Also...here are my plugins. All standard issue exempty nablet which we need to encode our Sony F5 video clips.

Well, the delay comes when you see AMPIPluginDSM loading...and eventually MC times out and hangs for a bit. That process is responsible for licensing and validating audio plugins, including AudioSuite.

Is this a co-install with ProTools? If so, you might want to try uninstalling both, then install PT, then install MC.

It's not a co-install with PT. No PT on my system. My system is actually pretty clean as I recently did a total wipe and reinstall from the ground up.

Why does it always need to check licenses? Seems like one time should do the trick.The startup process on the MC is already too long, imho.

I have basic MC on mine system and the pplug in you have that i dont are:

BF-76

Channelstrip

Elevenlite

LoFi

Mastermeter

Maxim

PitchII

RectiFi

SanSamp

VariFi

Can you move those to a new folder on the desktop and try again?

Marianna

Tried it...no positive effect.

But if I take the ENTIRE audio folder out...it sails right through.

I'm goign to take a guess that my plugins got "polluted" somehow and do a fresh install of the MC software with it's native plugs (only).

See if that does the trick.

Report back Fish.... this one is a head scrtacher

Marianna

I literally tossed the entire Avid folder from application support in the trash, ran every uninstaller, restarted, installed a clean 2018.8 version and it still hangs on that screen.  (sigh)

I checked and the standard install added a slew of audio plugins in there including ones you said you didn't have. And I think some new ones.

So, I dunno what the heck I'm doing wrong here.

My plugins match yours, Fish...and I don't have any extra ones either.

So, as long as you move the audio plugins folder to a new location, you boot much faster? But when back in it's spot the delay returns?

Correct.

Possible that one of those needs an update or is corrupted ?

Marianna

Next step is to try isolating a possible culprit..

Stand by.

Well, I tried the 1/2 and 1/2 approach that one uses to find a corrupt video file.

Turns out, eitehr way it still gave me the pause at start up. (???)

So I then I tried just one plug-in in the folder and it worked.

Then i tried picking a bunch and it was slow again.

So then I just put in those plug-ins that I use teh most frequently and it gives me a slight pause, but one that is much more manageable.

So...that doesn't "fix" the startup problem.

And it doesn't give me relief from my original post (the MC taking a pause for a few mins for no reason).

Here is the list of what is currently in my folder and what is removed.

I've seen similar things on 8.9.4 Shared project - Mac Pro trashcan OS 10.12.6.   Only myself and another editor are experiencing the hangs.  Others (6) aren't.    

You're right that it seems to freeze/beachball for 4-8 minutes and then usually goes back to normal.   Fortunately, it doesn't happen every day for me, but it is annoying when it does.

I'm open to any suggestions.