afp is 8x faster than smb but FCP 10.3.4 won't connect over afp

We have a 2013 Mac Pro canister with a Pegasus2 R8 unit running on Mac Server. We tested the disc connection speed of afp and smb from the two editing stations connected over thunderbolt using black magic disk speed test. The afp connections were eight times faster than smb. But we can't create a library in FCP when we are over afp. Any solutions someone might recommend? SMB is just too slow to edit from.

(Server is the latest high sierra with Server 5.4. The iMac editing stations have Sierra with the FCP 10.3.4)

Thanks.

Have you seen this Apple support article?
support.apple.com/en-us/HT205926

Not to RTFM you but I have seen this issue pop up quite often when it comes to macOS and SMB.

Maybe you should experiment with NFS or try tuning SMB since usually AFP is a slower protocol in real world conditions.

I did have the same issue on a job recently on Sierra. I was given a terminal command to speed up the SMB volumes. The command did work. After speed test the SMB volumes were equal or better speed than the AFP mounts. Unfortunately I can't post the terminal command. Hopefully someone has a better reply for you. It may be possible.