Ableton Forum

As if Live's performance wasn't already bad enough in the past on Macs (been on Live since 2.0), it seems to have gotten worse with Live 5. In the same vein as the "tired of poor performance?" thread, I wanted to start a new one cause I'm also getting quite sick of it. I absolutely love what Live could be, but they've left the Mac optimization issue on the shelf yet again. Whether I'm using the Mac's outputs or the Digi002R as my interface (add an extra 20% cpu usage with that one!), certain parts of the song gets so sluggish, audio dropouts, looping a given area always clicks on the 1 beat, and a bunch more...

DAWs are evolving at a much faster pace than cpu's can handle. I have a 1.25ghz Powerbook with 1MB RAM and I can barely get any work done if I dare to experiment with the new features like complex warping, and even less with the AudioEffect Groups feature. The latter is a welcome addition but a couple of instances on a few different tracks and my cpu goes tits up! I don't even have any reverbs or delays yet, I'm still arranging the piece and I'm hitting the 60-80%, swaying back and forth, it's utterly unacceptable!

Barely 12 tracks in and it all starts to go pear-shaped, it often takes all the motivation out of creating. I now have to export each bit and import into ProTools to keep working, it really, really sucks. Debates I've read about Live being designed mostly for live performance and not so much as a studio DAW are irrelevant to me. It is marketed as a studio DAW as much as any other sequencer, period, and it is by far the least stable of them all.

And, not to open this old can o' worms, but add the 'sound engine' issue to all that, and Live loses even more gloss. Again, I realize that's an issue that had some people scratching their head in wonder, while a good majority did agree that whether it sounds better or not, Live's summing buss does sound quite different than other DAWS. Fine for composing, but a crucial mixing session belongs elsewehere, imo.


All that said, don't get me wrong, I do love Live, but for crying out loud Abes, get it working a little more smoothly on Macs! You're at version 5, get with the program!!!!

DAWs are evolving at a much faster pace than cpu's can handle.

To be more precise about what is happening... DAW software is improving with time.... but Apple computer company has been standing still.

Apple's development has been slowed to a crawl by IBM and their inability to supply improved CPUs... especially for the laptops.

This is why Apple is moving to Intel. They simply have no other option but to make this move, or else they'll continue to lose the performance edge they once held so comfortably.

Do you really think Steve Jobs would make the decision to team up with a PC chip manufacturer lightly? He had to have been shitting his pants to make that move. It's obviously a decision which was forced on him.... without any possible alternatives.... because it's about the last thing anyone would ever suspect.

Obviously the true reasoning behind the Intel switch has been painted in a positive light.... but if you really think about it, you can sense the truth is being hidden in order to maintain appearances. And this is no surprise... Apple must protect its brand.... Apple has relied on its brand since the beginning, and it can't afford to lose the customer perception of higher performance.


That's my opinion on the subject, anyway...

What would you say if Apple should (almost) stop manufacturing computers and focus on iTMS and new video iPOD's instead?

alright L5 works supreme for me, im on a pb 1.33 12" but before i trashed my prefs i had the same symptoms as you described.

try trashing your prefs and see if these problems go away. the prefs for the betas and everything.
honestly, the internal hardware in apple computers is practically the same-so if mine works fine so should yours. (except for external interface)

I have an ancient 667 Ti but L5 seems pretty good all things considered. Not as efficient as Logic but what is?

your configuration problems seem to be outta wack (like mine were). Make sure that you don't have complex warping mode on your tracks. Per the manual, each instance of complex warping can take up to 10 times as much CPU usage.

I was hitting the 80% barrier as well with 8 tracks as well (hardly any effects), but then I turned off complex and went to beats mode. I went down to UNDER 28% CPU usage w/ delay, 3 EQ, and supatrigga on each track turned ON. That's a remarkable reduction.

I use a 1.67 Ghz, G4 Powerbook btw.

rob.

Hi all. I was having some CPU probs too--and found that a significant reduction was to be had by making sure that I didn't have "Aggregate Device" selected as my Input in the Live Prefs. If this is what you have, I'd suggest selecting just your input card or whatever (in my case a Tascam 1884). I also suggest Compiling tracks you've done wierd looping and start/stop stuff to. Leave the old ones untouched in an older file if that helps.

Mac for life, btw!

Pax.