Next Beta of upcoming bug fix update! Live 7.0.3b6!

dj mush · Post by **dj mush** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:30 pm

well, i've tried allready a lot of different settings.
i really hope its some setting and not just ableton.

but its hard to find the reason why it glitches.
ableton is the ONLY application i run on this computer, so the cpu only has to concentrate on ableton.
the glitching also happens when i have only 2 tracks set up.

the only thing i can think of is that it might have something to do with midi-settings...but i'm a bit out of inspiration in solving problems. i'm not a wizzard and still have to learn a lot about the whole thing.
but i'm pretty sure my hardware is connected the right way.

working in live with a glitch every two minutes is really very frustrating.

if you can point me out on some crucial things arkoenig, that would be awesome.
in my signature you can see the equipement i use.
i also use midisport.

thanx!

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:20 pm

First of all you should switch at least to 7.02, it was a major improvement in the Midi department and got rid of some glitching. Or just try the latest 7.03 and see what happens as it incorporates the improvements of 7.02.

Also try to disable ALL Midi ports and then enable them one by one to see what's happening. Are you using XP or Vista by the way? How many Midi tracks are you running? Live's Midi performance still leaves alot to be desired, but 7.02+ really helps alot.

hybridnz · Post by **hybridnz** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:24 am

The glitching problem everyone keeps going on about is simply a disk vs audio file streaming issue.

We have run many tests on it and found that unless your running a 7200rpm drive your going to have drop outs / glitching. Laptop drives suffer a lot more due to there slower seek times.

Another thing is move your audio files for your project off your HDD .. Defrag it and copy them back one at a time to the drive into the same directory.

This helps untold amounts.

Another way is to stream your audio from a second controller and disk.

We had some big problems on tour and this fixed it.

dancerchris · Post by **dancerchris** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:16 am

No, the dropouts are due to issues with the MIDI bus. I have no problems with audio tracks. Just MIDI. I've got very fast 7200 RPM SATA drives and still have that problem.

dj mush · Post by **dj mush** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:35 am

yeah, i honestly don't think its the drives, i'm also starting to think that it has some midi issues...
i'll upgrade to 7+

the solution hybridnz comes up with, could be fine, but it can't be that that is the solution innit? thats means you'll have to repeat that every now and then, and i don't want to be an IT'er, but a musician...

to timur: i'm running ableton on:
Dell pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz
klokspeed:2.80GHz, 992MB

i think that should do it, not? as ableton is the only app. i run on it.

where can i check rpm drive?

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:47 am

The specs of your computer are fine as long as you don't fill up your memory (check Task-Manager to see how much RAM Live is using) which would lead to swapping. Also while drive related problems can be the source of "glitching" I have found that it's mostly due to Midi. I'm using a 10K RPM Raptor myself and can make Live 7 glitch-a-lot even with all audio loaded into RAM.

Check out these videos I shot some time ago to see the culprits of Live's Midi engine under heavy load:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Just a short checklist:

- Make sure to disable any Midi Port you don't use anyway.
- Make sure not to use DirectMusic for the time being, it's bugged par excellence and Ableton has not expressed any plans on fixing it.
- Under Vista use Aero (3D) Desktop, not the Basic/Classic (2D) Desktop.
- Set Plugin Buffers (Preferences, CPU) to a fixed value of 256 or 128 samples.
- Don't use too many concurrent Midi notes/events (Live cannot deliver the maximum bandwidth of the Midi standard of 3125 bytes/s), try freezing a Midi track.
- Switch off all (dynamic) GUI elements you don't need, especially the Volume meters/faders and I/O panels (see video).

dj mush · Post by **dj mush** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:03 am

thanx timur,
i just upgraded to 7.03 and will now check up on your list.
again, you're the best help over here...
do you work for ableton?

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:42 am

dj mush wrote:thanx timur,
i just upgraded to 7.03 and will now check up on your list.
again, you're the best help over here...
do you work for ableton?

Thanks for the flowers!

No I do not work for Ableton, and given the fact that Ableton support does not response to me anymore concerning these issues it seems that they're rather tired/unnerved of my input.

dj mush · Post by **dj mush** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:58 am

yeah, maybe...

but if you're out of work or income some time...
in my opinion you easily could check for a job at ableton.
this forum is the best prove for your knowledge

hybridnz · Post by **hybridnz** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:17 am

I think we are talking about two different things ...

The glitching was happening when our on stage laptop (with 7200 SATA disk I might add) started to page furiously ..

Swapping out disk while trying to read files. I watched it happen ... everytime the disk calmed down it would be fine.

The midi thing is also a massive pi$$ off .. we use a 8x8 m-audio midi interface and well have to turn most of it off ...

have only noticed this in live 7 btw however the disk streaming thing has been around a couple of versions.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:19 am

Look here for memory and swapping related issues:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

Here's a summary: Live's memory managment is at least odd. It wont release most of the memory that was reserved for any internal plugin/effect or clips, and I mean it never releases that memory unless you restart Live. Restarting/loading a new Set does not help. This not only steals memory from external Plugins but also from your System as a whole.

Another related issue is that once Live starts swapping its CPU load will increase. This can lead to Live using CPU even when nothing is playing upto the point where you can even switch off its audio-engine completely (click on CPU meter) and still it will show CPU load via Task-Manager because of the ongoing/neverending swapping action and maybe because "SmartPriming" is pushing memory around as well.