going a bit mad here

Hi

There..Second time Maschine purchaser here..I bought a while ago to see if I should dump my mpc 4000 for it, but my computer was not powerful enough to even come close to running in a stable way with it.
I now have a better pc (dell studio 17, with i5 processor, 4 gb ram) and a decent soundcard (motu ultralite mk3). I can run ableton well and thought it was time to give Maschine another go as recently i've been enjoying having things done quicker in ableton/computer than all hardware..
Anyway, I have 2 main problems I'd really like some help on!
1) I only seem to get sound like 1 out of 10 times I start running Maschine. I've tried all different combinations of plugging in maschine usb first, ultralite usb first, changing setttings in audio preferences within maschine and within the asio config for my ultralite, re-starting computer and it's seemingly random. EVERY time I start ableton with the motu it works straight away, no problems. I've re-installed drivers for it and it is 100% up to date. I'm baffled? Any ideas? Sometimes I start and it works, other times it will work when I change a setting but I can't repeat any behaviour? I can't work with it like this. The maschine controller works perfectly, ie. every button updates the program but the ultralite seemingly doesn't want to give Maschine the use of the drivers (even though nothing is in compition with it - no other programs open).
2) When the maschine controller is plugged in ableton won't start..it just hangs. Unplug the controller and re-start ableton and it works perfectly first time.

I'm going bloody mad here and seriously considering selling a second time (things like this remind me why i like my MPC!) but i do desperately want to give it a good go and some aspects of Maschine seem amazing!

Please please help!
Let me know if you need any more info!

 

I'm sorry I can't be of more help but I just want to let you know that this is definitely
not the way maschine works on every system so even though I know your issues are frustrating hopefully there's solace in knowing that they can be resolved. I know some people with your sound card who use the maschine /ableton combo and they have no problems what so ever, they're on pc but I believe it's sony,

it sounds like a software issue to me, there's no hardware based reason that maschine or ableton should make one another hang, you might want to look into how clean your system is set up.

 

Well I dealt with a similar audio issue in my desktop PC.

I think its important to know what OS are you currently running? is it 32 or 64bit?

FYI, posts like this belong in the 'TECHNICAL ISSUES' section. I mean that should not be news to you. I posted in there with my similar problems and was helped very quickly. You can see my post HERE

I'm going to guess that because its an i5... you're running win 7... and if that is the case... you are MOST LIKELY having audio driver incompatibilities (exclusively pertaining to the maschines output encoding). I had this happen to me for 5 days in a row and just drove me nuts resolving it taking between 30min to 1.5hrs every day. I know your frustration. Give me a better idea of your built-in audio card also and certainly try the proposed fix in my linked thread if you feel it applies to you.

 

Reinstall Maschine if you ever have serious problems like this. Unplug the controller before you do so just to be safe.

 

Hi thanks to both. Yes, I saw the technical issues forum after posting. If a MOD can move the post would be good.

Marlow, I don't think my problem is the same as yours and your fix (buying an external soundcard) will not help. I'm already running an external soundcard (a £400 Motu Ultralite MK3!) that works very well with other software (ableton and cubase). The problem is only affecting Maschine's audio.

To confirm, I'm running Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit. I'm NOT using internal soundcard for Maschine and I'm using 100% udpated MOTU audio drivers which as stated work fine with ableton/cubase - and occassionally Maschine (1in 10!).

I'll try re-installing Maschine now..still going mad here..Anyone with any ideas what might be causing this?
Ps. further information - I've done the windows optimisation tips (processors scheduling to background services, maximum processor speed, usb set to never turn off etc) and I've tried disabling wlan and any security software running etc.
Any help really appreciated.

 

If you don't have any problems running maschine in standalone then the following should get you on the right track: Ableton is very picky in the order you have your usb products plugged in. also in ableton go to options, preferences,midi sync...set "control surface to maschine control but leave midi in and out set to none. I have to do this for maschine and mpd32. If you are also useing the apc40 or launchpad you need these to be set in number 1 slot. unplug all usb midi controllers restart your pc then plug in your controllers in the order that they appear in the midi sync settings. This will have to be done every time you reboot

 

it could very well be that its a problem with the 64-bit version of Win7. I saw some grumblings about issues with maschine and waitign for win7 64bit updates/patches.

 

it's not a problem with windows 64bit, I run both ableton and maschine fine on my 64 bit windows pc with no issue, I'm using a focusrite interface.

this is definitely a strange issue you are having for sure

 

i would try one piece at a time for troubleshooting. like using a different sound card to see if your current one is being the pest. then maybe try and dual-boot your OS and run XP and install on there... see if things change there. these are just ideas to help you figure out and localize exactly where your problem exists.

 

Hey guys. Touch wood I might have sorted it for now..When I use firewire to connect my ultralite instead of usb it works.
Is a bit annoying as i'd rather use usb with the ultralite (i seem to get slightly better performance) but there you go..it definately doesn't like usb from maschine and the ultralite together!
Anyway it works enough for me to try it out properly although I'm dissapointed at the cpu usage from maschine..it seems very high. Is it normal to have usage in ableton go up to 40-45% ish with one instance of maschine and not too many sounds/fx? My laptop isn't a slow coach with other applications..

 

Well im glad you got it sorted out where it can work, even if its not ideal or permanent solution. perhaps the USB ports were underpowered? as far as CPU usage, I cant speak on Ableton's power draw because i dont use it... but what cpu performance monitoring tool are you using? I use a few, mainly speedfan, and I have a quadcore AMD (2.9Ghz) and with Maschine running it can range between 10% and 40% while other applications are open (youtube, windows media player, and audacity). If that gives you any sort of reference point. your performance isnt bottle necking so you cant get too disappointed. NI lists a dual-core as the MINIMUM system requirements if im not mistaken.

 

I had a similar situation with MOTU Ultralite and Maschine. With Ultralite using USB and Maschine Maschine transport would not work and there was no sound when hitting the pads. Changed the Ultralite connection to Firewire and everything works.
This is with an 27" iMac

So I would say it is a USB conflict.

 

are you running a hub to plug your interface and maschine in?

 

Definitely sounds like a power issue.
Some motherboards split USB ports into two or more, effectively making them a hub.
The firewire port will have its own power so less likely to cause power issues.