CPU usage in Live 10

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
buj818
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by buj818 » Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:32 pm

My CPU settings are already set to Max for performance. I just went back in to verify everything. I noticed in Task Manager under Ableton, a process called Ableton index. Is that necessary? I never recalled seeing that process during testing before. Thanks for the replies.

Stromkraft
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by Stromkraft » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:43 pm

buj818 wrote:My CPU settings are already set to Max for performance. I just went back in to verify everything. I noticed in Task Manager under Ableton, a process called Ableton index. Is that necessary? I never recalled seeing that process during testing before. Thanks for the replies.
It is necessary for the library to function properly, but it shouldn't run all the time. There have been reports on and off about the index process running amok, but this is not a currently common phenomenon as far as I can tell. If you search for older posts about the index process you may see what people have found in the past. Or if someone else remembers.

Personally, I've never had major issues with this one. How much CPU did it use in your case?
Make some music!

buj818
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by buj818 » Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:54 pm

Constantly there. Using 0.1% CPU and 15.2 MB of ram. Don't think that's the issue (number speaking). Ableton CPU constantly reading in the 80-95% range still. TM CPU usage still only peaking around 37%. Just took a project, 3 midi tracks and 4 audio tracks, and stripped them all of their plugins. Bare bones project still pushing 54% CPU usage in Ableton, where 2 days ago, same project was in only low to mid 30s, without stripping the plugins away. TM CPU usage showed no change. I could see if this happened right out the gate, but after a month of 10 with zero issues, now all of a sudden I can't make a project with more than 2 tracks. I'ma reach out and report this to them, and keep y'all informed of their response.

H20nly
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by H20nly » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:48 pm

do you have antivirus on your computer?

if so, try making an exception for Live and the indexer. or, just disable for testing purposes.

buj818
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by buj818 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:24 am

I have no antivirus installed, only the Windows Defender that has been disabled since Day 1 of owning the machine. I do not use it for internet. I just sent Ableton a very detailed report, along with all crash reports and specs of my computer. Hoping they answer quickly. Ill be sure to post all info they give me onto this thread.

[jur]
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by [jur] » Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:34 am

buj818 wrote: Ill be sure to post all info they give me onto this thread.
That'll be very nice of you. thx
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soundsliketree
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by soundsliketree » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:33 am

Sarrova-Q wrote:Same here. Unexplainable cpu spikes. When playing stuff and Live 10 uses 10 to 20 % CPU at one moment, it just starts jumping from 50 to 80 % the other with no reason.
I'm also having this exact problem. The same sets were fine on L9 and with L10 I'm having these spikes. It's killing my workflow.

Stromkraft
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by Stromkraft » Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:32 pm

buj818 wrote:Ableton CPU constantly reading in the 80-95% range still. TM CPU usage still only peaking around 37%.
TM?
soundsliketree wrote:
Sarrova-Q wrote:Same here. Unexplainable cpu spikes. When playing stuff and Live 10 uses 10 to 20 % CPU at one moment, it just starts jumping from 50 to 80 % the other with no reason.
I'm also having this exact problem. The same sets were fine on L9 and with L10 I'm having these spikes. It's killing my workflow.
What about plug-ins that support multicore natively? If you're using any, have you tried toggling that setting off or on? For whatever reason multicore support may need to be off, or on, to function properly in Live.

When you say "Live 10 uses 10 to 20 % CPU" do you mean the native Live audio engine meter? This is different between Live 9 and Live 10 so it's not a good comparison point necessarily.

It would be better if you used the OS tools or a third party tool for measuring CPU load, especially as this will allow you to see if the work is spread or if you have specific cores struggling. It's sufficient to overload only one core to get crackles.
Make some music!

soundsliketree
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by soundsliketree » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:38 pm

Please excuse me for not combing through all the pages of this topic - I'm short on time at the moment...
I have a couple questions for anyone also experiencing this sporadic, crippling CPU spiking issue in Live 10:
1) In your conversations with Ableton support, have they acknowledged this as an issue that they're aware of?
2) Have any of you noticed consistent correlation with graphics-heavy plug-in GUIs? Jury's still out for me on that.
3) Have any of you fixed it? :)

FYI, my system:
2015 MBP, OSX 10.13.3, Live 10.0.1
UAD Apollo Twin with Octo Satellite
I tend to use a lot of FabFilter and UAD plug-ins.

I can confirm that the exact same set opened in 9.7.5 is stable but experiences the CPU spiking in 10.0.1.

I'm investigating using Activity Monitor (CPU tab, usage and history) - will report if/when I notice anything interesting.
I've started an email thread with Ableton support. I'll post if/when I learn anything.

buj818
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by buj818 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:01 pm

TM = Task Manager in Windows 10.. sorry, was typing lazily. Ha. I could see the point of labor intensive plugins/vsts being an issue if the problem has been since day 1. I've had and been using live 10 standard daily for 3 weeks and all of a sudden, BOOM! CPU usage through the roof!

Stromkraft
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by Stromkraft » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:47 pm

buj818 wrote:TM = Task Manager in Windows 10.. sorry, was typing lazily. Ha. I could see the point of labor intensive plugins/vsts being an issue if the problem has been since day 1. I've had and been using live 10 standard daily for 3 weeks and all of a sudden, BOOM! CPU usage through the roof!
Well, sometimes we change things without thinking about it, or a preference file gets corrupt and changes behavior. It's also interesting to compare the same sets on different hardware, if that's possible.
Make some music!

H20nly
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by H20nly » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:47 pm

buj818 wrote:TM = Task Manager in Windows 10.. sorry, was typing lazily. Ha. I could see the point of labor intensive plugins/vsts being an issue if the problem has been since day 1. I've had and been using live 10 standard daily for 3 weeks and all of a sudden, BOOM! CPU usage through the roof!
if you were on a PC, this is where i would ask if you have rebooted.

i'm wondering if you have an (OS) update or something of that nature that is waiting for installation. so the reboot would simply be to close everything and come anew. i have a Mac, so i realize that a reboot does not always do this and that more focused effort has to be made to close everything. i've noticed on some battery powered devices (phone, tablet, laptop) that occasionally a waiting system update will also coincide with greatly diminished battery life. that's why i ask and am taking you in this direction.

so... have you tried anything along the lines of shutting down all but the (non-update) OS related processes and essentially only running your DAW/audio related applications and drivers?
or... installing all the updates, restarting, and trying Live again?

and... have you had any interface updates or changes to drivers and/or physical hardware/firmware?

buj818
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by buj818 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:07 pm

Just ran an even log in my OS. Last update was Feb 27th, which was a week before I installed Live 10. Other than the OS and ableton on my computer, all I have installed on it is burning software, a document folder containing music info, and a small music library. My audio interface is up to date. This comp is strictly for music, I don't even use it to get online except to check for updates twice a month. It may only be coincidence, but this started literally the first time after installing a Waves geq plugin. Removed the plugin, but the CPU issue remains. Also, I'd like to note that the waves GEQ plugin alone eats up 19% CPU at idle on an empty project. From what I've read, waves are supposed to be CPU friendly.

buj818
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Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by buj818 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:15 pm

Stromkraft wrote:
buj818 wrote:Ableton CPU constantly reading in the 80-95% range still. TM CPU usage still only peaking around 37%.
TM?
soundsliketree wrote:
Sarrova-Q wrote:Same here. Unexplainable cpu spikes. When playing stuff and Live 10 uses 10 to 20 % CPU at one moment, it just starts jumping from 50 to 80 % the other with no reason.
I'm also having this exact problem. The same sets were fine on L9 and with L10 I'm having these spikes. It's killing my workflow.
What about plug-ins that support multicore natively? If you're using any, have you tried toggling that setting off or on? For whatever reason multicore support may need to be off, or on, to function properly in Live.

When you say "Live 10 uses 10 to 20 % CPU" do you mean the native Live audio engine meter? This is different between Live 9 and Live 10 so it's not a good comparison point necessarily.

It would be better if you used the OS tools or a third party tool for measuring CPU load, especially as this will allow you to see if the work is spread or if you have specific cores struggling. It's sufficient to overload only one core to get crackles.[/quot

Can you please give an example of a program you recommend I try for measuring CPU load? Not sure if you mean within Live 10 or if you mean my OS. Thanks.

Stromkraft
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Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:34 am

Re: CPU usage in Live 10

Post by Stromkraft » Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:05 pm

buj818 wrote:
Can you please give an example of a program you recommend I try for measuring CPU load? Not sure if you mean within Live 10 or if you mean my OS. Thanks.
First of all, I'm on macOS since quite a few years, so my experience is mostly with Win 7/8 and I've encountered not many audio issues using Windows. Hopefully some Win 10 users can chime in.

There are some built-in tools in Windows, like TM as you already used as well as Perfmon. I'm assuming TM can show core usage now.

Another interesting type of tool to use is a Deferred Procedure Calls (DPC) checker, DPC being something H2Only mentioned previously in this discussion. You'll find plenty about DPC if you search these forums.

One link about this supplied elsewhere by Fishmonkey is http://blog.dubspot.com/optimize-your-w ... roduction/ that while being mostly about Win 7 is probably a good starting point.

Nothing of what I've mentioned necessarily need be the cause of your issues, but usually there is a specific reason for this kind of thing. Unfortunately, we have to get deep in there to be able to solve these problems, usually by excluding.

Some common Windows causes I think are outdated USB hardware causing interrupts and hardware/driver conflicts. Just updating a driver could, under some circumstances at least, make such a potential conflict appear.

It does of course get trickier when you run both 9 and 10 in the same machine and only 10 display the issue, but it's not unthinkable that the underlying problems was already there in 9, but was masked by something. For example by removing an unnecessary code layer, or trough replaced code, the Live 10 version causes the problem to appear suddenly. Sometimes it could also be new bugs in the new code base, for sure, but not always.

I think step one is trying to find out where the problem is expressed and follow that thread. So if one core is overloaded for example or is causing DPC issues, then attempt to find which track is on that core, and when found analyze what is on that track and what state those devices and plug-ins are in. Basically turn every stone that you can to get to the root cause. Then fix it, if possible or turn it over to the appropriate support team.
Make some music!

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