LIVE 4 Mac Reverb Benchmarks.

[AdamJay]

as we all know, Reverb is one of the most CPU hungry effects we can use. and Ableton Live's own built-in Reverb is certainly no exception. I've advised any G3 or G4 owners to look at third party reverb plugin alternatives because of the giant performance gap when using the Ableton Reverb.

So, i've gone ahead and benchmarked Reverb performance in Ableton Live 4.1.1

Testbed: Apple Powerbook 12" G4 1.5ghz, 512MB ram, 5400rpm HD.
1 Stereo Audio Loop, with reverb plugins alone on that loop's single channel.

The loop alone takes 2% of the CPU to play from the hard disk, the Reverb %'s below reflect the deduction of that 2% from the final scores.
FREE 3rd party, or included Ableton plugins are noted in bold.

Lower is BETTER:

------------------------
ABLETON FX!!!

Built In Reverb "Economy" (free)
10% peak
Built In Reverb "Comfort" (free)
15%
Built In Reverb "First Class" (free)
19%

------------------------
VST!!!

Freeverb-C VST (free)
4%
Waves 4.0.5 TrueVerb Stereo VST
5%
TC Native 3.1 Reverb Plus VST
6%
Waves 4.0.5 RVerb Stereo VST
10%
Reaktor 4 Space Master Stereo VST
20%
Reaktor 4 Spring Tank VST
20%

------------------------
AUDIO UNITS!!!

Apple AUMatrixReverb AU "Minimum Render" (free)
2%
Apple AUMatrixReverb AU "Medium Render" (free)
3%
Korg Legacy MDE-X AU
4%
Apple AUMatrixReverb AU "Maximum Render" (free)
5%
Waves 4.0.5 TrueVerb Stereo AU
5%
TC Native 3.1 Reverb Plus AU
6%
Waves 4.0.5 RVerb Stereo AU
10%
Reaktor 4 Space Master Stereo AU
23%
Reaktor 4 Spring Tank AU
23%

------------------------------------------------

Before you even ask, yes CPU was set to "Highest, Hard disk sleeping was turned off, dock was hidden, and all other performance optimizations were made.

My own personal recommendation for a FREE reverb would be to use the Apple AUMatrixReverb that is included with OSX Panther. You can use this plugin in Live (along with several other Apple AU's) by simply turning ON "Use Audio Units" in Ableton Live 4's "Preferences ~ Plug-In"

My own personal recommendation for a PAY reverb would be the Korg Legacy MDE-X Audio Unit. The MDE-X is a multi FX processor, but the Reverb side of it is very powerful and rendered as well as any other reverbs that were tested.

It should be noted that I find all tested Reverb of high enough quality (with exception to the Ableton and Apple 'verbs on lowest cpu render qualities) to be used for professional work. I don't value any particular Reverb tested over any other, i use them all in my work from time to time but i do find myself using the Apple AUMatrixReverb on "Maximum Render" the most. My continued use of that particular plugin is mostly out of habit and familiarity, and not perceived sound quality superiority.

In other words, all these Reverbs are great - and now you know how they compare in Ableton Live 4 when it comes to CPU effeciency.

[FaX-01]

as we all know, Reverb is one of the most CPU hungry effects we can use. and Ableton Live's own built-in Reverb is certainly no exception. I've advised any G3 or G4 owners to look at third party reverb plugin alternatives because of the giant performance gap when using the Ableton Reverb.

So, i've gone ahead and benchmarked Reverb performance in Ableton Live 4.1.1

Testbed: Apple Powerbook 12" G4 1.5ghz, 512MB ram, 5400rpm HD.
1 Stereo Audio Loop, with reverb plugins alone on that loop's single channel.

The loop alone takes 2% of the CPU to play from the hard disk, the Reverb %'s below reflect the deduction of that 2% from the final scores.
FREE 3rd party, or included Ableton plugins are noted in bold.

Lower is BETTER:

------------------------
ABLETON FX!!!

Built In Reverb "Economy" (free)
10% peak
Built In Reverb "Comfort" (free)
15%
Built In Reverb "First Class" (free)
19%

Interesting and a huge difference on my Toshiba P20 - not doin' a one's better than the other just suprised how high it is

I get with the Abe's Reverb

1 Stereo 24bit 48khz loop
@24/48 Souncard Output (ASIO) 512samples latency total.
Economy - 4%
Comfort - 6%
First Class 8%
I could Run 12 High Class as inserts before my CPU crapped itself or (36 as inserts in economy ) - sat at a solid 96% still looped but screen redraws where hideous ....
Now i know why you Mac users say it's a CPU hog I've always found it really decent even in HQ mode as a single send .
19% is alot of juice in a project just for a verb though .

[AdamJay]

yep, My HP could gobble up Ableton 'verbs as well but for whatever reason its the one effect on Mac that is ridiculously uneffecient. Fortunately Apple has included an excellent set of plugins built into the Panther OS.

I get a private message every other day from people asking where the Apple AU's are. Its not a well documented feature in Panther, but if you are going to use Ableton Live 4 OSX on anything less than a G5 you've gotta know that you have these plugins as options.

[borg]

thanks for yet another great post. simple, informative, no BS. can't wait for that new bto PB to arrive next week and finally get my hands on osx and AU.
(although i gotta admit i'm very tempted to go for thisand it's bro. creamware only though)