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Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 12:04 am
by wjbuchanan
Hi All,
I've recently moved to OSX and was slightly disappointed to see that I can't turn off SpeedStep for my C2D...it really seemed to make OSX perform worse in comparison to Windows.

This software was designed to fix the "whine" issue seen on MBP's
http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/107/mac ... ise-update
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/21714/quietmbp

However, it also has the effect of blocking SpeedStep - which is a good thing for audio use.

I'm running Live 8.2.5 on a Macbook Pro 2.4GHz 10.6 with samples set to the lowest setting for the internal audio card - 14.
4 x instances of imPOScar2 and 1 x of Simpler = 43% CPU usage in Live + lots of clicks/pops.

With QuietMBP running (MS setting @ 0) the CPU usage is reduced to 23% instantly!

Try it..! Can any confirm if this works with the new i5/i7 processors and/or Lion?

Cheers

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:15 pm
by wjbuchanan
Bump...noone interested in this?

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:37 pm
by oxygen23
Wow..Definitely interested in this..Thank you so much, sir :D

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 11:40 pm
by wjbuchanan
Any feedback?

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 2:24 am
by Captain Johnson
Hmmm....will give this a whirl 2mo!!!

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:40 pm
by moreofmorris
I'll give this a bash.

So what you saying? Install QuietMBP, set it to 0, and just run Live normally as I would? I have pretty much the exact same setup as you (apart from now I'm on Lion).

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:50 pm
by Captain Johnson
Using 2.2GHz C2D 2G Ram 10.6.4 OSX, Using 8 channels, 4 audio, 2 drum machines, 2 sample tracks. Usually hitting 35%-40% max when everything is going off. Using Quiet MBP keeps me at 28%-32% no change. AWESOME!!!! Will be better when I finally install 4G RAM!!

.............................Cheers for this boss find 8)

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:55 pm
by pepezabala
would this work and have a similar effect on an old macbook? (2Ghz C2D)

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 1:10 pm
by sexface
Very intrigued by this; will definitely give a shot later today.

Thanks for this, wjbuchanan (WJ?)

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 1:21 pm
by moreofmorris
Captain Johnson wrote:Using 2.2GHz C2D 2G Ram 10.6.4 OSX, Using 8 channels, 4 audio, 2 drum machines, 2 sample tracks. Usually hitting 35%-40% max when everything is going off. Using Quiet MBP keeps me at 28%-32% no change. AWESOME!!!! Will be better when I finally install 4G RAM!!

.............................Cheers for this boss find 8)
What are you doing? Just installing QuietMBP, setting it to 0 and running along with your normal Ableton Live rig?

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:04 pm
by wjbuchanan
Hi folks...yes this should work fine with C2D as I'm running it on a 2007 MBP.

If someone could check to see if this works with the new i5/i7 processors, I'd appreciate it as I'd like to upgrade at some point.

I'm just running the program in the background whilst Ableton is playing, you can instantly see the CPU usage change if you close it.

I have another tip for you all...

I've seen many posts stating that an advantage of using Windows over OSX is that you can set the Ableton process to "realtime" in Task Manager.

Well, it's actually possible to do the same thing in OSX as well!

Firstly, load Ableton and goto Activity Monitor. Look for the Ableton process and note the number in the "PID" column.

Then, load Terminal and type the following command - substituting "PID" for the number you noted before.

If you are having issues running these commands, you may need to enable the root account

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1528

Code: Select all

sudo renice -20 PID

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:19 pm
by moonpie
littlejim84 wrote:I'll give this a bash.

So what you saying? Install QuietMBP, set it to 0, and just run Live normally as I would? I have pretty much the exact same setup as you (apart from now I'm on Lion).

Yeah, what are people using as the default setting (for those of us who <hopefully> dont have the whine problem, so dont know what level to take it up to)
wjbuchanan wrote:Hi folks...yes this should work fine with C2D as I'm running it on a 2007 MBP.

If someone could check to see if this works with the new i5/i7 processors, I'd appreciate it as I'd like to upgrade at some point.

I'm just running the program in the background whilst Ableton is playing, you can instantly see the CPU usage change if you close it.

I have another tip for you all...

I've seen many posts stating that an advantage of using Windows over OSX is that you can set the Ableton process to "realtime" in Task Manager.

Well, it's actually possible to do the same thing in OSX as well!

Firstly, load Ableton and goto Activity Monitor. Look for the Ableton process and note the number in the "PID" column.

Then, load Terminal and type the following command - substituting "PID" for the number you noted before.

If you are having issues running these commands, you may need to enable the root account

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1528

Code: Select all

sudo renice -20 PID

The command trick in osx looks interesting - Id need to know how to reverse it 1st before I attempted it. I wonder would it slow down use of plugins or the operating system in general. Worth giving a shot though if it was easy enough to reverse.

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:34 pm
by wjbuchanan
Hi moonpie,
Just restart Live - the changes only affect the process that is currently running.

If you wanted to switch instantly, you could substitute "20" for "0".

If you want to learn more, type

Code: Select all

man renice
into terminal

http://superuser.com/questions/42817/is ... n-mac-os-x

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:08 pm
by Piplodocus
Interesting post!

I've got an i7 MBP but it's finally running everything nice since I got an SSD and I don't run out of HDD access, so I'm overly cautious to try ANYTHING with it atm.
I guess you can set up something to start Live using "nice" rather than "renice"ing it after too. Did you try -20? That article seems to suggest -10 is the max, and recommends not going too crazy to begin with! I wouldn't want the entire system to grind to a halt at the expense of Live. There's plenty of things I use at the same time for doing music!

Re: Howto : Make Ableton use Less CPU in OSX

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:26 pm
by infiniteB
littlejim84 wrote:
Captain Johnson wrote:Using 2.2GHz C2D 2G Ram 10.6.4 OSX, Using 8 channels, 4 audio, 2 drum machines, 2 sample tracks. Usually hitting 35%-40% max when everything is going off. Using Quiet MBP keeps me at 28%-32% no change. AWESOME!!!! Will be better when I finally install 4G RAM!!

.............................Cheers for this boss find 8)
What are you doing? Just installing QuietMBP, setting it to 0 and running along with your normal Ableton Live rig?
Agreed. Just make sure QuietMBP is installed right, as well as Ableton Live. If not, unfortunately, re-installs are necessary to make sure there are no glitches or stutters that aren't wanted or needed. If all is running smoothly, there's your answer. This is the only way to make sure Ableton and your computer communicate correctly with each other.