Ableton Forum

I currently use Live 8 Ableton Suite on my Laptop (Windows 7/ Hewlett Packard). I still have the option of downloading the suite to a desktop as well. I was thinking of getting an Apple Mac desktop so would I be able to switch between both (Windows Laptop and Apple mac) when making my music or would I have to get another PC (Non Apple Mac) in order to use both on the same song/live set?

You can switch between a PC and mac without problems. I do it all the time

Rampus wrote:You can switch between a PC and mac without problems. I do it all the time

Not in any case without problems. If you use only the Ableton Suite without any other plugins, it's really no Problem. If you use a lot of 3rd Party Plugins keep in mind they're not available for mac or only only as AU Plugin - AU Plugins the next Problem: AU Plugins are not available for the Win Platform, so if you'll share your projects with both platforms only use VST plugins.

So check the plugins you use a lot and if they are available for mac as VST there should be no problem.

best regards

and when in doubt freeze the track

So if I started a song on the mac for E.G how would the laptop have the info for me to carry on with the same song? I would have to keep transferring each session over right? They wouldn't be linked would they automatically? Also if I work with someone who hasn't got a mac, it would still be ok to work together on the same live set?

drop box man.. its a time saver
http://db.tt/UaexoSQ
(that is a referal link.. i get a little more space if you sign up for the free 2gigs)

you can get 2 gigs free and it will sync with multiple computers..
and you can set up share folders to share with other people.
you just use it like any other folder on your drive.

o and don't forget to collect all and save too

bosonHavoc wrote:and when in doubt freeze the track

So, a frozen VST instrument track will load on another workstation that doesn't have the VST loaded?

+1 for dropbox

I don't know if it's dangerous but I keep my live library in my dropbox and it syncs automatically.

Every time I save a preset or whatever I feel comfort knowing the little dropbox icon spins to show me it will be on my macbook :d

EnjoyRC wrote:

bosonHavoc wrote:and when in doubt freeze the track

So, a frozen VST instrument track will load on another workstation that doesn't have the VST loaded?

it wont load the VST instrument or effect but when you freeze a track it renders the track to audio and plays the audio,
so the audio will load in the other workstation.

lqd009 wrote: If you use a lot of 3rd Party Plugins keep in mind they're not available for mac or only only as AU Plugin - AU Plugins the next Problem: AU Plugins are not available for the Win Platform, so if you'll share your projects with both platforms only use VST plugins.

let me correct : "keep in ming some of them MAY BE not available for mac or..."

All the plugins I use on my mac are VSTs or have the 2 versions available, AU or VST.

some plugs are windows only, some may be mac only, just be aware of that.

for the rest, all is compatible.

So if I started a song on the mac for E.G how would the laptop have the info for me to carry on with the same song? I would have to keep transferring each session over right? They wouldn't be linked would they automatically? Also if I work with someone who hasn't got a mac, it would still be ok to work together on the same live set?

the plugins question apart, it's all OK. You save your set with "collect and save", so you get a directory with the .als file (mac and pc compatible) and all your samples (mac and pc compatible). then you copy this directory to the other computer.

if you don't do anything, be sure the project in a computer won't magically "update" when you modify it on the other computer...


cheers

As someone said above - it should work fine however some things to consider to make it painless on going especially if you want to move project back and forth between the platforms:

1. Allways use collect all and save before you move - else extenally referenced samples will not be found and you have to wait for an eternity for the horrible slow sample finder to locate stuff again if you have a large sample library with 10s of 000s of files in it. (I really hope they sort this out in Live 9 as its really poor).

2. On OSX - only enable VST plugins - dont enable AU. This will save you from geting pissed off when you try to move a project to windows onl to find it cant load any plugins. If your never going back to windows - then it doesnt matter - ie have both AU and VST enabled - there was some logic behind this at the time (think it was related to using kore to move AU racks to Logic), but wish I hadnt.

4. Goes without saying - just use the plugins available on both - most companies are very decent and have license policies that allow for the same license to be used for both windwos and osx version, however some companies are on my utterly hated list for being greedy assholes and requiring a separate license for an OSX version (to which they got told to fuck off - and I suggest everyone does the same - "fuck off you greedy bastards yr shit aint that hot" should help get the message home... ) Audio realism and Mixed in Key are the two culprit for this evil practice so far.

Not had problems unfreezing tracks on OSX where the track was frozen on windows so long as plugins match etc.


Otherwise - good luck with the mac, though TBH - its an odd way round to do it - most folks do the windows desktop and mac laptop simply because the mac laptops are very good stable audio machines, whereas many pc laptop are a pain in the ass, but in the desktop world you can get a relatively cheap ultrafast machine - even if the mac desktops are nice little machines, they still cant match a good PC desktop for raw performance and PC desktop stability for audio is pretty decent - still find mac slightly better for Live.