Live doesn't like my Scarlett 2i4

[Tekhed66]

Hi all

I've recently had a problem with using Live and my Focusrite 2i4 ... basically, Live will boot up normally but hangs when opening up Live sets. It tries to load all samples but usually gets about half way and then freezes. I also cant preview any sounds from the Live library. If I unplug the 2i4 and boot up Live (using the ASIO 4 All driver), it opens normally (I think faster than when connected to the 2i4) ... everything works... sets open up, I can preview sounds and all samples load quickly.

I've tried uninstalling / reinstalling the 2i4 drivers but no joy ... same problem. I've also tried using a new USB cable to connect the 2i4 without any luck.

To check the driver - I opened up a Live set with ASIO4All as the driver and everything worked ... the 2i4 was plugged into the USB port so I went to preferences and selected the Focusrite driver ... everything froze ... no sounds at all ... I then re-selected the ASIO driver (which took ages because the whole program just bogged down) ... once ASIO was re-selected, everything worked once again without any glitches or problems (the 2i4 was still plugged into the USB port).

I'm considering uninstalling Live and then reinstalling but before I go through with that hassle, I just thought I'd ask if anyone can suggest what might be the problem.

I'm running Live 9.2(32bit) an Win7(64bit).... Focusrite driver is the latest (old) 2.5.1

many thanks for your help.

[Tekhed66]

I fixed it.

[bkg2018]

I have a 18i8 which is not so very different from your 2i4. I found that Live and Focusrite USB devices are very sensible to the USB port you use.

Depending on hubs, USB controllers, the time Live takes to find your Scarlett can vary a lot.

My advice is that you make a list of all of your USB ports on your computer, and measure the time Live takes to start when you plug your Scarlett into each one of the USB ports. Then, keep the best one.

You can check what's happening when Live starts with a Microsoft tool called "procmon" (find this on google, or "sysinternals" which is a set of tools including procmon), or also with Live internal log files (which I don't remember the folder right now, but they do exist somewhere).

[bkg2018]

I made my reply before I saw your message telling you fixed it. Can you elaborate how you fixed it?

Also, if I can make an advice, switch your Win 7 to Win 10. I was very upset by the terrible W8 (I switched back to W7), but W10 is much better and it IS faster than W7. Really. And I had no program migration problem.

In the end ... you decide

[Tekhed66]

Hi bkg2018

Thanks for your post.

In the end I fixed it by sheer brute force ... I uninstalled the 2i4 drivers, Live and Max7 ... rebooted a couple of times for good measure and then re-installed everything - checking things along the way. I've had this problem a couple of times before and i don't know what's causing it... it's as if Live can't find drivers and gets completely lost.

Anyway - it's working 100% at the moment (touch wood) ... I opened a set and recorded a few bits and pieces so all's good.

Thanks for the heads up re Win 10 ... I also heard that Win 8 wasn't too flash ... that's why i stuck to Win 7. I wasn't too sure about 10 ... I tend not to upgrade just for the sake of running the latest version (I'm still using Live 9.2) ... doesn't Win10 do sneaky things like always accept upgrades and things like that?

I've been using Live for years now and to this day, I'm still never sure if the program will boot up properly or not have problems with connected hardware ... maybe it's just a PC thing .. I don't know how Live behaves on a Mac on a day-to-day basis but running it on a PC can make for some frustrating times.

cheers

[NoSonic822]

it could also be max4l devices.....if you have more than a couple instances of certain devices in your default set, then live wont start. like that synth from that japanese guy....the tx81, if you have more than like 3 of them in a set then live goes wacky and will not load your set and will cause live to to crash about 99% of the time....so you ahve to wait for that time where it somehwow manages to load and then delete the devices....this took a long time to figure out. so in case anyone has that problem...it might be max4l

[cskracer]

I've got a 2i4 which does something stranger.

50% of the time when I open up Live I will hear a repetitive popping noise accompanied by the red rings around the dials on my 2i4 flashing on and off. I can only stop it by pulling out the USB plug in the back of the interface, keeping it out for 5-10 seconds then after plugging it back in restarting Live.

By chance I checked the Audio Preferences one day when this was happening and I can see it changing the sample rate from 44khz to 48khz as it makes the popping noise.

I have the latest drivers installed and am running on Windows 10. Not running the USB cable through a hub. Has happened in all versions of Live that I've installed over time 9.5 through to 9.6.2b1

Support have suggested using a different cable or a different USB port. I'll try that tonight but I'll be surprised if that is the issue given that the sample rate inside Live is changing. I struggle to see how a USB port or cable would be causing that.

They also suggested changing something in the OSX Audio MIDI Setup - which I presume is useful on a Mac.....

[NoSonic822]

the way to stop that is before you open live, you have to go into windows volume settings and change the sampler rate from 44 to 48 then back again. or whatever rate you use live on....windows will always reset it to 44 when you turn on you pc....this happens with 2i4 specifically.

[bkg2018]

... doesn't Win10 do sneaky things like always accept upgrades and things like that?

Yeah well, if you're happy with a reliable W7 install my advice is don't upgrade to W10 if you don't have a need for. W10 is faster, really, but W7 is very reliable.

I did the upgrade because of a change of motherboard and high-end graphic board which had W10 drivers for better performances on 3D games. In the end, I tweaked the W10 start menu to delete all those fancy and disturbing tiles and only kept the raw applications menu, disabled a lot of spy-like things, disabled OneDrive, and now I have a W10 which behaves like a faster W7.

Anyway back to the original topic I believe Focusrite devices and/or Ableton Live can be touchy with USB port response, and there are hardware subtilities with USB ports which are difficult to solve. Two days ago I started my computer, and had horrible problems starting my PUSH 2 and Live together. Sometimes the pad I hit on my Push 2 was acked maybe one or two seconds later, even closing Live took maybe one minute. I shutdown everything, computer and Windows, and restarted it all, and had not problems anymore.

Random hardware USB electrical problems I guess. And I have a good motherboard.

[bkg2018]

the way to stop that is before you open live, you have to go into windows volume settings and change the sampler rate from 44 to 48 then back again. or whatever rate you use live on....windows will always reset it to 44 when you turn on you pc....this happens with 2i4 specifically.

This is not a bug in fact, I think. Any hardware audio driver is, most of the time, controlled by the Windows multimedia system. But if an application like Live takes control of the driver (like it does when you display the hardware settings from audio settings in Live Preferences) then it puts its own settings instead of Windows settings, and generally this implys a switch off and on of the amplifier in the device.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to remember an old audio principle : switch on your HPs last, and switch them off first. I have a specific switch for my HPs on my desk, and I only switch them on after not only Window, but also Ableton Live started fine.