Ableton Forum

Having an issue with Ableton. I'm editing waveforms. When I hit play, every third time or so the audio doesn't come in for about a half-second. Seems like an output latency issue, but it doesn't happen every time. Any Ableton gurus experienced a similar issue?

The project is all dialogue - chunks of audio up to 2 minutes long. There is no music, no VSTs, and absolutely no plugins on it except for a Utility, two Compressors, two EQ Eights

My machine rocks and rolls for music projects and I do not have this issue in any other project except for this one. Even when I turn off my plugins altogether and eliminate every track except for one, there is still this hiccup in audio response.


Want to get some ideas before messing with any preferences/settings.

Thanks in advance,



Alex (AlexianSounds)

lower sample rates and larger buffers are easier on your machine. they have the opposite effect with recording latency but you don't care about that.

turn off your virus checker, the web connection, auto-updating software like Java etc. try a reboot as well.

Tone Deft wrote:lower sample rates and larger buffers are easier on your machine. they have the opposite effect with recording latency but you don't care about that.

turn off your virus checker, the web connection, auto-updating software like Java etc. try a reboot as well.

What's weird is that its only THIS project that I have these issues with. Complex music songs with 20+ tracks, VSTs and effects galore, I experience no lag at all. This project, with only audio tracks and a small amount of built-in plugins, I get the lag.

I checked and I'm fully updated with java and all system updates.

My sample rate is 44.1 and my buffer size is 125 samples.

You haven't got a track delay value entered on any of your tracks have you?

dazzer wrote:You haven't got a track delay value entered on any of your tracks have you?

0.00 ms on all tracks.

alex1fly wrote: This project, with only audio tracks and a small amount of built-in plugins, I get the lag.

I checked and I'm fully updated with java and all system updates.

My sample rate is 44.1 and my buffer size is 125 samples.

built in plugins you said, nested devices in racks with chains are known for bringing latency if you charge a rack with many fx in ableton live.

Maybe that's a lead

Good luck

Hermanus wrote:

alex1fly wrote: This project, with only audio tracks and a small amount of built-in plugins, I get the lag.

I checked and I'm fully updated with java and all system updates.

My sample rate is 44.1 and my buffer size is 125 samples.

built in plugins you said, nested devices in racks with chains are known for bringing latency if you charge a rack with many fx in ableton live.

Maybe that's a lead

Good luck

i was having this problem with absolutely zero effect plugins on any channel whatsoever

what solved the problem was making all my audio files run in RAM mode. next to the transpose knob, in clip view, there's an option to run the audio from RAM instead of in real-time. ableton recommends this when working with long audio files or when experiencing dropouts like i was. selecting all my audio files and clicking RAM has solved the problem completely.