How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Mr D
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How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by Mr D » Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:17 pm

By this i mean, does it usually freeze perferctly? Or can it be buggy?

And most importantly, are there any bugs or other nasties that stop or otherwise f-up unfreezing?

Just curious to hear people opinions / experiences. I want a get a feel for how complicated (CPU hit-wise) i can make my tracks and know that i'll actually be able to finish them without some bug messing the whole thing up! :oops:

Many thanks! ...... Mr D.

LithiuMind
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by LithiuMind » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:26 pm

I have found that freezing does not significantly reduce the CPU load... only when flattening (ie. writing a track to a piece of fixed audio) does any substantial CPU load reduction occur.

Maybe others' experiences vary with this.

I usually will save a version of my set (like... ChunkyTune v1_1) before I go through and make any flattenings, this way if you decide something needs to be changed you can go back to earlier versions of the project with the unfrozen material.

3dot...
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by 3dot... » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:37 pm

LithiuMind wrote:I have found that freezing does not significantly reduce the CPU load... only when flattening (ie. writing a track to a piece of fixed audio) does any substantial CPU load reduction occur.

Maybe others' experiences vary with this.

I usually will save a version of my set (like... ChunkyTune v1_1) before I go through and make any flattenings, this way if you decide something needs to be changed you can go back to earlier versions of the project with the unfrozen material.
flatten / freeze are essentially the same...
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FlightPlan
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by FlightPlan » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:13 pm

Use it a lot - often pull the audio onto a new track (hold Ctrl) to double check timing on the waveform etc. Definitely makes a diff to CPU - especially if you using fat drum racks packed with samples, or chains of effects

Warrior Bob
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by Warrior Bob » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:43 pm

I haven't had a problem myself, but any software can have bugs, and should be assumed to have some somewhere. If you want to avoid bugs entirely, don't use software :)

simmerdown
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by simmerdown » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:48 pm

there needs to be a double blind study comparing frozen to non-frozen, defrosted, flattened and reinflated tracks...immediatley, before bitwig comes out

3dot...
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by 3dot... » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:59 pm

simmerdown wrote:there needs to be a double blind study comparing frozen to non-frozen, defrosted, flattened and reinflated tracks...immediatley, before bitwig comes out
frozen tracks are rendered wav files..look inside your project folders..
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simmerdown
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by simmerdown » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:04 pm

oops , forgot the :lol: and the :wink:

3dot...
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by 3dot... » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:20 pm

:x :cry: :| :lol:
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Tone Deft
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by Tone Deft » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:47 pm

I can see the OP's day...

he wakes up to his alarm clock but stays in bed for another hour pondering if there's a bug that caused him to wake up early or late.

then he goes to make breakfast and is flummoxed by thoughts of the reliability of his kitchen appliances.

ultimately by the time he gets out of the house, into his bug ridden car and to work the day's over. he then take 3-4 hours to navigate the way home, worrying about everything he sees. by 2am he's in bed, did no work, gave himself and ulcer and he has to be up in a few hours. or is the clock wrong?
In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?
-Moz

regretfullySaid
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by regretfullySaid » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:03 pm

starting to sound like a Philip K Dick story...

Turns out it was the clock tricking him because he's a chauvinist and the clock is female...
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FlightPlan
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by FlightPlan » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:28 am

It's not software that's flawed ... it's humanity! :D

Forge.
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Re: How reliable is the "freeze" function?

Post by Forge. » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:45 am

LithiuMind wrote:I have found that freezing does not significantly reduce the CPU load... only when flattening (ie. writing a track to a piece of fixed audio) does any substantial CPU load reduction occur..
if this is the case then you should report it as a bug - and maybe check it in different versions of Live (like 8.2.6 and 8.2.7) if you can, because there definitely should not be a difference. Freeze is just playing the wav/aif while visually showing what used to be there.

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