Updating ID3 tags caused ALS files to crash Live 6

[darcy]

Disclaimer: I took a look through the forum and didn't see anything about this, but I may have missed it.

All of a sudden, Live 6 started lagging in the browser and would crash as soon as I would attempt to bring in an als file into the session view - either via click and drag or copy/paste. Every single als would do this.

Turns out - I ran that Mixed In Key program (which by itself is not the problem) on my tunes, and had it edit the comments field (ID3 tag) with the key of the song.

My als files are loops etc for all the mp3s/aiffs. Trying to bring in the related als to the session view would crash Live when it saw the asd wasn't in sync anymore - I guess(?). Choosing the mp3 file instead of the als would make live re-anayze the file and update the asd. This didn't actually fix the als crash though.

I am still a bit new to understanding the browser/project thing and had been saving all of the als files as individual projects. If I open the project with the bad als, it would open fine and would re-scan the related audio in all the tracks. Saving the project would fix the contained als and update the asd. From what I can tell, I haven't lost the warping information, but I have only spot checked 10 or so.

Since I couldn't even drag an als into the session view, I think having saved the als as individual projects may have actually saved my arse. Of course, I ran Mixed in Key on my entire library... Gotta lotta opening/saving ahead of me.

I ran some quick tests to verify this once I pieced it together, updating the song name from iTunes would also have the same effect on the als.

Anyone else seeing this same behavoir?

My System:
OS X 10.4.7
MacBook Pro 2Ghz
Live 6.0.1

[fzero]

I'm having a similar problem!

I never used any program to mess with ID3 tags, but Live seems to be re-analyzing my MP3s every time I drag them into the session - and, yes, some MP3s make the program crash instantly. This is a HUGE problem to me because my whole set is improvised on spot, dragging files like crazy to the session view.

Anyone else having these problems?

[Amaury]

Hello Darcy,

Did you just update the ID3 tags (invisible in the file name) or change the file names of your mp3 files as well?

Regards,
Amaury

[darcy]

Hello Amaury -

Sorry for the late reply. Yes this was just the ID3 tags, not the file name. I don't think the ID3 tags are the root of the problem, however.

For better clarification, here are the steps, I can recreate it every time.

1. create new live set
2. drag mp3 file into set (with or without pre-existing .asd)
3. save live set
4. edit mp3 id3 tag in iTunes (for example, comments field)
5. create new live set
6. drag the saved als/alc into set
7. crash

Alternatively, if you open the project that was saved instead of dragging over the als, it will open fine and rescan the mp3 file, then if you save the project you are all good.

Just the fact that the mp3 is modified later that the .asd file will cause this to happen. So in step 4, you could have just ran 'touch' on the mp3 file from the command line, skipping editing the ID3 tags all together and still get the same result.

My guess is the rescan happens when it notices the mp3/asd are out of sync, and when it tries to run the rescan in that one condition, it chokes.

Best of luck!

[fzero]

*BUMP*

This is important. I'm testing the beta and sending crash reports on this very issue like crazy.

[Alex]

Hi darcy, Hi fzero,

this problem should be fixed with Live 6.0.2b6:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53356

Please give it a try.

Regards,
/Alex