Ableton 12.3.8 + 2 instances of Kontakt = Major Crackling & Dropouts on M3 Max with 128 GB RAM

Whisper

As the title says I'm having major issues with Ableton + Kontakt 7 or 8 (I tried both)

Buffer size: 128
Sample Rate: 48000

Even when using one Kontakt instance I get crackling and popping along with 100+ CPU. Example setup below:

• Kontakt: Spitfire Symphony Orchestra (testing with Violins and Violas)
  • Using midi channels to play different voicing
• Ableton 5: midi channels - Kontakt on channel 1, 4 midi tracks with External Instruments to point midi at the different midi channels in the Kontakt Spitfire instance.

Screenshots of activity monitor and Ableton setup here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Yavhr95ttGmGD23u2cU-NMFLIEtDk--g?usp=sharing

I'm posting because I see videos of 50+ channels with Kontakt or other similar VSTs and they run fine so I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Thanks for any and all help!

Jeremy_NI

Is this happening with any Kontakt library? Where are your libraries installed? On an external hard drive? What format is the drive? It should be APFS on Mac: https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/214134545-Notes-on-Hard-Drive-Formats-on-Mac-Computers

Is this happening in Kontakt in standalone as well? Do Kontakt and Ableton both have full disk access? https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/4415601248657-How-to-Enable-Full-Disk-Access-on-macOS