Ableton Forum

I'm considering the surface pro 4 and ableton. Wondering if anyone has this setup and what the experience has been? I'd love to have a tablet I could put tracks onto to work on in a tablet format for things like long flights and sitting on the couch. Also, if anyone has experience with JamStix and ableton, would really love to hear about it!

Hoping this thread gets some attention. I'm due a laptop upgrade/replacement in the coming weeks/months and a Surface Pro 4 has me pretty interested.

I'm holding off to see what the next 13 inch Macbook Pro's bring to the table though (being a student, the 15% off makes a huge difference!!!)

I'm in the same boat. The Surface Pro 4 or follow-on will be my next portable for field production. I'd like to see how usable the touch features in Windows 10 will be within Live.

At the moment, Ableton doesn't seem to be implementing any touch features, which is a shame.

Clips are pretty small triggers (the play button within a rectangle), and you need to change control settings in order to use touch on faders. Plus there is not any multi-touch.

As for the computers themselves. They'll open and run Live, and probably be able to handle very few instances of super CPU heavy vsts, but should handle alright for starting a project. I mean, if you work light, you can most likely do a full composition without issue. But since everything is gradually becoming more and more CPU intensive (including Live), and people get towards the 25+ track number (and a few might have racks), then it becomes very challenging for the smaller computers to keep up.

Actually, if you search surface, there is at least one thread where people talked about the specs of surface 4 when it came out.

I'd love for Ableton to implement touch-friendly features in Live.

J0n35y wrote:Hoping this thread gets some attention. I'm due a laptop upgrade/replacement in the coming weeks/months and a Surface Pro 4 has me pretty interested.

I'm holding off to see what the next 13 inch Macbook Pro's bring to the table though (being a student, the 15% off makes a huge difference!!!)

Good luck I just ordered another laptop. I have an ASUS laptop/convertible but I'm getting a Custom lap from Velocity Micro http://www.velocitymicro.com/notemagix- ... hp?iid=244..... I7 with SSD 500GB (I have a 1TB USB 3 external )16 GB mem NO BLOATWARE just the OS (Win 10)1 USB port 3 USB 3 ports 1 ESATA port $ 1,300 Should have Next week......Giving my litte girl the old one. I give you my thoughts
soon.

peace
Aban

I've been using Live 9 on a Surface Pro 2 with an RME Babyface, and it works very very well. If you want touch control, look into SmithsonMartin's Emulator Pro software - lets you make custom control interfaces and then midi map them to any Ableton parameters.

The crucial part for Surface is enabling the High Performance power option - otherwise you don't have quite enough CPU available to make the most of Live. Once you enable it, you're good to go. I run all sorts of VSTs, including very CPU hungry synths like Diva. Works fine.

For the same price of a Surface you can get a powerful laptop with more memory and large hard drive.

Nice piece of hardware (they did something right) but wicked pricey...$1500 base line model, and maxxed out is $3200 I think or somewhere close to that. That's a shit ton of money to drop on a laptop/tablet unless you're making serious coin to recoup the investment. But again, I've played with a Surface 3 and it's nice, but lacking multiple USB ports, you may get 2, 3 tops on the 4 but I haven't looked at it's specs that closely. The 3 had 2, one regular size, other mini...so you'd be needing a good hub for connectivity to outboard gears...just my opinion.

Mike

I'm using it right now sp4 i5 256 8gb and this isn't really new. Surfaceproaudio gives a whole break down. People spend more on Macs. its way lighter but about the same specs and I prefer windows

ableton devs seem to be apple fanboy. no hope...

hey there,
does anyone has expierience to use a surface pro with an USB-hub?
I mean, would an audio interface + push + keyboard controller work?
thanks!

I've been using a Surface Pro 4, with a Sabrent 4 port, powered USB hub with Push 2, a Focusrite 2i4, a Logitech M570 Mouse and a Razer Tartarus Gaming Keypad all connected with no issues. I also have an M-Audio Axiom Pro 61 but I typically don't use this with my SP4. I think the biggest thing with using the SP4 with a USB hub is to make sure it is a powered hub! Otherwise your devices will end up fighting for power if you have too much on the single port.

Enorc vs Robot wrote: Also, if anyone has experience with JamStix and ableton, would really love to hear about it!

i messed with jamstix for couple of years. never could get it to sound realistic. fact is no one can. i've heard countless tracks made with jamstix...none were convincing. what really sux is i can't resell it

jamstix samples are useable, but Slate and NI Studio Drummer have way better samples

you're better off collecting midi files played in by real drummers and using upscale drum samplers. and re-arranging midi files to fit your songs is more fun than watching jamstim jumble around

If you want to have touch support switch to Bitwig. They added features just for this purpose and used a Surface Pro 3 to demo it.

If Ableton doesn't jump on multi-touch in 10 I think I'm going to ditch it and go for Bitwig.

Being able to write tunes on the couch, in bed, in the car, on a train, plane, upside down hanging from your feet like a bat, or taking a huge dump and hammering out beats just sounds and smells like too much fun not to try.