Ableton Forum

So I sank a grand into the Live8 Suite + the Akai MPC40 controller. Seems fun so far except for the frequent crashing.

What is the best environment to run Ableton Live 8 suite, so that it will not crash on a regular basis?

Here's my current setup and perhaps you can suggest a way to improve it:
Apple iMac 20", 2008 model, completely stock hardware (no modifications, additions), 2GB ram, 320GB HDD. System 10.5.8 with all latest Apple software updates.

The only software installed on the system is Ableton Live 8 Suite, Digital Performer, Logic, MOTU Clockworks, MOTU MIDI driver for the attached MIDI XPress XT. Nothing else has been installed.. no other software, no fancy extensions, nothing.

Live tends to crash on average about once every half hour, generally when playing back tracks, but sometimes also when not playing back tracks. I've only begun cutting tracks- applying warp markers, have not applied any effects, no VSTs at all, pretty vanilla work. CPU meter tends to peak around 5-6% at most according to Live's CPU meter. In its current incarnation, it's absolutely NOT performance-ready...

I've tried working in Live with and without the AKAI MPC40 attached. Same results. I've also updated to the latest Live, as of this writing. DP and Logic have never crashed on me yet, so it seems the machine itself is more than likely stable. Have not had any other issues with the computer in general.

I've also tried creating a second project, and a third project, each with different tracks, so I'm fairly sure it's not any individual AIFF file causing problems.

Any suggestions, tips, tricks, tests, etc. much appreciated!

p.s. i've not had any better luck running Live by itself - no other apps running.

contact the support by email.
this situation is not normal. i also experience crashes but not that much and i work with up to thirty tracks with a lot of vst. for my part i tend to having less than a crash a day at the moment. but it crashes... that's a fact...

good luck

Yeah, I agree with FadY there.

I'm also on OS X 10.5.8 / L8.0.5 and I get occasional random non-reproducible crashes, but nothing like as often as you mention.

Some ideas though:
- are you on the latest official version of Live 8, L8.0.5?
- tried Repairing Permissions on the Apple?
- also, try deleting preferences.cfg (in <user>/library/preferences/Ableton/L8.0.5 or something like that)

8O wrote:Yeah, I agree with FadY there.

I'm also on OS X 10.5.8 / L8.0.5 and I get occasional random non-reproducible crashes, but nothing like as often as you mention.

Some ideas though:
- are you on the latest official version of Live 8, L8.0.5?
- tried Repairing Permissions on the Apple?
- also, try deleting preferences.cfg (in <user>/library/preferences/Ableton/L8.0.5 or something like that)

Thanks for the tips.. Yes, it's 8.0.5. As for repairing permissions and trashing the prefs file, I didn't even think of that. ha! Apple repair 101! Thanks for reminding me of that. The permissions appear to be "ok" according to Disk Utility. We'll see if it behaves a bit better now that I've also deleted the prefs. I know it must be possible to run Live for at least 3 hours in one sitting because I watched one of my fav artists use it live and it didn't randomly keel over on him.

"Best environment to keep Live from crashing frequently?"

...in the box.

Best environment to keep Live from crashing frequently?

A PC ?

Just kidding (...or not ? )