Ableton Forum

Hi everyone. I've been having a pretty serious problem recently since updated to Live 8.0.2

I'm using a late 2008 model Macbook Pro 2.53ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 gigs ram, 320 gig HD.

Recently when using Ableton, I'll load a project that used to not even make my computer sweat. Now when I open that same project, after about 10 minutes my CPU temperatures raise by about 10 degrees and my computer fans start spinning really fast, upwards of 6000RPM!!!

At first I thought it was my audio interface. I had recently purchased an M-Audio Profire 610 interface. Whenever that was plugged in this problem would start almost immediately if Ableton was running. So thinking it was just the audio inteface, I sold it and bought an Apogee Duet. The same problem happened.... So I sold that too, as I've read alot about the new Macbook Pro's and their issues with firewire chipsets and whatnot.

So now I'm not using ANY audio interface, and the problem still persists. My computer will start chugging and istatmenus says Ableton is using about 90% CPU although Ableton says it's only using about 45% CPU.

What's going on here? This all started recently. I'm pretty sure it was happening before updating to 10.5.7

I've changed the buffer settings numerous times, researched everywhere possible. But still I've found no answer. The problem has nothing to do with firewire or anything now.

I've even tried turning of airport and that helps a tiny bit, but not much.

I never had any of these problems with Live 7. I couldn't even make my fans spin loud enough to hear them no matter what I did on 7. Now my fans spin so loud I can't even focus on making music.

What should I do? Why is Live 8 eating so much CPU? If I leave it running for a while it will get so loud and hot it's unbearable. If I quit Ableton everything goes back to normal.

I'm not even doing anything super intensive.

Please help. I know there's tons of other people with the same problems, but no solution? Sorry for the long post I'm just desperate for help... I've searched all over the internet and still found nothing.

Thanks.

hipdeejay wrote: What should I do?

use live 7.15, and learn a valuable lesson from the whole experience.


(don't be an early-adopter, unless you enjoy that sort of thing)

That's unacceptable. I paid alot of money to use Live 8. It should be working properly. Not only that but I can't use the same projects I'm working on right now on Live 7. I don't even have Live 7 anymore!

hipdeejay wrote:That's unacceptable. I paid alot of money to use Live 8. It should be working properly. Not only that but I can't use the same projects I'm working on right now on Live 7. I don't even have Live 7 anymore!

true, it sucks. You did pay for live8, you deserve to be given the product they are advertising - absolutely.
But, here's the facts kid......if you want smooth sailing, you should use live 7.15, and start your projects again. And like I said - learn the lesson.

and why don't you have live 7 anymore ? That should be the second part of the lesson. Don't be an early-adopter, and don't delete previous stable versions (which you said yourself worked great for you) - you can still download it from their website. Unless you did something completely retarded like selling your old live 7 license, and then bought a live 8 license seperately....rather than upgrading for a fraction of that cost.
which I doubt you did.

strange! my macbook has gotten about 20% faster with live with the update to 10.5.7

Emissary wrote:try renaming/deleting your preferences file, worked for me during beta testing, 8 was crawling along before i did that.

*shrug*

he doesn't have live7 anymore apparently, maybe the old prefs stayed...

I upgraded to Live 8. Sure I can redownload 7. But then I have to go back to the old way of warping (AFTER LEARNING TO NEW WAY), and not be able to use any of the new features.

Is this a known issue? Does Ableton know about this and what are they doing to fix this? The beta for Live 8.0.3 does not even say anything about this.

I feel like this is a serious issue and something needs to be done about this. Reverting back to Live 7 because of this and hoping that someday they will resolve this seems like a huge step backwards.

Also where are those preferences located?

mac: /user/library/preferences/ableton/live 8.02/preferences.cfg
pc: c:/Documents and Settings/yourwindozeusername/Application Data/Ableton/Live 8.0.2/Preferences/Preferences.cfg

Thanks for the fast replies. Should I just delete that file and see how it goes?

yep, notice that as soon as you have deleted that file live will create a new one, but will re-set all your settings.

My CPU is also running hot (same set-up, Macbook Pro 2.33Mhz, 3GB RAM) just by starting Live 8. Not cool at all Ableton.

I just heard from a co-worker here @ Moog that the 10.5.7 update helped him run Live 8 significantly faster.

Cheers,
Liz

That's true, Apple changed gfx stuff in 10.5.7 and it performs way better now, esp. on the Apple laptops.
Typical example for a kind of two-components problem: GFX handling was updated between Live 7 and 8 and the gfx drivers before 10.5.7 just didn't perform like they should with the current methods while Live 7 was fine - the 10.5.7 update therefore helped a lot and the latest 8.0.3 beta of Live also contains a few gfx performance improvements from our side as well.

I personally recommend updating both, Live and the OS.


Cheers,
Dom

Note: I was on 10.5.7 and Live 8.0.2 when these problems arose.

Hopefully the preferences thing clears it all up though

Nope, the problem is still there.

What's going on??