Ableton Forum

Ok, so I have started doing development, and my first project was to get Ableton running on linux, as its my main OS, and well, Ill die without it. haha.

So, if you are are running Linux (any flavour; Ubuntu, Kubuntu, OpenSuSE, Arch, Debian, etc.), you can search your repositories, and download WINE and PlayOnLinux.

If you cant find PlayOnLinux in your repositories, you can download it from http://www.playonlinux.com, and you can get wine from http://www.winehq.com.

WINE, for those of you that do not know, is a translation layer for windows programs, to let them run native on linux.

I did the hard stuff, and wrote a script, that installs Ableton for you (yes, you do need to own a copy of Ableton Live , and also installs pre-requisites like Visual C++ RT 2008, as well as a few others, and builds it out in wine.

******************************UPDATE******************************************

This script is now complete, fully functional, and a part of the PlayOnLinux Official Repository. Its been tested, accepted, and signed.

As such, the instructions here have been changed. Please read thoroughly.

***********************************************************************************

**EDIT: This should work on all versions of linux, 32 and 64 bit. Make sure you have p7zip-full (or equivalent), p7zip-rar (or equiv), winbind, and if you are running 64 bit, then make sure you have installed any multiarch- or ia32-libs- type packages, as WINE is always 32 bit by default, and this will make everything easier.

Its very easy.

Install PlayOnLinux

Open PlayOnLinux, let it update, go through the first time startup wizard.

One PlayOnLinux is updated, click INSTALL

It will bring up a list of programs. Ableton Live is listed under Multimedia. Click that, and follow the instructions. VERY very straightforward.

There you go! Hope this helps you guys out! I will be keeping up-to-date with this script, as newer versions of Ableton come out.

Feel free to respond in this thread if you have any questions.

But why? o/s is cheap these days so what's the point in having an extra layer to slow things down and cause everything to crash?

What do you mean O/S is cheaper? Linux is free, first off. Mac OSX, if that is what you are referring to, is actually unix (which linux is based off of), and on top of that, the MAC version of Ableton Live is JUST the windows version, that is running wine as a translation layer.

A lot of people want to get away from microsoft windows, but cant afford a mac, and Linux is more versatile, cheaper, has more hardware compatibility, and better and faster advancements. Not to mention that you have WAY more customization options, which is great, because you can finally make your machine your machine.

So, for everyone who is running linux for whatever reason, this is a good way to be able to use ableton, as well as plenty of VST plugins and NI instruments, in Linux. No expensive (overpriced) Mac, and bye bye to windows.

WINE is actually very fast, and when it works for a program, I find that program to usually run better than it does in windows. Like, most of my games that run in Linux actually run FASTER using WINE on Linux, than running windows.

ian_halsall wrote:But why? o/s is cheap these days so what's the point in having an extra layer to slow things down and cause everything to crash?

But to answer more concise, Mac OSX Ableton live version uses WINE for a translation layer, as you can see, it works fine.

Ans also "Because It's There"

crumhorn wrote:Ans also "Because It's There"

Word. This was a kind of thorn in my side for years, so after it was possible to get it working in wine, and considering the ease of use of POL, I decided a script and this free, open source software would be the best solution to get those that are less tech-savy up and working again.

So far, everything I have tried has worked. You just have to install your VST's and plugins in the same WINEPREFIX (POL installs each program in its own little environment, with its own little c-drive, etc., called a Wine Prefix), and they will work. MIDI is a standard, and all USB 1.1 compliant MIDI controllers, and MOST 2.0 MIDI compliant controllers should work with no issues whatsoever.

Latency can be an issue, and for this, I recommend WINEASIO (google for more info and setup), but only if you are doing live recording or performing. For just laying down music, I have not needed this.

Wow, interesting.
The only reason I'm still on osx is because there's no Live version for Linux...
How about max and m4L ? (Don't tell me that I should use PD ! )

Valiumdupeuple wrote:Wow, interesting.
The only reason I'm still on osx is because there's no Live version for Linux...
How about max and m4L ? (Don't tell me that I should use PD ! )

hahaha. Word. Well, technically, there is no live version for mac, either.

BUT, as far as max and max4live go, Im going to be trying those later tonight when I have time, and if I can get them to work, I will write a script and post it. Im almost positive that max will work as a standalone. In terms of the environment it needs to run, its not special, and should work fine. As for max4live, I have no clue, but will for sure give it a go.

Also, you could search the addDB at winehq.com and see if its listed. Someone may have already tested it, and if they said it works, then I should be able to get an install script set up for it.

Im going to test each of the Native Instruments stuff, as well, and write scripts for their install. This is part of the reason I got into development; simply to get my windows games and production software running on linux (and OSX), and I feel that this is probably one of the most important open-source projects on the planet at the moment. So I screw it; im getting involved. haha. writing software and development is probably one of the few computer related things that I have not done professionally, and if it will help me and countless others to ditch windows and have full software and OS freedom, Im there. haha.

But I digress. Next up will be Reason, as many NI instruments as I can, and Max (and m4l).

Sorry - just use windows and forget that mac nonsense.

Save that for toys like iPhones and iFads.

ian_halsall wrote:Sorry - just use windows and forget that mac nonsense.

Save that for toys like iPhones and iFads.

Um, this wasnt about Mac. It was about linux. Mircosoft has the industry by the balls, not by innovation, but by corruption and violation of free-trade and Anti-trust laws.

Ill bet $10 bucks that the server hosting this very forum is linux, not windows.

But yeah, its not "mac nonsense" (although I totally agree with Mac's being nonsense, overpriced, paperweights with restricted linux systems, ripoffs of open-source code, and a high price tag, with little value on the hardware side), its Linux MAKEsense. Linux powers over a 3rd of the computing world. *Nix is android, iOS, OSX, darwin, ubuntu, linux, bsd, solaris, arch, debian, opensuse, kubunu, mint, HP custom OS's, and countless others. Not to mention that at least 70% of the web (LAMP), DNS (BIND), rubyonrails, java, repo, git, and whatever other servers are linux servers, when looking at the "internet" as a whole.

In rebuttal, check this:

So, if you say get a windows computer, then, ok. We get a windows computer, but also might have to buy a whole new system to support it. I have used some OLD computers to run some very new and up-to-date software for desktop effects, games, whatever. If I could buy a new system, then there must be other reasons that I am looking at a thread geared toward Ableton on Linux. Point being, that just "buy a new system with Windows" is not what this was about. Its not a contest to see whos OS is better. This is about having the freedom to run what you want on whatever system you want. Period. lol.

So, in all, how about this. Get a VM set up (Try VirtualBox) and download and ISO of ubuntu (or whatever linux flavour you should want), and try this solution, and see if it runs as bad as you think. Lol. I was just using it a little bit ago, and it works fine with my Akai MPD26, MobilePre USB interface, and my E-Mu keyboard. teehee. Idunno. I think its cool, anyway. haha. Its just so nice to be able to have that super dope computer that I always wanted, and still be able to do whatever I want to customize it at wiil, as well as retain most of my software that I love so much from my previous OS.

Call me a geek. haha

Some interesting stuff about MS that is fairly sad for such a big and trusted company.
http://greatmindsoftoday.com/2011/05/16 ... se-battle/

And no matter what, MS operating systems are super "un-costomizable" unless you want to dig through the system folders and registry. Like, Im tired of seeing the brand name of my OS plastered in my face from start to finish with unrecognizable error codes that have to be looked up, and even then the answers can be many and vague all at the same time.

Idunno. Again, I was only trying to help those of us that actually use linux and wanted a solution. I just added a small script. Im no coding genious, nor claim to be. Just hoped that this would help. Sorry if I stepped on any Wintoes. haha

You're doing it right DJYoshaBYD.
Thanks for sharing your good stuffs.

Valiumdupeuple wrote:You're doing it right DJYoshaBYD.
Thanks for sharing your good stuffs.

No problem. I got PLENTY more where this came from

One thing that I noticed, is depending on whether or not you have an aftermarket graphics card (nvidia, ATI, etc) and desktop effects running (also, it depends on whether or not you are running KDE with KWIN or gnome with compiz), you may notice some graphics issues. While these are WINE issues, you can fix them by using the following command as a regular user (NOT SUDO. NEVER run wine as sudo or root)

WINEPREFIX=~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/AbletonLive822 winecfg

That will open up the Wine Configuration program. In there, click on the "graphics", and UNCHECK the boxes that say:

Allow the window manager to decorate the windows
Allow the window manager to control the windows

This will help 99% of the graphic issues related to this install.

Ill be patching the script once I get better at it.

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

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.