Hello all,
A quick question about how I can improve performance when using the Ableton Live/Reason combo.
Problem is, when I have a song with about 15 or more tracks going the CPU usage meter hits up to the 75-96% range, causing glitches in playback.
Would upgrading the amount of RAM on my PC help this at all, thus allowing me to use more than 16 tracks in a song? I was thinking about upgrading to 2 GB. Or do I simply need to upgrade the Processor on my computer? Or is it that Ableton/Reason used together simply cannot handle more than about 15 tracks at a time?
My PC: AMD 2800 Athlon XP, 1 GB RAM PC3200, Asus A7n8X Deluxe, M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI
Thanks!
Question about CPU Usage
there are a few things you can do to remove the glitches, but nothing will get your cpu% down besides upgrading your cpu.
one thing you can do to remove glitches is load any audio clips into ram.
as you have 1GB ram, it should be easy to load at least most of them into ram. The reason for this, i've found, is that accessing the disk for the sounds instead of ram not only takes a little more time, but it also takes more cpu cycles.
Another thing you can do is increase your audio output latency.
Also if you aren't using audio inputs, disable the audio inputs in preferences.
this can reduce output latency as well.
what sample rate are you outputting at? reducing sample rate will reduce cpu usage. so if you're above 44.1khz, bring it back down to 44.1khz when the cpu gets up into the 80%'s, you can still use higher sample rates when rendering to disk.
There are also things you can do in Reason to reduce cpu.
as in disengage any mixer EQ's not being used, etc. i think its all in the Reason manual.
chances are, adding another 1GB of ram won't help.
what does task manager say you're using when in live/reason with all clips loaded into ram?
I assume you are using Reason 2.5 with Live 4 ?
one thing you can do to remove glitches is load any audio clips into ram.
as you have 1GB ram, it should be easy to load at least most of them into ram. The reason for this, i've found, is that accessing the disk for the sounds instead of ram not only takes a little more time, but it also takes more cpu cycles.
Another thing you can do is increase your audio output latency.
Also if you aren't using audio inputs, disable the audio inputs in preferences.
this can reduce output latency as well.
what sample rate are you outputting at? reducing sample rate will reduce cpu usage. so if you're above 44.1khz, bring it back down to 44.1khz when the cpu gets up into the 80%'s, you can still use higher sample rates when rendering to disk.
There are also things you can do in Reason to reduce cpu.
as in disengage any mixer EQ's not being used, etc. i think its all in the Reason manual.
chances are, adding another 1GB of ram won't help.
what does task manager say you're using when in live/reason with all clips loaded into ram?
I assume you are using Reason 2.5 with Live 4 ?
Aiight
Thanks for the quick tips guys!
For Adamjay:
Well, I went to the audio prefs and I am sampling at 44.1 so no dice there. As far as altency is concerned, i have it at 12ms. U think I should add more? How much more? Wouldnt that create more of a delay from the time I whack a key to when I hear it? Thus defeating the entire reason I went out and bought a somewhat nice audio card.
The RAM part is something I have not tried. I am not sure if I am doing this right and correct me if I am wrong. In clip view for a specific clip do I just select "RAM" on the "sample" menu in clip view? Also, do I need to do this before I record a clip for it to be sent to the RAM or can I just do it whenver? Lemme know. Thanks Again! And yes, on Reason 2.5 w/Ableton Live 4.
For Adamjay:
Well, I went to the audio prefs and I am sampling at 44.1 so no dice there. As far as altency is concerned, i have it at 12ms. U think I should add more? How much more? Wouldnt that create more of a delay from the time I whack a key to when I hear it? Thus defeating the entire reason I went out and bought a somewhat nice audio card.
The RAM part is something I have not tried. I am not sure if I am doing this right and correct me if I am wrong. In clip view for a specific clip do I just select "RAM" on the "sample" menu in clip view? Also, do I need to do this before I record a clip for it to be sent to the RAM or can I just do it whenver? Lemme know. Thanks Again! And yes, on Reason 2.5 w/Ableton Live 4.
Re: Aiight
Well if 15ms gets rid of the glitches you are getting at 12ms, then the totally unnoticable 3ms you've added won't really be a big deal right?oddlaww wrote:Thanks for the quick tips guys!
For Adamjay:
Well, I went to the audio prefs and I am sampling at 44.1 so no dice there. As far as altency is concerned, i have it at 12ms. U think I should add more? How much more? Wouldnt that create more of a delay from the time I whack a key to when I hear it? Thus defeating the entire reason I went out and bought a somewhat nice audio card.
The RAM part is something I have not tried. I am not sure if I am doing this right and correct me if I am wrong. In clip view for a specific clip do I just select "RAM" on the "sample" menu in clip view? Also, do I need to do this before I record a clip for it to be sent to the RAM or can I just do it whenver? Lemme know. Thanks Again! And yes, on Reason 2.5 w/Ableton Live 4.
try it, and play with it.
yea you are correct about the "RAM" button in the sample menu of clip view. Just click it, making it Yellow or Green (whatever your skin may be), and this will allow the clip to playback from Ram rather than HD.
Make sure its selected before you launch a clip. This is especially useful for small files, as they are streaming from disk, thus using just as much HD bandwidth as larger files would be, but the effect on available RAM it has by launching them FROM RAM is minimal.
Try the ram thing first, if that doesnt remedy the issue, up your output latency 1ms at a time till it stops. and make sure audio input is disabled.
and if none of that works and/or the latency is too high for your liking to get it to stop glitching, your last option of course is a new CPU.
if your motherboard supports up to an Athlon XP 3200 with 400mhz FSB, this would be your best bet. Its as high as you can go with Athlon XP, and most of the time without having to buy a new motherboard.
you can get an Athlon XP 3200 for under $130 shipped @
http://www.bzboyz.com/store/product1705.html
if your motherboard supports up to an Athlon XP 3200 with 400mhz FSB, this would be your best bet. Its as high as you can go with Athlon XP, and most of the time without having to buy a new motherboard.
you can get an Athlon XP 3200 for under $130 shipped @
http://www.bzboyz.com/store/product1705.html
yea, i mean i dont use reason, but to give you an example of a track i'm working on right now.... that is all audio clips, no vsti's or rewire.
in this .als there are:
4 Mono Drum sounds (in Impulse, no Impulse filters engaged)
10 Stereo Audio Clips (synths, bassline, stabs, etc.)
13 Ableton EQ4's
2 Ableton Auto-Filters
1 Ableton Reverb set to "First Class" global quality setting
1 Ableton Ping Pong Delay
1 Analogic Delay
1 TC Electronic Filtrator (24db high pass)
1 Waves R Comp
1 Waves L2 Ultra Maximizer
2 Ableton Utility's for pre-FX Gain
In all its 14 Channels, plus 3 FX Buses, and a Master Channel
with all clips loading into Ram, Live is taking up about 85MB of Ram total.
CPU with Athlon 64 3700 is at 29% playing at 44.1khz
if i manually clock down the cpu to 3200 speeds (Athlon XP and/or Athlon 64 3200 that is), it then plays back at 33% @ 44.1khz.
in this .als there are:
4 Mono Drum sounds (in Impulse, no Impulse filters engaged)
10 Stereo Audio Clips (synths, bassline, stabs, etc.)
13 Ableton EQ4's
2 Ableton Auto-Filters
1 Ableton Reverb set to "First Class" global quality setting
1 Ableton Ping Pong Delay
1 Analogic Delay
1 TC Electronic Filtrator (24db high pass)
1 Waves R Comp
1 Waves L2 Ultra Maximizer
2 Ableton Utility's for pre-FX Gain
In all its 14 Channels, plus 3 FX Buses, and a Master Channel
with all clips loading into Ram, Live is taking up about 85MB of Ram total.
CPU with Athlon 64 3700 is at 29% playing at 44.1khz
if i manually clock down the cpu to 3200 speeds (Athlon XP and/or Athlon 64 3200 that is), it then plays back at 33% @ 44.1khz.