Ableton Forum

I have a project that hovers around 45-55% in the CPU display of Live (beta 8.1.5b2), yet the audio is starting to glitch at pretty regular intervals (maybe every 3-4 seconds?).

Should it be glitching so soon? I have tried fiddling around with the buffer size, but that can only compensate for so much, it seems.

(I am playing back audio through the internal audio, no sound cards are involved).

Any clues?

i have the same problem, no matter what soundcard i use even. around 50ish percent it start to glitch out like you say every 3-4 seconds and fiddling with the buffers etc only does so much.

Strange. I don't quite get the point of a CPU load indicator if it maxes out at 50-55%?

My system also starts to crap out at 35-40% load. I have to increase the buffer setting considerably to get rid of the glitches. It really sucks.

i have had this problem for a while. things got a little better when i turned my wireless card off, but still happens.

One thing I've found is if I keep the vst grahics on screen (Jamstix 3 for one ) I get glitching,take it off screen, it's ok.

if you're on pc check for dpc latency: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

housemusiclover wrote:if you're on pc check for dpc latency: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

No problem with DPC latency. I know the limitation of native system but just saying that there must be a way for the host(live) to ensure better stability at lower latency at the expense of more cpu usage.

Yep, same experience. There is definitely room for improvement here.
I have a basic Template (Default) which includes 1 Audio track and 2 midi tracks. No instruments or Plugins loaded.
When I start live the C Pee U is reading between 9 and 11%. This is not good.
I'm running a new iMac Core i7 with 16 GB. They really should give this area some attention..

I absolutely love Live but if I can't load anything without running my CPU at 40-50% which renders itself useless.. I'm at a loss.

lyovino wrote: I have a basic Template (Default) which includes 1 Audio track and 2 midi tracks. No instruments or Plugins loaded.
When I start live the C Pee U is reading between 9 and 11%. This is not good.
I'm running a new iMac Core i7 with 16 GB. They really should give this area some attention..

arent you glad you bought live?
i was, until i update to 8.1.4 and i couldnt go past 50% cpu.
no hardware, nor software changes either except updated live.

now, i cant work with my old sets. its great.

Last night I bumped up the buffer to 256 and noticed a small change.
Then I noticed if you have a mic on line and it is record enabled, the CPU jumps 8-10%. Turn off the record button and it drops dramatically.
I guess it's workable, but I'm tired of checking the cpu meter every 2 minutes. I'm really surprised they haven't moved forward to 64 bit yet.
Maybe it's in the works.. this will make a huge difference.

Another surprise, and this I just cannot understand.. I turned off MULTI PROCESSOR and the cpu dropped even more?

Can someone explain this??

I already have buffer size set to 256, but it doesn't really matter. I have experimented with a bunch of different settings, but it doesn't seem to change anything in terms of the glitching.

I am surprised how little Live can take in terms of CPU load, hopefully someone will have a look at this sooner rather than later. Not sure if it's part of the big "bug overhaul" currently in progress, but I think it should be. If it's the case, like one poster says, that previous projects suddenly can't be run anymore on newer versions of Live, than something must be pretty wrong.

i don't have these problems at all - would trade against my gui troubles though...
no glitches until about 92% cpu with all 4 cores evenly taxed. 8.1.5b2 pc win7-64

you guys should post more info: pc,mac,os,soundcard, etc.

Ok:

Mac
Live 8.1.5b2 (beta)
OS X 10.6.4
Emu 0404 USB soundcard (though glitches is an issue at about 50-55% CPU when just playing through the internal audio)

Ok, problem found, you use a mac. Just kidding, wish i had one...
Can't really help with mac though apart from the obvious: latest emu and gfx drivers, making sure no background programs suck all the cpu power away.
What about bumping the buffer to 512 and using the cpu usage simulator inside Live? Do you get drop-outs that soon as well?