Plug-ins and processor

[Kirinyaga]

Hello everyone,

Whenever I use plug-ins (not in-built Ableton effects but “from outside” plug-ins as Guitar Rig, etc.) within more than 5 or 6 tracks, my CPU starts going wild. When it reaches 40% to 60%, playing the song becomes a problem: tempo fluctuates, sounds are distorted, annoying cracklings show up all the time.

I have a DELL laptop with following specifications:

- intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz 1.50 GHz
- 16 Gb RAM
- 64 bits
- I have 90 Gb free space out of the 476 Gb my HD offers

On my Ableton preferences, my buffer size is set on 512 (even if I set it on 1024 I still have the same problem)

Do you have any idea where my problem could come from? Would 34 Gb REALLY make a difference (I have several friend whose laptop has 16 Gb and they never had this problem)?

It’s terribly annoying, because I have to bounce my tracks into WAV files all the time to relieve my CPU a little bit, which is time-consuming while one is busy working on a song.

Thank you so much in advance for your valuable help!

Kiri

[slow.robot]

I'm not sure, but those clock speeds seem really low. even with 4 cores, if they're maxing at 1.5 Ghz, that seems bound to cause a bottleneck. I think most modern multi-core processors used for audio processing don't dip below 3 Ghz.

[DunedinDragon]

I think slow.robot is dead on with the speed of the CPU. My computer isn't a high tech monster, just a decent higher end PC with an i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz and 16 gb of memory and I never have any problems running multiple virtual instrument libraries. The problem with Guitar Rig or any other modeling plug in is they're computationally expensive as they go through the modeling process real time which is every time you run the the original dry track through them if you haven't bounced down the track. You can easily check this using the Task Manager and watch the impact on the CPU processing time associated with Ableton, but I'm going to guess it's very expensive computationally.

[yur2die4]

You have to be careful with CPUs. Looking into what the particular cpu line is meant to do (i7 isn’t enough, usually look at the letters at the end). It looks like these are intended for efficiency on thin laptops. Those can handle day to day things fine, but definitely won’t be performing the best with a ‘no matter what you throw at it’ situation, especially with Ableton Live.

As others said, that cpu limitation, in addition to core limit. 5-6 channels makes a lot of sense. As each instance might be processed with a particular core, as all 4 are already getting taxed, you’re asking one of them to push even harder.

[Kirinyaga]

Thanks to the three of you!

It definitely looks like it’s my CPU that’s not powerful enough.

So here is a last question for you: would you rather recommend buying a new PC laptop or changing my laptop’s processor? And if so, is it possible to change it on an HP laptop (I’ve heard those things can’t always be properly opened, etc.).

Thanks!

[yur2die4]

A lot of newer laptops, you cannot change the processor. It’s an annoying thing about today’s technology, which makes it all the more important to get the right thing.

But it’s also frustrating because we can just as easily try to ‘overshoot’ and buy something crazy expensive…. Or even buy the best there is and still find something it can’t handle.

So it’s smart to do a bit of research. Asking around. Figuring out your specific needs etc. (this might be the biggest one. To determine if a desktop vs laptop is the direction for you, also to determine if a moderately powerful computer like your friends have might be ‘good enough’ for what you’re trying to do.. or if theirs seem to ever have issues too??)

After all that though. Try not to get bogged down by all this. The reason you will be trying to get an appropriate machine in the first place is because first and foremost, you want to spend most of your time actually doing music.

[Kirinyaga]

I see. Nevertheless, I use my machine among others to play my backing tracks on stage (I am on my own on stage) and I stick my guitar and my bass in my soundcard and apply effects to them through Ableton’s effect racks.

I have a gig on November 4 and I think I will have to take the risk with my UPC peaking at 30 to 35%.

[yur2die4]

Yeah. The alternative is just knowing your options with the computer you have now. As long as you’re aware of what Not to do, you can still get plenty of mileage with what options you Do have.