LIVE 4 PERFORMANCE TEST

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:28 am

Keyboard wrote: Adam, Any chance you could pop that note on the first page? The mac laptops come stock configured to "Automatic" rather than "highest" so if people aren't aware it will be giving them inaccurate results.

done. title post updated.

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:28 am

True but 22% peak with H/T on is hardly a hinderence IMHO.

I was just wondering what difference an H/T enable Live 4 would actually make thats all.
I cannot in all honestly complain about system performance on my laptop .
Live 4 has been stable thus far (touch wood) lol.
It does need a few bug tweaks but for a first run release with so many new features it sure as hell does deliver .

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:33 am

sorry Fax i read your post wrong. you said hyperthreading enabled version of live 4. and i did not read it that way.

apologies.

would be nice though yes, and would also give the Dual G5 users more for their money.

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:47 am

Kas. wrote: currently my audio pc is not hooked up to the network so i can´t post my specs without rewireing, but i did grab the zip and had a look. indeed most of the samples are wav so that would put the poor macs at a disadvantage, however the samples are also very short so one might debate exactly how significant this is.

I took 8 large stereo warped tracks. each about 6 minutes in length.
all originally .aiff 16 bit, 44.1khz. on the ibook G4 800mhz, the performance was the same when playing them all as .aiff , and as .wav. The CPU Meter even fluctuated in exactly the same manner.

sent the same files to my Athlon box via the network, both .wav and .aiff. I got the same results.

i really don't think the nature of the samples' format is an issue.

cheers

Credo · Post by **Credo** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:52 am

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter 63%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model Powerbook Titan
3) Operating System OS X 3.4
4) CPU Make Model and Speed G4 500
5) Amount of Ram 1G
6) Soundcard Internal standard card
7) Hard Disk Drive Speed ?

C

Keyboard · Post by **Keyboard** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:59 am

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter 130% +/-
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model Apple G4 desktop
3) Operating System 10.3.5
4) CPU Make Model and Speed Dual G4 450
5) Amount of Ram 1.31GB SDRAM
6) Soundcard Stock internal
7) Hard Disk Drive Speed 7200RPM

Turning off the send reverb and a compressor brought it back below 100% to about 92% still with stuttering audio. No idea how healthy this machine is, its not mine.

j · Post by j » Mon Sep 06, 2004 6:29 am

Ok so I ran this test again...and was at about 57%-60%.

But processor performance is always left at highest. So what changed from previous post?...I really don't know...

Still under performing for price of machine if you ask me...

17 inch PBook-1.33 GHZ
512 RAM
Os= 10.3.1

Would faster HD help or more RAM?
Or jeez maybe ..for a little more a dedicated Live PC laptop?

hmmm.

j

j · Post by j » Mon Sep 06, 2004 6:38 am

Oh I forgot to say thanks for putting on the test and COOL LOOP making...it might be neat to see where this one goes after the test...

thanx again
j

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:12 am

I love Mac's J but the price to performance ratio here in Oz is sorely lacking.

For the price of my Toshiba P20 17" 3.2ghz HT P4 w/ 1gig ram, 3 year warranty ,UC33e ,Evolution MK425C ,Echo Indigo DJ,lacie D2 160gig FW drive + the price of Live 3 (bought in very late June) + cost of Live 4 download upgrade i saved heaps.

A 17" 1.5ghz PB with the gig ram + faster internal drive + external FW drive and extended applecare warranty came in at slightly less (ie:several hundred dollars) than that lot did combined.

If the PB was more competively priced I'd jump at one but nearly $4400(AUD) for a stock model no extra's no apple care warranty ,no extra ram etc etc is just plain ridiculous.

I will pick up an i-book when Metasynth for OSX is finally released.

I really think Mac should ditch the idea of a G5 for laptops.
Instead get a Dothan style processor that runs OSX instead.
And slash their prices by $1000 for the top models (well here in Oz anyway) and they'd be way more attractive.

As it stands a Dual 2.0ghz G5 no monitor 512meg ram no apple care is $5500 (or close too) which in todays computer/tech market is just plain outrageous.

They have a real design elegance and easthetic I dig but money talks and I'm not that well off.

That said if the PB was cheaper it and Logic would make a great secondary set up in the studio that's for sure

.

I'm dreading to see how much the new i-Mac is gonna retail for hear.
We'll have to wait and see ,the i-book is a well priced unit though IMHO.

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:19 am

j wrote:Oh I forgot to say thanks for putting on the test and COOL LOOP making...it might be neat to see where this one goes after the test...

thanx again
j

hehehe thanks... in all honesty, that was something i just threw together in all but 10 minutes, and spent another 5 minutes naming channels and making sure a healthy mix of fx was added for testing purposes. so i'm not really gonna take it anywhere.

as far as your performance goes... neither ram nor HD speed would get the CPU meter down. Ram would help in the VST department (but only until you run out of processor), and HD Speed (and ram respectively)would help in getting high track counts , but once again it looks like the processor is the biggest bottleneck.

if you are happy with how it performs during YOUR workflow, then by all means - BE happy =). don't let how my loop performs on your machine make you judge the power of it. The idea of the test was to compare machine to machine to machine. If when you are writing, it never goes above 60%...then i think you have plenty of power.

cheers

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:25 am

What is the retail price of the new 20" G5 i-Mac in the USA please.
Here it's $3620 with apple care warranty but only 256 meg ram.
I'm just curious as it's a nice looking bit of kit

..........

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:26 am

And I'd agree with AdamJ if you get the results you want out of your Powerbook then stick with it IMHO .

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:31 am

FaX-01 wrote:What is the retail price of the new 20" G5 i-Mac in the USA please.
Here it's $3620 with apple care warranty but only 256 meg ram.
I'm just curious as it's a nice looking bit of kit ..........

$1299 USD for the base 17" model G5 1.6ghz 533mhz FSB, 256mb 80gb sata, cdrw/dvd

$1499 USD for the 17" G5 1.8ghz 600mhz FSB, 256MB, 80GB sata, DVDRW

$1899 USD for the 20" G5 1.8ghz 600mhz FSB, 256MB, 160GB sata, DVDRW

add $169 USD for extended applecare on any of the models

j · Post by j » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:35 am

Thanx for the replies...

If Live was optimized for the G4 would performance be better?

j

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 8:01 am

i think it would. Ableton has argued that Altivec optimizations wouldnt add much to the audio engine, but i certainly think it would take a little off of some of the effects.

it did alot for Reason

you gotta look at G5 performance too, they aren't fairing that well. Partly because the Dual G5's arent getting total multi-threaded support from Live. So they are almost acting as 1 processor. When you see the results of the Dual G5's, you are kinda also seeing the results of single G5's

LIVE 4 PERFORMANCE TEST

Re: aiff, wav, data structures.

Revised results...PB 17 inch PB 1.33 GHZ

Oh Ya

Re: Oh Ya

well