why does Ableton only using one thread core? CPU overloading.

Audio Plugin Hosts and other audio software applications discussion
Post Reply New Topic
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

I just built a new desktop thinking it would run able ton better. The DAW gets overloaded so easily. I basically can run 10 times the amount of processing in Energyxt, but that daw lacks a lot of the features i use in ableton.

is there anything i can do to fix it? Ive adjusted the sound card settings and buffer, all that. is it just the DAW its self?

I hate that static sounds it makes when the cpu is overloaded. drives me crazy.

brand new ryzen 5 1600, it shouldn't be doing this with just a few plugins and automation.
It looks like ableton just hogs up on a single core thread. I have 6 cores and 12 threads that its not utilizing.
any way to adjust this?

Post

I'm at Ryzen 1700 @ 3,6 GHz and it does work for me. At least in real-time mode Live distributes tasks evenly among cores. Are you sure you turned multithreading on in Live options? Since version 10 is always on, anyway.

Live used only 1 thread for rendering, though.
Blog ------------- YouTube channel
Tricky-Loops wrote: (...)someone like Armin van Buuren who claims to make a track in half an hour and all his songs sound somewhat boring(...)

Post

yes of course, multicore button was hit in the ableton prefrences, unless there some other way of doing so?

something is definitely wrong, i only had like 6 instances of izotope 5 open, and it all ready went to 40%, while in task manager it was like %3.

my Athlon x2 from like 10 years ago could run that no problem without static cpu feedback.

Post

The main audio thread will always run at one core only. Once that one trips over, it doesn't matter how many cores you have, you will get dropouts. This happens in any DAW, sooner or later.


Also, Live's CPU meter doesn't work like Task Manager's, it measures time to process a single audio buffer, rather than actual CPU usage.

Post

You could try running LatencyMon to check how well computer can handle realtime processing.

Post

Ran Ozone 2 and 3 15 years ago - and those are cpu hogs for sure.

How things may be balanced on cores can be due to bios settings. When I turned off dynamic overclocking and core parking - everything distributed much nicer over all cores. Speaking general daw use here. Dynamic overclocking may defer starting another core and try overclocking instead - that's how I understood it.

Post

Keep in mind the Ryzen CPUs have somewhat slow clock-speed (comparatively speaking).
Ryzen 5 1600 is running at 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo).
As a point of reference, 8700k is running 4.7GHz Turbo (same number of cores).

An Image Line Dev (few months back) detailed that not all processes can be multi-threaded.
In this type of scenario (heavily dependent on a single core), the slower clock-speed is going to affect performance.
Live is amazing in many ways... but CPU efficiency isn't its forte'.

Depending on your motherboard, you may be able to go into the BIOS and lock all cores at 3.6GHz.
Make sure you're using a quality CPU cooler.
Otherwise, make sure the machine has been fully optimized for maximum DAW performance (low/consistent DPC Latency, etc).
If Live still isn't working well for you (assuming it's a custom build), consider swapping the CPU/motherboard for an 8700k/Z370.
Jim Roseberry
Purrrfect Audio
www.studiocat.com
jim@studiocat.com

Post

I don't think it has to do with your processor, the 1600X is a pretty powerful beast (and one of the most popular Ryzen chips, if not THE most popular).

Have you tried some other DAW such as the Reaper demo? Just to compare...

Post

If it's Live 10 you're having these troubles with, chances are it's not normal CPU utilization, and instead a manifestation of the CPU problem a lot of people are having with the initial version. It works like it should for some, and for a bunch of people it overloads very easily. Your situation sounds like the latter, unfortunately. Check out the CPU thread on the Ableton forum, add your own experieces there, and just wait and see how the issue gets remedied, basically.

Post

Guenon wrote:If it's Live 10 you're having these troubles with, chances are it's not normal CPU utilization, and instead a manifestation of the CPU problem a lot of people are having with the initial version. It works like it should for some, and for a bunch of people it overloads very easily. Your situation sounds like the latter, unfortunately. Check out the CPU thread on the Ableton forum, add your own experieces there, and just wait and see how the issue gets remedied, basically.
i have been to the ableton forum to try to get answers. as you said im not the only one with this problem. ive done all the typical adjustments.

i need a new set of troubleshooting.

Post

fluffy_little_something wrote:I don't think it has to do with your processor, the 1600X is a pretty powerful beast (and one of the most popular Ryzen chips, if not THE most popular).

Have you tried some other DAW such as the Reaper demo? Just to compare...
yes , like i explained other energyxt is a dream. I should try Reaper demo just to check to see if its just ableton. ill be troubleshooting all day.

Yeah, its too bad, because i really like ableton workflow, but at what cost? especially the m4l stuff takes up so much cpu.

Post

Jim Roseberry wrote:Keep in mind the Ryzen CPUs have somewhat slow clock-speed (comparatively speaking).
Ryzen 5 1600 is running at 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo).
As a point of reference, 8700k is running 4.7GHz Turbo (same number of cores).

An Image Line Dev (few months back) detailed that not all processes can be multi-threaded.
In this type of scenario (heavily dependent on a single core), the slower clock-speed is going to affect performance.
Live is amazing in many ways... but CPU efficiency isn't its forte'.

Depending on your motherboard, you may be able to go into the BIOS and lock all cores at 3.6GHz.
Make sure you're using a quality CPU cooler.
Otherwise, make sure the machine has been fully optimized for maximum DAW performance (low/consistent DPC Latency, etc).
If Live still isn't working well for you (assuming it's a custom build), consider swapping the CPU/motherboard for an 8700k/Z370.
Is overclocking really neccesary to make a marginal difference? this CPU is ranked like #40 on speed benchmark list. Im sure it will help, but is it really fixing my problem here? sounds like if its a buffering audio on a single core then the difference will only be marginal.

Post


Post

I have a similar CPU Rayzen 5 1600X (it is a little bit faster than the 1600 but otherwise is mostly the same). I have Live 9 Intro but I didn't notice any problem. Anyway I don't have any izotope product (they are CPU hungry products, aren't they?)

Meanwhile try to play with latency till you can no more see/hear any maxing to your CPU. Also what is your audio interface and what ASIO you are using? Sample rate? Those are additional info helps. For me, I use Presonus iTwo Asio driver with 256 buffer and 44.1 Khz sample rate.

Anyway, it is not a miracle CPU! It is better than the i5 -4570 I used, but not like a day and night! So, maybe you are expecting too much. I can max this cpu easily with just one instance of Korg Arp Odyssey (I keep repeating this because this is the almost the only high cpu demanding plug I have for now :hihi: ), if I choose a very heavy preset (with 16 unison ..etc). Can you try another plug that behaves similar between the DAWs?

There is also differences between the DAWs in relation of CPU usage. Also, some plugs have 'bugs' with a specific DAWs. I suggest to write the steps clearly to produce the cpu maxing, so we can try to duplicate and give you faster/more accurate feedback.

Post

Windows power settings adjusted for Performance ?
Amazon: why not use an alternative

Post Reply

Return to “Hosts & Applications (Sequencers, DAWs, Audio Editors, etc.)”