Ableton Forum

Hi all. Just upgraded to Push 2 and am now shopping for a new laptop - need some CPU recommendations.

I previously used a Win7 desktop with quad-core CPU (i5-2500K 3.3Ghz), which performed well for me. I am hoping to purchase a high-end 13" ultrabook for portability. However, all these 3-pound (1.3 kg) ultrabooks feature dual core CPUs. The typical processor in these models is the i7-7500U 2.7Ghz. (By contrast, the new MacBook Pro features a quad-core i5-6267U 2.9Ghz.)

Do you think VSTs such as Massive, Razor, and Serum will perform well on this dual-core 2.7Ghz CPU?

FYI, I am only a hobbyist. I understand that my question is open-ended, and depends on how many instances of each synth I run concurrently, etc. Still, I am hoping for a general, typical-case recommendation.

Thanks in advance!

More cores the better my friend! Live basically assigns each plug you open to a core, so if you can get a four or eight core it will handle more polyphony and plugin instances. That said, if I use track freeze/bounce to audio responsibly I can still get by with a 1st gen i3.

Schmidi wrote:More cores the better my friend! Live basically assigns each plug you open to a core, so if you can get a four or eight core it will handle more polyphony and plugin instances. That said, if I use track freeze/bounce to audio responsibly I can still get by with a 1st gen i3.

This is not correct. What is true is that each track is tied to a specific core. All plug-ins in the same track share the same core.

If you have 4 cores and for example 8 tracks, each core has 2 instruments plus other plug-ins to handle. There's also overhead and other running processes.

Serum has its own multicore support. For some multicore supporting plug-ins it pays off to toggle that off or on to see if that improves performance. This is different per plug-in and I'm not sure if there is consensus on which needs what.

Razor and Massive have no multicore support as far as I know.

I share your sentiment on that more cores are better (up to a point I haven't reached, I suppose).

Thanks, guys. Definitely leaning towards the quad-cores!