Ableton Forum

Hi everyone,

I've been using Wirecast Pro and Ableton Live to Live Stream a performance. I've been having problems with the audio crackling at points.

Here's an example of what's happening: https://youtu.be/XH0iDSApi3U?t=19m39s

I'm using a brand new, fully upgraded Macbook Pro 15-inch. 512 Samples Buffer Size. I have two tracks - the piano, and vocals. Not using a ton of plugins on them. I'm using a Snowball USB microphone. I've tried switching the MIDI cable with no luck.

The CPU Load Meter is really low - doesn't seem like it is struggling. It's a really powerful computer.

The "Disk Overload" isn't a problem.

Anyone know what might be causing this? Is there anything I can do to fix it??

Thank you,

Michael

I dont how good the soundcards are in Mac computers but it sounds to me like soundcard overload issues. I am assuming you are not using an audio interface as I did not see you mention one- you may need to invest in one.

You could also set the buffer rate higher but that will create more latency.

I honestly think that the fix to your problem will be to purchase an audio interface= but I am guessing as I am unsure of the power of Mac's soundcard ;/


hopefully someone will chime in soon with more experience:)


cheers

Thanks for the response! My impulse is that the sound card should be very high quality. It's a brand new, fully upgraded 15-inch Macbook Pro 2015.

I do have an Apogee Duet, but it had worse problems... occasionally, the audio will start stuttering, until I use "mission control" to go back to the Ableton Live desktop. Then it will work again temporarily.

I've seen many instances where plugins create hidden chaos. Have you tried adding plugins into the chain one by one so you can monitor whether or not one is affecting your sound?

You mentioned not using many plugins so this should be a quick and easy process of elimination.

I'm still leaning towards an interface issue.

That's strange that you're having issues with the apogee, those are usually quite solid units.

Something is amiss here

one thing you need to watch out for since OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) is App Nap. this is a new power-saving feature of OS X that will attempt to automatically lower the processing priority of applications that are running in the background. if an application playing audio gets App Nap'ed it can cause the kind of stuttering you are experiencing.

make sure App Nap is disabled for all your audio and live streaming apps:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/10/29/disable- ... -mac-os-x/

Ah, that looks promising! Thanks for the heads up - I'll try turning off "app nap" tomorrow.

Didn't fix it

Can you try out an interface?

The problem gets worse while using my Apogee Duet interface.

Have you tried raising your buffer rate to 2048, just as a test?

It would be great if could try another interface with different drivers.

wait..

Is this ONLY happening while youre streaming? If you play in Ableton without streaming it's ok?

Ableton alone is working great. It starts happening when Wirecast, the streaming application, is open. It doesn't have to be streaming, just open.

I noticed it also happens when Photo Booth is open (an application for recording video via the front facing camera). That leads me to think that it could be related to the front facing camera being used.

I did notice that when I bring up the buffer rate, the stuttering happens less. I was able to use 256 Samples on my 2010 MBP though, so this 2015 one should be able to handle the workload fine.

mjwalker wrote:I was able to use 256 Samples on my 2010 MBP though, so this 2015 one should be able to handle the workload fine.

Most streaming apps suck. Please describe how your audio is routed to this streaming app, that I'm not familiar with. Soundflower?

search the system logs for audio error messages with the Console app.

do the glitches occur in your monitoring system, or only in the actual live stream?