I had a similar issue with the Rytm Mk1 live. It’s RARELY if ever frozen on me practicing, but locked up live once. Even with just Digitakt+Rytm.
Maybe power… in my case.
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I’m claiming that!
Yes as others have said the hub is almost certainly the culprit.
1 nugget of wisdom for future reference, never change out any components of a working system just before a gig.
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I have a friend that DJs with Traktor on a Mac and the last two shows I’ve heard her play it’s crashed and required a reboot of the Mac.
What I think the issue is is that she does sound check before the show, two or three DJs play before her, then when she’s up., her Mac has gone into a sleep or power suspend mode. I don’t think the Mac recovers properly from a suspend/sleep mode. I’ve advised her to reboot shortly before she goes on to test this but she hasn’t played since the last time this happened.
Just a thought but if you did do a sound check and had the system up for a long period of inactivity before you went on then perhaps the suspend/power settings might deserve some scrutiny. I could be way off though.
Just some thoughts…
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Damn, that sucks. 
Probably Overhub indeed, as this is the factor that changed. Ideas:
- USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0: Did you use the correct cable in the correct USB port?
- Did you use it without an adapter? If so, you might have been pulling more power than your laptop provided. Try with a suitable adapter ( see Overhub PSU? )
- Did you use it with an adapter? Some adapters are wrongly labeled, not providing the correct amperage for example. See Overhub PSU? again for more information.
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where did you play in toronto?
I would suspect overbridge. it worked well for me too, I only gave it up because of the difficulty of syncing up prog ch, but it would also very occasionally give me quite a disastrous audio glitch.
also worth mentioning the rytm mk2 seems to be not as rock solid reliable as other elektrons. sometimes it just doesn’t turn on lol.
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I would indeed investigate Overhub.
There are a bunch of threads about Overhub issues, Overhub PSU and even alternatives multi-transaction translator usb 3 hub.
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I agree, this is a good practice. We really thought the hub would not affect things… such a bummer.
Thanks darenager. I totally agree, I’m just so surprised that this little element could have caused an issue.
But wait, was the culprit USB, or power?? what even IS “dirty power”? Is there a way to clean it before it reaches our setup?
This is good advice. However I’ve always had my machine sleeping for minutes / hours or days before firing up the rig and it’s never been a problem before the show.
We closed the night at Frequencies - an excellent monthly series of all live electronic music in Kensington Market. Thankfully the room was mostly loving friends.
Pro tip - if you want every single person to give you a hug and say that things sounded great, try having these horrible crashes.
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" “ Dirty power ” is an abnormality in the power quality that is being delivered to a system. These abnormalities can include low power factor, voltage variations, frequency variations, and surges. All electrical systems are based on a supply of power at a certain voltage and frequency."
I think you can get power line conditioners to address this. Maybe even an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) as any fluctuations should be buffered by they battery.
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Thanks LyingDalai.
I am getting convinced that it was the Overhub. I will try to replicate the crash tonight at home. Alot of the past thread posts would report a consistent non-functionality. But my situation was more of an intermittent non-functionality. Still, it seems if my Rytm was plugged into a port with shitty soldering, the connection could go in and out as I observed.
My rytm mk2 froze the other night. It was before a band practice. It had been sitting in the cold for a few hours. Could it of been that?
Thank you labpop,
I learned that my Rytm only requires USB2. I believe I had the right cable.
if any of the cables were incorrect as you suggest, would it not result in NO functionality? I was experiencing intermittent functionality.
I will attempt to replicate the crash tonight and keep these comments in mind.
Good to know. Thank you.
Never trust computers
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Yes its a power problem … had this multiple times but never in my studio.
It weren’t me, honest guv. I never done it!
Lord, I dunno man. I suspect that something was different between home and live, be it the power, the order things were switched on, something network related (MIDI over wifi errors or extra ports or something? It’s a bit beyond me tbh). There’s always going to be a first crash because life - the great disruptor - has a short attention span. Still, bummer. Don’t let it throw you off.
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When power hangs around seedy nightclubs, it inevitably becomes dirty.
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