Sometimes my VST stop playing randomly

[igneous]

Hi all–I've just started working with bigger sets made of of VST tracks (in this case the Play VST, by EastWest). I'm a relatively new VST user, but have been loving the new sounds.

Funny problem–tonight I'm working with a big set, about 10 VST tracks (orchestral instruments each) and 15 audio tracks.. I've noticed that sometimes just a couple of my VST tracks will stop playing! If I replay the section over and over enough times, those tracks will eventually 'wake up' and start playing again. It's mysterious to me.

Not experiencing any crackles or pops, and changing my buffer doesn't seem to help. I'm running my samples from an external SSD. Live 10.01

Is this a system limitation problem? Any advice would be appreciated.

thank you!

[jestermgee]

Is this a system limitation problem?

Would probably help if you posted details about your system so we could check that (CPU, Ram, Audio interface..... OS).

I have a few libraries from East West and have not had issues with Play "dropping out". Are you running the latest version of Play? And what libraries are you running?

[igneous]

Hey, thanks for the response! I'm on a 2012 Macbook Pro, OSX 10.13.3, 2.5GHz i5, and 8GB Ram, and a Babyface interface. Using EW Hollywood libraries.

I'm just curious if this is common: for entire VST tracks to simply drop out when the CPU usage reaches 30 or 40%. And how I might prevent it from happening (besides changing the buffer size and freezing the tracks, neither of which helps this problem).

[Stromkraft]

Hey, thanks for the response! I'm on a 2012 Macbook Pro, OSX 10.13.3, 2.5GHz i5, and 8GB Ram, and a Babyface interface. Using EW Hollywood libraries.

I'm just curious if this is common: for entire VST tracks to simply drop out when the CPU usage reaches 30 or 40%. And how I might prevent it from happening (besides changing the buffer size and freezing the tracks, neither of which helps this problem).

I'd say it's uncommon and probably mean there is a bug somewhere. Actually I made a suggestion in 2015 for this to be part of Live's default performance behavior:

they [Ableton] could also do something like a function that could change any instrument, including third party, in the project to performance mode and maybe an ability to drop some instruments or devices out completely rather than glitch, much like when synths do this with voices.

[jestermgee]

Hey, thanks for the response! I'm on a 2012 Macbook Pro, OSX 10.13.3, 2.5GHz i5, and 8GB Ram, and a Babyface interface. Using EW Hollywood libraries.

I'm just curious if this is common: for entire VST tracks to simply drop out when the CPU usage reaches 30 or 40%. And how I might prevent it from happening (besides changing the buffer size and freezing the tracks, neither of which helps this problem).

It is not common, it's an issue with your end.

Is it only Play that has this issue? Do any other VSTs also "drop out" ? Does the Play library run from your internal HDD and is that a mechanical drive or an SSD also? It could be the samples for the instruments cannot be streamed quick enough. You could use a system monitor to watch your drive activity and see if that is the case. Also make sure you have the latest Play version.