[BUG] Ableton Live crashes when opening projects containing Chowtape VST3

[mstgrv]

Ableton Live is crashing when trying to open existing projects that contain VST3 instances of Chowtape. I'm getting consistent crashes across multiple projects - one is a super simple / small project, the other is quite large.

Creating a fresh instance of Chowtape VST3 in an empty project does not crash though, it only seems to happen when opening an existing project which contains Chowtape VST3.

Chowtape 2.4.0 VST3
macOS 10.14.6
Ableton Live 10.1.17 and 10.1.15

Crash report generated by macOS:

Thread 0 Crashed:: MainThread Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 com.ableton.live 0x0000000100fc79a8 0x100000000 + 16546216
1 com.ableton.live 0x0000000100fd8a67 0x100000000 + 16616039
2 com.ableton.live 0x000000010257d754 0x100000000 + 39311188
3 com.ableton.live 0x0000000102573948 0x100000000 + 39270728
4 com.ableton.live 0x0000000102573a3d 0x100000000 + 39270973
5 com.chowdsp.CHOWTapeModel 0x000000018ed37af7 ChowtapeModelAudioProcessor::prepareToPlay(double, int) + 6343
6 com.chowdsp.CHOWTapeModel 0x000000018ed10e91 juce::JuceVST3Component::setActive(unsigned char) + 769
7 com.ableton.live 0x000000010239f835 0x100000000 + 37353525
8 com.ableton.live 0x000000010239ca2e 0x100000000 + 37341742
9 com.ableton.live 0x000000010239b19e 0x100000000 + 37335454
10 com.ableton.live 0x00000001023960b9 0x100000000 + 37314745
11 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101387aee 0x100000000 + 20478702
12 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101387898 0x100000000 + 20478104
13 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101398d9e 0x100000000 + 20549022
14 com.ableton.live 0x000000010136ad98 0x100000000 + 20360600
15 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101399556 0x100000000 + 20550998
16 com.ableton.live 0x000000010194f8a5 0x100000000 + 26540197
17 com.ableton.live 0x000000010194f72a 0x100000000 + 26539818
18 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101939868 0x100000000 + 26450024
19 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101939bed 0x100000000 + 26450925
20 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101932244 0x100000000 + 26419780
21 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101959bc0 0x100000000 + 26581952
22 com.ableton.live 0x000000010195972d 0x100000000 + 26580781
23 com.ableton.live 0x00000001019588a8 0x100000000 + 26577064
24 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101c572d1 0x100000000 + 29717201
25 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101e399f2 0x100000000 + 31693298
26 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101e50cb6 0x100000000 + 31788214
27 com.ableton.live 0x0000000101edb3fd 0x100000000 + 32355325
28 com.ableton.live 0x000000010057b3c9 0x100000000 + 5747657
29 com.ableton.live 0x00000001005a3736 0x100000000 + 5912374
30 com.ableton.live 0x00000001011e35ab 0x100000000 + 18757035
31 com.ableton.live 0x00000001011e46b8 0x100000000 + 18761400
32 com.ableton.live 0x00000001010e2e9b 0x100000000 + 17706651
33 com.ableton.live 0x00000001011e3b5d 0x100000000 + 18758493
34 com.ableton.live 0x000000010117f6e1 0x100000000 + 18347745
35 com.ableton.live 0x00000001010c1a4c 0x100000000 + 17570380
36 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff510a1644 -[NSApplication(NSResponder) sendAction:to:from:] + 312
37 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff510fd86b -[NSMenuItem _corePerformAction] + 323
38 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff510fd5dc -[NSCarbonMenuImpl performActionWithHighlightingForItemAtIndex:] + 114
39 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff5116158f -[NSMenu performActionForItemAtIndex:] + 131
40 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff511614fc -[NSMenu _internalPerformActionForItemAtIndex:] + 93
41 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff5116132e -[NSCarbonMenuImpl _carbonCommandProcessEvent:handlerCallRef:] + 105
42 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff510cbdc6 NSSLMMenuEventHandler + 909
43 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52a1622e DispatchEventToHandlers(EventTargetRec*, OpaqueEventRef*, HandlerCallRec*) + 1422
44 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52a155df SendEventToEventTargetInternal(OpaqueEventRef*, OpaqueEventTargetRef*, HandlerCallRec*) + 371
45 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52a329b6 SendEventToEventTarget + 39
46 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52a84cd2 SendHICommandEvent(unsigned int, HICommand const*, unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned char, void const*, OpaqueEventTargetRef*, OpaqueEventTargetRef*, OpaqueEventRef**) + 375
47 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52aad14e SendMenuCommandWithContextAndModifiers + 49
48 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52aad0fd SendMenuItemSelectedEvent + 192
49 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52aacfe5 FinishMenuSelection(SelectionData*, MenuResult*, MenuResult*) + 96
50 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52aad9b3 MenuSelectCore(MenuData*, Point, double, unsigned int, OpaqueMenuRef**, unsigned short*) + 603
51 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff52aad6c8 _HandleMenuSelection2 + 452
52 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff50db9a81 _NSHandleCarbonMenuEvent + 223
53 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff50db98e6 _DPSEventHandledByCarbon + 54
54 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff50dae92b -[NSApplication(NSEvent) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 2577
55 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff50da8588 -[NSApplication run] + 699
56 com.ableton.live 0x00000001010be76c 0x100000000 + 17557356
57 libdyld.dylib 0x00007fff7f75d3d5 start + 1

[mstgrv]

Seems the issue is related to oversampling:

1. Create a new Live set (in Live 10.1.17)
2. Create an instance of Chowtape VST3 and set oversampling to 16x
3. Save the project
4. Reopen the project - Live will crash
5. Open the project in Live 10.1.1 - it will open without any problems.

AU and VST2 versions of the plugin don't have this issue.

[jatinchowdhury18]

Hi @mstgrv,

Thanks for the very detailed bug report! Very strange that it's only happening on the VST3 version...

I should have some time to check it out over the next couple days, hopefully the issue re-creates correctly on Windows, as I don't currently have a Mac with Ableton available for testing. In the meantime, here's a couple other experiments you could try that might be useful for debugging this:

1. Try with different sample rates / buffer sizes set in Ableton. Any different behavior at different rates and buffer sizes would be useful to know.

2. Try with an older version of CHOW Tape. I'd be curious to know if version 2.3.4 has the same behaviour.

3. Try with different hysteresis mode settings. I'm pretty doubtful that this would make a difference, but given that the parameters are somewhat connected, there is a possibility that the issue is linked to both parameters.

Sorry for the inconvenience, hopefully we can get this fixed pretty soon.

Thanks,
Jatin

[mstgrv]

Haven't been able to narrow this down much at all, but it's definitely happening at both 44.1k and 48k sample rates. Will post back if I find any further details

[jatinchowdhury18]

Hi @mstgrv,

Thanks for continuing to look into this. If you have a minute, could you try again with some new builds here: https://github.com/jatinchowdhury18/AnalogTapeModel/blob/vst3-load-bug/Plugin/Bin/MacBuilds.zip. I've tweaked a couple things that I think should help.

Also, if you would be able to share one of your sessions that has been having this bug (preferably the smaller one), that would be helpful.

Thanks,
Jatin

[mstgrv]

Thanks Jatin - this seems to work fine so far without crashing. Here's my extremely basic test setup:

1. Start a new Ableton project
2. Create a VST3 instance of Chowtape VST3 and set oversampling to 16x (don't touch anything else)
3. Save the project
4. Reopen the project

With Chowtape 2.4.0, Live crashes at step 4. With the new build you just posted, it will reopen successfully without crashing.

Here's a set I creating using this method, using the 2.4.0 release build. Opening this set with the 2.4.0 release build installed, Live crashes. With this new build, it opens successfully.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/69hirloi7div5pe/chowtape%20vst3%20crash.als?dl=0

[jatinchowdhury18]

Hi @mstgrv,

Thanks for the update. Unfortunately, I've been unable to recreate this crash on my Windows machine. Hoping I can get a chance to debug directly on a Mac soon...

In the meantime, the fact that the updated version seems to work without crashing is a good sign. I had disabled a couple things in that version that I figured might be the cause of the issues, so I've made a new version that re-enables those things in a different way. If you have a minute to test this new version that would be super helpful: https://github.com/jatinchowdhury18/AnalogTapeModel/blob/vst3-load-bug/Plugin/Bin/MacBuilds.zip.

Thanks,
Jatin

[mstgrv]

Thanks Jatin, this new build also opens the project I posted without any issues.

[jatinchowdhury18]

Awesome! I'll merge these changes, and the next release will include this fix.

Thanks,
Jatin