Ableton Forum

I have been trying to connect Live 11 Suite to Reaper using Ableton Link on a 2019 Intel Macbook Pro. The problem I am getting is that it causes the kernel task to run at around 1000% CPU, making the machine unusable.

In Reaper I am using the third-party Reablink plug-in for the link to Ableton Link.

Everything is fine as I enable Ableton Link in Live and as I launch Reablink. The problem only starts happening when I actually click on "Link" in Live. That is when the kernel task CPU starts going mad.

Clicking "Link" again to turn off the link doesn't stop the CPU hogging. Nor does closing Reaper. The only thing that stops it is quitting Live.

The fact that the CPU hogging continues even after I quit Reaper suggests that in some way it is more a Live problem than a Reaper or Reablink one.

On the other hand, when I link Live to something other than Reaper (I have tried it with Cubasis 3 on my iPad), the CPU hogging does not happen. This suggests that there is something specific to Reaper or Reablink.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is there a cure or a workaround?

CORRECTION:
It turns out that I was wrong about links with other apps not being affected. Some while after connecting to Cubasis, the same CPU hogging started happening. So it ilooks like it s definitely an Ableton thing and not a Reaper thing.

Another thing I have now noticed is that, just as the problem took a while to build up, it took a minute or two after I closed Live for the kernel's CPU hogging to slowly subside.

It turned out that the problem was thermal throttling. The kernel wasn't, in reality, doing way too much. It was intentionally making the processor do nothing in order to cool down.

After taking the laptop apart, cleaning out all the dust, and putting in fresh thermal grease, it is working much better now and the problem seems to have gone.