which macbook pro best for heavy use live?

[iainduncan]

Hey folks, I'm wondering what actually performs better for running Abletone with a ton of external plugins at low latency

- dual core i7 2.9
- quad core i7 2.3

If the second, just how much better is it likely to be? trying to pick new laptop for audio.

[Tarekith]

Try checking in the Live 8 Performance thread, you'll find lots of real workd examples that might help. Personally, I'd rather have a slightly slower quad core than a faster dual core.

[iainduncan]

thanks! Which thread to do you mean?

[CFM]

websites like http://www.cpubenchmark.net/common_cpus.html or similar may help

Myself I'd prefer the slower quad core rather than dual core

[geekbeats]

Myself I'd prefer the slower quad core rather than dual core

That's what I went with, + non-retina, replaced the super drive with the original HD and put in an SSD in the original bay. Incredibly fast and huge amounts of internal sample storage.

[jlgrimes]

Hey folks, I'm wondering what actually performs better for running Abletone with a ton of external plugins at low latency

- dual core i7 2.9
- quad core i7 2.3

If the second, just how much better is it likely to be? trying to pick new laptop for audio.

I got a quad core i7 at 2.2 ghz for my Mac mini and it runs version 9 well.

Big thing is what plugins are you using?

Will u use a lot of multi gigabyte samples?

If you are just using stock Ableton stuff you will be fine. I would be worried on using something like Omnisphere or Kontakt in a live situation although it works well for me in the studio.

I'd recommend all the ram u can get though. I put 16 gigs in my mini.

[jlgrimes]

websites like http://www.cpubenchmark.net/common_cpus.html or similar may help

Myself I'd prefer the slower quad core rather than dual core

It depends more on the plugins. Not all are programmed to use multi cores that well. Most probably are though. I'd imagine either one would work good with Live built in stuff.

I'd say any plugin 5 years or older wouldn't put much strain on a modern CPU although I wouldn't run 10 Massives on a computer . Something like Diva though would require some management or relying on freeze.


All I can say is choose your plug ins carefully with any Live setup.

[mholloway]

plugins and live shows are risky business, indeed. most crashes are related to 3rd party plugs... and the more you introduce into your set, the higher the risk.

i perform live with Ableton but I don't use any third party plugs except Guitar Rig. What I actually do is "samplerize" all my plugin patches that I need -- that is, I sample them and build instruments for each patch inside ableton's Sampler, so that all my sets -only- rely on ableton's Sampler for instrumentation. It's a lot of work, but after one show where a Cakewalk product started fucking up in the middle of a song, i'd say it's worth it -- and that wasn't even a crash. Obviously this only works if there are very specific sounds you need to play live; if you are relying on the real-time modulation options available from a specific synth, then obviously this method won't be at all useful.

-M