mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:33 am

Hi ladies and gentlemen

Something strange happened to me recently.

I noticed that while opening and using a specific Live set, my computer is heating a lot and my CPU use is a bit more heavy than before.
This set is a stage set (for playing live) and I know it quite well : it was not happening anything like that before while using it.

While opening the activity monitor on my macbook, I noticed that an unknown process (to me at least) is taking around 50% of a processor core while using this specific Live set : mDNSResponder !!!
For any strange reason, this process is not there with others Live sets, only with this good old set I use for the stage. And I'm pretty sure it causes the heating and CPU hit, because as soon as I get rid of it (more about that below), everything comes back to normal.

I checked on the net, and it looks like this process is used for local network (for exemple Bonjour protocol on Mac).
Why would there be any issue with this kind of process while using Ableton Live ?

I remembered that while using this Live set, I needed to use a file from another computer, and I transfered the file via iDrop (connecting via wifi/bluetooth the two computers).
Could it be the cause of the problem ? For exemple the computer tries (for any strange reason) to access a network because of this file (a wav file I think, or maybe a Live preset for a rack, that I used in the set) that was taken from another computer via a local airdrop network ?

I noticed too that if I let the computer access internet for some moment (what I generally don't do while using Live, turning off the wifi, because of some more cpu hits), the process disappear. Like if it was trying to access internet and burning CPU until it get what it wants.
The problem is that the issue comes back after a session recall, and soon I will need to use this Live set on stage, without any internet access.
It's truly a bad issue regarding performances, so I'd like to find a solution to get rid of it permanently.

Any good advice about that ?

Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:52 am

mmmm.

I just noticed that Live Indexing is running at the same time for no apparent reason (it's visible both in the Activity monitor and in the Live window, with the Places wheel turning without stopping).

What would be the reason ?

I'll try to fix the indexing and see if it fixes something...
I just reset the Live database, and Live is indexing again everything. I'll see what it's doing to my issue...

[jur]
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Location: Ableton

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by [jur] » Tue Aug 31, 2021 5:57 pm

Are you Live isn't auto-updating to the latest version?
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Mark Williams
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Location: Kent

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Mark Williams » Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:28 pm

Calagan wrote:
Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:52 am
mmmm.

I just noticed that Live Indexing is running at the same time for no apparent reason (it's visible both in the Activity monitor and in the Live window, with the Places wheel turning without stopping).

What would be the reason ?

I'll try to fix the indexing and see if it fixes something...
I just reset the Live database, and Live is indexing again everything. I'll see what it's doing to my issue...
If you reset database Live would need to run and index everything again.
Live 11, M1 Mac Mini, Push 2, Scarlett 18i20 & ADA8200, Softube Console 1 Mk2, Deepmind12, Hydrasynth, Cobalt 8M, Moog Subsequent 25, IK Uno Synth Pro, Plethora X3, Nord Drum 3P

Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:14 pm

I did a Database reset, and waited for a complete indexing but so far my problem is still there.
It's not about Live in general, my issue is only happening while using a specific Live set.

And to answer to jur, I'm using Live 1.0.6 (so the last version)...

I sent an email to the support, but they seem overbooked at the moment...
Truly a nasty stuff.

Did any of you noticed any issue while using airdrop ?
Do you think a file used in Live but coming from another computer via airdrop could mess everything like that ?

Sometimes I'm thinking it could come from a plugin, but I don't understand what new plugin I'm using in this Live set. Everything seems to be good old plugins I'm using without any issue in all my other sets...

craigc
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2020 4:44 pm

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by craigc » Wed Sep 01, 2021 11:31 pm

Disconnect your Internet connection and see if it drops. Bonjour might be hogging resources.
Perhaps packs or updates are being downloaded? Just guessing.

Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Fri Sep 03, 2021 4:37 am

craigc wrote:
Wed Sep 01, 2021 11:31 pm
Disconnect your Internet connection and see if it drops. Bonjour might be hogging resources.
Perhaps packs or updates are being downloaded? Just guessing.
Like I said, it only happens on a specific Live set (not with any others).
It's not about the plugins I use, because I don't use any new plugins on this Live set (I just added in the last days new instances of plugins I was already using in this set).
And the mDNSResponder process stops precisely after I connect the computer to internet. It's only active when not connected...

I'm still puzzled about that...

Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Sat Sep 04, 2021 5:07 pm

I FOUND THE ISSUE !!!

NI Absynth and Massive are the responsables ! After a lot of testing and debugging, I found that any instance of Massive or Absynth in my Live set is triggering mDNSResponder as soon as they are dropped in a Live track.

When offline, mDNSResponder is crazily looping (searching to communicate without any access) and takes a lot of CPU.
It seems that if I unselect the Usage Data Tracking option in the standalone app, the issue disappears, so I guess the problem appears when the plugins wants to communicate some data to NI but can't because wifi is turned off.

The crazy stuff is that I didn't experienced this before (and I'm using this Live set since ages). Maybe I updated to the last version recently and only found the problem when I launched this specific Live set with some Absynth and Massive instances on it (I rarely use these synths).

I created a support ticket on the Native Instruments site. I'll see what they tell me...

[jur]
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Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by [jur] » Sat Sep 04, 2021 8:19 pm

Calagan wrote:
Sat Sep 04, 2021 5:07 pm
I FOUND THE ISSUE !!!

NI Absynth and Massive are the responsables ! After a lot of testing and debugging, I found that any instance of Massive or Absynth in my Live set is triggering mDNSResponder as soon as they are dropped in a Live track.
Excellent news and thanks for the info. Could you also tell this to support@ableton.com please?
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Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Sat Sep 04, 2021 9:25 pm

I'm not sure it can be of any interest for Ableton : it's 100% a NI issue.
Do you think I truly need to send the info to Ableton ?

[jur]
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Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by [jur] » Sun Sep 05, 2021 1:30 pm

Calagan wrote:
Sat Sep 04, 2021 9:25 pm
I'm not sure it can be of any interest for Ableton : it's 100% a NI issue.
Do you think I truly need to send the info to Ableton ?
Of course it's of great interest for Ableton...
What if someone else experiences the same problem as you and contact support in the future?
What if others already reported this and nobody found the culprit, and devs are searching for it in the blind?
etc...
you get the idea, documenting every issue is of course of the greatest interest :wink:
thx
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Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:02 am

Hi jur

I sent a detailed email to the Ableton support about it.
You're right of course, they may find it interesting and it could explain issues other people are having without finding the cause.

The good point is that it's an easy issue to fix : one just need to untick the Usage Data tracking option in Massive and Absynth. Actually, Kontakt and Reaktor may trigger the same issue, but for any reason I already turned the data tracking option off in these ones ages ago.

I hope NI will fix this in an update, because it ruined my last 4 days of work before I found the culprit and I guess some other guys are in the same situation like me. I never had that before, so I guess it came with the last update from NI (released in february 2021, but I downloaded it only recently).
Or maybe it's a bug only on my system... I don't know...

Calagan
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:44 am

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by Calagan » Tue Sep 07, 2021 4:45 pm

Just for information, Native Instruments support answered me : they know the issue and are working on it.
It's a bit mad when you know that the last update is from february, so it's been 7 months this issue is there and until now there's no fix.

Anyway, if it can help someone, I think everything is said here...

andreas_g
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:14 pm

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by andreas_g » Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:56 pm

currently, i have the same problems, but only in live 11, my plugins are some AAS Audio Units,
if i use them the mDNSResponder goes to nearly 65% (but i think i have the same problems with other plugins, not only the AAS ...
in Live 10 i have no problems..
(btw. i am on a mac 10.14.6 Mojave)

andreas_g
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:14 pm

Re: mDNSResponder and CPU use in Live

Post by andreas_g » Sat Dec 25, 2021 8:02 pm

no ideas how to solve this hardcore problem? and it happens only in Ableton live 11.. in version 10 everything is working fine :-(

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