Ableton Forum

hey guys!

whichever version of ableton i try, after a short while my midi in on my laptop seems to die! hence i cant use my controller.

i know the output is working because the tempo led on my faderfox still flashes... and when ya up the tempo in ableton it changes.

im using an m-audio firewire audiophile as my interface, and i have followed all the perfomance tuning tips on the m-audio helpdesk site.

whats even more annoying is that it works like a dream on my old and decrepid desktop!!! but i cant hump that arround to gigs can i?

ive been in touch with dell, ive formatted the hdd and selected the applications i wanted to install, like all the essential drivers. they said if i dont have any luck i can send it back, but they dont have a clue about this sort of thing. and neither do i really.

so any advice would be fantastic

jab

try a different midi cable!

You're having power management issues there- the power to your FW hubs is being shut down. Turn off ALL power saving options.

I don't know if this is an option with FW devices or not- go into device manager and see if there's any power manaement options in the properties for your FW hubs (I know there is for USB hubs). If there is, uncheck everything and reboot.

ew

hey

thanks for your advice!

the thing with the midi wires... it works with my desktop so it cant be then can it ?

and i checked the power management options, your right, there is some options for usb... but not for the firewire port, its only a 4 pin connector anyway so it is not bus powered.


im totaly lost if im honest. think i might send the laptop back and buy a mac

I was having the same problem with my XPS. I foud out its because of where i was plugging in the USB. I have two back and two side USB ports. The side ports did not have enough power to maintain the MIDI (trigger Finger) I had to plug into the back USB and it worked perfectly.

If you only have back USB ports, some people have suggested using a AC adapter for the MIDI, so as to power itself and not draw it from the PC.

thanks dude!

yeah i read that 2

im using firewire tho.

and im using ac power.

and the same setup works like a dream on my desktop.

im really confused!

There's two scenarios that could be taking place here;

1) power management as I mentioned before. Make sure ALL power saving options are turned off, both in your power options in the control panel and in your BIOS. Disable any speed stepping or the like
2) your power supply isn't providing enough voltage, in which case you'd have to replace it with a larger one (not fun with a laptop).

I'm still thinking it's a power management issue myself. Are your FW ports onboard or are you using a card?

ew

well ive installed a speed step utility to ensure there is no throttling going on at all.

in my bios, the speed step options can only be turned off if i run the cpu's at half speed. (thats why i used the speed step utility)

its an onboard firewire port (4 pin) so all the power going to the sound card and the controller is powered from a seperate adaptor.

there was an article on power management on the m-audio web page, followed that and still i get no joy.

ill take another look through the bios and the device manager but im sure i didnt miss anything,

i allso followed this

- Check if you have the most recent driver for your M-Audio device installed.
- The interference is usually caused by Buffer-Components that are not running in Synch. There is a number of Hardware- and Software-Buffers. Here is a list of the Buffers that allow users to change their settings:
1. Adjusting the Buffer Sizes of your M-Audio device: Open your USB Audio device’s control panel and try different buffer settings. Use larger buffers for playback (clicks are less likely to occur), use smaller buffers for shorter latency.
2. Adjust the Threat-Priority. Normal/High (M-Audio Duo USB only).
3. Deactivate any programs that are running in the background (e.g. virus scanners, messenger programs, CD-R utilities, printer monitors etc.). Check this link to find information on how to disable background applications: http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm
4. Windows virtual memory: Set the same value for Minimum/Maximum (Control Panel-> System -> Advanced->Performance Options->Virtual Memory: e.g. 512/512)
5. Windows File Cache Settings: Set the same value for Minimum/Maximum (Open the file System.ini -> in the section [vcache] -> MinFileCache=16384, MaxFileCache=16384)
6. Windows 2000/XP: If you are using ASIO software applications, the System Performance should be set to "Background Services" (Control Panel-> System -> Advanced -> Performance Options)
7. In Windows XP, you should also adjust the graphic performance as follows: Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> System Performance -> Settings -> "Adjust for best performance"
8. In Windows XP, System Restore, Automatic Updates and Remote should be deactivated (Control Panel->System).
9. When running Windows 2000/XP, in some cases the Standard-PC Mode brings better results than the ACPI-Mode. Change the mode by updating/changing the driver for "Computer" in Windows' Device Manager. Attention! Switching from Standard PC back to ACPI in Windows XP is not possible. Do not attempt to switch Multi-processor Computers or Laptops to Standard PC mode. This mode is not supported on these computers (Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Computer -> Properties -> Update driver -> Install from a list or specific location -> Don't search I will choose the driver)

from the m audio page

All their suggestions are aimed towards audio issues, and not MIDI. The MIDI bandwidth is miniscule compared to audio- none of their fixes really are applicable to your problem.

ew

thanks for all your help man.

well i called tech support and i disabled all the power management options on the laptop.

still no change.

its weird because as soon as i restart ableton it all works again.

i used to have problems with losing my midi controllers --

for me the solution was to analyze which usb ports to use and what devices were plugged into them. (i know you've got firewire going here, but from a device conflict issue, maybe the same issues)

I'd recommend digging into your device manager settings and seeing what resources may be shared with your firewire port.

It's probably a stickier situation with a laptop, can't say- I've never owned one.

good luck