Best CPU for live performances :D

Kikenna · Post by **Kikenna** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:29 pm

Hello, my friend recently bought this program. He has an M audio delta 10/10 sound card. On his slow computer (1.6ghz 1GB SDRAM), the CPU usually reaches 100 and everything slows down like junk. He has a bunch of keyboards/beatmakers/etc and stuff. It's time to build him a new computer solely for his music.

I was wondering, what is the best CPU for live performances, multiple programs, lots of stuff stacked in ableton live?

Please let me know what ya'll have tried and what seems to work the best. I was looking at:

core 2 duo e6420
core 2 quad q6600

I'm not sure tho, any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated

!!

Thank you all

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:42 pm

Macbook Pro. Nothing to build.

Kikenna · Post by **Kikenna** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:55 pm

Lol, building one is so much cheaper. Esp if you have the case, drives, PSU, memory already.

Those MacBook Pros are $2000+ and they use the Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz CPU. I can get a Core 2 Duo processor for $200 (10X less). How nice does it run with Ableton live 7?

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:58 pm

/points and laughs at iFanboi.

DOH!!

pretty much at least 1Gb RAM, a processor >2Ghz, dual core, 7200 rpm drives and something with a good collection of USB or firewire ports.

Vista is still crap for Ableton Live.

sounds like you know what you're doing though.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:00 am

Sorry, but Macbook Pro is the default answer to everything including marital problems.

You didn't mention a price range in your first post and your title also says live performance which insinuates you meant laptop. I didn't know people built their own laptops. But what do I know, I just trust the good people of Apple to build stuff for me.

Live 7? I think it's pretty split on here about how well or not well 7 is currently working on any platform.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:04 am

beats me wrote:Sorry, but Macbook Pro is the default answer to everything including marital problems.

I can see how the heat generated from one could make my testicular swelling go down.

if Vista doesn't chill out by the time I need a new lappie I'm going Mac, no doubt. I just like rattling iCages because the monkies make funny sounds when agitated.

agreed, L7 runs just as shitty on a PC as it does on a Mac. the main difference is in the user.

Kikenna · Post by **Kikenna** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:21 am

Lol lets not start a war now, I'm just interested in user experience with processors and ableton live. There's like 10,000 processors, so it's very hard to choose from. What do ya'll have? We'll be doing live performances with a PC tower.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:26 am

Kikenna · Post by **Kikenna** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:41 am

Can someone remove that crap? Seriously...

I was wondering, what is the best CPU for live performances, multiple programs, lots of stuff stacked in ableton live? What kind do ya'll use that seems to be very reliable and stable

?

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:52 am

Kikenna wrote:Can someone remove that crap? Seriously...

not a fan of the camel tail??

you might want to check this thread
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... mance+test
for info on what runs well.

Kikenna · Post by **Kikenna** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:58 am

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

You can overclock it to 3.6GHz stable. How's that sound?

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:03 am

Kikenna wrote:Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

You can overclock it to 3.6GHz stable. How's that sound?

sounds pointless. you dont want to be overclocking for real time audio tasks, especially if you want to take your tower to a hot venue.

Kikenna · Post by **Kikenna** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:24 am

True true, put a big ass fan on that or water cool it. Keep it at default. Processor is low voltage/heat compared to others.

MParnell · Post by **MParnell** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:25 am

I'm in the same boat,
I am also looking to build a rack mount pc for live performance that will give me the lowest latency possible so that I can trigger sounds from an electronic drum kit while playing other tracks.

I'm not sure what kind of latency performance I should expect or if a Mac has better latency times for this kind of application.

Any thoughts?

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:27 am

MParnell wrote:I'm in the same boat,
I am also looking to build a rack mount pc for live performance that will give me the lowest latency possible so that I can trigger sounds from an electronic drum kit while playing other tracks.

I'm not sure what kind of latency performance I should expect or if a Mac has better latency times for this kind of application.

Any thoughts?

latency is more about your interface than the Operating System. On similarly specced computers, the same interface should run at about the same latency if the manufacturer has made equal quality drivers.