Ableton live Audio Glitching/Skipping

[Fatalpop]

I've been working on a song in ableton live for about three weeks now, and a few days ago when I tried to play through the song to see how it sounded thus far, I started getting audio glitches and skipping sounds coming from a few different tracks within the song(even though it sounded perfectly fine until then). The tracks that this happens to a lot of the time is the high pitch melody and synth(sometimes more tracks as the song progresses), and only starts once the song progresses into having a lot of parts playing at the same time(ie: once the drums come in, but until then, everything sounds perfectly normal). Sometimes the specific track just stops producing sound whatsoever, while the other tracks(drums, etc) continue playing without any problems, other times it just keeps making this glichty skipping sound, and continues this even after I have paused the song.
Also, when I try to close this certain project, it stops responding until I close it with task manager.

None of these problems happen with ANY of my other projects at all.

I have put a lot of time and hard work into this project, and I really hope that someone can help me fix this issue so that I can continue working on it. I've searched all over google and the Ableton live forums, and I can't seem to find a fix that works.

Information: I'm on a PC with windows 7, intel i5 quad core CPU, 8GB RAM(always have around 4GB RAM free while working in ableton, and CPU usage isn't abnormal). I use ASIO4ALL audio driver, and Ableton Live 8.2.2(Legal full version).

I've also tried completely reinstalling ableton, and removing all of my plugins.

Thank you.

[Simonator]

Welcome to the forum!

Glitching audio is what Ableton is about... you pay extra for this.

[/jokes]

What soundcard are you using? It's implied that you might just be using the onboard headphone jack built into a laptop... in which case, this might be the weak link.

My first thought is that you have the buffer set insufficiently high, and the processor is struggling to keep up with everything.

One other possibility from what you've said- you might be attempting to stream audio from the hard drive faster than it can stream it. What speed is the disc? 7200rpm or just 5400rpm?

Remedial action-

1.) Ensure your buffer settings are optimised.

2.) Try freezing tracks to reduce CPU load.

3.) If you suspect disc speed is an issue, move some of the reference files to an external hard drive, and direct Ableton to read them from there... this will split the load over two drives.

[krushing]

Have you tried just jacking the buffer size up & see if it helps?

//woops, Simonator got there first.

[Fatalpop]

How exactly do I go about increasing the buffer size? It's grayed out and I can't seem to change it.

Here is a picture of my audio settings:

[offki]

I think you need more instances of massive.

[Simonator]

I think he needs a proper soundcard.

[Fatalpop]

Originally Posted by offki

I think you need more instances of massive.

I have a lot of different sounds man.

Originally Posted by Simonator

I think he needs a proper soundcard.

What about the issue of ableton not responding when I try to close the program(and when I try changing the sample rate) though? I feel like that has something do with the audio glitching, and It doesn't seem like to me that a soundcard could fix that.

[offki]

See where it says "Hardware Setup"? Click that then the ASIO4All window will open, there will be a slider at the bottom, move it to the right to increase it.

[Meow]

Like everybody else said you probably need an audio interface.

On my old laptop I used the asio4all drivers with the onboard sound and it worked ok but after I got an interface it was a lot better.

I just got a brand new laptop at Christmas (so awesome!!) and I couldn't get asio4all working on it but it turns out its because the onboard sound on it has it's own asio driver!

Very cool!

I only use it like that if I'm not at home though. At home I just use the audio interface.

[Fatalpop]

Well increasing the buffer size didn't work, my other guess would be that it's all the instances of massive that I have going(10+)? And if you guys think that would be the problem, would a good sound card fix that?

[Simonator]

Originally Posted by Fatalpop

Well increasing the buffer size didn't work, my other guess would be that it's all the instances of massive that I have going(10+)? And if you guys think that would be the problem, would a good sound card fix that?

What country do you live in?

I don't know what your local consumer rights are like... but here in the UK, you can buy an interface online, see if it works for you, and if not- just return it for a full refund. All you lose is the cost of postage.

From what you've said, it sounds like you need one. I believe it will remedy your issues.

[Fatalpop]

Originally Posted by Simonator

What country do you live in?

I don't know what your local consumer rights are like... but here in the UK, you can buy an interface online, see if it works for you, and if not- just return it for a full refund. All you lose is the cost of postage.

From what you've said, it sounds like you need one. I believe it will remedy your issues.

I live in the US, and please forgive me for this probably stupid question... but what exactly do you mean by an audio interface? Like this?: Native Instruments Traktor Audio 2 and more DJ Controllers & Interfaces at GuitarCenter.com.

[Simonator]

Originally Posted by Fatalpop

I live in the US,

I think similar rules apply as in the UK

Originally Posted by Fatalpop

what exactly do you mean by an audio interface?

Just another name for a soundcard.

Sounds like you are just using the headphone jack on your computer... connected to some very basic soundcard.

If you get a proper one, it will be able to process more info & do it faster.

This is the thingamy that translates 1s & 0s into analogue waveforms that become sound at the speakers.
If you throw too many 1s & 0s at it at the same time, it will not be able to process it all quick enough... and therefore start glitching.

A dedicated box will handle more 1s & 0s than your crappy headphone jack.


Yes, the one you linked is an interface... but tailored for DJing. You'll pay more for that, but could be worth it if you want to use your computer for DJing.

If ever in the future you want to get some outboard synths, you will plug them into this interface... so think about what you might want to do over the next couple of years, and get an interface that has enough inputs & outputs to cover that.

[Meow]

Are you freezing any of the tracks? If not you should try that too I think.

[ohmicide]

Originally Posted by offki

I think you need more instances of massive.

last time I added too many, this happened:

[aunshui]

Yeah, with that many software instruments running, glitching will happen.

Soundcard will help some; cheap/free solution is freeze + flatten.

[ohmicide]

Originally Posted by aunshui

Soundcard will help some

It wont if, like in my case, the problems you're having are RAM related. Only way to get around that until Ableton finally decides to upgrade to 64-bit is by flattening tracks, because just freezing wont help.

[offki]

Yeah, I agree, it could well be RAM if it's not Audio, Sonar seems to be terrible for skipping when it gets low on RAM, as far as I can see it starts paging to VHDD space very early.

I think what Simonator was getting at is that if your buffer is already 500 you probably need a proper sound card.