Access violation in VAZ Mod

[Sound_Bear]

I periodically encounter a lot of "access violation at address ......." messages, usually upon Unmute, Play or Stop, and very rarely upon calling up the connections menu in a Module input.
Sometimes OKing the message results in runtime error messages (usually ad infinitum until force-quitting the program), sometimes it doesn't; in the second case I usually force-quit anyway because most of the time new access violation messages (stating different addresses) will pop up every time I press Play and Stop.

This started when I updated whichever previous version I was using (I don't remember) to v3.2.4 in 2013, using Windows 8 on a then recent PC. Sometimes I go weeks without it, then again it happens so often I'll have problems maintaining a good workflow.
I haven't yet found out what causes it. Usually reducing the number of modules in a patch helps reducing the frequency of the error messages; reducing the overall number of plugins can also help, but not as often.

For context: I usually work with several Patches in a Bank and I use third party plugins as Inserts, Aux sends and sometimes as Master Inserts, but never inside Patches. I'm now using an up to date Windows 11 PC.
The only thing that possibly changed since the Win 8 PC (later Win 8.1) is that if I recall correctly, force-quitting back then was usually quick while on my current PC it sometimes results in a semi-opaque white screen overlay and I have to force-quit a second time to actually quit.

Anyone who has used VAZ Modular in the past or still uses it, please let me know if you have any advice or explanations.

[mmelon]

I would start with a blank bank and add things back in until it starts happening again. My gut says it might be multiple apps trying to access your audio drivers at the same time. So try only having vaz open. My second guess would be a vst plugin or insert. It’s normally stable for me. If it is a vst you might be able to solve it with a wrapper like xlutop chainer or similar.

[Winstontaneous]

I recently installed VAZ Modular (the last production 3.2.4 or .5) on an HP Windows 10 laptop. I've seen more of those error messages on the HP than on an Acer laptop (W10) or ancient HP/Dell desktops running XP back in the day. Will play with it a bit more and see if anything reduces it.

After all these years VAZ is still my favorite software modular!

[Sound_Bear]

Thanks to you both. I just saw your replies, otherwise I'd have followed up much sooner:

I would start with a blank bank and add things back in until it starts happening again. My gut says it might be multiple apps trying to access your audio drivers at the same time. So try only having vaz open. My second guess would be a vst plugin or insert. It’s normally stable for me. If it is a vst you might be able to solve it with a wrapper like xlutop chainer or similar.

In my uses cases so far, the error happens without any VST plugins just as often as with them, and also regardless of which other apps are visibly (*) running or if VAZ is the only one. I never used VST plugins inside VAZ Modular until a year ago, while the Access Violation errors started in 2013.
As for wrapper plugins, using Blue Cat Patchwork (full version) or the trials of other Blue Cat stuff and DDMF Superplugin doesn't seem to change anything about the error. Have yet to try xlutop chainer, downloading it now.
(*) As for background apps, I'm currently investigating with an AI assistant whether any of these might be related to the errors since modern laptops have a lot of stuff on them that looks mostly opaque to me, especially OEM, but I haven't found anything relevant yet.

I recently installed VAZ Modular (the last production 3.2.4 or .5) on an HP Windows 10 laptop. I've seen more of those error messages on the HP than on an Acer laptop (W10) or ancient HP/Dell desktops running XP back in the day. Will play with it a bit more and see if anything reduces it.

After all these years VAZ is still my favorite software modular!

Mine, too. And interestingly, I've used the same three laptop brands to run VAZ (after using various towers in the 2000s). I'll dive into my archives to retrace when I had which versions installed on which PC to see if we can find any specific commonalities. For now:
Do you remember where you got your v3 installer(s) from?
And do you recall if you ever loaded files into v3 that had been created in v2.54 or earlier versions?

[Winstontaneous]

Thanks to you both. I just saw your replies, otherwise I'd have followed up much sooner:

I would start with a blank bank and add things back in until it starts happening again. My gut says it might be multiple apps trying to access your audio drivers at the same time. So try only having vaz open. My second guess would be a vst plugin or insert. It’s normally stable for me. If it is a vst you might be able to solve it with a wrapper like xlutop chainer or similar.

In my uses cases so far, the error happens without any VST plugins just as often as with them, and also regardless of which other apps are visibly (*) running or if VAZ is the only one. I never used VST plugins inside VAZ Modular until a year ago, while the Access Violation errors started in 2013.
As for wrapper plugins, using Blue Cat Patchwork (full version) or the trials of other Blue Cat stuff and DDMF Superplugin doesn't seem to change anything about the error. Have yet to try xlutop chainer, downloading it now.
(*) As for background apps, I'm currently investigating with an AI assistant whether any of these might be related to the errors since modern laptops have a lot of stuff on them that looks mostly opaque to me, especially OEM, but I haven't found anything relevant yet.

I recently installed VAZ Modular (the last production 3.2.4 or .5) on an HP Windows 10 laptop. I've seen more of those error messages on the HP than on an Acer laptop (W10) or ancient HP/Dell desktops running XP back in the day. Will play with it a bit more and see if anything reduces it.

After all these years VAZ is still my favorite software modular!

Mine, too. And interestingly, I've used the same three laptop brands to run VAZ (after using various towers in the 2000s). I'll dive into my archives to retrace when I had which versions installed on which PC to see if we can find any specific commonalities. For now:
Do you remember where you got your v3 installer(s) from?
And do you recall if you ever loaded files into v3 that had been created in v2.54 or earlier versions?

I originally got installers from when I bought VAZ Modular in 2008. I saved it on a backup drive that got misplaced. Up until a few years ago I was able to download from the Wayback Machine but not seeing it there anymore. Mostly on Mac these days but I would like to locate my saved installers sometime.

I did download all the V1/V2 preset banks and never had issues loading those. IIRC it was also possible to open VAZ 2010/+ files in Modular as well.

[Sound_Bear]

^ Sent you a DM in case you need a more recent version than 2008.