Ableton Forum

1. Ableton Live CPU Meter % with the the Live Set for the Lesson: ~25% average, maximum 35%
2. Maximum number of playback tracks? 144 before artifacts after bar 28
3. Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? Aorus X9DT CL5M
4. Operating System? Windows 10 Pro build 19041 release 2004 x64
5. Ableton Live version? 10.1.30 Suite build 2020-10-27
6. CPU Make, Model, and Speed? Intel Core i9-8950HK @ 2.9GHz
7. Amount of Ram? 64GB DDR4-2666 dual-channel
8. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? MOTU M4 firmware 1.02 driver 4.0.8.4479 using lowest latency safety offsets
9. Hard Disk type (SSD or HDD) and Speed (if you know)? OS: 1TB Samsung 970 EVO NVMe + Ableton: 2TB Sabrent Rocket NVMe

CPU is locked to 2.9GHz with EIST/C1E and Turbo disabled in Throttlestop. Max 55C / 34.1W.

This is while running Live along with all the other stuff I'm usually running, like 100 browser tabs, Excel, Discord, Steam... will post new numbers after a clean reboot.

Interestingly, I see no degradation or further artifacting if I go much higher than 144 tracks.

Update with a clean reboot, only Live and TaskManager running (ThrottleStop not running, CPU around 4GHz average):
1. Ableton Live CPU Meter % with the the Live Set for the Lesson: ~20% average, maximum 26%
2. Maximum number of playback tracks? 248 (a few artifacts at 256... absolutely awful at 384)

Live used about 12GB of RAM at the 248-256 track mark, with 80-100% CPU according to TaskManager, and about 85% according to Live's CPU meter.

1. Ableton Live CPU Meter % with the the Live Set for the Lesson: ~15% average, maximum 17%
2. Maximum number of playback tracks? 400 Tracks (25 Groups of 16 Tracks) at max 89% without dropouts
3. Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? Selfbuilt Desktop (audio optimized built)
4. Operating System? Windows 10 Pro build 20H2
5. Ableton Live version? 10.1.30 Suite
6. CPU Make, Model, and Speed? Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3,6GHz
7. Amount of Ram? 16GB Corsair DDR4-2666 dual-channel
8. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? RME UFX OS1.2
9. Hard Disk type (SSD or HDD) and Speed (if you know)? SSD for OS and Data

. Ableton Live CPU Meter % with the the Live Set for the Lesson: 36% peak
2. Maximum number of playback tracks? 80
3. Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? Mac mini 2012 quad-core
4. Operating System? OSX Mojave
5. Ableton Live version? 10.1.30 Suite
6. CPU Make, Model, and Speed? intel i7 2.3 Ghz quad-core
7. Amount of Ram? 8 GB
8. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? test with internal output
9. Hard Disk type (SSD or HDD) and Speed (if you know)? SSD apple 256 GB

so anyone did the test with any flavour of M1?

grrrz wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:59 pm

so anyone did the test with any flavour of M1?

Yes, page 4...

[jur] wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:02 pm

grrrz wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:59 pm

so anyone did the test with any flavour of M1?

Yes, page 4...

oh right sorry.
so basically the same as my mini 2012. quite underwhelming with rosetta.

First of all thanks for making 'a standard' test and everyone putting their results online. For most of us this is valuable information in deciding what hardware to buy (besides showing off what you have ).

Personally - and since Live is called Live - I'm missing data for live performance, i.e. what's the lowest audio latency you can achieve using your Audio Interface and Live with e.g. the Grand Piano (Pack Solo Production) with a standard complex classical Midi File and Reverb set to it's maximum (High)? Or is everyone here achieving let's say 4ms with 32 samples buffer size?

Perhaps this is bit more difficult to test, since you will have to hear the cracks for evaluation (or does someone have a objective suggestion?).

When I play an intermediate piano piece with Pro R or Reverb on High I do get some cracks on 32 samples - Zoom U44 Audio Interface... I really start noticing problems in my playing performances when latencies go above 10-12 ms. So this is a relevant aspect in performance for me. And not just with piano off course. I would love to use heavy synths from U-he, Arturia etc. with very low latencies as well...

around 6-10 ms is usually alright for most stuff. back in the day 128 samples was the minimum you could get; and you could play rythmic parts live without troubles. 256 would still be alright.
right now with motu ultralite mk3 I get (output latency only; 48 kHz):
6.25 ms @256
3.58 ms @128
2.25 ms @64 /@32 (I can't go below)
(and around 11 and 22ms for 512 / 1024)
for an optimised live I usually use 128; and 256 or 512 to mix/master.

Ah thanks for your reply. I usually do the same.

I get these results with Zoom U44 with 44.1:
128 - 6.01ms
256 - 8.91ms

Weird thing is the latency is lower with higher samples rates. E.g. 256 on 96 is 5.68.

JeffStein wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 03, 2021 5:45 pm

Weird thing is the latency is lower with higher samples rates. E.g. 256 on 96 is 5.68.

well it's normal since the same number of samples takes a shorter time to play; 96 kHz should be half of 48 kHz latency

Ah yeah that makes sense. Thanks for further insight

1. 34%
2. Maximum number of playback tracks? 176
3. Dell XPS 17 9700 (Laptop)
4. Windows 10 Home 2004
5. Ableton Live version 10.1.30
6. Intel i7 10750H 2.60Ghz
7. Amount of Ram? 64
8. Internal
9. M.2 Nvme SSD

1. Ableton Live CPU Meter 23%
2. Maximum number of playback tracks? after 192 you hear some cracks, after 272 not usable.
3. Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? Apple 16" MBP late 2019 (Basis Variante"
4. Operating System?Catalina 10.15.7
5. Ableton Live version? 10
6. Model: Base Modell, i7, 512GB, RAM(26667)
7. Amount of Ram? 16gb
8. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? -
9. SSD 512GB

Hello ableton community

1. Ableton Live CPU Meter % with the the Live Set for the Lesson. (#4 above): 16 tracks = 55% / 48 tracks= 100%<
2. Maximum number of playback tracks? (#5 above): 48 tracks
3. Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model?: macbook pro 13" i5 early 2011 a1278
4. Operating System?: El Capitan 10.11.6
5. Ableton Live version?: 10.1.3
6. CPU Make, Model, and Speed?: Intel core i5 2.3ghz turbo boost up to 2.9ghz 2nd generation (sandy bridge)
7. Amount of Ram?: 16gb ram 1.333mhz
8. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)?: allen & heath zed 10.
9. Hard Disk type (SSD or HDD) and Speed (if you know)?: 2 ssd 1tb each one
10. Mac fan control info: 16 tracks= 74°C fan 4860rpm / 48 tracks= T° 86°C fan 6200rpm

Hi all.

Think I need some help. My computer is the below. I built it specifically for Ableton but am v disappointed with the performance so far? A lot of you getting more performance out of older macs than I am from this. What am I missing? The audio interface is Focusrite Scarlett. Load times on projects can be minutes - some plug ins take 6 seconds + seconds to load. Kontakt 5 is particularly laggy.

Intel® CoreTM i9 10 Core Processor i9-10900X (3.7GHz) 19.25MB Cache
ASUS® PRIME X299-A II: ATX, USB 3.2, SATA 6 GB/s, ARGB Ready
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB)
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030
1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE CORSAIR 550W CV SERIESTM CV-550 POWER SUPPLY