User:BillWharrie/How to prevent Audio Unit and VST plug-ins crashing Audacity launch on Mac OS X

Find and edit (or create) the "audacity.cfg" file
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If there is an audacity folder inside the Application Support folder, open the audacity folder.

If there is no audacity folder inside the Application Support folder, create one. Make sure it is all lower case.

If there is an audacity.cfg file inside the audacity folder:   Open it in TextEdit Delete the contents of the file and replace it with: NewPrefsInitialized=1 [AudioUnits] Enable=0 GUI=0 [VST] Enable=0 GUI=0 Rescan=0  Save the file without changing the extension. 

If there is no audacity.cfg file inside the audacity folder:   Start TextEdit  TextEdit > Preferences, click the "New Document" tab and make sure "Format" is set to "Plain text". File > New and enter exactly this content into the new TextEdit document: NewPrefsInitialized=1 [AudioUnits] Enable=0 GUI=0 [VST] Enable=0 GUI=0 Rescan=0  Save the file as "audacity.cfg" inside the audacity folder. 

Start Audacity. It should launch without problem.

Known incompatible effects
See the Release Notes for a list of effects known to be incompatible with Audacity on Mac.

Reading the Crash Log
Sometimes the crash report will give a clue as to which effect is causing the crash.

Choose, go to the Effects tab, enable VST and Audio Unit Effects, and check "Rescan for VST effects next time Audacity starts". Quit and restart Audacity.

When the crash dialog appears, choose the option to view the crash report. You may see something like this: Thread 0 Crashed: 0  ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore   0x93883de0 VolFSMount::endbulk(void*) + 14 1  ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore   0x93883d79 PBCloseIteratorSync + 109 2  ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore   0x93883d09 FSCloseIterator + 23 3  com.RPCX.PredatorFX.component    0x40b34798 uEditorEntry + 100706 4  com.RPCX.PredatorFX.component    0x40b0adbc 0x40ad9000 + 204220 5  com.RPCX.PredatorFX.component    0x40b0b167 APluginEntry + 73 6  ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore   0x938a4899 CallComponentDispatch + 29 7  ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore   0x938a4879 CallComponentOpen + 43 8  ...ple.CoreServices.CarbonCore   0x938a2f15 OpenAComponent + 449 9  Audacity                         0x000825f8 AudioUnitEffect::AudioUnitEffect(wxString, ComponentRecord*) + 104 10 Audacity                         0x00084dbc LoadAudioUnitsOfType(unsigned long) + 156

Note that line 10 says the Audacity is trying to load an Audio Unit effect. Lines 3, 4 and 5, although truncated, indicated that an effect called something like "PredatorFX" is causing the problem. In this case, find that effect on your system (see below for where effects are located), remove the offending effect and try again to start Audacity.

Determining if VST effects or Audio Unit effects are the problem
1) Choose, go to the Effects tab, enable VST Effects, and check "Rescan for VST effects next time Audacity starts". 2) Quit and re-start Audacity 3a) If Audacity crashes then you have an incompatible VST effect. 3b) If Audacity starts OK, Click on, go to the Effects tab, enable Audio Unit Effects. Quit and re-start Audacity, then go to step 4. 4) If Audacity crashes then you have an incompatible Audio Unit effect.
 * Edit or create the audacity.cfg file as detailed above (this is the only way to turn off VST effects, since we can't do it inside of Audacity since Audacity won't launch).
 * Go to the next section to find the exact VST effects that are causing the problem.
 * Go to the next section to determine exactly which Audio Unit effects are causing the problem.

Determining exactly which VST or Audio Unit effects are causing the problem
VST effects can be stored in the following locations: They may also be in the plug-ins folder in the same folder as the Audacity application. This is usually:

Audio Unit effects can be stored in the following locations:

1) Remove all the VST and Audio Unit effects from the above locations. Move them to a convenient location, such as the Desktop, and put them in folders named so you will know where they came from. 2) Start Audacity 3) Choose, go to the Effects tab, and enable VST and Audio Unit Effects, and check "Rescan for VST effects next time Audacity starts". 4) Quit Audacity 5) Move one VST or Audio Units effect back where it came from. 6) Start Audacity. 7a) If Audacity starts OK, then that effect is OK. In that case: 7b) If Audacity does not start or crashes, the effect is not OK. In that case:
 * If you are testing a VST effect, click on, go to the Effects tab and check "Rescan for VST effects next time Audacity starts".
 * Quit Audacity and return to step 5.
 * Move that effect back out of the system or Audacity plug-ins folder.
 * Return to step 5
 * If Audacity starts OK, the effect you just moved out of the folder was not OK. Move it to a another folder reserved for incompatible effects.
 * If Audacity does not start or crashes, the effect you just moved out of the folder was not causing the problem. Return to step 6

Repeat the above for Audio Unit effects.