System Crash when drawing controller lines

Beam for Live
1

Hi I’m running a Mac Studio (2022) with MacOS Monterey 12.4,
Ableton 11.3
The latest Beam and the Latest Capture Student edition

Twice now I have tried to create some pan automation using the generic fixture and as soon as I draw the controller line in Ableton the whole system locks up and must be rebooted with the power button.

Any suggestions ? Thanks

2

Hi there! Sorry to hear about this! I have a few questions:

  • What version of Beam are you using exactly?
  • Which exact version of Live 11.3 are you using? For example: Live 11.3.35 is the latest version. If you haven’t already, I recommend updating to the latest version.
  • Have you used any older versions of Beam in the past?
  • Does the freezing/crashing happen in a larger existing Live Set? Or also in an empty Live Set when just using one Generic device?
3

Hello, thanks for your response.

I’m on Beam Version 1.6.2 (134)
Ableton Live 11.3.35

No this is my first time using Beam

It happens when adding controller info to an existing project of around 30 tracks of recorded audio. It’s a tune I produced.

I also have Capture SE open so I’m wondering if that might be causing the crash? I am downloading MagicQ and will try that instead to see if it is more stable.

4

I just tried it on a new project with only a few samples and it was stable

5

I see! The latest version of Beam for Live 1 at this very moment is 1.6.3, which ships an important bug fix that could likely improve your situation:

Fixed an issue that could cause Live or Beam to freeze or crash unexpectedly, particularly while using Beam in conjunction with Videosync. The issue originated in the Max for Live devices, so please allow the User Library Installer to install the latest versions of the Beam devices. Additionally, confirm that your Live Sets use only the updated Beam 1.6 devices to avoid future crashes of this nature.

However, Beam for Live 2 was released a few weeks ago as well, which already had this fix implemented from its first release, along with loads of other improvements, so I would recommend downloading that either way and skip using Beam for Live 1.x.

Happy to hear if this improves things for you or not!

6

Hello, everything was going fine for a while but now I am getting more lock ups.

Mac Studio 2022 / Apple M1 Max / 32 Gb Memory / Monterey 12.4

Running Beam 2.02 (171)
Capture 2024 Student Edition Version 2024.0.44
Ableton Live 11.3.41 (Rosetta disabled or enabled - get same problem)

Only using latest Beam Devices. Should I delete the old devices from the computer?

Following advice from Luka on how to get more intricate looks I am now scultping the audio signal to restrict the frequency range before using envelope follower mapped to beam generic fixture parameters.

So I have created new tracks in an ableton project that are taking audio in from certain groups and then filtering and EQing them. These channels are not audible, they are only to create data to drive Beam.

EG my first test is to take my drum group, and then use EQs to create a track that is just the kick, and another track just the snare.

When modifying parameters of these audio effects, My whole system locks up. This has happened 4 times now, it seems like its just a matter of time until it happens.

I don’t think its a system resources problem as there is no slowdown before the lock. Also Ableton CPU usage only showing around 30%

Can you suggest anything please?

7

Hi, thanks for reporting - please send an e-mail about it to support@showsync.com, including a Live Set we can use to reproduce this.