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> Kind Of Stumped
mortalengines
post Tue 19 Dec 2006, 08:06
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I have a powerbook G4 with 1.5ghz processor, 1.25 gig of Ram & OSX 10.3.9 with Ableton Live 5.2.2 & I was playing live the other day & not using my Firwire Interface as an output (instead opting for the "built in audio" option with a 1/8" adapter to RCA outs into a mixer) & on one song I started getting serious CPU overload at 62% & by that I mean audio cutout/stutter/slowdown....very ugly. This hadn't happened earlier in my home studio with the FW interface hooked up & it didn't happen when I got back home either (with the FW hooked up once again). Does using the built in audio really tax the CPU that much? Anyone else ever experience this? What was the solution?
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aportman
post Wed 20 Dec 2006, 07:09
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The internal audio card should not within itself tax the CPU excessively. There are several factors that you may want to peak at. Start by looking at your free ram space, sample rates, clock speed, and of course, your buffer settings (lower buffer settings, the more CPU consumption). May not be able to run low buffer setting on the internal card (dependent on track count). Unless I am wrong, remember most laptop processers HD's only spin at 5400 rpm's. I know I am probably preaching to the chior, and probably not telling you anything you do not already know and/or have tried. Make sure there are no other CPU hog consuming applications buried and running in the background. I know these are simple, and, no doubt, areas you've already investigated, but these simple things have caused me much grief during live performances.

I am not for sure what all you are pushing through your laptop, but if you are midiing or running plug-ins (i.e, vst's, UA,) and using the keyboard as midi controller, these can casue major over-loads. Especially if you are running heavy hog-sucking applications (i.e., volume pedals, sustain pedals, or polyphony chordal structures). These components many times will crash my Mac laptop, but will minimally hit my Mac desktop CPU. Keep in mind, essentially, when when you use the FW interface, it is mainly responsible and dedicated only for converting the audio/digital signal. That's it. The Mother Board, PCI, PCIe, and RAM handles the rest of the processes. I hope you find the solution to your problem. Our band routinely uses sequencing with live performances, so I know exactly how frustrating it can be when you have these glitches in performance.

Good Luck!

Merry Christmas!!!

Allen
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