I bought a new laptop which arrived yesterday. thought it wuda helped with that stupid bar at the top right corner in ableton.! usually sits around 80%ish… sometimes 90 then starts popping and stuttering.br
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I know all the usual return tracks, multi core support, freeze tracks ect.br
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when I sit n freeze tracks I can get it down to around 30% but I was hopin the new laptop was gona b a beast n not need that sorta stuff.br
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I have even tried tests running the same project in both my old n new laptop to see if theres any difference. about 6-7% difference. Ragin like. br
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heard my soundcard could be a bottle neck. could this be true?br
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laptop currentlybr
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intel I-7-363QM @2.40GHzbr
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8GB ram. (could b DDR3, not sure)br
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running 64bit windows8. ableton live 9.0.2 64bitbr
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soundcard I cant find info on other than its a lexicon alphabr
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please help guys. not even sure I can get my money back on this if it doesn’t suit my needs
try running 32 bit… unless you really need the extra ram 32 bit is way more stable for br
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me. (you can run 32 bit ableton in windows 64 no problem).br
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The sound card should be ok… what sample rate you using?
cheers for the fast reply phil…br
i have tried both 32 and 64. i read on abletons forum 64bit allows you to utilise more ram. 32bit only uses a maximum of 4gb allowing the others to go to waste. so i figured that wud help but NAW! ffsbr
iv also sent an email asking if “theres somthin im missing here?” to abletons tech support, but all ya ever get from them is a reply saying that a real person will get back to you as soon as possible!br
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if the so called robot sending those emails would reply to me id sooner talk to him!br
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should i try send this laptop back to amazon and go desktop pc hunting instead?br
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what is a typical amount of usuage i should be getting? dont wana be freezin tracks all the time as that bores me ;( . plus wen its flattened to audio, a week later thats when il want to tweak it
you aren’t quite wasting the rest of the RAM. your OS uses RAM and anything else you would be using on the same computer.br
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I am kinda curious if VSTs are in the same process space as the DAW or in their own. If they were in their own there would be a great way to use more memory.br
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-r
What do you have you audio buffer set to.?
Sorry I didn’t exactly mean the excess ram is wasted as in useless. Yes I get that it goes elsewhere to other program’s. but I don’t run anything else on it lol.!br
Only thing that try’s to sneak his way in now n again is norton. But I get him before he even gets goin and then just knock my Internet off aswel.br
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I’m not sure Phil about the buffer size. Il check when I get in. But I was def playin about with that yesterday. Tryin it back and forth.
NOOOORRRRRTTTTOOOOOOON!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!br
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This has Caused many problems for me in the past.br
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try disabling it.br
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also did you check what your buffer settings are in ableton Audio Preferences?
Again thanks for the help + interest thus far! Really appreciate it!br
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Norton doesn’t get allowed on during an ableton sessionbr
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Buffer size set to 2048 samples.br
That’s as high as it will go.br
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Is it possible I’m just askin to much from a computer or what cos that’s wat it sounds like…br
Iv a set with 3 instances of ana running. Pushes it into 90% usuage on my old dual core laptop. The same amount of usuage appears on the I-7 laptop.br
And it’s not an ana thing either as iv done similar tests with a couple instances of operator holding a 3 note chord. Always the same usuage shows on both laptops.
I can run 10-15 instances of ANA with other plugins on my i7… granted not all with big pad presets. at 512 - 1024 bufferbr
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but 3 defo seems too low… especially at that higher buffer ratebr
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In your Ableton Audio Prefs what is the output selected to and what other options are there?br
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Have you tried running ableton in compatability mode for windows 7? Also if you upload a picture of all the processes running on your machine (CTL+ALT+DEL, start task manager, processes) full screen it and print screen, I might be able to offer better assistance. Don’t worry, no confidential data can be obtained this way, only what programs are taking up resources.br
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Thanksbr
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Stu
output:br
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Alpha Asio which sends audio to my external sc.br
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Asio4all which sends to laptop speakers.br
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only those two optionsbr
unless i go with MME/Directx but its slower again…
this is taken while playing ableton back which was telling me it was using 85% usage at the time
What version of ANA you using? 1.5?
Take it you are using the alpha audio as your output?br
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Is there a control panel for it?
Yea alpha audio. Control for it just allows you to tweak buffer. Which I have at the highest samples it will allow.br
Yes the updated newer ana. It’s not the prob tho I wudnt think.br
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I had a strange find last night:br
Running the same project on both laptops with my external sound card I foundbr
That old laptop was showing me br
85% usage in abletonbr
85% usage in task managerbr
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Tho the newer laptop again running the same project was showing mebr
85% usage in abletonbr
But only 8% usage in task manager!br
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Does that show that the bigger processor is indeed helping but iv a bottleneck else where?br
The image I posted is also from this same find I’m referring to.
I had something happen to me in Live 8, not sure if its relevant, but I had similar symptoms.br
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In live 8, they had the plugin buffer size under the cpu tab, and I changed this to the highest it would go. I forgot about it, and carried on using ableton. I noticed that the cpu started to spike on plugins, hitting about 50 to 60% at times, and the voices would start clicking, freezing, and becoming unresponsive. Another symptom was when using an arpeggio from a synth and just keeping my finger on a key, it would loose sync after a bar or two. After I changed the setting back to ‘as audio buffer’ the problem vanished.br
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This affected nearly all the synths and instruments, and was a total nightmare.br
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hope this helpsbr
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[quote]philmacs (11/04/2013)[hr]br
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Tho the newer laptop again running the same project was showing mebr
85% usage in abletonbr
But only 8% usage in task manager!br
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Does that show that the bigger processor is indeed helping but iv a bottleneck else where?br
[/quote]br
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Nope probably means you have a conflict between ableton and the audio engine. Right first things to check are toggle the multicore support and make sure its on the right settings, also reset all of abletons settings back to default. br
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Second if its a new machine, uninstall any bloatware that the new machine came with. I ALWAYS fresh install my new rigs as the software that comes preinstalled from the manufacturer (or put on by 3rd parties) is often the cause too as its normally buggy software that is slapped on for a fee by the manufacturer…br
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Another thing you could try is open a project in windows safe mode (tap F8 whilst starting up the machine) and see if that helps. It will run windows with the bare minimum processes running and will help to diagnose if its hardware or software.br
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Stu
Ok I will try these tomoro night. Gd tips however I don’t think I have changed any of abletons defaults tho il double check. Safe mode sounds a Gd idea too.br
This has me tortured lol
Yeah audio engines can drive you nuts 
Ive started to max out my CPU lately, I’m running out of processes I can cut out too lol :(br
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Your rig should definitely be performing way over that, its definitely software related. I have a naff processor but get much better results than that!
Ok late reply! Sorry but had to make certain. I followed every step u guys gave me. Nothin helped unfortunately which led me on to installing all the software on my dads laptop to c if the prob remained. His machine is very similar in spec so it is ideal for a comparison…br
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1 instance of a tri chord in anas “amazing pad” patchbr
Which seems to be the hungriest for whatever reasonbr
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My machine 130%ish with even higher spikes above thisbr
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His machine 20%!!!br
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So sent her back to amazon! Bought the same in money’s worth of a PC. Turns out better spec :)br
Flyin machine! I see 15% usuage with the above test :)br
Thanks guys anyway :)br
God knows what the issue was but I don’t care no more lol