Ableton Forum

I'm working on a track that has a LOT of automated parameters and VST's and things that are not always easy for a computer to compute. Even if I have the CPU buffer size set up to like, 300 milliseconds (the delay from that makes it pretty difficult to use MIDI hardware or edit in real-time), it still crackles or just stops and freezes entirely.

Is there a way to fix this. Thanks.

As far as I see it you have 3 options:

1. A larger buffer size (I know you don't want to do this)
2. A faster CPU (hmmm, expensive)
3. Freeze some of your VST tracks or bounce them down to audio (lose some 'playability', but IMO the best solution)