Abstract

At least on a Mac Audacity seems to have issues when it comes to using third party plugins (i.e. AU or VSTs). To pinpoint which type of plugin is responsible for poor Audacity to crash, you can do the following.

I. Locate Audacity Config File

On a Crapple Mac the audacity.cfg file should be located here:
/Users/<your-username>/Library/Application Support/audacity

II. Open and edit with your favourite text editor

We chose to use BBEdit here, since BareBones kindly provided us with an NFR copy. Edit or add these lines:

[AudioUnits]
Enable=0
GUI=0
[Ladspa]
Enable=1
[Nyquist]
Enable=1
[VAMP]
Enable=1
[VST]
Enable=1
GUI=0
Rescan=0

III. Pinpointing responsible Plugin Type

Set the Enable switch to true (means Enable=1)  to activate certain plugin types. To disable a plugin type set Enable=0. In my case above, I enabled all plugin types, but Apple’s AUs.

IV. Final Words.

My experience shows that VSTs plugins are often more stable in comparison to Apple’s AU plugins. So this is not the first time to find out, that the AUs where causing instability.