Rendered track is just junk noise?

[alexjholland]

Ableton finally managed to render a track without crashing, on about the 20th attempt.

And I needn't have bothered, because it's just noise.

It's the same length of the track and sounds noisier where heavier bits occur, so it's the track alright; but just as if it's been run through a few bit crushers and played back through a broken speaker. Underwater.

Coupled with the crippling instability of the latest version, Ableton's really pushing my patience.

Any idea why total junk was just rendered? I recall it's done it a couple of times recently, with varying bit-levels.

Given that Ableton Live simply does not work on my Mac at present, is there any other way of getting the track off; EG recording it internally?

[doghouse]

What Live version?

What Mac, what OS?

Are you using any external hardware (instruments or FX)?

[alexjholland]

Latest version of both Live and OSX.

I'm travelling, so have Ableton Live and an Apogee Jam 96k, using headphones.

Also a Korg MIDI keyboard plugged in.

[alexjholland]

I just unplugged the single USB cable to my hub, thereby removing all devices.

It immediately crashed, the second I hit 'render'.

Total junk.

[Tarekith]

Are you using any third party plug ins?

[alexjholland]

Yup, TSE X50 amp plugin for the guitars.

[Tarekith]

Does it render noise if you remove those?

[alexjholland]

Does it render noise if you remove those?

Nope! I turned off the VST and AU folders, reloaded Ableton and it rendered perfectly.. Albeit with no guitars.

Thanks for that, it seems we're a bit closer to working out the issue.

As soon as I turned the VST folder back on, Ableton crashed.

So is it TSE X50 plugin? Or is it the VST folder?

I haven't added any VSTs for a while, so it must be Ableton at fault?

[Tarekith]

Well if it only happens when you use that plug in, I would guess it's the plug in at fault since Live works fine otherwise. Try contacting the developer who made the plug in and see if that can reproduce or point you to a new version of it.

[alexjholland]

Well if it only happens when you use that plug in, I would guess it's the plug in at fault since Live works fine otherwise. Try contacting the developer who made the plug in and see if that can reproduce or point you to a new version of it.

Thing is, Live has been badly-behaved without TSE installed; and it starts sucking as soon as a VST folder is enabled (when I haven't even added TSE X50).

Plus, other users have reported having to reinstall Ableton and/or VSTs, due to the latest release.

[Stromkraft]

Well if it only happens when you use that plug in, I would guess it's the plug in at fault since Live works fine otherwise. Try contacting the developer who made the plug in and see if that can reproduce or point you to a new version of it.

Thing is, Ableton has been badly-behaved without TSE installed; and it starts sucking as soon as a VST folder is enabled (when I haven't even added TSE X50).

Plus, other users have reported having to reinstall Ableton and/or VSTs, due to the latest release.

Let's not exaggerate. There are some issues — which given the beta had none, in my case at least, is a tad strange — but the are also people like me that have had some passing minor initial problems and then none. I'm still on Live 9.7.2 and don't need to go back.

Crashes at some time periods is to be expected with software that involves third party code, but after specific issues have been resolved, longer periods of no, or very few, crashes should be the norm, as I see it anyway.

I've had a couple of periods with serious issues the last 4 years, lasting a few weeks or so, up to a month, where only drastic action resolved the problem I had. That included getting deep into troubleshooting a specific recurring problem and finding the cause with the help of support, not only from Ableton but from a plug-in maker, replacing hardware that just didn't cut it as well as reinstalling everything from scratch.

As I see it, that you need to do stuff like that from time to time, is what Pro Audio entails. It's not about sailing trough effortlessly, but having a tolerable production situation. I think I put high requirements on the equipment and software I use, too.