Patchwork 2.51 on MacOS - slow load time in Logic Pro X

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I'm using Patchwork with a chain of AU plugins to process the different instrument busses in my Logic mix/composing template--strings, guitars, drums, etc. I'm on Logic 10.6.3 in macOS Catalina 10.15.7. I'm using an iMac 27 inch 2019 (i9) with 64gb memory. In each instance of Patchwork I have the same chain of plugins loaded, 10 instances total. The plugins are BC gain, Kazrog True Dynamics, Kazrog True Iron and BC protector (but it doesn't seem to matter which AU plugins are loaded for the problem to arise).

I have noticed that each time I reload my sequence the load time increases drastically, by 30-60 seconds, and I've narrowed down the issue to the Patchwork plugin. If I load the same plugins directly on the busses in Logic the issue goes away. The load time seems to increase every time I open up the same sequence and after a while the load time gets really slow, up to 5-10 minutes. If I quit Logic completely the sequence opens up quickly again, but I would like to avoid quitting the program every time I start working on the file.

What could be causing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Blue Cat Audio]

That's indeed strange. Do you have the same issue if no plug-in is loaded in PatchWork? Also, have you tried with another plug-in format for these plug-ins? We have seen some particular AUs having performance issues when loading inside PatchWork in the past.

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I just tried this with no plugins loaded at all inside Patchwork and I'm actually having the exact same issue. Just having 10 instances of an empty Patchwork plugin (on the wrapper preset) on my busses triggers the same behavior. So it doesn't seem to be related to a specific AU plugin hosted within Patchwork.

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For troubleshooting purposes I also created a brand new sequence in Logic with just 10 audio tracks going into 10 busses with Patchwork on all them (empty with wrapper preset) and that loads perfectly each time. So maybe maybe Logic is the culprit somehow. It must be something specific happening in my other Logic sequence that is causing this. It's 100 % reproducible in that file.

[Blue Cat Audio]

I just tried this with no plugins loaded at all inside Patchwork and I'm actually having the exact same issue. Just having 10 instances of an empty Patchwork plugin (on the wrapper preset) on my busses triggers the same behavior. So it doesn't seem to be related to a specific AU plugin hosted within Patchwork.

Thanks for testing. A couple of questions:
1. Is the user interface of PatchWork opened or closed?
2. Have you made sure that there is no remaining AU loaded in the non-visible slots of PatchWork? (just asking... Just in case).

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1. All closed.
2. Just double checked this--there are no plugins loaded at all.

[Blue Cat Audio]

Wow that's really odd. The fact that it works differently with another session is really strange.

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Yes, I can't figure this out. I'm using Patchwork in tons of sequences every day on this computer (for different purposes) and it's rock solid. This is the only particular application where it causes an issue for me. Maybe it has something to do with the routing in my Logic template. Or maybe it's related to how Logic handles the loading/unloading of large amounts of plugins. I have a ton of other AUs loaded in that same sequence but it's only when I add Patchwork that the project load time get's much longer.

For troubleshooting purposes I also just tried replacing every instance of Patchwork with Plogue Bidule (with the same AU plugin chain) and that actually works without issue too. I could PM you the Logic sequence in question if that would be of any help.

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A couple of small updates:

I checked if there was any difference loading the same project on my MacBook M1Max with 64Gb RAM (in Rosetta mode) and there is no difference on that computer. That computer is running MacOS Monterey 12.1. Load time still increases significantly each time I load the sequence. So it appears that this is not something computer-specific.

I also tried the latest Patchwork beta version today to see if that worked better and surprisingly the load time is slightly shorter in that version. It improved noticeably but still gets incrementally longer each time I open up the sequence. Right before Logic is about to open up there is a now also a new delay that I haven't seen before. The "loading " dialog disappears and Logic becomes unresponsive with nothing showing at all for 10-15 seconds. This is a different behavior from the previous version of Patchwork I've been using.

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Today I noticed that the slow load time issue actually exists on a couple of other Logic sequences as well--not just the one using my above mentioned mix/composing template. I'm also experiencing slow open time in sequences that are using a lot of instances of the Patchwork synth AU. It seems to me almost like Patchwork is saving some kind of additional project information in each instance and when the projects are rather big and complex this leads to a slow load/unload time.

It would be wonderful if you could do some tests on your end and see if you can replicate it. If you try loading up 30 instances of an AU instrument such as Kontakt and also 10 Patchwork instances in the same Logic sequence the problem should start showing up when you open/close the sequence repeatedly.

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Gentle bump. I'd be happy to PM you a Logic sequence where the problem should be reproducible if that would help. Since my last email I've also tried making an identical setup in Pro Tools to see if the issue exist with the AAX plugin as well but that works perfectly so this looks to be strictly Logic-related.

[Blue Cat Audio]

Maybe check indeed with support so that we can follow up. I am afraid it might be difficult to see anything on our end. I remember someone having a similar issue a long time ago, but it ended up being something with Logic. I'll try to find the emails we exchanged about it, in case it is the same issue here.

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Thanks for getting back to me about this. I will contact support then.

[Blue Cat Audio]

Great, thanks!