Vst Lags And Consumes Cpu In Pro Tools – Does Anyone Have An Effective Solution? Options

[branwenarianwen]

Hi everyone,
I am using Pro Tools 2022 with many heavy VSTs like Kontakt, Omnisphere, etc. Although my computer is quite powerful (Core i7, 32GB RAM, SSD), when opening many tracks, the software starts to lag, hang or crash, especially when switching sessions.

I have tried:

Increasing buffer size to 1024

Reducing voices in Kontakt

Moving VST library to separate SSD

But the situation is still slow and consumes CPU.

I want to ask:

Does anyone know how to optimize VST performance in Pro Tools?

Should I use a plugin that supports RAM/CPU optimization, and which one should I choose?

Does splitting sessions or using SSD cache help with stability?

Looking forward to sharing experiences from those who have encountered similar situations.

Thanks in advance to the Plugvery community!
Among Us Online

[stashu]

[quote name='branwenarianwen' date='Oct 20 2025, 07:34 AM' post='151375']
Hi everyone,
I am using Pro Tools 2022 with many heavy VSTs like Kontakt, Omnisphere, etc. Although my computer is quite powerful (Core i7, 32GB RAM, SSD), when opening many tracks, the software starts to lag, hang or crash, especially when switching sessions.


I don't know if this helps, but are all plugins new? Do they match your 32 or 64 bit OS? Some times an old plugin will cause the entire system to run slower.
I had a few legacy plugins that would actually run in an up-to-date DAW, but cause tons of latency. Once deleted, the system ran perfectly.

I know this is next example is hardware, but similar results. I had a Contour Design jog wheel for ease of editing and some video work. But, I noticed the system was getting kludgy. Really slow. Same issues you're having. The culprit was the jog wheel. It was a USB 1.0. It dragged the whole computer down to that level. I disconnected it, and the computer was flying fast again.

Try eliminating plugins one at a time and see which one slows you down. I know some people suggest deleting all old plugins and loading them in one at a time to see which one drags the system down.

Hope this helps.
Stashu