Question about Live as a Live performance tool

[gtodd876]

Live seems to need a higher buffer than Logic without pops and clicks on my macbook. (256/512 instead of 128) I have been told in the past that this is because of Live's audio engine. I understand with Live you do not have to stop playback while adding effects, adding/deleting tracks etc. . This is a great feature for composing or for people that use Live to trigger audio and midi clips.

My question is that, "Isn't that counter productive to people who use Live to process external audio in a live performance setting?"

If you are instrumentalist using Live then most likely you have your Live tracks and effects set how you like them and have some sort of midi foot controller to control Ableton Live as you play you instrument. You need the lowest possible latency and need your effect/racks to process your audio without artifacts. I think of it more as using a DAW in record mode instead of in mixing mode.

Am I correct for thinking this? Would Live need to have two different Live performance modes to be great at doing both things? Would the program need an entire rewrite to excel at processing audio at low latencies using current modest computers? I realize there are many different factors to latency but in my situation I am just comparing the same hardware(laptop) I use to different software. I know for a fact my modest laptop is capable of performing with a 128 sample buffer without pops and clicks using effects and looping some of the audio with other software. Just not currently on my machine with Live.

Wondering what others think about this? Any experiences of users able to process their instruments with Live with 128 buffer or lower with effects? If so, how powerful is the computer? What audio interface? etc...

[3dot...]

yep 128 is my default when playing on my laptop..
I think it all depends about knowing your limits...
you have to adjust (and sometimes compromise) either the latency or the amount of processing in a playing set..
a stronger computer /more ram will obviously give you more freedom in this matter

[Sage]

No idea what my buffer is set to, probably a bit higher than it should be. Until you're getting a noticeable delay, there's no need to risk artifacts in your audio by lowering the buffer as much as possible.

I'm doing a show on Thursday with lots of songs in one projects, so lots of audio clips, drum rack, synths, effects and processing incoming audio, always worked fine before!