most likley cause for sound breaking up.

derwall · Post by **derwall** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:22 am

hi

when I playback mutiple tracks the sound breaks up and gets very very distorted and unlistnable. Its fine when I play one or two tracks together, but when I play four or five tracks or a heavy bass line the sound goes to sh*t completly.

Is the cause most likley to be

speakers
amplifier
or computer prossesing speed / memory?

cheers

MartinOM28V · Post by **MartinOM28V** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:08 am

On your master track (far right) are the meters green when you're playing one or two tracks, and then go red when you've got four or five playing? If so then that's digital audio clipping, which is none of your three choices. You just need to turn down the volume on your tracks until the master track meter is staying in the green.

derwall · Post by **derwall** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:18 am

cheers for the tip - that didnt work unfortunatley the master is fine and green ( not overloaded )

its as though the computer can't keep up with the worklload, but my pc meets the specs for suit 8 fine.

MartinOM28V · Post by **MartinOM28V** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:44 am

OK, now that you've ruled out that possibility you can check the other ones methodically. I think it's easiest to track down distortion by starting at the beginning of the signal chain and working your way out. Hence in your case, Ableton-->CPU-->Audio Device-->Speakers, roughly speaking.

You've determined Ableton's output isn't clipping, so move on to checking your CPU to make sure it's not working too hard. When you playback all those tracks, check the yellow CPU meter at top right corner of Live. If it's really pushing, you're maxing out your CPU. First try freezing a few of the tracks, starting with the ones with the most effects and plugins. This almost always removes the distortion, but even so you should also go to Live/Preferences/Audio and take a look at your sample rate and in/out buffer. Too high a sample rate combined with too low a buffer will give any CPU fits. 44100 sample rate is usually the best place to start testing. Use the Test Tone button in the Audio Preferences pane to test and adjust your buffer size, as small as you can get it without any distortion.

If you're still getting distortion, next check your audio device. Make sure you're using the latest driver for your device, and use the software mixer of your audio device to check to see if the input level is too high. Also make sure the output isn't too high as this could overdrive the speakers.

habeeb24 · Post by **habeeb24** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 11:01 am

I think it must be the computer processing speed which makes the sound break up.

derwall · Post by **derwall** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:09 am

cheers, i have a 2GHz prossesor and 2GB RAM but 190 of it is full. would freeing up some memory help? or is the problem going top be caused by the CPU speed alone.

also, i cant adjust my buffer size, its set at 480 samples, and when i try to change it, it just jumps back to 480 straight away. hmmm.

p.s. I've only had my set up for a week this is why im so green.

Earwax69 · Post by **Earwax69** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:19 am

Is Ableton prefs at 44hz?

derwall · Post by **derwall** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:40 am

the in/out sample rate is set at 44100.

simpli.cissimus · Post by **simpli.cissimus** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:23 am

It's your buffer size, definitely !

If you can't set it higher, your card is not good or the drivers for it are shidd(maybe both).
Try to use Asio4All(Google is u'r friend), which should work with any audio card and help setting up buffer size.

It also helps if you use a good Fire-Wire card, but you need to have a "real" Fire-Wire input, not those who goes thru PCI.
A good card for small money would be the PreSonus Fire-Box.
A friend of mine has one...!

jestermgee · Post by **jestermgee** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:00 am

PreSonus Fire-Box

I've had one for about 6 years and never an issue, great piece of gear. I run at 96Khz in/out on a core i7 and 128\256 buffer size with no issues to report.

To the OP, what is your Ableton CPU usage reporting?
What kind of tracks are you running (VST, Audio, Ableton Processors, Effects)...

Also, if you don't have a dedicated OS to use Ableton on, try and disable other running apps (always close your web browser and other windows). I run dual monitors and if I have a web browser open on the other screen iot can cause the odd pop especially if it's running a stupid flash animation advert or something. Also try and shutdown anti-virus software and other things just as a test.

2Ghz\2GB is quite moddest and by the sounds of the inability to adjust the buffer size i'd say you are using the inbuilt soundcard? Even a PC that meets the specs of the software will have issues when you load CPU intensive plugins. It all comes down to maths. The more to calculate, the more power needed to do it.

habeeb24 · Post by **habeeb24** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:39 pm

Electric guitar is one of the best in these kinds of business.

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