Macbook Pro Santa Rosa Performance

Kodama · Post by **Kodama** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:34 am

This has got to be a simple software fix for Apple or Ableton?

(I'm guessing Apple)

Who confirmed that this is Live only?

eamoon · Post by **eamoon** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:01 pm

Well, when I did my load test in max/msp it definitely started glitching well before the CPU got to the 50% mark (I'm not sure if max/msp spreads poly~ instances across CPUs, so maybe 50% is the most I could expect) -- forcing the CPU speed to stay at 2.6ghz in coolbook helped a bit.

My backseat-programmer guess is that this bug affects lots of apps that do "bursty" processing (work really hard to prepare the a buffer, then wait 'til it's time to do the next one, ad infinitum). That would at least explain why running another program that generates load more evenly (like the little tool built into coolbook) helps. Someone here must have tested Logic on one of these machines, right?

baz00r · Post by **baz00r** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:43 pm

i have mentioned before i have a similar problem, could i ask a few of you experiencing problems to go into preferences while the audio is playing, reduce the buffer size to ZERO then all the way to MAX and see if that helps temporarily

this seems to fix my crackling and popping issues for about 30seconds to a minute but then it all comes back again =\ =\

would be interesting or some other people to try this also to see if this makes any difference to your systems

i have installed coolbook and taken out many of the speed steps and but am seeing no better performance, i am assuming i have not setup coolbook correctly

this to me is a HUGE issue which should be addressed ASAP. i am contemplating bootcamping my machine and installaing XP or VISTA on my machine to get the better performance that i deserve ! , buying a macbook and installing a windows product to get better performance, something is so very wrong with that sentence

baz00r · Post by **baz00r** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:51 am

nobody experiencing these issues at all ?!?

Pendulum · Post by **Pendulum** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:38 am

Hey Baz00r.

Yep. I have the exact same issue mate. Considering we both have the exact same mac, it's not surprising.

I can confirm that opening preferences WHILE there is the stuttering and splattering, then reducing the buffer to 0 then back to 2048 DOES in fact let the song play smoothly again... for a short period of time.

Often if I switch to another app, it will cause the stuttering momentarily as it switches back and forth.

Honestly it's a pretty poor issue.

My guess is that the folks here at Ableton will be dealing with Apple about this to work on a patch to fix the issue. If they aren't then it's pretty poor form, considering the amount of their customers who are no doubt using Santa Rosa Mac Book pros for both LIVE performance and studio production. Imagine getting that popping on stage during a gig! I know I'd be pretty pissed off.

Looking forward to a fix, so I can make the most out of both the awesome software that is Live, and the great machine that is my SR Macboook Pro.

Cheers,

Scottie

emptypond · Post by **emptypond** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 3:40 am

well this sux.. i wanna buy a macbook pro, but if its gonna run live as poor as this thread would suggest then that will be a buzzkill... keep me updated when it will be safe to purchase one of these fine notebooks, where live can work how it should, thanks

thumperjack · Post by **thumperjack** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:06 am

it's only a Live problem i think...the stepping issue i don't think is present in Logic or photoshop or other CPU intensive apps. maybe im wrong but with everything else it's very fast , just with Live it has a weak spot right now for some reason.

Pandamonium · Post by **Pandamonium** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:46 pm

Has there been a fix for this yet? I want to get a MBP soon and was wondering if there is still speed stepping issues, has the latest OSX update fixed them? The latest Ableton update? the new Penryn MBPs (which still use Santa Rosa chipset)?

Pandamonium · Post by **Pandamonium** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:46 am

No one? it's working fine now? not working fine? everyone sold their Macpros because of it?

wilxon · Post by **wilxon** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:57 am

My macbook pro is fine, but it is the 2.33gb version released october 06

Ive never had a laptop as long as this one, most only last a year.

Amazin in it

timothyallan · Post by **timothyallan** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:51 am

nope, still have to use coolbook with my 2.4 SR MBP.

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:36 am

Pandamonium wrote:No one? it's working fine now? not working fine? everyone sold their Macpros because of it?

OK I hold my head in shame on this one. My particular problems all went away with updates to Kore, Battery, Speakerphone, and Akoustic Piano. So bear in mind that if you use a lot of software, what seems like a hardware issue can sometimes be not so!

So yeah, everything is working fine on a 17" macbookPro with 2.4Ghz Santa Rosa chips non Texas Instruments firewire etc.

Olga · Post by **Olga** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:43 am

Unfamiliar with Mac Guts...

Does anyone here own one of the new Mac Pro Towers? Any problems reported with them and audio at all? Different chipset obviously but as I said I'm unfamiliar with the innards at that level. I guess bottom line, has anyone heard any Live problems or other audio (interface etc) problems with the big towers?

Pandamonium · Post by **Pandamonium** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:03 am

Machinesworking:- Do you have to run coolbook? or does Ableton run fine now on your Santa Rosa MBP without coolbook?

boraxx · Post by **boraxx** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 1:36 pm

i love my machine (MBP santa rosa) but i do have to do a lot of freezing in order to work with it. darn it