Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Monkeybrain797
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Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by Monkeybrain797 » Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:17 am

Is anyone else having this problem? I just got a new computer with a 10th gen intel i9, 32 gigs of ram and a geforce 3090. I know my hardware is good to go, but if I have more than a few (and i mean 4) tracks in a set, the cpu usage goes off the charts going up to 300 to 400 percent. I've checked my actual cpu usage on my system and it hasn't gone above 40% What is going on? I can't get any clear recordings. Can someone help?

properLofi
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by properLofi » Mon Mar 15, 2021 7:28 am

I assume you’ve carried out the system tweaks outlined here and have run latencymon to check driver latency issues.

This seems more common than it should be given the reports on here and Reddit. I had a similar issue on OSX Catalina and the solution was to delete all old library files related to Live and a fresh install.

It’s not much consolation right now but I r just built a new Windows machine running a much lower spec processor and I’ve got over 200 tracks running so it’s safe to say it’s a system configuration issue rather than Live 11 on its own.

What interface are you running? Are all drivers installed and up to date? Is your bios up to date?

moukoko
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by moukoko » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:44 pm

Monkeybrain I have the exact same issue...At a loss.

moukoko
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by moukoko » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:46 pm

would love to hear how you work through it.

I am 10th gen Intel, 64gb quad memory ram, SSD, massive GPU.

reconrose
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by reconrose » Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:24 pm

properLofi's comment doesn't really make sense for users whose version 10s are running totally normally, no issues, and then 11 has more CPU usage

I'm finding that even with only 4 tracks, I can hit the CPU overload in 11. I have a AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT 8-Core Processor that should have no problems handling 4 tracks. There are a fair number of effects but I could run that all in 10 just fine (actually with even more processing).

[jur]
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by [jur] » Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:15 pm

Do you have any M4L device in your set?
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bleepbloop
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by bleepbloop » Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:22 pm

CPU spikes for me when duplicating and dragging tracks about, and used to do this very often until Ableton Index finished running.

Remember not to compare the CPU usage in the monitor section of your computer:https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... sk-Manager

Otherwise I think this is a common issue with 11, but it's worth comparing performance to 10 and then raising a support ticket so they can find commonalities. You should also make sure that you're referencing the 'Average' CPU meter when comparing them.

[jur]
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by [jur] » Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:56 pm

bleepbloop wrote:
Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:22 pm
CPU spikes for me when duplicating and dragging tracks about
This looks like the result of the new "current" peak-like meter, so nothing to worry about in this case.
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bleepbloop
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by bleepbloop » Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:21 pm

[jur] wrote:
Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:56 pm
bleepbloop wrote:
Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:22 pm
CPU spikes for me when duplicating and dragging tracks about
This looks like the result of the new "current" peak-like meter, so nothing to worry about in this case.
Agreed, although I can correlate spikes >100% when doing these tasks with momentary audio dropouts in a set with 3-4 basic tracks and stock plugins (if audio is running) Having been made aware in 11, I found the same present on 10 with the same set suggesting something is pushing it a bit.

Is that something expected? I'm running a fairly decent Windows rig below, and different buffer/sample sizes have little effect on it. I've also tried reinstalling drivers, resetting Live, and following CPU optimisation tips from the online guide.

i7 8700
32GB 3200mhZ
SSD
Focusrite 18i20

chimp_spanner
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by chimp_spanner » Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:40 pm

I’m also getting cpu overload indicators where I didn’t before, and usually as a result of doing basic tasks in a sparse project (importing sounds, changing instruments). Luckily no audio dropouts although I do get brief moments of UI freeze/hang every now and then. Again never had this with 10. Definitely open to the possibility that what’s changed is just the reporting of the usage but there does seem to be a “twitchiness” to it that wasn’t there previously. Guess it’s not just me!

2017 MBP Catalina btw.

[jur]
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by [jur] » Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:13 am

chimp_spanner wrote:
Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:40 pm
I’m also getting cpu overload indicators where I didn’t before, and usually as a result of doing basic tasks in a sparse project (importing sounds, changing instruments). Luckily no audio dropouts although I do get brief moments of UI freeze/hang every now and then. Again never had this with 10. Definitely open to the possibility that what’s changed is just the reporting of the usage but there does seem to be a “twitchiness” to it that wasn’t there previously. Guess it’s not just me!

2017 MBP Catalina btw.
As said, the new CPU meter now also displays peaks. These CPU spikes when e.g loading a device are also happening in previous Live versions, but the "old" cpu meter just doesn't show them.
As long as you're not getting audio dropouts too then everything's fine.

If you find that L11 performs worse than L10 with the same set, then this is wrong, and in this case we need to nail it down.
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slow.robot
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by slow.robot » Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:33 am

loaded up a new plugin this morning, and just dragging the window launched my CPU meter up to over 4,000%. 8O it did it again the next time I moved it, but after that, it was fine. weird. that’s been the only time I’ve actually encountered dropouts using 11.

cskracer
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by cskracer » Sat Mar 20, 2021 2:30 am

[jur] wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:13 am

As said, the new CPU meter now also displays peaks. These CPU spikes when e.g loading a device are also happening in previous Live versions, but the "old" cpu meter just doesn't show them.
As long as you're not getting audio dropouts too then everything's fine.

If you find that L11 performs worse than L10 with the same set, then this is wrong, and in this case we need to nail it down.
Jur - I'm not sure if it's a live discussion amongst the product managers and the devs, but if it's not it's worth raising as an issue with the appropriate person(s).

Whilst I understand what the new CPU functionality does, the sheer number of reports by confused users should be a red flag to the team. Whilst the new approach is functioning as intending, it's only causing concern and confusion amongst a fair number of users.

Perhaps there is another way that can be used to communicate what the CPU meter is doing now? As you say the actual peaks don't matter that much unless there's audio drop outs, but it's fairly clear that's not how users are seeing it.

I've just had to do something similar at work. We released an update to our UI and the feedback is that it's less user friendly than it used to be. Sometimes what seems like a good idea doesn't survive in the field!

Hermanus
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by Hermanus » Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:29 am

Hello,

I also struggled with some erratic cpu usage in both ableton 10 & 11.

I updated my bios to the latest firmware, since I forgot to check for quite a long time, I had five bios flashing to do in a row.


NOW ableton live is fully efficient, no more crashes related to maxforlive devices, gui freezing are gone.


you have problems running ableton, check your bios and update it if necessary

raucous66
Posts: 2
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Re: Unusually high cpu usage in Ableton 11

Post by raucous66 » Sat Mar 20, 2021 9:21 pm

I've been fighting similar issues since updating. I have the top of the line Dell XPS 17, with 8 cores, 32GB extremely fast RAM, 2TB NVMe, etc., and I'm also a 20 year Windows software developer, who eliminates all extra services, Windows Defender, Firewalls, update, etc., and religiously check that no mystery services etc., are spiking in my TaskManager details.

But, since updating to 11, with only two tracks, and a few effects, I am getting dropouts?!

I'm completely baffled.

When I look in TaskManager, there's nothing out of the ordinary. Ableton and Push2 display process eating up most of the CPU, and nothing else, really, some Wave service, but was running before with AB10.

I have all power management disabled too, ultra performance, no link state power management, no USB selective suspend, no system sleep states, etc.

Ableton, please fix this problem!

I have Focusrite Clarett 4Pre USB (Type-C) - the same interface I was using without issue on ABL10.

__e

Also, when I look at performance in TaskManager, it's never above 8%, and all the cores look mostly idle, save one or two showing maybe 10 - 15%.

I always disable WiFi when I'm producing too!

UPDATE 4/4/2021 (Easter): I updated my Dell XPS17 9700, firmware, all TBT dock drivers, Windows to 19042.906, all plugins, and Ableton 11.0.2, and now I still see the CPU hit 100% occasionally, although nothing in the TaskManager shows a spike on any of my 16 logical cores.

But I'm not getting any dropouts. I believe this was a problem with Sound Toys FilterFreak2 that I only started using on the first track after Ableton 11 update, and I had never had any issue with the other Sound Toys plugins before that.

So to recap, I still see unusual high CPU spikes, that I believe is not real. However, I am not experiencing any audio glitches.
Last edited by raucous66 on Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

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