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Exoro
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After you use Ableton for a bit, you might start to wonder why everything starts to run slow when you have a lot of tracks. Maybe you’re wondering why there are audio-drop outs every time you press play. In this article I will talk about many ways to fix these problems and make music production a much more enjoyable process.
Loading audio clips into RAM
Loading clips into RAM will load the clip into RAM instead of in real time. This can help with speed problems, but don’t abuse this! RAM is a limited resource and Ableton uses a lot of it doing many procceses. You might run into “Out of Memory” errors if you abuse this. To enable this option, click on a clip. You will see an option appear in the clip view that says “RAM”. When you click that, ram view is enabled.
Enable Multi-core Support
This option should be enabled by default, but it is worth a check anyway. Most computers nowadays are multi-core. You are going to want to take advantage of this with multi-core support. Doing this will noticeably improve the performance of Ableton. You can find this option in the preferences under the CPU tab.
Collect all and Save
This option of Ableton will take all the outside files(drum samples, effects, audio clips), and it will save them into your project. It is good practice to do this. While this won't directly make Ableton faster, it will keep your project organized in one place. You can find this option under File>>Collect All and Save.
- Use Return Tracks
Are you using a similar reverb setting for multiple tracks? Why not just use one return track? Creating return tracks are great not only because they are saving CPU, but because they are offering a parallel effect. You can create a return track by right clicking and selecting “Create new Return Track”(see in picture).
- Download and install Asio4All(Windows only)
If you are using Ableton on a Windows Computer and your sound card doesn’t already support Asio4All, Asio4All can greatly improve your latency while playing midi instruments. Installation is simple. You download Asio from ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver, go through the installation, and then in ableton you change your sound device to Asio4All(see in picture).
All About Sample Rate and Buffer Size
Sample rate is the amount of audio samples carried per second. Sample rate is measured in Hz or kHz. Ableton’s default sample rate is 44100Hz. What this means is that the sound is accurate up to 44100Hz. This is an ideal frequency because the human ear can only hear from around 2000-4000hz. You would have a tough time distinguishing sound over 44100Hz anyway. I would not recommend ever going under 44100Hz. Some virtual synths such as Native Instruments Massive don’t work under 44100Hz.
So why would producers use any higher options?
Using a sample rate such as 48000Hz can be good when you are constantly resampling. The higher sample rate would guarantee a more clear sound when resampling over and over again. Every time you resample, you lose sound quality.
Buffer size is something that you will find very useful. So you’re making a song and adding a ton of tracks to your project. All of the sudden you start to hear crackles and audio drop-outs. Adjusting the buffer size can fix this. The higher the buffer size you use, the less drop-outs and crackles you will hear. Keep note that this will also cause audio latency. If you are playing live or doing any sort of performance, you should use a lower latency so that your playing will be on time. Also, Ableton recommends that you use numbers in powers of two.
Freezing and Flattening Tracks
Freezing takes away the CPU intensive activity for a track and bounces it to audio in the background. All your effects are un-editable until you un-freeze the track. When a track is frozen, you can still adjust the volume, panning, and sends, but can’t adjust the instrument or effects. This can be super useful if you are not sure if you are satisfied with a certain element in your track but you want to save some CPU. When you are ready to fully commit, there is a flattening option. The flattening option bounces the track straight to audio. At this point there is no un-freeze. Doing this can dramatically improve the performance of Ableton. VST plugins and audio effects and very strenuous on your CPU. I love using the freeze function because I know I can always go back and un-freeze the track to make changes.
Upgrading your Computer
This option may not be easy or cheap depending on your skill level and wallet, but it can defiantly make a huge difference in your production workflow.
The first thing to look at is RAM. If you didn’t already know, RAM stand for random access memory(not a Daft Punk reference). RAM, just like a hard drive, stores data. The difference is that RAM stores it temporarily. It uses it’s memory to process tasks such as opening an application, installing a program, or playing a game. Ableton uses a lot of memory. Each audio effect and instrument is a whole other thing your computer has to process. Working in Ableton you should have 4gb of RAM or more. The more you have, the faster your computer will run. Keep in mind that the 32 bit version of Ableton only recognizes up to 4 gb. If you want to use more RAM, you’d have to use the 64 bit version.
The next thing to look into is your hard drive. Obviously you could just get a bigger hard drive and call it a day, but we are going to do something much more effective. A solid state hard drive is a type of hard drive that is so much faster. The main difference that you’ll notice is it cuts the load time for everything by almost half. You will notice your computer will boot very quickly and ableton will open faster than you can “Ableton Live suite 9”. The big downside of solid state hard drives is there price tag. Just to put it in perspective, a 500gb normal hard drive will cost around $50-65. A solid state 500gb solid state can cost over $200. If you can get past the expensive price and consider this an investment, a solid state hard drive upgrade could be a dream!
Loading audio clips into RAM
Loading clips into RAM will load the clip into RAM instead of in real time. This can help with speed problems, but don’t abuse this! RAM is a limited resource and Ableton uses a lot of it doing many procceses. You might run into “Out of Memory” errors if you abuse this. To enable this option, click on a clip. You will see an option appear in the clip view that says “RAM”. When you click that, ram view is enabled.
Enable Multi-core Support
This option should be enabled by default, but it is worth a check anyway. Most computers nowadays are multi-core. You are going to want to take advantage of this with multi-core support. Doing this will noticeably improve the performance of Ableton. You can find this option in the preferences under the CPU tab.
Collect all and Save
This option of Ableton will take all the outside files(drum samples, effects, audio clips), and it will save them into your project. It is good practice to do this. While this won't directly make Ableton faster, it will keep your project organized in one place. You can find this option under File>>Collect All and Save.
- Use Return Tracks
Are you using a similar reverb setting for multiple tracks? Why not just use one return track? Creating return tracks are great not only because they are saving CPU, but because they are offering a parallel effect. You can create a return track by right clicking and selecting “Create new Return Track”(see in picture).
- Download and install Asio4All(Windows only)
If you are using Ableton on a Windows Computer and your sound card doesn’t already support Asio4All, Asio4All can greatly improve your latency while playing midi instruments. Installation is simple. You download Asio from ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver, go through the installation, and then in ableton you change your sound device to Asio4All(see in picture).
All About Sample Rate and Buffer Size
Sample rate is the amount of audio samples carried per second. Sample rate is measured in Hz or kHz. Ableton’s default sample rate is 44100Hz. What this means is that the sound is accurate up to 44100Hz. This is an ideal frequency because the human ear can only hear from around 2000-4000hz. You would have a tough time distinguishing sound over 44100Hz anyway. I would not recommend ever going under 44100Hz. Some virtual synths such as Native Instruments Massive don’t work under 44100Hz.
So why would producers use any higher options?
Using a sample rate such as 48000Hz can be good when you are constantly resampling. The higher sample rate would guarantee a more clear sound when resampling over and over again. Every time you resample, you lose sound quality.
Buffer size is something that you will find very useful. So you’re making a song and adding a ton of tracks to your project. All of the sudden you start to hear crackles and audio drop-outs. Adjusting the buffer size can fix this. The higher the buffer size you use, the less drop-outs and crackles you will hear. Keep note that this will also cause audio latency. If you are playing live or doing any sort of performance, you should use a lower latency so that your playing will be on time. Also, Ableton recommends that you use numbers in powers of two.
Freezing and Flattening Tracks
Freezing takes away the CPU intensive activity for a track and bounces it to audio in the background. All your effects are un-editable until you un-freeze the track. When a track is frozen, you can still adjust the volume, panning, and sends, but can’t adjust the instrument or effects. This can be super useful if you are not sure if you are satisfied with a certain element in your track but you want to save some CPU. When you are ready to fully commit, there is a flattening option. The flattening option bounces the track straight to audio. At this point there is no un-freeze. Doing this can dramatically improve the performance of Ableton. VST plugins and audio effects and very strenuous on your CPU. I love using the freeze function because I know I can always go back and un-freeze the track to make changes.
Upgrading your Computer
This option may not be easy or cheap depending on your skill level and wallet, but it can defiantly make a huge difference in your production workflow.
The first thing to look at is RAM. If you didn’t already know, RAM stand for random access memory(not a Daft Punk reference). RAM, just like a hard drive, stores data. The difference is that RAM stores it temporarily. It uses it’s memory to process tasks such as opening an application, installing a program, or playing a game. Ableton uses a lot of memory. Each audio effect and instrument is a whole other thing your computer has to process. Working in Ableton you should have 4gb of RAM or more. The more you have, the faster your computer will run. Keep in mind that the 32 bit version of Ableton only recognizes up to 4 gb. If you want to use more RAM, you’d have to use the 64 bit version.
The next thing to look into is your hard drive. Obviously you could just get a bigger hard drive and call it a day, but we are going to do something much more effective. A solid state hard drive is a type of hard drive that is so much faster. The main difference that you’ll notice is it cuts the load time for everything by almost half. You will notice your computer will boot very quickly and ableton will open faster than you can “Ableton Live suite 9”. The big downside of solid state hard drives is there price tag. Just to put it in perspective, a 500gb normal hard drive will cost around $50-65. A solid state 500gb solid state can cost over $200. If you can get past the expensive price and consider this an investment, a solid state hard drive upgrade could be a dream!
