KVR Audio

jontah · Post by **jontah** » Mon May 13, 2013 11:56 am

So I've been in contact with Ableton support, thus - no reply and no help. And the thread I made on their "help" forum was deleted by them. I'm really getting mad about this and I wish to find a solution! Trying to solve a CPU issue - every time I open ableton and have like 10+ tracks, (usually only 2-3 synth tracks) the CPU spikes up to the roof and making these glitchy/poppy sounds that makes the audio pretty much inaudible. The CPU meter is up at around 60-70%, sometimes even 110% (from nowhere these spikes just come and go).

Already when I open a new project it's at 35% CPU. Just by doing nothing!

I've mailed Ableton about this and they told me to send the status report but no reply since then..

What I have tried to solve the issue: remove all stop buttons in session view (CMD+E), freeze tracks, use sends for most effects (which is a pain in the long run), consolidating all clips to make sure the program gets that it's the same shit, checking preferences and increasing the buffersize to max, enabling multicore support etc.. I've literally tried everything lols. I've even tried to reinstall my whole computer - and it's a fresh install of MAC OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.3.
I'm always opening the task manager and killing all other processes except for skype which is like 0,5% of the processor anyway. All others, including internet and other plugins that may contribute to the cpu spikes is killed.

And that's not all.. I've got a (in my opinion) a pretty solid computer, there is absolutely no complaint about the processor itself.. it's a Macbook Pro 2,0Ghz Intel Core i7 processor with 16GB 1333Mhz DDR3 RAM + 240GB SSD internal drive which Ableton is installed on.

And yes I have over 100GB left on my computer so that's not the issue either. In fact I have 2 internal disks, one where I have my samples and stuff and the SSD is where programs like Ableton Logic Cubase Protools is installed on.

I'm running the 64-bit version of Ableton Live 9, and I've tried the 32-bit version aswell. It doesn't matter, I still get this insane CPU problem.

Why do I even bother then? Why don't I switch to Logic Pro 9, Cubase 7 or Protools 10? Since there are no problems with the CPU what so ever in those other programs?

Well, short answer - simply because I love Ableton, I get my creativity down so fast in that program and I just keep on going and finishing tunes in it. In other programs I really get stuck in the opening phase.

So I want to continue using Ableton Live 9, that's why I bought it (ofcoruse). But I want to get rid of this CPU problem.

I wonder if anyone of you have any tips or tricks about this or have had the same problem? I've read on the internet that alot of other users are having the exact same problem and they are changing DAWs pretty much due to this since they couldn't find any solution..

From a user that has the same problem as me:

"I recently bought ableton live 9 intro, and I have the same problem. I can't make 2 tracks with vsti's sound at once without glitching and clipping. Something has to be wrong, because in reaper I don't have any kinds of problems, and my computer is quite powerful, I'd say really powerful to be honest.."

Here's a thread for example:

https://www.ableton....problems-i-have

And the strange thing is that I've talked to people I know that are using Ableton Live 9 and they easily put like 10-20 synth tracks without problem on a LESS powerful computer than me (for instance an i5 processor with only 8GB RAM).

I find it very strange that only a few have got this problem with Live.
Heeeelpz now! driving me crazy.
Would appreciate it ALOT!

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Mon May 13, 2013 12:24 pm

What latency settings are you using? Which synths?

What kind of CPU load is Ableton showing in Activity Monitor on average and when this happens? (found in Applications/Utilities)

And internal audio or a USB or Firewire audio interface?

jontah · Post by **jontah** » Mon May 13, 2013 12:47 pm

Ableton is running on all from 60-90% of the CPU when checking the activity monitor.

http://www70.zippyshare.com/v/32161106/file.html

Only using bought softwares such as sylenth1. Built-in effects and bought Ableton Live 9. Nothing is cracked.

http://www70.zippyshare.com/v/44514729/file.html

My latency settings.

--= Ju =-- · Post by **--= Ju =--** » Mon May 13, 2013 12:54 pm

I had a similar issue with an i7 PC - SpeedStep was throttling the CPU speed so I disabled it.

Regards.

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Mon May 13, 2013 12:57 pm

If you replace the Sylenth instances with something low-CPU and fairly stable like Podolski, do you get similar results? If you kill off all the FX buses, do things change?

What is the performance like with the internal audio instead of the Duet? (I'd try the internal audio first as that's less bother)

jontah · Post by **jontah** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:02 pm

This is during a SPIKE in Ableton live 9 , as you see it's HUGE. 149% of CPU power. GG. what the hell is happening?

And yes, it doesn't matter if it's sylenth1 or any other softsynth! Sylenth1 is one of the most CPU efficient softsynths I have and I've read and seen tutorials that it doesn't steal much CPU at all either..

it's a bought version btw, not cracked, and fully updated.

http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/78230474/file.html

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:09 pm

jontah wrote:This is during a SPIKE in Ableton live 9 , as you see it's HUGE. 149% of CPU power. GG. what the hell is happening?

There's more than one core in the machine, so 150% is not that big an issue as long as the workload is being spread out well.

jontah wrote:And yes, it doesn't matter if it's sylenth1 or any other softsynth! Sylenth1 is one of the most CPU efficient softsynths I have and I've read and seen tutorials that it doesn't steal much CPU at all either..

it's a bought version btw, not cracked, and fully updated.

Is it bridged? I haven't made the jump to 64bit and IIRC Sylenth on a Mac is still 32bit only?

I mentioned Podolski because you can load up instances like there's no tomorrow on most systems. If you can't do it on yours, it indicates the problem is within Live or the audio subsystem. Similarly, trying with native audio should isolate whether the problem is Duet related, as a 1024-sample buffer is plenty.

jontah · Post by **jontah** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:11 pm

Gamma-UT wrote:
jontah wrote:This is during a SPIKE in Ableton live 9 , as you see it's HUGE. 149% of CPU power. GG. what the hell is happening?
There's more than one core in the machine, so 150% is not that big an issue as long as the workload is being spread out well.

jontah wrote:And yes, it doesn't matter if it's sylenth1 or any other softsynth! Sylenth1 is one of the most CPU efficient softsynths I have and I've read and seen tutorials that it doesn't steal much CPU at all either..

it's a bought version btw, not cracked, and fully updated.
Is it bridged? I haven't made the jump to 64bit and IIRC Sylenth on a Mac is still 32bit only?

I mentioned Podolski because you can load up instances like there's no tomorrow on most systems. If you can't do it on yours, it indicates the problem is within Live or the audio subsystem. Similarly, trying with native audio should isolate whether the problem is Duet related, as a 1024-sample buffer is plenty.

Yup, it's 32-64bit bridged via jBridge.

Maybe I should go back to 32bit and just use that instead of 64bit since there's no built-in bridge in Live 9?

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:16 pm

jontah wrote: Yup, it's 32-64bit bridged via jBridge.

Maybe I should go back to 32bit and just use that instead of 64bit since there's no built-in bridge in Live 9?

Try switching to internal audio first to see what the performance is like under that.

jontah · Post by **jontah** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:22 pm

Gamma-UT wrote:
jontah wrote: Yup, it's 32-64bit bridged via jBridge.

Maybe I should go back to 32bit and just use that instead of 64bit since there's no built-in bridge in Live 9?
Try switching to internal audio first to see what the performance is like under that.

but the thing is that the sylenth1 track is frozen and converted into audio and this still happens.. so it shouldn't be that at all since it's passive..

what do u mean with internal audio btw? and how do I switch it?

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:35 pm

jontah wrote: what do u mean with internal audio btw? and how do I switch it?

Go into Live's preferences and select the Audio Output Device and change it to Built-In Output. It might be worth changing the Input as well. It will then play out through the Mac's speakers or headphone output.

You can change it back to Duet the same way.

Goseba · Post by **Goseba** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:47 pm

I am not sure about Mac set up, but I'm on Win XP and on the odd occasion I have had strange issues I remove the Preferences (I think it is) file and restart Live. This has cured some issues.

jontah · Post by **jontah** » Mon May 13, 2013 1:57 pm

Gamma-UT wrote:
jontah wrote: what do u mean with internal audio btw? and how do I switch it?
Go into Live's preferences and select the Audio Output Device and change it to Built-In Output. It might be worth changing the Input as well. It will then play out through the Mac's speakers or headphone output.

You can change it back to Duet the same way.

Doesn't change anything on the CPU meter..

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Mon May 13, 2013 2:06 pm

jontah wrote:Doesn't change anything on the CPU meter..

Well, I guess that rules out interactions between the Apogee and Live 9. Unfortunately, it doesn't leave many other possibilities.

Has anyone else run that project file in their version of Live 9 on a Macbook Pro?

ZenPunkHippy · Post by **ZenPunkHippy** » Mon May 13, 2013 2:13 pm

Yup, it's 32-64bit bridged via jBridge.

What happens if you create a similar project using Live 32-bit?

I bet it's the bridge causing the problem.

Not sure if 32-bit Synlenth would be automatically recognised by Live if you load the same project in 32-bit Live because I think jBridge uses an additional file to create the bridge, but it's worth trying - and if that doesn't work, try creating a similar project.

Does the problem still occur?

Peace,
Andy.

Ableton CPU problem... URGE HELP NEEDED!