacturer? Does the device support Sierra?

Post by Gale Andrews
Have you tried right-click or CTRL-click over Audacity.app, choose "Get
Info", then enable "Prevent App Nap"?

That's interesting and I'll give it a try. Didn't AppNap exist in Yosemite too? I had no problems with Yosemite.

Yes, App Nap was introduced in the version before Yosemite.

Post by Gale Andrews
Gale Andrews

Thanks for getting back to me on this. I have like another half dozen Audacity bugs that I tried to report some years ago, but none of them have risen to the frustration level of this one.

You shouldn't report any bugs here - this is just a users-helping-users
list in the main.

To contact us about possible bugs, use the feedback e-mail address
listed on
http://www.audacityteam.org/contact/#feedback

or use Audacity Forum instead:
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewforum.php?f=47 .

Gale Andrews

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* What operating system you are using (for example, Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.5.1)
* Exactly what three digit version number of Audacity you are using (Help > About
Audacity, or Audacity > About Audacity on a Mac computer)
* If this is a recording problem, what equipment you are recording with, and how is it
connected to the computer?
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/audacity-users

Jack Hodgson

2017-02-28 18:48:32 UTC

Post by Jack Hodgson
Not recording or playing. Although it is usually PAUSED as opposed to STOPPED. FWIW.

I'm playing/editing sounds in an Audacity Project, which were imported from various audio files, mostly AIFF, which were recorded independent of Audacity.

I certainly may have been playing sound in another app during these times. A lot of apps play sound.

// Jack

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* Exactly what three digit version number of Audacity you are using (Help > About
Audacity, or Audacity > About Audacity on a Mac computer)

* If this is a recording problem, what equipment you are recording with, and how is it
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Gale Andrews

2017-02-28 19:26:21 UTC

Post by Jack Hodgson
Not recording or playing. Although it is usually PAUSED as opposed to STOPPED. FWIW.

So, what playback device exactly are you using? What device is selected
in Audacity's Device Toolbar or Devices Preferences?

You could attach Audacity's Audio Device Info (in the Help menu). Stop
playback first (not just pause). Click OK in the Audio Device Info window
and you can save a text file listing all your audio devices. Attach the file
for us.

Gale Andrews

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* Exactly what three digit version number of Audacity you are using (Help > About
Audacity, or Audacity > About Audacity on a Mac computer)

* If this is a recording problem, what equipment you are recording with, and how is it
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Jack Hodgson

2017-03-02 15:19:43 UTC

Post by Gale Andrews
So, what playback device exactly are you using? What device is selected
in Audacity's Device Toolbar or Devices Preferences?
You could attach Audacity's Audio Device Info (in the Help menu). Stop
playback first (not just pause). Click OK in the Audio Device Info window
and you can save a text file listing all your audio devices. Attach the file
for us.
Gale Andrews

I didn't know you could attach files here. Let's give it a try.

Gale Andrews

2017-03-04 19:10:57 UTC

Thanks for the device info. It only shows your Mac's built in device.

On 10.12.3 I set Audacity 2.1.3-alpha and system Sound preferences
to use the built-in output. Then I generated a tone in Audacity, played
and paused it, then played a file in iTunes. Audacity did not crash.

Then I dragged a file from iTunes into Audacity, played and paused it,
then played the same file in iTunes. Audacity did not crash, nor did it
playing the same file simultaneously with iTunes.

It could be a Mac issue. You could update Sierra then try resetting
SMC ( https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201295 ) or reset NVRAM
(restart your Mac and hold down Option, Command, P and R until
you've heard the startup chime twice).

Gale Andrews

I didn't know you could attach files here. Let's give it a try.
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* What operating system you are using (for example, Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.5.1)
* Exactly what three digit version number of Audacity you are using (Help > About
Audacity, or Audacity > About Audacity on a Mac computer)
* If this is a recording problem, what equipment you are recording with, and how is it
connected to the computer?
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/audacity-users

Jack Hodgson

2017-03-05 00:01:35 UTC

Thanks.

Post by Gale Andrews
Thanks for the device info. It only shows your Mac's built in device.
On 10.12.3 I set Audacity 2.1.3-alpha and system Sound preferences
to use the built-in output. Then I generated a tone in Audacity, played
and paused it, then played a file in iTunes. Audacity did not crash.
Then I dragged a file from iTunes into Audacity, played and paused it,
then played the same file in iTunes. Audacity did not crash, nor did it
playing the same file simultaneously with iTunes.
It could be a Mac issue. You could update Sierra then try resetting
SMC ( https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201295 ) or reset NVRAM
(restart your Mac and hold down Option, Command, P and R until
you've heard the startup chime twice).
Gale Andrews