VST3 Sampler Issue: Notes Muting in Ableton Live - Anyone Else Facing This?

[CosmicWolf]

Hi everyone,

First off, a big thanks to all of you for the incredible information shared here,
this community is amazing, and I truly appreciate it!

I’m currently working on a plugin that functions as a sampler for triggering short audio samples. It’s a pretty str8 FW project, designed specifically for basslines in electronic music. Since these basslines often consist of repeated 16th notes, I’ve noticed an issue: when using the plugin in Ableton Live with VST3, VST2, the notes sometimes get "muted" and stop playing altogether, but then gets back after few seconds.
To troubleshoot, I’ve even tried simplifying the entire build down to just a basic sampler with minimal functionality, but the issue persists.

This problem seems to be exclusive to Ableton and the VST3, VST2 format.

Has anyone here experienced a similar issue? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[d.healey]

@CosmicWolf how are you triggering the notes?

[Christoph Hart]

To troubleshoot, I’ve even tried simplifying the entire build down to just a basic sampler with minimal functionality, but the issue persists.

Can you upload that minimal example? It's much more easy to track it down than looking at a video and guessing what's wrong.

[CosmicWolf]

@d-healey Yes, I sent you the example project.

[d.healey]

@CosmicWolf said in VST3 Sampler Issue: Notes Muting in Ableton Live - Anyone Else Facing This?:

Yes, I sent you the example project.

When/where?

[CosmicWolf]

@Christoph-Hart I sent you the example project by email and in the private message on the forum

[d.healey]

@CosmicWolf The release time of your envelope is set to 0ms. Your sampler's voice count is 128 with a fade time of 1ms. These could be the cause of the issues. Test the plugin in Reaper, also try as a standalone application.

[Christoph Hart]

Also, 1024 is a very low preload size (basically 2 audio buffers), if you're playing fast notes, then the streaming engine might choke on this.

Does it also happen with the default values (8192 preload size + 4096 streaming buffer size)?

[CosmicWolf]

@Christoph-Hart I tested the suggested adjustments, including setting the preload size to 8192 and the streaming buffer size to 4096. I also adjusted the envelope, voice amount, and fade time. Despite these changes, the issue persists. What puzzles me is that this problem does not occur with the AU format in Ableton Live.

[d.healey]

@CosmicWolf Test in Reaper

[CosmicWolf]

@d-healey I tested the plugin in Reaper, and the issue does not occur. This suggests the problem might be isolated to how Ableton handles VST3 plugins, particularly during looping.

[d.healey]

@CosmicWolf said in VST3 Sampler Issue: Notes Muting in Ableton Live - Anyone Else Facing This?:

might be isolated to how Ableton handles VST3 plugins

Or perhaps there is a setting in Ableton that could solve the issue - as with some issues in FL Studio.

[Christoph Hart]

Does it also happen with a sine generator?

I know that Ableton is doing some funky stuff when wrapping the loop (it splits up the audio buffers) and I've fixed a few things related to this some time ago.

[CosmicWolf]

@Christoph-Hart The problem is also occurring in the Sine generator from what I tested here, it seems that it generates duplicates when it loops

[Christoph Hart]

@CosmicWolf Alright I spotted an issue, it was in fact the case that Ableton splits up the audio buffer at the loop point and there was a rare code path (if the next buffer is using the full length which apparently only happens at Ableton Live loop points), then it will ignore the MIDI messages from the last buffer which ends up in muted notes.

Feel free to pull the latest change and see if the problem persists. I could reproduce it with the Sine generator inside the VST3 build of HISE and it's gone here now.

[CosmicWolf]

@Christoph-Hart I just tested the latest update, and I’m thrilled to say the issue has been resolved! The changes you implemented completely fixed the problem, and everything is now running smoothly in Ableton.

Thank you so much for your quick response and support. It’s incredible to have such an active and dedicated community here. I truly appreciate all the help!