cpu overload... but why?

[kev herb]

hi there im working on a project which is quite cpu heavy to the point at which its spiking and glitching which is fair enough after all i have multiple instances of cpu heavy pluggins.
i have therefore freezed and flattened all the tracks i could turning them into audio files with no fx or pluggins, only a couple of tracks remain midi due to routing to side chain compressors. after all that when i hit play the cpu is still spiking and the disk overload square flashes...why???
so i thought i would bounce the tracks i could not freeze and flatten with no dither/32bit/48 sample rate/aiff. then load it back in to a new audio track with no warp (with some moving it around when i realised it was out of sync which also made no theoretical sense but not to worry about that now maybe another time for that one) but still its overloading and i dont know why and im getting crashes when i try to freeze also. i am using v8.0.8 of live at present.
sorry for the long post but i know this should not be happening.
thanks kev

[diogo_semedo]

Do you by chance own a macbook pro?

[kev herb]

not mac book. i have imac 2.66 intel duo processor.

[botkiller]

I had this happening to me like CRAZY last night, while using 8 in a DJ set I'm experimenting with.

I've got 8.1.1 suite installed, on a macbook (not pro), 2nd generation 2 ghz intel core 2 duo with 2gb RAM, OS X 10.5.8. My audio interface is a Presonus Firebox. I only had four active tracks, with warped MP3s on each one (probably about 10 or so clips on each), and all plugins were the native Ableton plugins with the exception of ALDJM 8000, which is a one knob filter rack from Abletonlivedj.com.

I found, particularly, that Ableton was spiking to about 150% CPU usage when I'd zoom to the end of a warped MP3 and move the loop markers to it. BAM, it'd freeze up, no audio, and even when the CPU went back down to 2-10%, no audio, finally everything would pop awake and sound would be back.

So, what? CPU heat? But why did it seem to only happen when I was zooming tracks? Can I not have 10 or so warped mp3s on two or more tracks? I've searched and I'm not finding a lot on this, but it's obviously happening to others, now that I've found this thread.

[diogo_semedo]

Humm...

This is starting to seem a mac-related problem. I have not seen any PC users complaining. Most, if not all, people with the same problem are using an Apple's machine. This is a bit outrageous Ableton...

Send it to support!

[blackwall]

no diogo, i´ve nearly the same problem and i´m working on win.
i add loosing sync of some audioclips after bouncing the file to the problem-list..

[diogo_semedo]

I think I'll try to put on a poll about this.

[botkiller]

Question; to any of you guys having this happen, is it happening with sets you had made in Ableton 7 originally?

[diogo_semedo]

No! Just Live 8 (bought in 8.1.1 so no newer versions)

[RandomGeeza]

I've had it happen on both 7.0.18 and 8.1.1... sound plays all is fine, Live then freezes, sound stops, nothing happens... I can't remember if the mouse moves or not... then a second or two later it kicks back in, with a cough and a splutter...... sound, everything... from the point of the freeze?

I've just opened a thread about this sort of issue, although your description is a lot nearer my experience, HERE: http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=138320

[botkiller]

I've had it happen on both 7.0.18 and 8.1.1... sound plays all is fine, Live then freezes, sound stops, nothing happens... I can't remember if the mouse moves or not... then a second or two later it kicks back in, with a cough and a splutter...... sound, everything... from the point of the freeze?

I've just opened a thread about this sort of issue, although your description is a lot nearer my experience, HERE: http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=138320

I haven't had it ever happen on 7. 7's always been REALLY stable for me, but as of yet, I'm not impressed with 8's ability to hang in serious usage.

[diogo_semedo]

Mine was very stable and always used VST and AU. Now with 8.1.1 I can't do much!

I'm even afraid of using it, er, live.

[Warrior Bob]

I have been experiencing similar problems running Live 8.1.1 in Windows Vista 32 bit.

I'll be playing along, happy as can be, and seemingly out of nowhere I'll get this heinous audio stuttering, that sounds like a buffer being filled, overflowed and emptied in quick succession. It's like the BPM cuts in half, the audio gets all scratchy, and everything goes to crap, and the CPU meter is above 100%, usually as high as 150%.

It seems to last for a couple of minutes, then everything's back to normal for a while. This problem can crop up as frequently as once every couple of minutes.

I'm not sure, but I *think* it happens when I trigger samples or audio clips. I don't seem to have this problem nearly as much when I'm using something that's more MIDI/softsynth heavy, but I haven't verified this rigorously yet. The problem started around the time I bought a Launchpad, which makes me suspect either those drivers or some kind of USB conflict.

Not sure yet if it's Vista, my laptop, or something I did, but if it's any help, I think it's a similar problem. It's ruined live performance in Live 8 for me, and has relegated Live 8 to a mostly-useful studio tool. I hope it's one of the bugs the developers have been working so hard to fix in the new update, it'd be awesome to get the old stability back. Even more, I hope it's my fault and not an Ableton bug, since then I can just fix it and get on with things.

But yeah, this is definitely happening in Windows as well.

[theoriva]

I am starting to believe that is an Automap problem. can you guys please confimr how many are using novation hardware?
I mean, I don't want to complain and stuff and prefer spending my time making music than reading forums and blogs but I simply cannot make music anymore. after 8-10 midi tracks the whole system goes crazy when in Logic I am using 30 tracks with no problems!
Ableton needs to sort this out.

[diogo_semedo]

I do use novation products, but xiosynth has no automap. This is happening in my dj sets also :s