Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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sonnydeletejc
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Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:16 pm
Location: Auckland, NZ

Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by sonnydeletejc » Sat May 26, 2018 11:52 pm

Hello Everyone,

I’m on the cusp of buying some components for a new audio PC to run Live 10. My 2 year-old GIGABYTE Brix (i5 2.40GHz Dual-core, 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz) hasn’t been cutting it since upgrading from Live 9. I ran in to a fair amount of clicks and pops, so went through all the diagnostics available on the Ableton site (drivers, buffer sizes, ASIO4ALL), contacted support themselves, did all the Win10 tweaks etc, but to no avail. The annoying thing is the current CPU isn’t topping out, when I run Wavetable for example, which suggests something else in the system is the culprit. No amount of disabling has proven fruitful in getting to the bottom of the problem.

Anyway, I’m really keen to know if anyone has a rig close to what’s listed below. As you’ll appreciate we’re talking about investing a lot of money so I don’t want to end up back at square one with the same issues and an empty wallet. For info I plan to continue to run with my RME Babyface USB 2.0 Audio Interface.

• Motherboard - ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (or ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E)
• Memory - Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB DDR4 2666Mhz (or G.SKILL Trident Z Series 32GB DDR4 3200Mhz)
• CPU - Intel Core i7-8700K
• SSD - Samsung NVMe 960 EVO 500GB
• PSU - Corsair RM750i
• CPU Cooler - Corsair H110i
• OS - Windows Home 10 64bit

Hopefully someone has some input or suggestions.

Many thanks,
J

jestermgee
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Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by jestermgee » Sun May 27, 2018 1:36 am

Why not look at investing in an actual audio interface first before another pc? Adil4all is good until it’s not , then you should be looking at that part. Or at least figure out what the cause of your drops are. Could build a new machine and be right back where you are now

Reemo
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:52 pm

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by Reemo » Sun May 27, 2018 9:17 am

In music production it is simple - buy the most powerful CPU with the most cores you can afford. Ram is also important, if you use many samples. Audio interface is important, but on my laptop I am using asio drivers from FL studio and those are really good. Performance wise I don't see any difference compared to my audio interface...

login
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Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:41 am

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by login » Sun May 27, 2018 4:00 pm

I also support the suggestion to get an audio interface with proper audio drivers, IME there are two brands with good drivers: Steinberg and RME.

sonnydeletejc
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Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:16 pm
Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by sonnydeletejc » Sun May 27, 2018 7:31 pm

Hi all, thank you for your replies.

Just for clarification, I have primarily been using the latest RME drivers for the Babyface. I tried ASIO4ALL to see if it made an improvement, which sadly it didn’t.

Also, I set up a Behringer U-Phoria UM2 audio interface as part of the troubleshooting process (my housemate has one). Same sort of problems with that too (although I understand it’s not a high-end interface). Ultimately I’d like to get an interface with more ins and outs (or extend the Babyface with ADAT), but obviously more expenditure involved with that.

I should post something on the RME forum, to see who out there is using the Babyface with Live 10 and how stable they are finding it. I know it’s not a new interface, but it was the best I could afford when I bought it and as you say, login, RME are renowned for their drivers.

The quest continues!

Thanks again,
J

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

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by Stromkraft » Sun May 27, 2018 8:11 pm

sonnydeletejc wrote: I should post something on the RME forum, to see who out there is using the Babyface with Live 10 and how stable they are finding it. I know it’s not a new interface, but it was the best I could afford when I bought it and as you say, login, RME are renowned for their drivers.
It's a great audio interface (I got one). People keep their RMEs for decades for a reason. However, an audio interface doesn't calculate your software instruments nor your effects. That's the CPU.

Don't skimp and make sure you can set the CPU in high performance mode, is the best I can suggest at the moment.
Make some music!

sonnydeletejc
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:16 pm
Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by sonnydeletejc » Sun May 27, 2018 8:37 pm

Hi Stromkraft,

Yup, that was the thinking behind my RME purchase back in 2014 (jeez, time fly's!)

So are you using your Babyface with Live 10? If so, what’s your computer setup, and what sort of buffer/bit-rate do you run?

J

login
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Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:41 am

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by login » Mon May 28, 2018 3:37 am

If you have an RME then the obvious suspect is the power management configuration, also checp the CPU temperatures.

Stromkraft
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Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by Stromkraft » Mon May 28, 2018 7:47 am

sonnydeletejc wrote:Hi Stromkraft,

Yup, that was the thinking behind my RME purchase back in 2014 (jeez, time fly's!)

So are you using your Babyface with Live 10? If so, what’s your computer setup, and what sort of buffer/bit-rate do you run?
MacBook Pro 2.2 gHz 2011 quadcore, 16gb/1tb ssd. I use a 256 samples audio buffer to start with and there's no differences between Live 9 or 10. If I'm recording drums I may go down to 64. For mixdown I might have to move up towards 1024 or even 2048 if I maintain many VSTi tracks. I usually have 3-6 effects per track so can use 30-50 effect plug-ins/devices in a mixdown. I have expensive taste in software instruments so I really need an eight core soon.

I think clicks comes from CPU management rather than pure theoretical CPU power. Also Live is not as good as say Reaper in this department. In my humble opinion Ableton should focus only on performance for the remainder of 2018. If you don't have that nothing else matters. Also, they need to start to recommend specific machines. People are using "power" machines not fit for music production.
Make some music!

sonnydeletejc
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:16 pm
Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by sonnydeletejc » Mon Jun 04, 2018 7:54 pm

Hi All,

Just an update on this. So, I took a leap of faith and purchased the new PC components at the weekend. Spent most of Saturday afternoon and evening surrounded by nuts, bolts, cables and manuals, scratching my head (it’s been a while since I’ve built a machine). Got it all up and running and on Sunday morning installed Live 10 and my Babyface. Happy to report that it’s all running smoothly with the new i7 8700K processor. No clicks or pops, and I’ve been loading up Live with plenty of Wavetables and plugins etc. I didn’t even have to apply any Window’s tweaks other than setting the power mode to Best Performance – which I’m not even sure was necessary, I just did it for best practice. I’m running on a 128 buffer size, which is fine. I haven’t tried lower, but might do just to test.

Only issue I had was audio interference when I ran the Babyface’s output through my DJ mixer, but managed to solve that with a $12 ground-loop isolator.

So, a happy camper!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Now time to make some music!

Regards,
J

daizok
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Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by daizok » Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:20 pm

Enjoy, and don't blame your RME, my Multiface is 16 years old, still receives regular driver updates and still outperforms many current interfaces 8)

sonnydeletejc
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:16 pm
Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: Advice Request - New PC Build To Overcome Clicks in Live 10

Post by sonnydeletejc » Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:16 pm

Indeed! You get what you pay for with RME. The ground loop was purely related to the mixer being attached to the PC. :D

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