Ableton Forum

This is driving me crazy. I am using Live very simply. I record drum machine (Boss DR 670) tracks to Pro Tools (MBox2), mix to a stereo interleave 16 bit *.wav file and load the files into Live. Both complete songs and loops. (why not record directly into Live? 'cause I learned Pro Tools first and already had my loops recorded there)

Last night at practice some files started clipping. Both a drum track, and a synth loop from the Live library of sounds. I tried the same set up at home - no problems!!!???

My stage set up:

Laptop -> Edirol USB UA-1X -> Ernie Ball volume pedal -> Keyboard/PA 50 watt combo amp. I have tried using both the XLR input and the 1/4" input on the amp.

Everything started out ok, but as the evening progrssed I started getting cymbals clippiong and what almost sounded like the stereo tracks were out of synch. But that also happened on a mono track I recorded. Plus the Live library loop started clipping as well after working fine for a hour. I have set up the laptop optimized for audio as found on various sites on the web.

I am very new to Ableton (3-4 weeks) and new as well to Pro Tools (8 months). I have trouble standardizing my recording volumes - ergo the volume pedal. I have to use the volume pedal as I also play bass guitar.

Any ideas? Can someone recommend some volume settings as I am a little confused how to set up Live using the Clip Gain, Track Volume, and Master Volume. And further down the signal chain I have the Volume pedal with a volume pot as well as the pedal pot, and then I have the combo amp channel volume. For a simple bass player this is all rather confusing.

Thanks
Colin

OK - it started again. I played one track where there seemed to be almost a pause or skip on some drum hits. Now the other songs that played fine earlier are now stuttering or dropping bits of the signal. Including the Live library loop.

Is it a Live problem or a problem with XP Pro or the laptop?

BTW - my signature didn't appear on the post:

Avbleton Live 5 (v 5.2)
IBM Thinkpad R32 - Pentium 4 2.0 GHz CPU, 256 Mb RAM, 20 GB HD (less than 2 Gb free space) Windows XP Pro Version 2002 SP1 (does NOT access internet)

Thanks
Colin

sounds like ur suffering from the live v5 drop out glitch.

i get the skipping thing with microtonic vst drum machine.
when i press play for the first time it skips or delays certain drum hits.
once all drum hits have been triggered it plays fine.

there are plenty of posts in this forum which refer to this (CPU spikes + drop outs).

it is a contested issue as it seems very difficult to reproduce.

also, i notice u only have 256 RAM...
i think most ppl would agree that is a little bit thin for Live.
its not so expensive and will give u a significant boost in performance.
but make sure u get the right type of RAM!

j

try defrag daily

Thank you for the replies - I didn't know about the 'glitch' you refer to. I'll do some more reading.

"but make sure u get the right type of RAM!" - Justin

Could you please give some guidance on this point? Or point me to where I should go?

Good point about defrag, haven't done that for awhile. When I saw how full my HDD was I made a note to clean up, and I will also defrag when I am done.

Thanks for the help

Colin

u need to get ram which is compliant with ur motherboard.
usually means u need to get the same as wot was installed initially...

if unsure check with ur supplier.

and load up your machine with as much as it can take.

i had drop outs and then fixed it by just putting in the max 2gigs of ram. no glitches now.. just that Live and cpu hard crashes when my powerbook gets extra heated up (!) try to figure that on out..

best wishes.

4string wrote:OK - it started again. I played one track where there seemed to be almost a pause or skip on some drum hits. Now the other songs that played fine earlier are now stuttering or dropping bits of the signal. Including the Live library loop.

Is it a Live problem or a problem with XP Pro or the laptop?

BTW - my signature didn't appear on the post:

Avbleton Live 5 (v 5.2)
IBM Thinkpad R32 - Pentium 4 2.0 GHz CPU, 256 Mb RAM, 20 GB HD (less than 2 Gb free space) Windows XP Pro Version 2002 SP1 (does NOT access internet)

Thanks
Colin

2 Gb free disc space? it is not good.