Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

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luckykat
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Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by luckykat » Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:55 pm

Been using Ableton Live 11 for about a year and it takes an eternity to open (30 secs). When I try to switch between projects it typically takes between 15-30secs. On my Mac, it boots up instantly and I can jump between projects in seconds.

I have my plugins on the C: drive & plugins on the D: drive (2TB SSD).

I need to use the PC as that is in my studio but can anyone recommend a way to make it perform in a similar way to the Mac?

Spec: Windows 11
RAM: 32GB
Processor: Intel Core i7

[jur]
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by [jur] » Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:41 pm

Could be one of your plugin slowing down the process.
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luckykat
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by luckykat » Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:38 pm

[jur] wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:41 pm
Could be one of your plugin slowing down the process.
How can I diagnose which one is slowing it down? My Mac version is for Live performance only so almost no plugins so that would explain the speed difference.

DunedinDragon
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by DunedinDragon » Wed Jan 25, 2023 10:11 pm

If your PC is loading plugins and your Mac isn't that would explain the speed difference. My desktop PC is where I create the finished tracks (.WAVs) I use on my laptop PC. Those take no time at all to load. Typically the size of the plugin and it's data will be a good indicator of what's taking so long to load. 15-30 seconds isn't unreasonable if you have lots of plugin or some complex plugins. I have some plugins that are enormous (120 piece orchestra) that can take a couple of minutes to load.

You can monitor the progress of what's being loaded by launching the Task Manager and under the Performance tab at the bottom of the screen there's a link that allows you to launch the Resource Monitor. There it displays the real time activity of the CPU, Disk and Network and it's pretty easy to isolate what plug in is taking so long.

Most people don't recommend loading plugins from the same drive as your system drive C: as that's a pretty busy drive taking care of all sorts of system activities. I personally added an extra internal SSD to my PC since external USB SSD drives are limited by the speed of the USB whereas an internal drive works at bus level speeds. That extra internal SSD stores all of my larger and more complex plugins and I keep some of the simpler and smaller plugins on my C: drive which is also a SSD. I use Native Instruments KONTAKT plugins mostly and it's sometimes advantageous to load the preset of an instrument directly rather than the full instrument.

Angstrom
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by Angstrom » Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:31 am

I always hate when people do this but ...

My L11 on PC (win10) loads my default set in under 5 seconds.
No plugins though, just a few native devices on 8 channels, 2 returns.

Rivanni
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by Rivanni » Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:53 pm

[jur] wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:41 pm
Could be one of your plugin slowing down the process.
You could start testing if plugins actually effect the startup time. Hold the ALT key while starting Live to bypass them all.
Hold SHIFT to bypass your template and load an empty set. Maybe plugins are not the culprit but a large default template is. Or a particular plugin in the template.

If the startup is still slow, you can rule out the plugins and template. Otherwise you need to investigate.

Rivanni
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by Rivanni » Fri Jan 27, 2023 12:01 am

luckykat wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:55 pm


Spec: Windows 11
RAM: 32GB
Processor: Intel Core i7
What Generation i7? Maybe the processor is too old to match the Mac. But it could be other parts of the pc too. Old or slow SSD's, slow memory etc.
What specs does the mac have?

ROTMetro
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by ROTMetro » Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:16 am

For me a big part of slowdowns over time is the SQLLite database. If I run Vacuum on it the database shrinks and performance is greatly improved. I have been installing/uninstalling a ton of plugins trying to define what my toolset is going to be. I expect once I standardize on VSTs this will no longer be and issue. Of course, if you do something like run Vacuum you are outside of Ableton supports help.

AbletonMASCHINE
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by AbletonMASCHINE » Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:30 am

I noticed longer loading / scanning times after having more than 100.00 samples on an external USB 3.x drive

kitekrazy
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Re: Why does Ableton 11 take so long to load ?

Post by kitekrazy » Sat Jan 28, 2023 6:11 pm

AbletonMASCHINE wrote:
Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:30 am
I noticed longer loading / scanning times after having more than 100.00 samples on an external USB 3.x drive
Many users don't add folders to Live. It scans them plus it creates a large db file which can add 3gb of space to your system. This is a "unique" feature to Live since v9. I have no idea why they did this. No there DAW has this behavior.

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