CPU consumption jumps +100%

[HoodlumN8]

When I am running Live 8 with or without plugins active, my cpu consumption is generally below 50%, until after a few minutes of play it suddenly decides to double (even when not playing or recording). If I am playing or recording then it skyrockets up to 140%, and of course my soundcard goes beserk and crackles until finally dying completely until I reboot.

I do not think this is necessarily a Live problem, but likely a system error, but I thought to post here in case someone else has any advice. I tried disabling all other applications, including Airport and Bluetooth receivers, no difference. Watching the activity monitor the only process that is consuming the CPU is Live (which reads at +100%). I've tried everything I can think of short of a complete re-format, which I absolutely want to avoid at this moment. Help!!

System:

Mac OS X 10.6.3
2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667MHz RAM

[cids]

Which version of Live are you using? Try 8.1.4...

[EX]

I'm getting these spikes too! 8.1.3, 814, don't think it matters...

(When plug-ins are running... but its as if it isn't down to any specific ones.)

Like right now, got a project open CPU 35-40%... every few minutes whoosh - 70-75% and it isn't doing anything, nothing is playing. Can that REALLY be the fault of a 3rd party plug.

Sent loads of emails to Ableton, then started blaming various plug-ins, now this thread is making me think different...

Weird how the spike seems to be exactly double too.

[HoodlumN8]

Yes, exactly double and regardless of plugins and activity. I am pretty convinced now that the problem is not with Live, but with Mac OS because I have been getting a similar problem with web browsers (firefox and safari) when streaming videos. After a few minutes, suddenly the application (firefox bin or safari webkithostplugin) doubles. The connection with the external soundcard gets interrupted and starts crackling, until I stop the video and the cpu returns to normal... until i play the video again.

It's very strange, and now I am trying to see what updates I have recently installed that may have caused this. The possible culprits I've narrowed it down to so far are OSX 10.6.4 and the most recent ProApplications update. I am posting also on Apple forums, let me know if you get any leads EX.

Cheers and happy debugging...

[audiofeen]

yeah me to and i can't do anything about it... tried everything... no 3rd party plugs, no max device, no ableton device, no midi, just audio
same shit..
i get the cpu bar going crazy and i'm not doing anything that i wasn't in any other previous version also the sound spikes are a killer
one of my friends was playing in Tresor 2 weeks ago and had 2 sound spikes in 10 min and it's killed the dance floor.
8.1.3 was working(well it worked better than this) then i re-installed my system to get rid of some crap on my hdd and now it's buggy as all hell
and it's was the exact same os version
I thought my computer was on the brink of death so i feel a little bit better now knowing that it's not a hardware issue.
Im also getting the browser problems also with chrome/ firefox/ safari it's feels like more of a flash/ java/ cocoa bug..
i'm actually going to re-install my system today as i'm sick to death of this taking hold of my computer but i'm also going to try the 8.1.5b
and see if any of the bug fixes help
i feel like a pc user again.. what a joke

8.1.3 / 8.1.4
osx 10.5.8
macbook pro 2.16
4gb ram
200gb 7,200rpm hdd

[EX]

Yeah I thought it was fixed for awhile, loops were running nicely spike-free and then as soon as I started to do anything it the double-spiking returned.

I urge people who are afflicted by the double spike to chime into these threads as there's more chance of Ableton making it their number one foible to root out, if it isnt already top of their list.

[EX]

Incidentally I wanna ask you guys - what gives you the stamina to stay the course with all this bug testing and endless variable elimination and not just defect to, I dunno, Logic or Record/Reason or something like that... all this bug stuff makes me almost lose the will to live after awhile... though I've not given up yet...

[audiofeen]

do any of you experencing the spikes get this happening also?

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 12&start=0

[EX]

Nah don't get that and my instinct would be its an interface issue but of course have no idea...

[audiofeen]

Incidentally I wanna ask you guys - what gives you the stamina to stay the course with all this bug testing and endless variable elimination and not just defect to, I dunno, Logic or Record/Reason or something like that... all this bug stuff makes me almost lose the will to live after awhile... though I've not given up yet...

I own a boxed copy of logic 7 pro and 8 studio (I dont even have then installed), i was studying logic for a while and was a happy user then i started to get all crazy stuff happening with the aplication cpu usage going through the roof, random crashes, sound not working properly ect..
so many problems that i stop making music for around 4 months, and then opened ableton again i had a tune made in 4hrs
and thought why did i ever change.
but the shoe is on the other foot this time and to be honnest i like making music in ableton to much to just give up again, the problem here is not just ableton though i really have a feeling it's many factors...

ableton code issues (because of all the new code being entered in live 8 see below)
Apple/ windows os issues (way to many to even start listing)
cocoa issues (quite a few 3rd party apps use it)
max 4 live (implimentation of max is really not an easy thing to do at all)
serato bridge (implimentation)
apc40 (implimentation)
launch pad (implimentation)..

The list is so long and a lot longer than I know about and to be honnest there flat out trying to sort it out .

[HoodlumN8]

Im sure this is a Mac OS problem, and I have a feeling it has some connection with the 10.6.4 update. Im running into the same cpu consumption jump with Logic, Final Cut, Flash and web streaming of videos. Its probably happening for other applications, but its only the ones that need alot of cpu that it drives it through the roof.

I wrote a message on the apple forum about a kernal panic problem, which I think is related, but I think it's time to contact Apple, and if no help then reformat... ugh, I hate doing that but hey, what are summer vacations for?

One tip you could try audiofeen, turn off airport. It didnt solve my problem this time, but a couple years ago I was having problems with disruptions to my audio stream and found out that an OSX update had a bug related to airport and audio process interruptions. A fix they decided to give six months later, never admitting to the problem before then. Anyway, never know...just kill all running processes you can and see if it runs more stable.

[audiofeen]

I'll give that a whirl it's something i do usually if i start getting crashes too i think i was reading the same topic a while back somewhere
around the time of about 10.5.3 ah typical apple let everyone else take that blame for the mistakes again..

[HoodlumN8]

Also, in case you didnt already think of it, try resetting your PRAM and repair permissions.

[audiofeen]

10.5.6 Clean Install Live 8.1.5b1
ahhhhh it's a dream come true(fingers crossed it stays that way), well compared to the nightmare's i have been having..
Finally got my live set together for a 2hr gig I have to do on sat, i have flattened most of it to audio tracks (just to be safe) 1 or 2 max device's, 3 vst fx..,
1 vsti and a whole bunch of ableton plugs

I think the problems I've been having are not just from one party Ie: Ableton, Apple, 3rd party vst/vsti & motu driver/ firewire problems..

After 10.5.6 apple screwed with java and i think coca also witch manages to affect the computer performance and quite a lot of applications
on top of this, ableton 8 has a quite a lot going on at the moment and there doing there best.. also some of the 3rd party plugs are buggy as all hell &
motu well to be honnest there's quite a lot of people in the same boat as i was with the ultralite issue ..

my cpu load is staying at a nice level idling around 1-5% even with close to 150 separate audio tracks, 1 midi and 8 return channels

[HoodlumN8]

Well, im sure our problems stem from different shit-plant roots, but the solution was the same = clean install. Better to waste a day backing up and re-installing than another week of delaying projects. Im on 10.6 and had updated recently to 10.6.4, now Im back to 10.6 and not going to update again.

The silver rule: If it aint broke, dont fix it!