1 Topic by janne masalin (edited by janne masalin 2019-11-18 14:19:27)

  • Registered: 2019-11-18
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Dropouts in Ableton

Hi,

I have problem with dropouts of a couple of seconds. They seem to occur quite randomly during Ableton playback. Im getting out of ideas, is here anyone how might know something? Still 17 shows to go this month, so this really gets on my nerves.

There is
- Macbook Pro 2018 (2,2 GHz Intel Core i7) with High Sierra 10.13.6, 40 GB free space on 250 GB drive 
- Ableton (10.1.13) session has 96 tracks, aprox 30 plug-ins (not too many reverbs)
- RME UC with driver v 3.18 and firmware v135

Macbook is connected
-> USB-C
-> USB adapter (Apple)
-> RME UC
-> 6 outputs to 6 separate speakers

Trouble shooting this far:
- Ableton CPU load meter never goes over 12 %
- No internet connection or Dropbox helper running while using Ableton.
- Ableton session gives MIDI signals to Millumin (videos) running on the same computer. However, when problems occur, there hasnt been any video running on that spesific moment. Also all the Millumin files are rendered so that its plugins (fades and such) don’t run during playback. Ableton session also gives MIDI signals to outer PC (for lights).
- I have tried to trouble shoot with MacBook´s console.app to figure out what error code it gives while problems have occurred.

Thank you!!

  • tlw
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  • Registered: 2019-05-03
  • Posts: 3

Re: Dropouts in Ableton

Live's "cpu meter" doesn't actually show cpu usage, it attempts to show the load on the computer's audio system as a whole. It's not entirely useful as a diagnosis tool.

If you've not already done so it might be worth trying this - https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php … p;t=230967

Live 10 seems to hit some Mac's WindowServer service quite hard, which can result in crackling and dropouts. Lowering Live's frame rate seems to help fix this problem and makes no visual difference at all to Live. I've a mid-2124 Retina MacBook Pro and before I dropped the frame rate Live 10 was completely unusable for me - I was getting dropouts with no plugins loaded other than Live's default reverb and delay.

Live's meter went to around 30% every time I hit "play" then the meter would suddenly shoot to 80% for a split second and the audio would drop out. Lowering the frame-rate solved the problem.