Have been playing a live show using able set for 6 shows. 3 of 6 have had 0.5 second dropouts once per set. Not just audio silence, but time jitter too, audio picks up sometimes with audible slight speed up/catch up. I have video examples.
In the ableset logs for each show, I found warnings that read something like:
{“isCountingIn”:false,“isPlaying”:true,“lastSongTime”:7439.040137568429,“lastUpdate”:1775162082269,“level”:“warn”,“message”:“Song time handler is lagging”,“module”:“setlist section”,“now”:1775162082698,“timeDelta”:429,“timestamp”:“2026-04-02T20:34:42.698Z”}
this warning happens other times during the set, but the timeDelta is between 80-100ms. The long 400+ms ones coincide with dropouts. I can confirm because the lyrics act as a marker for when the dropouts happen, and they’re the only time in the set that the timeDelta is that long.
I wasn’t able to locate any smoking gun in ableton logs or system logs around the timestamp locations.
This is a critical error with the show and I would love to see if anyone else or official Ableset support could shine some light on what this could be.
Thank you, really love the tool!
- OS and Version: 2021 Macbook Pro M1 Max Sequoia 15.6.1 (24G90)
- Version of AbleSet: 2.7.5
- Version of Ableton Live: 12.3.6
Other Relevant Gear:
- Oaktone Oakboard floor vista controller
- GL-iNet-GL-SFT1200 Travel Router
- iphone for lyrics and setlist
- RME Digiface plugged direclty into computer
- Ferrofish Pulse 16 via ADAT clock slave to digiface 48k 24b
Hey @avalon9000,
I’m sorry you’re running into this, and thanks for the detailed report!
A few questions that would help a lot:
1. Audio chain / clock setup
You’re running the RME Digiface as master and the Ferrofish Pulse 16 as ADAT clock slave. A clock sync hiccup in that chain could produce what you’re describing: audio dropout + slight speed-up/catch-up + AbleSet lag all at the same time. A few things to check:
- What buffer size are you running in Live?
- On the 3 shows where it didn’t happen — was the same Ferrofish connected and clocked the same way?
2. Do the dropouts happen at a specific moment?
For example: always at a song jump, at a particular point in the set, or randomly at different moments each show?
3. Transport control
Are you controlling transport exclusively from AbleSet, or are you also handling playback duties from Ableton Live’s UI?
There have been quite a few fixes and improvements since version 2.7.5, so it’s worth updating to the latest version before the next show if possible. By the way, is your AbleSet plugin up to date according to your AbleSet version?
In parallel, it would really help to get the log packages from those three shows so we can take a closer look at what’s happening at those timestamps.
To create a log package: open AbleSet’s icon tray, click the gear icon, and select Create Log Package. Please include your .als project files as well (no audio needed).
You can upload everything to AbleSet’s support inbox.
I’m looking forward to your reply!
Thank you so much for the quick reply!
- Buffer/Setup: First time it happened it was at 512, did some research and some people on apple silicon actually had better luck with lower buffers, so I lowered it to 256, then 128. Btw the ableton CPU does not seem to spike. All audio clips are at the same sample rate and bit depth. No Plugins. Same setup for all the shows. The only thing that changed was that I added the travel router so that I could see the setlist on my iphone. Though one of those shows with the new travel router didn’t have a dropout.
- Specific Moments: No, different times in the set each time. First 2 shows had no droputs, 3rd yes, 4th no dropout, 5th and 6th dropouts. All happened once per set, all different times per set. Also I did another tour in 2023 with the same digiface and the ferrofish and did not experience this.
- Transport control. We’re using the oaktone via ableset to control ableton only. I have downloaded ableset 3. How do I check the plugin version vs ableset version? I will upload all info to you. Thank you so much for making the ability to create the log package. Very helpful.
Hey @avalon9000,
Thank you for the log package and the additional information!
The “Song time handler is lagging” message is just a symptom and doesn’t include any information on the actual underlying issue. AbleSet logs this when Ableton is playing but isn’t sending playhead updates regularly enough.
In your setup, one potential cause for this issue could be the DigiFace which has a known bug in macOS Sonoma and higher when connected to an Apple Silicon MacBook with a USB 3.0 cable. I actually experienced the same issue myself and made a thread about it on RME’s forums: Digiface Dante Dropouts and Glitches with macOS Sonoma (Page 1) — AVB/Dante - Network based devices — RME User Forum
This post is related to a DigiFace Dante, but the same issue might apply to other DigiFaces as well. A potential workaround could be switching to a USB 2.0 cable.
Let me know if that improves the stability of your setup 
Heya, thank you for the response.
The RME Digiface USB uses 2.0. And I don’t see anything in logs about the device dropping out and coming back in. I know about the RME USB 3 / Apple M1 bug, that’s one of the reasons I’m using the digiface usb. But that’s a good thought.
What I did notice, and was able to replicate in rehearsal , is the Oaktone Oakboard Floor Vista quickly disconnecting and reconnecting, or the connection somehow becomes unstable and causes the exact dropout. I do believe that this might be the cause because the dropout sounds exactly the same.
This is problematic because I would imagine that a continuous usb connection to a transport controller shouldn’t be necessary so that a brief connection disruption would cause the entire playback audio to cut out. I would think it should only be used for the sending of the transport control messages.
I bought a new, shorter USB B to C cable, (connecting directly to laptop) and it still happened during soundcheck today. I’m hoping it’s indeed maybe something faulty with the Oakboard, but I’m now less confident that it’s that.
Sorry for the multiple responses, but it happened again even though we totally unplugged the oaktone, so it’s not that. I will try replacing usb cable to the digiface.
In the ableton live logs I see quite a few UDP lag logs that look like this:
2026-04-12T20:35:00.500037: info: Python: WARNING:AbleSet:499 - UDP tick is lagging, delta: 189523ms
2026-04-12T20:35:01.501990: error: Service Discovery: UdpSendException from 192.168.8.110: send_to: Can’t assign requested address [system:49 at ../../../../modules/boost/include/boost/asio/detail/reactive_socket_service.hpp:261:33 in function ‘send_to’]
Sorry I don’t know if these logs are helpful
Hey @avalon9000, thank you for the logs!
The errors from your Ableton Live logs don’t have an impact on audio output. The first message from AbleSet is similar to the “Song time handler is lagging” logs, so we can see when Live is taking longer than expected to process incoming data from AbleSet. The lag time of 189523 ms (3:09min) indicates that this could have been your computer sleeping.
To further troubleshoot the issue, could you open the Console app on your Mac and click the “Start streaming” button? When the dropout occurs again, you can check the logs for keywords like “audio”, or “CoreAudio”, and “RME” and then copy/paste them here or send them to me via email.
I’m looking forward to your reply!