Ableton crashing a lot lately...Memory Issue?

[ramangill]

Hey Guys,

I have a MAC PRO (1,1)
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP30
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/m ... specs.html

As of late, I have been noticing LIVE crash. I have noticed that is crashes when I have plug-ins open like NERVE, Arturia Analog Factory or even when I use Audio Plug-ins like NOMAD Factory or TAL. I even have one live set that I worked on for weeks that crashed on me and now I can not even re-open it as everytime I try LIVE reports a crash. I have emailed the crash reports to Ableton in hopes of some sort of reply but I thought I would ask here.

I have 3GB of RAM (The odd number is cause it came like that...no idea why). I am starting to think that this may be low. MY CPU is fine I think as many people with the same Mac have pushed a lot more than what I am doing. I was thinking up purchasing RAM for it as it is pretty cheap nowadays and I was going to either make the MAC a 8 GB or 12 GB or even 16...but at least 8 for sure (may be the other amounts are overkill, LOL )

So my system according to the specs can handle 64 bit but according to the ableton site it is not fully supported. By the way my MAC version is 10.6.5. Let's say if I get 8 GB of RAM, Ableton will only use 4GB of it right?

What can be the other issues?

I have seen YouTube vids of peoples session where they have like several NERVE tracks and several other tracks using plug-ins....any thoughts?

[cids]

Looks like some plug-in is causing the crashes. Try disabling all vst/au's and enabling them 1-by-1 to see which one is causing the crashes... see for tips how to upgrade your Mac the following: http://www.ramseeker.com/news/how-to-up ... quad-core/

Although Ableton Live can address a maximum of 4GB, adding RAM will improve the performance of your system in theory because Mac OS and your plug-ins also need some memory!

[ramangill]

Looks like some plug-in is causing the crashes. Try disabling all vst/au's and enabling them 1-by-1 to see which one is causing the crashes... see for tips how to upgrade your Mac the following: http://www.ramseeker.com/news/how-to-up ... quad-core/

Although Ableton Live can address a maximum of 4GB, adding RAM will improve the performance of your system in theory because Mac OS and your plug-ins also need some memory!

Forgive me if I sound stupid by asking this, but Ableton can use up to 4GB of ram...but the plug-ins don't use that 4GB of RAM that Ableton uses...it will use it's own from the system?

[levelpan24]

Been having a similar problem.I get crashes when using Amplitube 3.I thought I might need more ram as well,but Ableton said the crashes came from inside Amplitube and that it brought down the host system with it.Still working on figuring it out.Good luck with yours.

[ramangill]

Been having a similar problem.I get crashes when using Amplitube 3.I thought I might need more ram as well,but Ableton said the crashes came from inside Amplitube and that it brought down the host system with it.Still working on figuring it out.Good luck with yours.

More RAM is still always good have regardless overall.

[levelpan24]

Very true.

[hipdeejay]

Been having this same issue a lot recently (8.2.1) sent in a few crash reports but still no solution

I'm using a new quad core iMac with 12 gigs of ram so there's no way it's out of memory.
Also it has nothing to do with third party plugins because I've had this error with nothing
but Live's plugins, and not very many channels.

Very frustrating, it's been happening almost every session.

Also I noticed this happens when I'm going through samples in Live's browser.
After previewing too many samples Live crashes? This never used to happen.

Unfortunately for me I make music with lots of samples so this is a recurring problem.

Sorry for rambling, I've just been searching for a solution to this problem for a while now.

It's just very frustrating when you pay big money for technology that doesn't work the way
it's supposed to...

[ramangill]

Been having this same issue a lot recently (8.2.1) sent in a few crash reports but still no solution

I'm using a new quad core iMac with 12 gigs of ram so there's no way it's out of memory.
Also it has nothing to do with third party plugins because I've had this error with nothing
but Live's plugins, and not very many channels.

Very frustrating, it's been happening almost every session.

Also I noticed this happens when I'm going through samples in Live's browser.
After previewing too many samples Live crashes? This never used to happen.

Unfortunately for me I make music with lots of samples so this is a recurring problem.

Sorry for rambling, I've just been searching for a solution to this problem for a while now.

It's just very frustrating when you pay big money for technology that doesn't work the way
it's supposed to...

Sorry to hear that. I don't have issues with the samples part. It seems like as I add more plug ins is when it starts to die on me. I just don't know if its related to the plugin themselves or Ableton has a issue with them....who knows...but I can no longer open a project cause when I try it crashes...and this is the project that I have been working on for a while which also includes several NERVE Instances, 1 Arturia Analog factory, Several NOMAD Factory Plugins.

I have a feeling that it's the Arturia casue ever since I upgraded it to 2.5 (which they recommend) I have been seeing the issue.

[ramangill]

Anyone know of a place in Toronto (or Greater Toronto Area) where I can buy RAM for my MacPro (1,1). I would rather walk in to a store and buy it today and get going but most places don't carry that RAM.

I will try CanadaComputers to see if they carry it. Any other suggestions?

[ze2be]

I have 3g of ram. (XP)
If I push the total system usage (with Live alone) above 1.8 gb, Live crashes. Every time. Plus at the range between 1.7gb and 1.8gb, there's constant glitches and stutter on the signal. Quad core cpu, about 40% average usage on each core. Live tells me its crashing because its out of memory.

Live requires a system reboot to re open after the crash. Otherwise its in some kind of limbo, and don't want to shut down. Support team knows very well about this "need to reboot after ram crash" thing though.

XP alone uses about 350mb, and the remaining 1.450mb of the 1.800mb are used by Live. Theoretically there should be at least 1000mb left to work with?

Is it possible to allocate more ram to Live in the system? I think this is one for the support team. Just got to work on the description.

Some synths and fx eats a lot of ram.
1 instance of Stylus RMX is about 345mb
1 instance of Alchemy is around 50mb
It quickly adds up.

Thats why I still prefer using "green", power efficient synths. Always ends up having to record those heavy plugs to audio.

[ramangill]

I have 3g of ram. (XP)
If I push the total system usage (with Live alone) above 1.8 gb, Live crashes. Every time. Plus at the range between 1.7gb and 1.8gb, there's constant glitches and stutter on the signal. Quad core cpu, about 40% average usage on each core. Live tells me its crashing because its out of memory.

Live requires a system reboot to re open after the crash. Otherwise its in some kind of limbo, and don't want to shut down. Support team knows very well about this "need to reboot after ram crash" thing though.

XP alone uses about 350mb, and the remaining 1.450mb of the 1.800mb are used by Live. Theoretically there should be at least 1000mb left to work with?

Is it possible to allocate more ram to Live in the system? I think this is one for the support team. Just got to work on the description.

Some synths and fx eats a lot of ram.
1 instance of Stylus RMX is about 345mb
1 instance of Alchemy is around 50mb
It quickly adds up.

Thats why I still prefer using "green", power efficient synths. Always ends up having to record those heavy plugs to audio.

On a MAC how can you tell how mucb RAM Live is currently using. Same goes for Plug-Ins. I would like to add all this up on my machine to get an idea. I have never seen my CPU meter (Live's cpu meter) jump past 20%, which I assume is good and that my MAC's QaudCore can handle.

Thoughts?

[steko]

Ableton can use up to 4GB of ram...but the plug-ins don't use that 4GB of RAM that Ableton uses...it will use it's own from the system?

No. Plugins share the RAM with Live's 4 GB, except you run them from an VST/Au host.

On a MAC how can you tell how mucb RAM Live is currently using

OS X's Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities): http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342

[ramangill]

Ableton can use up to 4GB of ram...but the plug-ins don't use that 4GB of RAM that Ableton uses...it will use it's own from the system?

No. Plugins share the RAM with Live's 4 GB, except you run them from an VST/Au host.

well that sucks. and I guess we cant get Live to use more than 4GB's right?

On a MAC how can you tell how mucb RAM Live is currently using

OS X's Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities): http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342[/quote]

I will give this a try.

[steko]

well that sucks. and I guess we cant get Live to use more than 4GB's right?

Right. Not before it becomes a 64-bit app...

[ramangill]

well that sucks. and I guess we cant get Live to use more than 4GB's right?

Right. Not before it becomes a 64-bit app...

...and is still not decided when it will come out?

I wonder if current Live users will need to pay for the upgrade to 64 bit.