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