Finished master sounds way different for no reason

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Househead111
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Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by Househead111 » Sun Jan 01, 2023 9:39 pm

This is probably the strangest thing I've seen with Ableton Live and I'm completely stumped.

I've been working on a couple tracks lately. Yesterday I spent five hours fine tuning them. I mixed and mastered both of them, exported them, tested them on a few pair of speakers and called it a day. I was pretty happy with the result and put a ton of work into it.

I came back this morning to make a small edit on both songs to my surprise, as soon as I opened the sessions to have a listen they sound completely different. I thought it could be my ears so I bounced one down without making any changes and compared it to the master from the previous day. Completely different.

It's as if someone came in the night and and made crazy adjustments to my EQs, comps, etc. The bass was way off, the treble was unbearable.

Keep in mind, that I did nothing to these songs. I just opened them on the second day to make an edit but I never did.

Can someone please tell me how this is possible?

This is not just a case of the export sounding different then the session. The levels are way off. Please help! It's very frustrating to put in so much work and have to start over. Especially if you think it's going to happen again. It makes no sense to me.

Tarekith
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by Tarekith » Mon Jan 02, 2023 2:33 am

Are you using third party plug ins? Are they up to date?
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Househead111
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by Househead111 » Mon Jan 02, 2023 3:23 am

Yes, I'm using a lot of third party plugins actually. I'm still digging into the issue but I may have found the culprit. I'm using the Softube Chandler Limited Curvebender EQ to master. I'm not totally sure yet but it seems like the plugin is not retaining it's settings when I load up the session. When I move one of the knobs slightly I hear a drastic move so it tells me it's going back to the original settings I made. It's so weird. I can't figure out why it would do that but at least I have a lead at this point. Any other ideas would be welcome. It's frustrating.

siliconarc
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by siliconarc » Tue Jan 03, 2023 11:41 am

there was (still is?) an issue with AU plugins not recalling their settings when reloading a set. maybe what you're seeing?

mflux
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by mflux » Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:40 pm

hello, i have a similar problem.

the export sounds completely different from the sound in ableton itself. much more bassy and
some delaysettings seem to be completely off.

workaround: route the master track to an audio track and then record it. the recorded version sounds exactly like in Ableton.
M1, osx 12.6, latest Ableton, tons of plugins.

rydan
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by rydan » Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:56 pm

None of the Softube VST3 plugins are recalling their settings since Live 11.2.6. NONE!
The GUI:s look correct, but the plugins are at defaults under the hood.

Workaround of sorts is to run the VST2 or AU versions, but given that Console1 integration only works in Live with the VST3 version, this is pretty much disaster for me using C1 on almost every track of every project...

Seems to be some kind of change in Live 11.2.6 that's caused it.
Live + M4L, MacBookPro & Ultralite mk3. Plugins from Softube, Soundtoys, Eventide, 2CAudio, Cytomic, AudioDamage, OhmForce, FabFilter, SonicCharge, Waves, MadronaLabs, NI and ExpertSleepers. Oh, and a bunch of hardware... =D

http://www.pinknoise.se

mflux
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by mflux » Tue Feb 14, 2023 8:53 am

Does anyone here have any news?
I have created a bug ticket on the 28.1. but its still "open".

rydan
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by rydan » Tue Feb 14, 2023 9:58 am

Yeah. Support seems seriously under-manned. I have several open requests since "forever" aswell.

Kind of currently on the verge of ditching either Softube (which is my goto-plugins for pretty much avarything), or Live. Not being able to work properly on projects for months on end doesn't quite cut it...
Live + M4L, MacBookPro & Ultralite mk3. Plugins from Softube, Soundtoys, Eventide, 2CAudio, Cytomic, AudioDamage, OhmForce, FabFilter, SonicCharge, Waves, MadronaLabs, NI and ExpertSleepers. Oh, and a bunch of hardware... =D

http://www.pinknoise.se

[jur]
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by [jur] » Tue Feb 14, 2023 10:04 pm

Softube is aware of this issue, so hopefully it'll be fixed soon.
Ableton Forum Moderator

mflux
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by mflux » Wed Feb 15, 2023 8:45 pm

hello all,
since I do not use softube plugins seems that the problem is somewhat broader? what system are you working on?
here are my specs: M1, osx 12.6, latest Ableton

mflux
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Re: Finished master sounds way different for no reason

Post by mflux » Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:34 pm

@rydan
interestingly, it's the other way around for me.
au + vst = nah
vst3= jaa

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