Quad G5 + Live 5

Leftofsix · Post by **Leftofsix** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:14 am

Just ordered one of Apple's new bad boys and was wondering how well Live will run on a quad system. Now I know that Live isn't optimised for Altivec and it sure ain't optimised for dual processors. I was simply wondering if Live 5 will simply chew-up a 2.5Ghz process and allow my softsynths to eat into the other 3 cores? Even if Live itself doesn't take advantage of all the extra power, will the softsynths and audiounit effects use some common sense and distribute the tasks efficiently?

Being a Live 5 owner I was simply hoping that someone who's a little more tech-savvy could give their opinion. I'm considering getting Logic Pro 7 as I'm sure it's altivec optimised and multi-processor aware. Any thoughts and observations on the ultimate setup would be ace. I have a fully beefed-up Korg Triton Studio and a Kontrol 49 for my softsynths.

Many thanks,
Colin

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:23 am

Run the Performance Test when you get the system.

I would honestly be surprised if it scored lower than 30%.... but that is pure speculation.

I'm interested to know.

henry ford · Post by **henry ford** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:59 am

as far as I know it wont change performance any. I mean to say , live isnt programmed to take advantage of dual processors , quads yadda yadda etc. same goes for the synths. you can rest assured when they do program the synths/sequencers to take advantage of the multi processor power you will be charged for it , or my name aint henry ford.

inis · Post by **inis** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:15 am

I dont think live (or any other software) has to be programmed to take advantage of dual core processors. Yes, dual processors mean nothing, but i thought there were some PC guys on here with dual cores. Maybe they could comment on performance. I think the new quad G5 will still mean at least 5 ghz of processing power.

henry ford · Post by **henry ford** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:17 am

ya , in terms of processing actual audio it does have to be programmed.

the gui can take advantage of dual processors etc. robert henke himself commented on this somewhere....

rick · Post by **rick** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:27 am

Leftofsix wrote:I was simply wondering if Live 5 will simply chew-up a 2.5Ghz process and allow my softsynths to eat into the other 3 cores?

Have a look here: http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 724#183724

I did a simple experiment to see if it'll be possible to run my plugins on the other CPUs. Seems like it'll work using a combination of Jack and the IAC driver. I decided to save my pennies and get the 2GHz model instead of the Quad. When I do (next couple of weeks), I'll be able to run this experiment for real on a dual-core machine.

Leftofsix · Post by **Leftofsix** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:46 am

Thanks for the replys. I kind of worried that this would be the case but yes I did notice the thread on tricking Live into using multiple CPUs which I'll look into when my machine arrives in a few weeks.

I find this whole situation with Live to be quite distressing. Why is a cutting edge piece of software like Live not already taking advantage of the latest technology.

I know this is an Ableton forum but can anyone give me their opinions on Logic/Digital Performer/Pro Tools etc. Do they use multiple processors/Altivec when distributing processes to soft synths etc. It would be obscene to own a quad machine and be forced by Ableton to use a single core.

Many thanks again everyone for your time on this!

nobbystylus · Post by **nobbystylus** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:13 am

Logic uses Dual Processors very well.. i think it does it by allowing audio on 1 processor and midi/virtual instruments on the other... On a dual(or quad) Logic will work very efficiently..

and yes.. its a real shame Ableton can't do something about this.. but there must be a significant technical reason why they don't as we've all been banging on about it on this forum for years now...

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:38 pm

I was wondering about this myself, and started to think that maybe the reason Live doesn't seem to be making progress towards multi-processors is because Apple doesn't want them to?

I'm just speculating, because I really don't know how software development works.... but it would seem to me that the Ableton guys have to consult with Apple programmers to work on such a project.

Apple obviously wants their Logic software to be the premier package on the market. So would it stand to reason that Apple may actually try to hold a competing program back in order to maintain the superiority of their package? Hold them back, for example, by not cooperating with the company to utilize the full potential of their hardware systems... thereby maintaining their position as the high performance leader?

Could be totally off base here... but I was curious about it. It just seems odd that Logic and Cubase and ProTools can use dual-proc... yet Ableton cannot.

Looks like a typical "big-guys crowding out the newcomer" situation.

Maybe it's nothing of the sort... but it just strikes me as odd that such an innovative product can't take advantage of the most recent hardware advancements.

mike holiday · Post by **mike holiday** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:08 pm

pro tools le is single processer as well..

majestic · Post by **majestic** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:47 pm

mike holiday wrote:pro tools le is single processer as well..

PT supports multiple processors in version 7, which will be available in a week or two. Even now though, I love the efficiency of PT compared to Live. I'm running the following on my 1.67GHz PB and getting only 65% CPU utilisation in Pro Tools M-Powered:

14 stereo audio tracks (i.e. 28 tracks of audio)
1 instance of RMX running 6 channels of beats
1 instance of Trilogy
9 Bomb Factory BF-76 compressors
10 Digirack EQ III 7-band parametrics
2 Digirack delays
1 Digirack D-Verb

Nice!

henry ford · Post by **henry ford** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:11 pm

Leftofsix wrote:Thanks for the replys. I kind of worried that this would be the case but yes I did notice the thread on tricking Live into using multiple CPUs which I'll look into when my machine arrives in a few weeks.

I find this whole situation with Live to be quite distressing. Why is a cutting edge piece of software like Live not already taking advantage of the latest technology.

I know this is an Ableton forum but can anyone give me their opinions on Logic/Digital Performer/Pro Tools etc. Do they use multiple processors/Altivec when distributing processes to soft synths etc. It would be obscene to own a quad machine and be forced by Ableton to use a single core.

Many thanks again everyone for your time on this!

marketing. the ability to take advantage of multi processors will be saved for live 6 , 7 , 8 , whatever....they will want cash money. they will do it of course , but the clients have to be foaming at the mouth for it first. MARKETING.

inis · Post by **inis** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:44 pm

subterFUSE wrote:I was wondering about this myself, and started to think that maybe the reason Live doesn't seem to be making progress towards multi-processors is because Apple doesn't want them to?

I'm just speculating, because I really don't know how software development works.... but it would seem to me that the Ableton guys have to consult with Apple programmers to work on such a project.

Apple obviously wants their Logic software to be the premier package on the market. So would it stand to reason that Apple may actually try to hold a competing program back in order to maintain the superiority of their package? Hold them back, for example, by not cooperating with the company to utilize the full potential of their hardware systems... thereby maintaining their position as the high performance leader?

Could be totally off base here... but I was curious about it. It just seems odd that Logic and Cubase and ProTools can use dual-proc... yet Ableton cannot.

Looks like a typical "big-guys crowding out the newcomer" situation.

Maybe it's nothing of the sort... but it just strikes me as odd that such an innovative product can't take advantage of the most recent hardware advancements.

lol, naw man, that has nothing to do with it.

Ableton has already explained many times why they live wasnt designed to take advantage of dual processors. Everyone can stop speculating. Somone just needs to link it.

12micsn1 · Post by **12micsn1** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:22 pm

subterFUSE wrote:I was wondering about this myself, and started to think that maybe the reason Live doesn't seem to be making progress towards multi-processors is because Apple doesn't want them to?

I'm just speculating, because I really don't know how software development works.... but it would seem to me that the Ableton guys have to consult with Apple programmers to work on such a project.

Apple obviously wants their Logic software to be the premier package on the market. So would it stand to reason that Apple may actually try to hold a competing program back in order to maintain the superiority of their package? Hold them back, for example, by not cooperating with the company to utilize the full potential of their hardware systems... thereby maintaining their position as the high performance leader?

Could be totally off base here... but I was curious about it. It just seems odd that Logic and Cubase and ProTools can use dual-proc... yet Ableton cannot.

Looks like a typical "big-guys crowding out the newcomer" situation.

Maybe it's nothing of the sort... but it just strikes me as odd that such an innovative product can't take advantage of the most recent hardware advancements.

Apple holding other competitors down would mean they are more like to face a anit-trust lawsuit against them. As some of us know, Apple is in the business of selling both hardware and software an this type of action will have a negative impact on Apple's success. I dont see this happening in what your saying to why Live works off of one processor then two. The facts are quite clear Cubase SX, Nuendo, Logic 7, Cakewalk, and Protools 7 now support dual processors. This would imply, Ableton is losing some ground an needs to support more then one processor in the near future. Hopefully, this is more likely to be seen in the next major upgrade. I dont know the ratio of Live users using desktops vs laptops but this likely to be an important issue Abletons future decisions. Where are the dual core or dual processors laptops in the meantime?

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:04 pm

AMD Dual core laptops should arrive this month.

www.mtechlaptops.com

Quad G5 + Live 5

Quad G5 + Live 5

Re: Quad G5 + Live 5