Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

UHE is now closed. For Technical Support from Ableton, please go here: http://www.ableton.com/support
grimleyj
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 7:52 am
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by grimleyj » Sun May 31, 2009 7:50 pm

On a couple of my sets that are sitting around the 30% CPU load mark, when scrolling up, down, left and right using the APC40 bank select cursor I get small dropouts in my audio. Anyone else?

MBPro 2.33 3GB
OSX 10.5.7
Live 8.0.3
RME FF800

cdromain
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:52 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by cdromain » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:29 am

Hi

Same kind of problem on my setup (MacPro 2008, OSX 10.5.7, Fireface 800, Live 8.02, UAD2 5.3, APC40 & Nocturn)
I get small audio dropouts/glitches using the APC40, especially when starting scenes on the APC. My session is quite heavy (reading almost 40% on the CPU meter).
Not the end of the world, but quite scary for live work.
Anyone else?
I'd love to be able to use the APC40 without having such problem...
Fingers crossed ;-)

Cheers

Romain

cdromain
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:52 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by cdromain » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:41 pm

Just did some more tests:
- the APC40 was plugged through a USB hub, so I plugged it directly into the MacPro, but it didn't change anything in the audio glitches that I get when I start scenes on the APC.
- Then I tried to launch scenes directly in Live session view using the mouse and I got the same glitches when starting scenes (especially when clicking several times on the play scene buttons), even when the APC40 is switched off! So this problem has nothing to do with the APC40...
- Indeed I then changed the buffer size from 256 to 512 and then I had no glitches when starting scenes...

I don't understand what makes Live8 have this audio glitches problem when launching scenes (either with the mouse or the APC)... My session is quite heavy (especially at 256), but the CPU meter is only reading 40%, so the available CPU headroom should keep me glitches-free, no? Maybe this has to do with the latency compensation & my UAD2... Maybe I should freeze soft-synths tracks?

Cheers

Romain

grimleyj
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 7:52 am
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by grimleyj » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:21 pm

Hi, I don't have any problems using the mouse to scroll around scenes, clips, or even triggering scenes or clips. The glitches only happen when using the APC.
Last night I had even worse problems though. The APC40 would occasionally lock up or go dark and I had to turn it off and on again for Live to recognise it. Not ready to take out gigging I think!
-g

House of God
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 5:57 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by House of God » Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:11 pm

I'm experiencing this issue too. I'm currently trying to trace the problem. I upgraded from 7 to 8 at the same time that I purchased the APC40. Typically I ran sets and never experienced more than 15-20% CPU usage on average, but I see these random 30-40% spikes now that I am using Live 8 and the APC40. I have a feeling its the APC40 causing the issues. When using the mouse or any other controller, I have no problems clicking around on things as I never experience glitches. I think the glitches are related to the unique handshake that Ableton has with the APC. It needs time to draw and communicate the various functions back and forth to the software and controller.

Currently, I'm experiencing this with my built-in stock soundcard. I haven't tried my external soundcard yet (Audio8), but I have a gut feeling the APC40 will work without glitches once I have a dedicated audio card handling the audio processing. If it doesn't, I'm not going to be very happy.

What's your situation? Are you guys using stock sound cards or do you have dedicated cards?

grimleyj
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 7:52 am
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by grimleyj » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:56 pm

Dedicated ... RME FF800.
Right now, I'm going to have to simplify my live set (bounce VSTis etc) in order to perform live with the APC (which may be a good idea anyway).

House of God
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 5:57 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by House of God » Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:36 pm

did you ever find a work around yet?

Donnie
Posts: 810
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:16 pm
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Contact:

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by Donnie » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:56 am

For me, as soon as I enable the APC40 control surface the glitches manifest. Everything works fine with the APC but any clip selection using the mouse or keyboard creates a glitch and cpu spike. As soon as I disable the APC40 control surface all problems disappear.

House of God
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 5:57 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by House of God » Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:47 pm

I finally got around to hooking up my Audio8 along with the APC40. Using the Audio8 for audio processing has helped greatly. Any time I used the bank or track selection buttons, I was getting an audio hiccup. Now, I only get hiccups if I do really quick changes like rapidly taping between channels 1, 2, and 3, within a a second or two of each other. I'm fairly certain most computers would need to play catch up at that point. It's not really something I'm willing to live with, but at least its manageable. The other issue I face is the send FX section. Switching between those effects sometimes creates a quick audio skip/stutter, but I haven't tried increasing the latency on my audio8 yet either. I think increasing latency is a temporary fix to the solution, but it shouldn't be the ultimate fix.

LesC
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:53 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by LesC » Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:16 pm

I'm having the same problem.. been discussing it on another thread. Any of you guys find a solution?
Les

House of God
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 5:57 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by House of God » Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:18 pm

I'm still stuck on my above situation. It could be Hard Drive speed as well. Not sure. Why RPM is your HDD?

LesC
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:53 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by LesC » Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:46 pm

I dont think its hard drive speed. Mine are 7200 and my newly built PC runs like a dream. Ableton runs at lowest possible latency for my interface (4ms) without a glich no matter what I throw at it. But if I hook up the APC, glitching occurs with the Shift, Track Select and Scene Launch buttons. And yes, at higher latencies this goes away. But, as for you and I'm sure many other, that is not acceptable as a solution, especially considering the APC is NOT an audio device. I've tried everything I can think of so far. Support responed to my posts on the other thread so we'll see what they come up with. At this point though, I dont see a solution, so I'm pretty sure I'll be returning the unit.... bummer. I'm about to try another experiment with a project only using external midi gear for sound just to see what happens. I'm guessing it will work well because Ableton will not be putting out any audio.
Les

House of God
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 5:57 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by House of God » Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:52 pm

Can you link to your thread, please?

LesC
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:53 pm

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by LesC » Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:09 pm

sorry... http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=116303

I joined in toward the bottom of page 1.

Just tried the midi-only experiment with midi clips playing only external sound sources. In other words, Ableton is not putting out any audio. The timing of the midi clips IS AFFECTED by the APC 40 when hitting the Shift, Track Select, etc. So my theory was wrong. I guess it makes sense since the timing of midi playback is tied to the timing of the audio engine.

I would LOVE to hear from anyone with APC 40 who is working at ultra-low latency and NOT having the problems described in this thread. Just to hear that someone is NOT having this problem would be somewhat encouraging.
Les

nocore
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:28 am
Location: east van
Contact:

Re: Audio glitches when using bank select cursor on APC40

Post by nocore » Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:59 am

i'm having a similar problem with my Launchpad...

when it's plugged in and in use... selecting clips, scrolling through clips with the Launchpad, even selecting clips with my computer keyboard and/or mouse - causes audio drop outs (and my cpu usage to spike from 30%ish to up to 80%ish in some cases)

feels almost like it could be graphics related.. though i'm guessing it has to do with sending and receiving midi data to and from the launchpad (to update the lit pads...)

when the Launchpad is not in use... selecting clips quickly is still spiking my CPU usage, but NOT causing the audio dropouts and touchy timing on clip launching, so it's definitely got something to do with the Launchpad.

ableton bug?
launchpad driver update needed?
...
what gives?


pretty nervous as i have a fairly big gig coming this saturday... :?

Locked