Ableton Forum

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % (if it bounces around, please list the peak)15%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? MBP 15"(2011)
3) Operating System? OSX6.8
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.6
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? i7 2.2ghz
6) Amount of Ram?8gb
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Motu Ultralite mk3
Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 7200rpm
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter = 20-21%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model?= Refurbished 15" Macbookpro8,2 2011.
3) Operating System? =OSX Lion 10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? =8.2.6
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed?= Intel core i7 Quad @ 2.0 Ghz
6) Amount of Ram?= 8 Gigs DDR3 1333mhz
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)?= M-audio FW1814 driver 1.10.2
Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)?= Kingston Hyper x SSD 120gb read 525mb/sec write 480mb/s
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

SSD seem to not make a difference with this test ?
Seem to work better in snow leopard for some other guys...

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % = 15%
2) Laptop Dell XPS17
3) Windows 7 64bit
4) Ableton Live 8.2.6
5) CPU I7-2760QM
6) Amount of Ram = 6GB
7) Soundcard = NI Audio 2 DJ
Hard Disk Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 120GB S
9) Number of playback tracks = 8

Will do some tweaking to see if there is more to gain. It hits the 100% at about 78tracks

Its clear that OSX Lion is MUCH worse for audio performance when compared to Snow Leopard, i'm surprised more people are not worried/talking about the issue.

Also, Apple has made downgrading to Snow Leopard impossible for machines that ship with Lion out of the box.

This is just so frustrating from Apple!

I want to downgrade to Snow Leopard without any hiccups, but that seems impossible now!

teejay wrote:Its clear that OSX Lion is MUCH worse for audio performance when compared to Snow Leopard, i'm surprised more people are not worried/talking about the issue.

Interesting, I havent even thought about it, I am going to post comparison of my previous Snow Leopard test with Lion as soon as I get home.

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % 25%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? quad core xeon tank by apple
3) Operating System? 10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.6
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 2,8ghz
6) Amount of Ram? 3
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? not yet
8/ Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? no
9) Number of playback tracks? 8



edit : this is with mac built in sound card.
same result with the ufx rme.

25 % ? is that because of lion ?

teejay wrote:Its clear that OSX Lion is MUCH worse for audio performance when compared to Snow Leopard, i'm surprised more people are not worried/talking about the issue.

Also, Apple has made downgrading to Snow Leopard impossible for machines that ship with Lion out of the box.

This is just so frustrating from Apple!

I want to downgrade to Snow Leopard without any hiccups, but that seems impossible now!

Create a dual partition

teejay wrote:Its clear that OSX Lion is MUCH worse for audio performance when compared to Snow Leopard, i'm surprised more people are not worried/talking about the issue.

Also, Apple has made downgrading to Snow Leopard impossible for machines that ship with Lion out of the box.

This is just so frustrating from Apple!

I want to downgrade to Snow Leopard without any hiccups, but that seems impossible now!

I think its nonsens! OSX Lion in 64 bit mode are surely better than Leopard to handle audio!

xzusa8ky wrote:

teejay wrote:Its clear that OSX Lion is MUCH worse for audio performance when compared to Snow Leopard, i'm surprised more people are not worried/talking about the issue.

Also, Apple has made downgrading to Snow Leopard impossible for machines that ship with Lion out of the box.

This is just so frustrating from Apple!

I want to downgrade to Snow Leopard without any hiccups, but that seems impossible now!

I think its nonsens! OSX Lion in 64 bit mode are surely better than Leopard to handle audio!

Ableton live is 32 bit

xzusa8ky wrote:

I think its nonsens! OSX Lion in 64 bit mode are surely better than Leopard to handle audio!

Its clear you have not spent any time testing the two. I have and can confirm Lion is much worse for Audio, just look at the scores in this thread...

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % 22%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? MAC pro 2011
3) Operating System? 10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.7
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 2,8 GHz Quad Core
6) Amount of Ram? 8
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? still Core Audio (firewire 800/400 adapter still missing so the focusrite saffire's not yet attachable...)
8/ Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? WD Scorpio Black 1TB/7200
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

YEAH!

I reverted back to Snow Leopard expecting an increase in performance (teejay let me know if you need an explanation - you need a 2nd computer with a current Snow Leopard installation to do it).

I also upgraded the RAM to max since i did the test, and it looks like Live is doing worse in SL than it was in Lion

The good news is my programs work better, but the bad news is my performance is not better. SEE STATS BELOW

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % 26% SL / 20% Lion
2)Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? iMac 27"
3) Operating System? 10.6.8/10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.7 on SL, 8.2.6 when i did the Lion test a month or two ago.
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 3.4 GHz Quad Core i7
6) Amount of Ram? 16 on SL (4 on the Lion test wtf??)
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Core Audio with motu/828mk2
8/ Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 1TB/7200
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

On the Lion install, i got up to about 60 tracks before Live started to glitch out. Now i get 36. I'm not really sure what to think about this, as i was expecting it to speed increase, especially since i have 16gb of RAM now.

Hmmmmm......

strode420 wrote:I reverted back to Snow Leopard expecting an increase in performance (teejay let me know if you need an explanation - you need a 2nd computer with a current Snow Leopard installation to do it).

I also upgraded the RAM to max since i did the test, and it looks like Live is doing worse in SL than it was in Lion

The good news is my programs work better, but the bad news is my performance is not better. SEE STATS BELOW

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % 26% SL / 20% Lion
2)Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? iMac 27"
3) Operating System? 10.6.8/10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.7 on SL, 8.2.6 when i did the Lion test a month or two ago.
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 3.4 GHz Quad Core i7
6) Amount of Ram? 16 on SL (4 on the Lion test wtf??)
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Core Audio with motu/828mk2
8/ Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 1TB/7200
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

On the Lion install, i got up to about 60 tracks before Live started to glitch out. Now i get 36. I'm not really sure what to think about this, as i was expecting it to speed increase, especially since i have 16gb of RAM now.

Hmmmmm......

Did your MAC ship with Lion? Downgrading from a system that ships with Lion is known to have issues since it doesnt include drivers for the new hardware, so I suspect thats in play here.

I ran the same test on a early 2011 MBP and found the results to show SL as a lot better, and the scores in earlier posts suggest that too.

Another issue that I have found in Lion is that when Live starts using 85% of the CPU, you start to notice these spikes that push the CPU over 100% and cause stutters, pops clicks... i wonder why this is in Lion. Whereas on even a windows machine, Live plays back flawlessly even at 95% usage.

teejay wrote:

strode420 wrote:
Hmmmmm......

Did your MAC ship with Lion? Downgrading from a system that ships with Lion is known to have issues since it doesnt include drivers for the new hardware, so I suspect thats in play here.

I ran the same test on a early 2011 MBP and found the results to show SL as a lot better, and the scores in earlier posts suggest that too.

Another issue that I have found in Lion is that when Live starts using 85% of the CPU, you start to notice these spikes that push the CPU over 100% and cause stutters, pops clicks... i wonder why this is in Lion. Whereas on even a windows machine, Live plays back flawlessly even at 95% usage.

Bummer. My imac did ship with Lion. I "down"graded because Live was crashing like mad when i rewired it as a slave to Reaper. And because my audio clips were recording with delays. All the problems i incurred with Lion are gone, but damn, i can't believe the performance is that bogged down, especially with the ram upgrade. Nearly double all the other imacs with similar stats in this thread.....

I am officially in limbo apparently