Help! Live 9 glitched during gigs!

[kebabman]

Hi there

I've got Live 9 running on a 2012 mbp, 8 gig RAM.

I've prepared my Live set for performance and am triggering scenes in order down the session view page using a Launchpad Mk 2. Each scene is chopped into intro, verse chorus etc.

I've been rehearsing this for the last 6 months and all has been fine in the studio.

I've done 2 gigs recently and was alarmed when after I triggered the next scene in Live using the Launchpad, there was a delay before Live played the scene. This problem has never occured during the studio! It was almost like Live was waiting for a scene to finish before triggering the next. I've checked quantize settings and all are as they have been (1/4). I originally thought there may be a hardware problem with the buttons on the launchpad. I don't think this is the case though.

On the Launchpad there is also a function to scroll up or down to the next or previous song. I found that I was pressing this 7 or 8 times to change songs and then after I stopped pressing I could see Live moving through the scenes - a delay of a second or 2.

This is a very intermittent issue and it doesn't always do it on the same songs/scenes. It all seems random. Ableton scene selection will be quite laggy for maybe 30 seconds and then thankfully everything returns to normal.

I'm wondering if my mbp is trying to perform some function in the background but it's all disconnected from the internet. Furthermore, I've never had this happen in studio rehearsals - just on stage

Any ideas or advice greatly received?

Many thanks

[fishmonkey]

does your Mac have a spinning hard drive? one possibility is that vibrations on stage are causing the hard drive to park its heads, causing disk slow downs.

if you haven't already, replacing the spinning drive with an SSD is one of the best upgrades you can do to that machine...

[kebabman]

Hi there

Thanks for the reply. No it's a 1TB SSD - had it put in a year ago. The CPU in Live is always around 10 percent (it's all audio stems) and I don't recall it shooting up when I had the problem. I was wondering about this....is there anything in a live setting that may influence performance...heat, noise, vibrations, moisture?

I have got a 2013 mbp which I'm planning on using at home but may ultimately have to take this out with me...

it's weird because although it's an old 2012 machine I'm gigging with, in the studio it consistently performs fine - never a problem!

[fishmonkey]

if the stage is really hot that could be causing your computer to throttle down.

i suggest checking the settings of the Sudden Motion Sensor:

https://osxdaily.com/2010/12/16/disable ... ensor-mac/

[kebabman]

Thanks for this - it's all new on me all this. Is that to do with movements or temperature?

Forgot to sign, the mac is elevated a foot off the ground on a Gorilla brand laptop stand.

Thanks

[kebabman]

Hi there

Thanks for your replies.

Is the sudden motion senser only relevant to spinning hard drives? I have an SSD so would this still be worth looking into?

Many thanks

[DunedinDragon]

This sounds far more like your processor is busy doing something and can't get around to launching the next scene for a moment. The question in my mind is what's in each of your scenes? It's entirely possible if you're using MIDI with some of the instruments it's trying to load the instrument plugin because they've been flushed out of memory after the laptop's been shut down and turned off.

I don't every use anything but WAV files in my scenes for exactly that reason. There's nothing to load because the WAV is preloaded with all the scenes and there's nothing they depend on to be loaded in order for the scene to start playing and it's very low cost in terms of memory or processing.

[fishmonkey]

Hi there

Thanks for your replies.

Is the sudden motion senser only relevant to spinning hard drives? I have an SSD so would this still be worth looking into?

Many thanks

my understanding is that the SMS can also affect SSDs:

https://www.lifewire.com/manage-mac-sud ... ms-2260756

[kebabman]

Thanks for this...

"This sounds far more like your processor is busy doing something and can't get around to launching the next scene for a moment. The question in my mind is what's in each of your scenes? It's entirely possible if you're using MIDI with some of the instruments it's trying to load the instrument plugin because they've been flushed out of memory after the laptop's been shut down and turned off."

It's all wav stems apart from some midi data which is sent to a Roland TB 03 which then sends it's audio back into Ableton. I've got 1 or 2 songs that also have a software 303 as well (ABL 3). If this was a midi issue, I'd notice the cpu level quickly going up which I don't think I have - it always seems around 10 percent.

I may have several instances of the Roland TB 03 in different songs - maybe this is causing the problem...perhaps I need this all on one channel....

[kebabman]

The ABL 3 is rendered as audio I forgot to say. No MIDI synths at all - just the MIDI going to and and audio coming back from the Roland TB 03

[kebabman]

Hi there

Thanks for your replies.

Is the sudden motion senser only relevant to spinning hard drives? I have an SSD so would this still be worth looking into?

Many thanks

my understanding is that the SMS can also affect SSDs:

https://www.lifewire.com/manage-mac-sud ... ms-2260756

Thanks for this - I'll give this a go over the weekend. Thank you.

[kebabman]

This sounds far more like your processor is busy doing something and can't get around to launching the next scene for a moment. The question in my mind is what's in each of your scenes? It's entirely possible if you're using MIDI with some of the instruments it's trying to load the instrument plugin because they've been flushed out of memory after the laptop's been shut down and turned off.

I don't every use anything but WAV files in my scenes for exactly that reason. There's nothing to load because the WAV is preloaded with all the scenes and there's nothing they depend on to be loaded in order for the scene to start playing and it's very low cost in terms of memory or processing.

Surely though when I boot up my mac and boot up Ableton it does its thing and loads all wavs and any midi data? The only midi is a 303 plugin (ABL 3) on a couple of songs. Whenever you boot up the live set before a gig you accept its going to take 30 seconds loading wavs and any midi. Once Ableton has loaded all this when I open the live set it's there?

[kebabman]

"my understanding is that the SMS can also affect SSDs:

https://www.lifewire.com/manage-mac-sud ... ms-2260756"


Many thanks for this info

I've read this article and it makes perfect sense - could be vibrations in a gig. One of my tracks is a dub reggae bass line and that may have been causing problems! I may have had this issue once or twice at home back the mbp may have been on top of the speaker at a fairly loud volume.

I suppose even though I have an SSD and there is no parking of heads, the SMS may still have been cutting in temporarily causing a glitch.

I've gone into Terminal and I've turned it off (it now displays a zero rather than a number one).

By default, would it have previously been on? I can't remember what it said in the command prompt?

Many thanks for your help.

Hopefully this is it!

[fishmonkey]

out of curiosity is your laptop connected to the internet when it's in the studio?

do you use Time Machine?

and any external drives?

[fishmonkey]

"my understanding is that the SMS can also affect SSDs:

https://www.lifewire.com/manage-mac-sud ... ms-2260756"


Many thanks for this info

I've read this article and it makes perfect sense - could be vibrations in a gig. One of my tracks is a dub reggae bass line and that may have been causing problems! I may have had this issue once or twice at home back the mbp may have been on top of the speaker at a fairly loud volume.

I suppose even though I have an SSD and there is no parking of heads, the SMS may still have been cutting in temporarily causing a glitch.

I've gone into Terminal and I've turned it off (it now displays a zero rather than a number one).

By default, would it have previously been on? I can't remember what it said in the command prompt?

Many thanks for your help.

Hopefully this is it!

yep, 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled.