Audition MIDI tracks and VST scanning not working - what to do?

Question

Hi -
I'm running Audition 3.0.1 as an audio only application very successfully for some time on my Dell Inspiron 1525 (Vista Service Pack 1, all updates applied; 4GB RAM).
However, I'm now trying to use it as a MIDI multitrack sequencer and am encountering severe problems. I'd be grateful for any insights on how to solve them:
1. On adding a MIDI track, Audition takes several minutes to add the track.
2. On asking Audition to scan for VSTi's, it scans for some minutes, and then crashes. I own a few Arturia Virtual Synth plugins and have added one freeware VSTi dll to the Audition plugins VSTi folder.
I suspect the delay in adding MIDI tracks is related to an initial and lengthy scan of some kind also. I notice (before I rescan for my extra VSTi's) that Audition's three internal plugins are listed and enabled twice in the plugin scan list.
Overall, I'm very disappointed by Audition's MIDI implementation. It feels like a 'hack' that may never actually work. By comparison, as a pure Audio environment Audition is just incredible; and I would have expected the same robustness from its MIDI engine. Alas repeated attempts to get it to work have failed.
Apart from pointers on how to solve these issues (if possible) I'd be very grateful for any experienced insght into whether using Audition's MIDI multitrack capabilities with Plugins and external synths is realistic - am I expecting too much for this to ever work?
Thanks for your time and attention given to my issue.
Kevin.

Answer 1

I suppose this answer is aimed at BOTH your posts re Audition MIDI implementation etc.
First Audition MIDI does work, albeit at a "basic" level.  Yes, it always does seem to take a long time for a MIDI track to open in Multitrack view.  Not sure why, but I suppose it's something I've come to expect as "the norm".
Second, the problem with AA crashing when scanning your VSTis is almost certainly caused by one or more of those VSTis being slightly "outside" the strict VSTi specification as laid down by Steinberg.  The same is true of certain VSTs as well.  It appears, and you will find other posts on here and on the AudioMasters forum confirming this, that AA expects full adherence to the letter of the specification.
To help resolve which of your VSTis is causing the crach, the only "tried and tested" method is to remove ALL the .dll files from their current location (cut and paste them to another folder) then return them to your designated VSTi folder, one at a time.  Ensure you allow AA to scan that folder afresh after each separate .dll is moved back; almost certainly at least one of them will cause AA to crash and you will know which one(s) are not compatible with AA.
In your other post you ask whether AA can work with external MIDI synths/modules, as well as VSTis, and again I would have to say that yes, it does.  However, again you have to be sure that each new hardware/software item you are adding to AA will actually work successfully and not cause AA to crash.
In my case I have a total of five external keyboards/synthesizer modules operating successfully with AA, together with a number of VSTis (including EMU Proteus VXR and 4Front Technologies TruePianos, to name but two that I use regularly).  As I think may be suggested by the above, I do have an external USB 4-in 4-out MIDI interface to allow me to use any or all of those external units together.
HTH.
Jeff