Large Live Set CPU Issues - Help Please :)

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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R.
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:15 pm

Large Live Set CPU Issues - Help Please :)

Post by R. » Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:34 pm

Hi All,

Got some real CPU issues putting together my Ableton Live Set.

System:
Mac Pro Mid 2015 2.8 Quad core i7 + 16Gb ram

I've created lots of tracks in separate .als files which send their audio to a Group which acts as Master bus. Each group occupies an 8x8 grid and its about 30-50% full of scenes. Lets say on average that's 25 scenes. Each scene has different automation parameters encoded into it . I've got 14 different groups in my Live set, which amounts to roughly 150 tracks. My Live set is almost all ableton native vsts and not samples.

I have just collated all of these groups into one Master Live set and BOOM I've hit a brick wall. Live currently won't even open the collated set which is a big boohoo, and before that the static cpu usage had gone up from 0% to 10%. I've clearly set this up in a way that Live doesn't like it, and Im trying to find a way out of this hole fast.!

I have read the CPU usage page on Ableton and have set each group up accordingly to maximize efficiency. I was just unaware un-playing tracks or scenes could cause such a pavlova.

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: Large Live Set CPU Issues - Help Please :)

Post by jestermgee » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:04 pm

150 tracks, 6 year old computer. You will have to simplify things a lot as not even Apple computers are capable of that magic.

I'd probably take everything you can from your separate projects and convert to WAV not running synths as that many, even loaded and not playing, will amount to probably too much to handle.

Start much smaller, add in some of what you need, test, then keep building until you find your limit. If it is for performance then 90% of the actual production stuff is not even needed for live. Render it out, add some basic effects blocks and that's it.

R.
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:15 pm

Re: Large Live Set CPU Issues - Help Please :)

Post by R. » Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:06 pm

I'm due an upgrade in October when the new one comes out, but in the mean time I don't understand the reason why empty tracks sitting there doing nothing cause such a fuss - it's frustrating obviously :s

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: Large Live Set CPU Issues - Help Please :)

Post by jestermgee » Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:24 pm

Because plugins need to be resident in memory and prob take some cycles so they are "ready to go". I know this is the case with VST2 plugins, not sure about native plugins but if you are building a live set, you kind of don't want it over bloated and complex.

As mentioned, start again small and slowly build and test to gain an understanding of what is happening... Personally I have never bnothered to push things to that extent because I already know it would be fruitless.

grrrz
Posts: 156
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Large Live Set CPU Issues - Help Please :)

Post by grrrz » Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:54 pm

if that helps turning off plugins you don't use will free some CPU. You can automate that; or use a keyboard midi shortcut; and use groups of plugins to make it easier.
for the rest freeze whatever you can; or use bounced audio tracks; or make one track out of several if you use the same effect chain/instruments.
If what you're trying to do is to creat a live set for a gig out of all your tracks; that's really not the most efficient way to do it.
everything you don't play live should be audio; so a few tracks should be enough; and for the rest there if you use the same synth several time you should use only one track and automate preset/change/effects. But maybe I'm missing what you're trying to achieve.
Also I don't know if you know this but you can change the tempo of a whole scene in the session view by just naming the master scene 120BPM (or whatever tempo you want instead of 120)

R.
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:15 pm

Re: Large Live Set CPU Issues - Help Please :)

Post by R. » Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:41 am

It’s fundamentally a design floor in my designing of the setup.

The problem I play pretty much everything live aside from kicks and percussion. The problem I have with a vertical scene layout is that the master macro rack I have does change the name of the macro knob depending on what chain is selected. Each individual chain has different parameters mapped to macros.

It’s time to knock it down and start again, I was really up for a compact set up but running into these issues I’m understanding even further now the need for analogue gear.

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