Mac Memory/ Audio Drop Outs/ Live 6

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:34 pm

Hi All,

I'm having problems with Audio breaking up, crackling. I just installed
2gb on the MBP (coredou) memory is from OWC (other world computing).
I thought that by installing more ram would help eliminate audio crackle's etc etc, more tracks, fx's... the only difference I see this new memory has done is that it loads projects up a lot faster. I'm not using a lot of tracks/softsynths/plug ins. I also noticed when I was running on 512mb (old memory) that if I changed 41000 to 96000 I would obviously get the audio crackle/breaking but I could still hear where the music was, I tried this same setting with the new 2GB memory installed and I notice I can't even hear what is playing, it sounded better when I had the 512mb installed!!

I'm thinking on returning the memory back to OWC, in exchange for a different brand, the memory I have now is manufactured by OWC which was priced around $55, could investing a few more dollars on another memory brand make the difference? What kind (brand) of memory are user's of MBP 2 GHz Intel CoreDou using? I have checked to see if I had the right memory and I do, so I dunno what now.

Thanks for your help.

btw, there was a thread on the forums a while back I think on a similar problem, anyone have that link, couldnt find it.

Atomikat · Post by **Atomikat** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 5:16 pm

What kind of soundcard are you using?
Btw..I don't think you can "replace" the old memory...just add more. The latency is caused by some different factors, not only the Ram...

it can be caused by the set up of your soundcard,the set up into ableton Live,your laptop, the weather...(

just kidding),etc,etc.
Also, I don't think that the OWC memory is the problem...a few months ago I got a cheaper memory from www.newegg.com ...installed it, and it works great,no hassle at all.
And...if you check in the left corner (blue apple)>about this mac>more info, and that memory appears there...it's well installed. When there's a problem with added Ram, you won't be able to boot your Mac and/or will get "kernel panic", definitely the problem is somewhere else...

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 5:48 pm

Thanks for the response,

I'm not using a soundcard (yet, oneday!!lol), I'm using the headphone out on the MBP. The new memory appears under "about this Mac", evrything seems fine, I notice how quickly Live set's loads up, but when I hit play it's audio hell (not in a good way). All my settings in the preferences in Live were left un touched. One would think more memory would help, i dunno, something is not right with this memory. Even at my regular setting's with old 512mb I didnt get that many audio drop outs , unless of course I loaded many plug-ins, vsts etc..

bleepsnbreaks · Post by **bleepsnbreaks** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:31 am

I have a 17" Macbook pro and I started having this exact problem along with many many other Live users on Macbook Pros (for soem reason I only heard of people with the 17" having the problem, especially the newer santa rosa model), a few months ago, there were alot of posts on the forum about it. Here is my opinion:

There was an update that came out from apple that caused some kind of problem with Coreaudio on the macbook pros, it messed up not just the internal soundcard but any interface that used core audio.

My problem became much better when I installed leopard, it doesnt break up all over the place now, though I still get a couple of artifacts under load.

I now have updates disabled and I wont install any apple updates ever again. Everything I need works fine now and Im not messing with it....

rbmonosylabik · Post by **rbmonosylabik** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:35 am

Have you followed the tutorial to set up your audio device properly (buffer size, driver error compensation, etc)?

It's under Help > Lessons

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:17 pm

Thanks Bleepsnbreaks, makes me feel I'm not loosing my mind here.
I took the new 2GB memory out and replaced it with the old 512mb memory,
seems like i am better off using 512mb!!! this sucks major ass. I could look at it in this light, I will be forced to only use 8 tracks with very minimal softsynths and plug-ins which would force me to create from what I have (um nothing) or I don't know what else, really upsetting. Would getting an external sound card fix this problem?
is there any way to un-update back a few versions on the MAC?

@rbmonosylabik, yes I went through all the buffer size settings, no go. I had it the way it was set before, seems like the closest I get to having no audio drop outs is when the buffer size is set to 2048 Samples, retarded.

thanks

mreda · Post by **mreda** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:52 am

If you're in the US NewEgg is probably the way to go.
They have product reviews posted which can help.

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:52 pm

I did some thread searching for any problems related to my problem posted above, and I did find other user's having the same issue... great CPU peaks while only using a few synths/plug-ins/tweaing. I do not think there is anything wrong with the memory I purchased from OWC, I have been running other non-audio applications with a breeze, overall the MBP is running great, except of course when I run Live 6 and the rest of my set, which only includes Zebra 2 and a Live plug-in or two. This is upsetting because the main purpose for this computer is to create relatively simple song's and I am running into these frustrating issue's here. So now I am left in the dark as to where these CPU spikes/overloads are coming from, my CPU spikes (which cause audio drop outs/stutter's seem to occur when I switch scene's in Live 6. If it's not the memory then ... Live 6? or Mac Intel updates? or Both.? Surely I thought I would be able to run more than 8 tracks, guess not. I have done some tweaking/deleting tracks which have helped.
My next decision is to look into getting a faster hard drive installed along with a (real) sound card, hopefully that will help. Any user's out there with any info/advice please share! (though I have found threads related to this dreadful issue!).

Is there a link someone could kindly post (if it exists as to optimizing Live for best performance ex: (less polyphony in simpler, check RAM button in scene, that kind of stuff..)
(btw) would investing in a audio interface help with the audio drop outs/ stutter? (will eventually get to this, but had to ask to have some sort of piece of mind)

Thanks

seanwolcott · Post by **seanwolcott** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:48 pm

Caymus & abletoners,

Your problem sounds very familiar to mine. I have a mac book with 1g ram and am about to upgrade to 2g. I also am using a presonus firepod (or fp10 as its now called).

I had dropout hell for weeks with the firepod. Also, the music would only play/record at around 700-1000ms... If I put the latency up to the max 2000+ms, it would crap out as well.

Heard tons of possible reasons why, tried them all and none seemed to help. Just installed Leopard yesterday, and so far this AM, from what I tested, the dropouts are BETTER. The problem of 2000+ms crapping out is gone (for now....it has had a tendency to mysteriously come back last time).

Im doing sessions with maybe 1, 2 soft synths max. 1 or 2 impulse drum machines. 5-15 audio tracks. Only recording 1 track at a time.

Even on the minimal sessions with under 10 tracks I get latency at best without dropouts around 300ms. This sucks, its way too much. Hoping the RAM will help. Any solutions better latency with other interfaces, or setups?

Oh, also to mention, I deleted ALL digidesign drivers on my machine. Heard rumors of that f'ing things up. At least it was causing problems in Leopard. I ditched pro tools completely about 6 months ago to use JUST ableton for DAW and all. Love the app but have noticed that Pro Tools ran infinitely more efficent. I could have 32 tracks, shit loads of FX, a soft synth or two and 100+ ms latency. And this is on my old 512 ram Powerbook with only 1ghz processor, non-intel.

What gives???

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:09 pm

Also make sure at least 10% of your hard drive is empty. A full hard drive can cause audio problems.

stevenc_86 · Post by **stevenc_86** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:09 pm

Same problem here (MBP, 2GB ram, Line 6 Toneport UX2, OSX 10.5)

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:31 pm

I wonder.... MBP 2.0 GHZ, 2 GB ram (CoreDuo) 10.4.11minimal tracks down to 6 (tracks) 2 Zebra's (programmed very cpu friendly) 2 simpler's (not racks) 2 audio tracks... in which I resampled time-stretched to relieve CPU drain (but legato mode is unavailable while not warped)... 2 Live effect's including Reverb and Delay... yet I still get audio oatmeal... is this normal? In this case I can forget about using Live in a Live performance! ;-(

I think I am about to pick up and learn an acoustic guitar and just play before I loose my mind. simplicity! lol

seanwolcott · Post by **seanwolcott** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:41 pm

Yes, hard drive space is a big one I guess, I usually try to keep 5-6 gigs free, perhaps thats not enough.

Also, when I was referring to ms earlier, I mean't samples. So, in an ideal case of the buffer size not freaking things out with my firepod/macbook, I have a latency around 15-20ms. Way too much. Of course I can mix the monitor on the firepod between channel inputs and the DAW, but still that leaves me to move things in place afterwards.

Sigh..... Maybe I need to get that old 8 track in 100% order ASAP.

seanwolcott · Post by **seanwolcott** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:43 pm

Oh, and BTW--- how do you all set your Decoding Cache? And multicore/multprocessor support on or off for those intel mac users? Ive heard to turn that off to solve the drop outs with the firepod. Never made a difference in my case (or seemed to).

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm

Buffer size is at 1046 Samples (Sample Rate @ 41000) Decoding Cache is at 500mb minumum, set on to 10.00 GB.