Poor Performance on my Macbook - stuttering at 30% CPU

Pendulum · Post by **Pendulum** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:05 am

HELP!

OK.. I am aware some people have had issues with macbook pro santa rosa models?

I am running a 2.2Ghz, Macbook pro, with 10.5.2 installed and Ableton 7.0.1.

With about 9 tracks running in my project file... 5 of which have VSTs.... my track is pulling in at anywhere between 20 - 40% CPU.... AND ITS STUTTERING LIKE CRAZY.. the CPU meter is jumping up and down quite rapidly also.

but.. it's not regular.... in the looped section.. it may play fine once through..... then start stuttering... then go fine again. It's completely out of whack.

I have tried with Airpor on and off.. no good. My buffer size is 2048.

What the hell is going on here? On my Dual G5.. I used to be able to push up to near 90% before I'd get ANY stuttering.

Also... My mouse is very VERY jumpy when I'm working on tunes in Ableton... it jumps from one side of the screen to the other.

It's completely pissing me off. I can't even work on my projects because of this. I know this machine is MUCH more powerful... but it's just not working right.

Any suggestions or help is so greatly appreciated. And I do apologize if this has already been posted by another user.

Thanks in advance,

Scott

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:07 am

What soundcard, what VSTs?

Pendulum · Post by **Pendulum** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:22 am

well I am running a Presonus Firebox... however the Performance issues are the same regardless of whether I'm using the built in sound on the macbook or my firebox.. so it's not an issue..

VSTs running at the time were VStation, Nexus and a Predator, and a PSP Vintage Warmer.

siliconarc · Post by **siliconarc** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:36 am

try turning off airport - seems to help with other 10.5.2 users.

evilxsystems · Post by **evilxsystems** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:43 am

www.coolbook.se

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:50 am

I thought V-Station wasn't a UB plug in, no?

Pendulum · Post by **Pendulum** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:00 am

http://www.kvraudio.com/news/6789.html

It's definitely a UB.

Worth noting I updated to Ableton version 7.0.2 and it has improved the performance somewhat..

however now I have an issue where it starts stutting randomly.... and the only way to fix it is to slide my buffer to 0, then back up to 2048... This occurs when my firebox is plugged in.

Otherwise I'm able to push to about 65% now before it starts stuttering.

/AD · Post by **/AD** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:07 pm

Pendulum your issue is EXACTLY what is happening with mine. I have a 17' MBP with Live 7.0.2 and its stuttering like mad. My mouse is ALSO doing the same as yours.. It's a joke - do you know what the problem is yet and how to fix it?

I can't get any improvement by changing settings or updating drivers etc.. Still awful.

/AD · Post by **/AD** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:21 pm

So, turning Airport OFF does seem to work for me - but it's still ridiculous having to lose the internet..

If anyone gets any more updates please post,

All the best, AD.

/AD · Post by **/AD** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:36 pm

Airport REDUCES the problem but hasn't fixed it, my bad...

evilxsystems · Post by **evilxsystems** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:50 pm

evilxsystems wrote:www.coolbook.se

seriously...try it

Wayat · Post by **Wayat** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:22 am

hello
i had the same problem as you .
everyting was good(still some minor bugs but nothing very
embarassing) on 10.5.1 and when I updated to 10.5.2,i get audio and midi glitches.

Turned off airport..i still have glitches
turned off multicore ...the same

So i backup to 10.5.1 with time machine:

live 7 is running since 15X8 hours non stop without glitch now..
Airport is turned ON ,multicore too ,and time machine is backing up my drive at the same time and everything works fine...(for the moment...we never know what can happen with live 7)

Hope it can help you.

/AD · Post by **/AD** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:23 am

Very interesting mate thanks a lot - I will try this. Only problem now is that my Time Machine drive has failed!!!!!!! WHY NOW?!?!

Wayat · Post by **Wayat** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:16 pm

to restore a "full system backup"
you have to use your leopard dvd ,lanch it ,and time machine back the whole system,
tring to restore in osx don't work

ps my hard drive was making strange noises during restore...il thought il has failed too but worked finaly...

/AD · Post by **/AD** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:52 pm

Ok. Surely I must be able to 'roll back' to 10.5.1?

Thanks for help so far,