rap masta rj wrote:After reading this thread I was wondering if you could help me out...
So for my laptop I have a Sony vaio (I don't have the specs on hand) and it runs windows vista. For the most part when running ableton live, it's complete shit. After a certain amount of time working on a track it just craps out on me and playback is so miserable I just get frustrated and stop using it, I won't even get started on latency issues. The reason I mention my situation is that this thread opened my eyes with the possibility of using Linux. Do you think if I were to replace vista with Ubuntu it would help my situation at all? Or would something like this not have anything to do with the OS? Any insight on this would be appreciated
Well, normally, you should start a new thread about something that is off-topic.
Nevertheless, Ill help. haha
So, if your computer came stock with Vista, than it most likely has at least 2 GB of ram, and even more likely, a dual core processor. You should have the specs to run it on vista.
First thing, do a full windows update. Everything you can update on windows update (with the exception of language packs and things like that you dont need).
after you do a full update, update the drivers for your computer to the newest ones, and even moreso, just flat out reinstall your drivers, even if they are the uptodate ones.
I clean lots of viruses in my line of work, and from my stance, AV software causes more harm than good. I have not run AV software in 7 years, and NEVER, literally NEVER get viruses. Its all about good browsing habits. That being said, if you are going to run ableton, disable anything that doesnt have to do with music, considering you might be on limited resources as it is.
directx, .NET, and C++ should automatically update, if any, during the windows updates.
That should take care of the crashing. If it still crashes, I suspect a virus, and recommend using something like tdsskiller, hitmanpro, and malwarebytes, doing a full scan, as deep as it can go. You would be surprised what you might find.
As for the latency issue, you either A) have no ASIO driver, B) have no low-latency hardware, or C) both. If you have no audio interface (USB or firewire whatever.), then you can do what the rest of us do, and use ASIO4ALL (google search it). Its an ASIO driver (low-latency), that you use instead of DX or MME. My old laptop (single core celeron, 2gb of ram) could get down to about 8ms with a decent amount of stuff going. Thats not too shabby, and will help a lot.
Let me know if you have any issues.
But next time put this in a post in the actual forum, so that everyone can see it, and search for it if they have issues. it helps so much.
Also, if you are interested in trying linux, Ubuntu and Kubuntu, as well as a few others, have whats called the WUBI installer. Which runs from windows, installs linux into some empty space on your drive, and gives you the choice between windows and linux when you boot. Now, if you dont like it, you can go to windows, and uninstall linux from the programs and features applet in the control panel in windows. Ive done it hella times, and its actually very safe. I have never broken a system with it, and its a very easy way to try it.
This script will install ableton, although, as mentioned in a previous post, you will have to toy with the graphics settings using that command that I posted to get it not to glitch graphically.
As for the low latency in linux, this is achieved by installing WINEASIO (AND enable Real-Time Module for the Kernel, if it doesnt automatically do it, which it usually does. I never had to compile it by hand.), AFTER you have installed ableton, and ran it at least once. Then, once you do that, you can switch from ALSA or PULSE (which are the stock linux modules for sound. Pulse is a whole sound server. ALSA should be used when wineasio is not present) to WINEASIO, which will give you the low latency you are looking for. All of your midi equipment should enumerate and work as expected, as should a good chunk of the audio interfaces out there.
, and also installs pre-requisites like Visual C++ RT 2008, as well as a few others, and builds it out in wine. 
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