Ableton Forum

Hi guys,

Before you all laugh I absolutely love Ableton. Im a real fan. However unlike most of you im 39 and from the era of Atari ST's and Akai samplers.

As such I had all the tools I needed by Ableton Live 6. Probably 5 to be honest. However as im such a top bloke (haha) I bought Live 9 a few years ago just to keep the machine moving. I really am a fan as said.

Anyhow. I have been using Live 5 for a while. Recently found a copy of the boxset of 6 online. I bought it and couldnt be happier. My problem is I cannot get the latest version to work (From here https://www.ableton.com/en/download/archive/)

Now I know what your gonna say. Exactly what Ableton support have said. The obvious! 'oooooooooh, your trying to run 6 on Win 7 64 bit, noo, no thats not gonna work.' Etc. And yeah I hear you.
Thing is I only upgraded to 7 (x64) a few months ago. I used XP (naturally 32 bit) and it ran versions 4, 5, 6 and 9 without fail. When I upgraded to 7 I kept the old XP hard drive so I had something to fall back on.
On 7 I installed Live 4, 5 and 9 all from the lives server. All work flawlessly. I downloaded all of these from the Ableton download archive I linked earlier. However 6.0.11 will not work. SUre it installs but will not run. This is on XP as well as 7!

Bizarrely if I use Live 6's DVD (6.0.5) this works without fail as everything else ive ever downloaded from Ableton ever has.

I honestly think the file on the download archive is broken. Naturally Ableton support are saying the obvious, its my OS. Can some kind soul simply download the file from here https://www.ableton.com/en/download/archive/ (navigate to 6.0.11 its sub 100 meg!!) and tell me if it works on their 7 64 or XP 32? You not doing anything illegal, you are allowed to run these as demos. I certainly am not into piracy and wouldn't encourage it.

I know im a little odd in the world that want more and more and more, but for me my cup was full in 2005. Especially from where I started out from Akai/Atari in 90s. Forcing more in my cup doesn't mean I can consume any more. So I gave up. Im happy as is. Im not asking anyone to change or be like me, just if someone could try this on their system and report back ill buy you a beer ha.

works fine here on win7 x64

kolakube wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 22, 2020 10:38 pm

Before you all laugh I absolutely love Ableton. Im a real fan. However unlike most of you im 39 and from the era of Atari ST's and Akai samplers.

Same age as me mate, same as many around here actually.

I couldn't really offer anything more than what Support have probably already said. Updating your machine from one obselete OS to another isn't really going to help much. Sounds like you are in need of a newer machine. Computers were never designed to last a lifetime.

@Cotagoo

Yes it will install, but can you get it to run. Naturally your will have to be in demo mode. Hey thanks for taking the time to try this out. Appreciated.


@ Jestermigee

Well at least I feel less old now ha.

Sounds like you are in need of a newer machine. Computers were never designed to last a lifetime.

I don't follow. How can a windows 7 x64 machine with 16 gig of ram and an SSD that 'can' run 6.0.5 perfectly (not to mention the latest version of live 9) 'not' run an OS from 2007?

I could understand if my DVD version didn't work or even if 9 didn't work or even if they slightly stuttered ? But they do work, pretty perfectly I may add?

What exactly do you feel a new machine will offer? I do not feel this endless updating yeilds any better results. I have a huge collection of vinyl. Some of the best tracks I own come from the 1992 period. Long before a modern DAW. Yet great music was still being made. I will not continuously upgrade to the latest and greatest looking for a silver bullet. I long ago realised its the music that matters. Like I say I feel we had enough in 2005. More than enough to be honest.
I will not touch Windows 10. It gives me NOTHING I didn't have on XP. On XP I could Email, go on the net, run a DAW, run VSTs use messinging software, go on Ebay, do my banking etc etc etc. Just because MS or Apple come up with some marketing mumbo jumbo, basically to an end user like myslelf it adds nothing I didnt all ready have 15 years ago. In computer times thats 7 lifetimes.

I really could se the reason one would buy a PC over and Atari ST. Or a 486 over a 286. Or XP over Win 98. But after XP I really felt I had everything I required and then some. After that its just more and more stuff, and know the key to enlightenment is pretty far from never ending stuff. Hey we even have gearslutz that make you feel naked if you dont have 28,000000 synths. I dispare. Its all the wrong tac.

I have a mate who always has to buy the latest TV. In the last 15 years hes had 720i, 1080i/720p, 1080p (The one that cost him 10k and I bought it off him and still have for £800, then he was talked into 4k, then that was crap as 8k was required to enhance your life etc etc and on and on. I just need 1080p. I compare that to my video of the 90s. Im happy. He must have spent 40 grand (uk) on TVs. Yet he's never happy, all ways wanting the next thing, so he never ever appreciated what he acctually has. I couldnt be bothered to live like that. To much energy. Im not saying your like this. Im just chatting and this is why I dont feel like I need to update my machine or OS or Live 6. But I would like the latest version of live 6 to work. Or at least find out why it wont.

Sorry if I have rambled on a bit. Anyhow, back to business.

Last time I built a new PC ( a few months ago) I got a Windows 10 OEM license off eBay for $6. It's apparently legit with the caveat that it can't be moved to a different system. That's probably not your big concern though. Hopefully you are aware that the older systems are no longer getting security patches, but what that really means in practical terms is anyone's guess. Company I work for does a lot of business in Japan and many businesses there are still on Windows 7.

Until recently I did have a Windows XP drive I could use for that ONE program, so I can sort of relate. Sorry I don't have a solution for you with Live, and I'm not going to try to change your mind about anything.

btw I'm 59, am I too old to use Live? This would be very disappointing to learn since I just recently figured out how it works and have been making a fair amount of progress.

I'm almost 55, learned to record to two inch tape at school (SAE - Amsterdam), but still I use Win10Pro..........

I understand your sentiment, but hey it is 2020! Even Jimi Hendix and the Beatles could make a beautifull records on 4 tracks, but time goes on and on.

Do we need more, proberly not. You don't want it obviously......

BUT: being up to dat with hard- and software saves you a lot of hassles!

I do not want to turn you over, but at least think about it.......

kolakube wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:20 pm

@Cotagoo

Yes it will install, but can you get it to run. Naturally your will have to be in demo mode. Hey thanks for taking the time to try this out. Appreciated.

In the screenshot I posted it *is* running, and asking for a serial.

I don't follow. How can a windows 7 x64 machine with 16 gig of ram and an SSD that 'can' run 6.0.5 perfectly (not to mention the latest version of live 9) 'not' run an OS from 2007?

I could understand if my DVD version didn't work or even if 9 didn't work or even if they slightly stuttered ? But they do work, pretty perfectly I may add?

What exactly do you feel a new machine will offer? I do not feel this endless updating yeilds any better results. I have a huge collection of vinyl. Some of the best tracks I own come from the 1992 period. Long before a modern DAW. Yet great music was still being made. I will not continuously upgrade to the latest and greatest looking for a silver bullet. I long ago realised its the music that matters. Like I say I feel we had enough in 2005. More than enough to be honest.

Sounds like you are just a few weeks away from yelling at the kids to get off ur lawn

In your original post you did not post your PC specs so I could only assume your situation and since XP was almost 20 years old as an OS now, my assumption was your PC is probably about the same age. Just because it has an SSD and 16GB of ram doesn't make it a capable modern machine. I have 4 machines in my studio here, all have 16GB or ram and SSDs but one if now 12 years old and my main machine is 4 years old and i'm looking at updating again soon to keep up.

As pointed out above, it should be possible to install Live 6 on Windows 7 for sure, I know there are users still using Live 8 and 9 on Win 7 but fact is, Win 7 is now obsolete and no longer supported. I held off on W10 upgrades like many people for years because of all the nonsense stories. Sure it may force updates and such but I have not had update related issues for years now and the performance of W10 compared to W7 on the same machines is outstanding (if you have an SSD).

The problem is when you have an issue (as you do) on an OS/Software that is no longer supported, you will not really get any support for it because you now do not meet the minimum requirements. While you may want to stay back in 2005 and use Live 6 on Windows 7 you will be on your own as issues cannot be supported.

There are LOADS of features and benefits in the more modern versions of Live that I personally couldn't imagine going all the way back to L6 (I started on L8 myself after a decade of other DAWs) but couldn't say if they would be beneficial to how you work, I assume you work mostly with basic loops and samples in a way Live was initially intended.

I'm certainly not suggesting to update your system etc, but support for your setup has expired so not much anyone can really help with as only a very small portion of users refuse to leave Windows 7 and not many are still back on Live 6

kolakube wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 22, 2020 10:38 pm

Hi guys,

Before you all laugh I absolutely love Ableton. Im a real fan. However unlike most of you im 39 and from the era of Atari ST's and Akai samplers.

As such I had all the tools I needed by Ableton Live 6. Probably 5 to be honest. However as im such a top bloke (haha) I bought Live 9 a few years ago just to keep the machine moving. I really am a fan as said.

Anyhow. I have been using Live 5 for a while. Recently found a copy of the boxset of 6 online. I bought it and couldnt be happier. My problem is I cannot get the latest version to work (From here https://www.ableton.com/en/download/archive/)

Now I know what your gonna say. Exactly what Ableton support have said. The obvious! 'oooooooooh, your trying to run 6 on Win 7 64 bit, noo, no thats not gonna work.' Etc. And yeah I hear you.
Thing is I only upgraded to 7 (x64) a few months ago. I used XP (naturally 32 bit) and it ran versions 4, 5, 6 and 9 without fail. When I upgraded to 7 I kept the old XP hard drive so I had something to fall back on.
On 7 I installed Live 4, 5 and 9 all from the lives server. All work flawlessly. I downloaded all of these from the Ableton download archive I linked earlier. However 6.0.11 will not work. SUre it installs but will not run. This is on XP as well as 7!

Bizarrely if I use Live 6's DVD (6.0.5) this works without fail as everything else ive ever downloaded from Ableton ever has.

I honestly think the file on the download archive is broken. Naturally Ableton support are saying the obvious, its my OS. Can some kind soul simply download the file from here https://www.ableton.com/en/download/archive/ (navigate to 6.0.11 its sub 100 meg!!) and tell me if it works on their 7 64 or XP 32? You not doing anything illegal, you are allowed to run these as demos. I certainly am not into piracy and wouldn't encourage it.

I know im a little odd in the world that want more and more and more, but for me my cup was full in 2005. Especially from where I started out from Akai/Atari in 90s. Forcing more in my cup doesn't mean I can consume any more. So I gave up. Im happy as is. Im not asking anyone to change or be like me, just if someone could try this on their system and report back ill buy you a beer ha.

Making me feel old. We are about the same age (40 years old).

I never used an Atari ST though (I thought that was before my time). My first music PC was a 1995 Packard Bell, where I primarily used a program called Trax with a Boss DR Synth sound module and the cheapest Yamaha synth with midi I could buy at a Pawn shop. I loved Trax. Ableton reminds me a little bit of it as each track can have it's own loop point.


Before that I used two tape decks and a Boss drum machine and Casio keyboard CTK 150 I think. Most of my tracks was "Live" except drum machine as I had no sequencer.

Haven't used Windows 7 or XP in awhile though as I went Mac after that. Now I'm back on Windows (10)

One reason to upgrade your computer would be 4k monitor support. Monitors back from the xp days make everything look blurry.
I guess you dont know what you are missing until you try whats behind the other door.

How are you from the era of atari st and samplers being 39? Im 40 and im not even from that era. We at least had the imac g3 when I was starting out.

I guess he must've started using DAWs and samplers when he was four!

I'm 58 and did start my DAW experience with an Atari ST & SM124 monitor (those things were crisp). Steinberg Pro 12 then Pro 24.

Before that it was a Yamaha QX5.

I got an Akai S900 when they took the world by storm, then an S1000. Still have both, but no longer used.