Overbridge Horror Show

Elektron Software Overbridge
#1

I’ve been a cheerleader for Overbridge since it came out and my 1st gig using it went super well with no issues.

Unfortunately the past 2 gigs the opposite’s been true: The 1st sync went completely out of whack so I could no longer use the sequencer or patterns on the A4 or RYTM but could still just about play the show.

This past Saturday night I was playing a show, very excited about debuting some new material and everything crashed after about 8 minutes. A4 and RYTM completely stopped responding and my computer froze so I had to reset and wait for the grey Apple screen with a loading bar which took ages.
It completely ruined my set and was a massive embarrassment - when the laptop finally booted back up I opted to unplug the Elektrons and DJ for the remainder of my set to avoid further disappointment.

Not sure what to do now…the Elektrons with Overbridge are an integral part of my live setup as it means I don’t have to unplug/carry/replug my audio interface every time I go to perform but I can’t have everything crash on me when I’m on stage.

I’m partly just venting but any advice would be much appreciated.

Setup: 13inch MacBook Pro, Mid 2012, running OS X 10.10.5 along with the latest versions of Live, Overbridge and A4/RYTM firmware.

#2

I haven’t tried OB yet, just curious; you skip your interface and just run out of your macs 1/8" output? Or you have a small interface w/o much inputs that you use to send your output to your speakers?

#3

What else is plugged into your mac?

Did you look at the crash reports to find out what exactly happened?

#4

Straight out of the 1/8", if it’s good enough for Modeselektor it’s good enough for me.

#5

Right on. Not judging, simply curious. Thanks.

#6

No worries, didn’t take it that way :slight_smile:

#7

An Anker hub & a Korg Nano Kontrol 1 though I tried whipping those out & plugging both Elektrons directly in (usually I have 1 direct, 1 to the hub).

In the studio I have a bunch more stuff plugged in too.

I know how to find crash reports but not how to decipher them…

There’s a coreaudiod crash log which looks like it coincides with the machine coming back online.

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000038

¯_(ツ)_/¯

#8

Man, that sucks. Worst feeling to have everything just go bonkers like that. Reminds of a set I played in the 90’s with a Powerbook 150 with 2mb of ram! Solid all the way through but total nail biter. That was almost all midi however.

I’ve been trying to get OB worked into my workflow for a while now and it’s just way too unpredictable to even think about using it live to be honest. I’ve had everything from sudden sync issues to full on digital noise spewing lockups happen. In it’s current form it feels extremely defendant on system resources. I had worse luck with the AR than the A4 for some reason. Analog mixer is less portable but you’d definitely have more breathing room when things go south.

#9

I’d get hold of the macbook and overbridge and fuck 'em off. . leave that at home.

use a small analog mixer instead - won’t ever crash.

Better still sell the a4 and rytm and get the mONO and MDuw … you don’t even need to look at your hands when using them.

honest.

2 Likes
#10

if it didn’t happen at home and it happened at the gig I imagine it could be an overheating issue? i am not sure I have had patterns running for hours with OB and no issues with my macbook, it is a 2015 13" though. base processor and 16 gb of ram with ableton live. latest most up to date version of OSX with overhub.

#11

The music I make incorporates sounds & structures which I need the laptop for or I’d go all hardware.

I’m going to use the same setup for my next gig but will have an iPad going into another channel as back up.

I just have to hope that it was a freak accident last time but damn I want it to work stably so much.