Looking to move to Live - Need to info first pls

Rezon8 · Post by **Rezon8** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:43 am

Since i've been making tunes i've always used Cubase.

I love cubase, but am getting sick of the lack of support / updates.

I've played with live in the past .... but am now thinking of biting the bullet and moving over.

I have a few worries .... Am running a Virus Ti and A Powercore Mk2...

does anyone here have any issues with either of these ?

Also are there any known issues with certain plugins ?

Reason i ask this .. is that i've just installed the demo .. and it crashes until i remove all my vsts from the vstfolder.

Now i suspect a vst / vsts are causing a issue.... but it will take me a few hours to eliminate .....

cheers !

djgroovy · Post by **djgroovy** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:23 am

I dont own Powercore or Virus but i do believe there have been issues spoken of here in the forum. Try searching for those keywords.

As for the vst issue, i do believe you will have to devote those hours to fix it.
Try removing all but your most favorite ones. No problem? Add some more. etc.

Rezon8 · Post by **Rezon8** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:13 pm

Ok i've sorted the virus ...

i had to change the CPU buffer size to the option ' same as audio'

virus now sound sweet....

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:13 pm

The best way to get good advice is to supply us with your system specs/gear list. I do it in my sig. Gives us a good idea where your snags might be.

Otherwise, running the demo is a good place to start. I moved from Cubase, never looked back.

Rezon8 · Post by **Rezon8** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:43 pm

done

how proficient was u in cubase ?

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:52 pm

Rezon8 wrote:done

how proficient was u in cubase ?

Proficient enough to hit a wall and realize that a program that expensive should not work that poorly.

I am WAY better in Live (probably due to the fact that it doesn't get im my way, and any issues I HAVE had were fixed by the Abs asap.)

Rezon8 · Post by **Rezon8** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:06 pm

kabuki wrote:
Rezon8 wrote:done

how proficient was u in cubase ?
Proficient enough to hit a wall and realize that a program that expensive should work that poorly.

I am WAY better in Live (probably due to the fact that it doesn't get im my way, and any issues I HAVE had were fixed by the Abs asap.)

might be joining you ... lol

laird · Post by **laird** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:27 pm

I used cubase for... oh, 3 or 4 years before switching to Live

and I love Live... there are a couple of things I miss (crossfades, destructive editing), but overall I am much happier. More non-linear songwriting tools, easy audio routing, easy audio warping...

As for the VST plugins-- dont use your cubase VST folder. Many of the Steinberg VST plugins cause Live to crash-- I think all of them did it for me... at least, all of the ones I thought were worth moving from my Cubase VST folder to my Live folder.

When using the demo, just create a VST folder inside the Ableton Live app folder and copy over some of your favorite plugin .dlls. The only ones I had problems with were Steinberg's plugins, and any mono plugins (Live has no real mono channels, its all stereo).

Rezon8 · Post by **Rezon8** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:35 pm

is there anywhere where i can an example of a live dance project ...

i'll be able to learn the ropes alot quicker that way ...

also if there any way of getting live work properly over 2 LCD's ..

cubase i use to like having my mixer on one screen the and work area on the other ...

laird · Post by **laird** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:59 pm

no dual monitors, sorry! At least, you can't have the "virtual multi-track tape" open in one window, and a mixer in the other, like you can in cubase or PT.

As for tutorials to look at... doesn't the demo come with a bunch of sessions you can open up?
big list of tutorials, some with Live files you can open up and explore:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27120

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:29 pm

Rezon8 wrote:is there anywhere where i can an example of a live dance project ...

i'll be able to learn the ropes alot quicker that way ...

also if there any way of getting live work properly over 2 LCD's ..

cubase i use to like having my mixer on one screen the and work area on the other ...

Lots of folks put live on their big monitor, and their plugins on the smaller one.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:27 am

Cubase works great with hardware synths, it has midi maps for virus already programmed in etc.

I use both. Live is a great compositional tool and the more I use it, the more I enjoy it but there are still some things I prefer Cubase for, notably mixing as the metering is better plus since most of my music runs 25-40 tracks, being able to open 3 mixing windows, the session view mixer in Live is a bit of nightmare once you're running more than 20 tracks. So I've been known to rewire or render audio and mix in Cubase.

Also, for editing audio it's much better and crossfading audio clips, plus being able to view multiple automation lanes simultaneously.

However, Cubase is very restricting for composing and creating songs, All the on the fly stuff, auditioning clips, better timestretching of variable tempo tracks and the session view, plus racks are are advantages in Live.

Live has liberated me and I find with my electronica project, I use it for about 85% of all tasks now, For my psychedelic rock stuff which has more complex MIDI and lots more recorded audio parts, I tend to mostly use Cubase sometimes with Live rewired.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:22 am

I used Cubase since vst2 before switching to Live last year. The main difference is that Cubase has a lot of dedivated commands for certain functions. Live on the other hand makes you think of new ways to do the same thing. It has few tools compared to Cubase, but what you do have is very flexible. Just takes some getting used to the different mindsets.

My advice, if you don't need warping, turn it off. Anything you record live into Live, you already know is at the right tempo, so don't let live degrade it even slightly with unneccesary warping.

Khazul · Post by **Khazul** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:46 am

And Live 6 seems to have a buggy copy protection system.

Its currently completely useless. Wicked application when it works, but if it randomly decides its not happy - then forget it - find another DAW, reformat your PC.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:57 am

Such a pity you've had these problems. I have had no issues with Live's copy protection and keep my fingers crossed because this type of problem is enough to warrant reconsidering.

But I hate the dongle system Cubase, Logic, Samplitude, Protools etc. use.