Lag on Ableton's Instruments

[fra1]

Hi everybody
I'm new around here but I thought it's the best place to see if what is happening to me is normal or not..
So I just installed Ableton 10.1.5 on my new HP OMEN Laptop and I noticed one thing. Whenever I try to load an instrument from Ableton the loading is around 3 to 10 seconds while I thought it should be way faster (it was on my older PC's). This especially happens when loading Wavetable.
Also when I'm scrolling through channels in the project everything freezes for 3-4 seconds when I go to channels w/ one Ableton Instrument.
I'm trying to see if it's a common bug I'm experiencing or if there is something I've missed to do in order to have my DAW work properly.
Hope to know what's going on!

Some PC specs for your information:
OMEN BY HP Laptop 15-dh0xxx
Intel Core i7-9750H (2.6GHz)
16Gb RAM
256Gb SSD, 1TB HDD (internal)
Usually I connect 1 external HDD (USB), 1 external SSD (Thunderbolt) and 1 MIDI Device (Arturia MiniLab MkII, USB)

[jonljacobi]

Laptops have all sorts of things related to throttling and thermal design that can cause this. There are some good laptop optimization treatises out there (I believe Focusrite has a good one). It could also be software running in the background, anti-virus, etc. or even a BIOS bug or driver issue. Check your power settings, then task manager and startup items, etc,

[fra1]

Laptops have all sorts of things related to throttling and thermal design that can cause this. There are some good laptop optimization treatises out there (I believe Focusrite has a good one). It could also be software running in the background, anti-virus, etc. or even a BIOS bug or driver issue. Check your power settings, then task manager and startup items, etc,

Thank you. I already checked the performance settings and everything seems ok, no power saving setting anywhere. Tried to block Ableton's internet connection via Windows Firewall and nothing changed. Added an exception on Avast! for the whole Ableton path (in C:/ProgramData). Nothing seems to change. The overall performance is really worsened whenever I add an instrument (not an effect, just an instrument). Do you have any other tip for me?
Also: I currently don't use any external audio interface so I'm just producing through my headphone jack, fyi.

[miyaru]

Do you have an interface? If yes use it!

[fra1]

Do you have an interface? If yes use it!

I'll try with my Focusrite! Didn't have the chance yet since I got the PC from like a week and I already encountered these troubles haha!

[fra1]

Do you have an interface? If yes use it!

I'll try with my Focusrite! Didn't have the chance yet since I got the PC from like a week and I already encountered these troubles haha!

Didn't really solve the issue. Wavetable presets, Operator presets cause a 3-5 sec freeze whenever I click on the channel.

[jestermgee]

It could be a range of things and i'd do some more controlled tests.

Could be related to your graphics drivers or if you installed the Live content to the HDD instead of the SSD it could just be slow tho once it's been loaded it shouldn't affect the switching of channels.

Does Live compley=tely freeze when you switch channels (meters stop responding but audio may still be heard)? That would suggest something to do with the video rendering the plugin GUI maybe?

Short answer is it shouldn't happen and I have no real idea as I have never had the issue.

[fra1]

It could be a range of things and i'd do some more controlled tests.

Could be related to your graphics drivers or if you installed the Live content to the HDD instead of the SSD it could just be slow tho once it's been loaded it shouldn't affect the switching of channels.

Does Live compley=tely freeze when you switch channels (meters stop responding but audio may still be heard)? That would suggest something to do with the video rendering the plugin GUI maybe?

Short answer is it shouldn't happen and I have no real idea as I have never had the issue.

This happens: whenever I try to open certain presets from Operator or Wavetabe or Analog it takes time to open, just like when you scroll through Omnisphere presets (just to make an example of VST) and it freezes for some seconds to load them.
Maybe it's just the preset itself which is hard to load, but it really comes strange to me since it's an Ableton native plugin we're talking about.
May take some several seconds especially for Wavetable.


EDIT: Checked your suggestion about video GUI. I opened a project with 3 Analog presets. The channels play every note perfectly but it happens that when I want to see the channel (and so I click on it), everything freezes for a couple seconds.
Already tried the 144Hz -> 60Hz display setting change and apparently nothing happens.
Any idea?

[jestermgee]

If it's only when you load a preset and not when you switch tracks as you say then that is just how long it takes to load into memory and again, if you have your content on your HDD in a laptop they run pretty slow so it could easily take a few seconds for wavetable as I believe some of the sounds are pretty large like Omnisphere.

If it happens also when you just select a track tho, that is something different

[fra1]

If it's only when you load a preset and not when you switch tracks as you say then that is just how long it takes to load into memory and again, if you have your content on your HDD in a laptop they run pretty slow so it could easily take a few seconds for wavetable as I believe some of the sounds are pretty large like Omnisphere.

If it happens also when you just select a track tho, that is something different

It happens the FIRST time I select that track then not anymore when the project is open. The ableton Core Library is on the SSD though. Could be a bad SSD?

[jonljacobi]

It can take a few seconds to load files for sure. Live loads everything into memory on my relatively small projects, but if for some reason it can’t, then then on demand loading could explain the behavior. How large is this project again?

[fra1]

It can take a few seconds to load files for sure. Live loads everything into memory on my relatively small projects, but if for some reason it can’t, then then on demand loading could explain the behavior. How large is this project again?

Large in what terms?

[jonljacobi]

In the amount of memory used. This could be a lot of tracks, or a lot of large instruments. Like orchestral stuff with tons of articulations.

[jonljacobi]

Are your samples and packs on the SSD or HDD? BTW, I don’t know if Live has on demand loading, it’s just a general concept.

[fra1]

In the amount of memory used. This could be a lot of tracks, or a lot of large instruments. Like orchestral stuff with tons of articulations.

It has around 35 channels. Couple Omnispheres here and there, samples and other stuff playing MIDI too. When played it uses 20/25% CPU maximum.

Are your samples and packs on the SSD or HDD? BTW, I don’t know if Live has on demand loading, it’s just a general concept.

Samples on HDD, Core Library on SSD. Both are internal.