Plugins - Unreliable for live performance - Gripe/short rant

MPC Live 3 / OS3.6

Played first IRL show with the MPC L3 last night...Got to third song and the synth plugins stopped producing audio. I've had this happen during some rehearsals and the only option is to restart. Previously I thought it was driven by using the Flexbeat effect live on a send/return with a midi controller - so i changed that out for the Stutter - generally seemed more stable? - Fortunately I'd done a reasonable 20mins of the set and it was fine to stop.

Memory and CPU are around 20-30%. 10 drum track, 2 midi out tracks, 7 synth plugins, 4 Jura, 2 Mini D, 1 Subfactory. Doing a mix of pads and a couple of ARPs.

The most common situation for instrument plugin audio stopping, seems to be when unmuting the ARPs. Or changing a parameter with a midi controller. However, I have also had it happen when a sequence was just playing while i listen, no other interaction, and after amount of time X (8 to 10 mins?), the plugin audio stops.

That said, I had a great 40 minute jam on the exact same project the morning of the show and it was flawless. The real issue is the unreliability and unpredictability. I will report it to the mothership...but i can't produce a video or even really clearly identify what/when causes the instrument plugin audio to stop.

3.7 was a no-go crash-fest for me, I'll see how 3.7.1 goes.

Have a great day
Peace.

Cx.

*edited when i remembered; sometimes it happens when its playing and being left alone.

I would never perform live on modern mpcs in standalone.

J.O.BEATS wrote:I would never perform live on modern mpcs in standalone.

Not that I'm anywhere near doing a professional liver perfomance, but I agree. I have never seen the good ol' days of a stable MPC. Compared the the state of 2.x (constant crashes) when I got my MPC One 3.x is a stable system (rare crashes).

It's a shame though. On paper an MPC would work out nice live.

researchintospeed wrote:3.7 was a no-go crash-fest for me, I'll see how 3.7.1 goes.

Odd. 3.7 has no crash issues on my MPC One.

Perhaps Akai has troubles maintaining the OS stable on legaacy and new hardware .

Modern MPCs are Linux computers and will never be as stable as old fashioned bare-metal ones... Or any other bare metal hardware for the matter.

I love my MPC for recording and practice but I wouldn't rely on it for a live performance. The **** is capable of asking me for plugin activation in the middle of a gig.

I guess it also depends on how you use it, because the box is versatile enough to be used in a lot of different ways.

Masi wrote:

J.O.BEATS wrote:I would never perform live on modern mpcs in standalone.

Not that I'm anywhere near doing a professional liver perfomance, but I agree. I have never seen the good ol' days of a stable MPC. Compared the the state of 2.x (constant crashes) when I got my MPC One 3.x is a stable system (rare crashes).

It's a shame though. On paper an MPC would work out nice live.

I don’t even do anything complicated live. Basiclyy just triggering beats and performing simple effects and drops while playing hype man and standalone is way too unstable for it. But in controller mode I literally never have had an issue during a performance. It’s partly why I work in controller nowadays

J.O.BEATS wrote:
It's a shame though. On paper an MPC would work out nice live.

I did 7 years and a truck load of live shows with the Live 1, 2.15 was rock solid. That machine never did synth/instrument plugin duty tho, just sequences, drums, midi.

My set up - MPC plus some modular - is all about playing live, I mean, its in the name of the device

I have no doubt that future OS updates will increase stability, and I'll keep going out and playing shows cos I like the jeopardy. Thats on me of course.

Thanks for your thoughts y'all.

Cx

bitermc wrote:Modern MPCs are Linux computers and will never be as stable as old fashioned bare-metal ones... Or any other bare metal hardware for the matter.

Linux is pretty stable or most servers in the world wouldn't run on Linux. The problem lies more with AKAI developers. The code might not be very pretty to look at...

I imagine that all plugin instruments stopping playing audio is some hack AKAI did to prevent a complete system failure when something goes wrong with the plugins...

Finally, even if you have the MPC Live 3 that allows 32 instruments I believe, you shouldn't be using more than a few, and try to use keygroups when possible instead.

But yeah, AKAI needs to do a bit more Q&A.

Masi wrote:

researchintospeed wrote:3.7 was a no-go crash-fest for me, I'll see how 3.7.1 goes.

Odd. 3.7 has no crash issues on my MPC One.

Just as I write it the very next day the MPC fails on me.

Ring buffer taking a shee-i-it... I bet the color-thread has issues heh. (where audio is digitally summed). I am guessing, but it's a pretty good guess.

I have personally encountered this issue on my older mpc one as well. Specifically when using the granulator or reverbs. Mostly the granulator.

A ring buffer is a place where your audio gets placed while the current frame of audio is running. think of a clock with two hands that are always 180° apart. while one segment of the array is being filled, the other part is being played. If the ring buffer binds up for any reason where the fill or playback part of the array has an issue it will take a dump and the whole chain of audio gets snuffed.

The weirdest part is it takes all audio with it in the mpc's case. Like if one thing goes bad, the whole project stops making noise.

Press double stop and hit play again and i bet it starts right back up. It does for me.

It could be something as simple as too many color-heavy items trying to fill the same buffer, it could be the output stage itself (in software).

Processor bandwidth plays a key factor but so does good memory management and input / output and i highly assume now that that issue isnt from lack of bandwidth but more like just bad programming of some effect that eventually errors.

Masi wrote:Just as I write it the very next day the MPC fails on me.

Sorry to hear that, I trust you have a robust scheme for saving your work as you go though!

I have the same bug/issue in 3.7.1 that i had with 3.7, non triggering of samples - meaning its back to 3.6 for me.

Stay safe.
Cx