Ableton Forum

Ok, my student loans due soon and i was considering buying an apple laptop seeing as im a design student, just wondering if anyone can make any specific reccomendations in order for it to run Ableton with little or no hassle?

Id want to ideally use it for playing sets eventually, so what sort of external plug ins would i need? Sorry to sound so novice about it all, ive been using turntables for 5-6 years now and just feel like adding something diverse to my sets.

Help greatly appreciated!

P.S: It has to be an Apple

Do you plan on running Photoshop or any video editing apps?

If so, DEFINITELY get the PB.

(15 years of draphic-design, retouching and editing)

If not, its a wash... do a search.

Id probably just be using it for a bit of PS and flash, nothing too strenuous, i have a dual 2.5 G5 at home for the heavy stuff like DVD editing and all that lol. I was considering the 14" iBook with 1GB Ram, can get that without a superdrive and with a case for a shade under £1,000 not including student discount

What about peripherals, obviously ill need some sort of phono output device or something?

there's some good discussion about apple laptops in this thread:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

I think the new devices and new features of Live 5 make it easier than ever to use without the need for 3rd party plug-ins.
Especially if you have Operator as well.

Personally, i find myself being able to get work just fine only using Live 5 + Operator, Hydratone from www.tritonedigital.com , FinalPlug from www.wavearts.com , PSP MixPack from www.pspaudioware.com , and Automat (FREE) from www.alphakanal.de
All the plug-ins i mentioned are $149 plug-ins.

I own alot of other stuff from Native Instruments, EAS, and PSP but i hardly ever use it as regularly as i do the plugs i mentioned above.
The included effect and instrument devices in Live 5 are pretty capable, and you also have free plug-ins like the AppleAU's that are included in OSX, the Fish Fillets bundle, Supatrigga, LiveCut, Zoyd, and so on.

Hardware wise, i would go for a 15" Powerbook.
the 14" iBook still only has 1024x768 resolution, and for doing design stuff, you will want the higher resolution screen.

DanClarke wrote:Ok, my student loans due soon and i was considering buying an apple laptop seeing as im a design student, just wondering if anyone can make any specific reccomendations in order for it to run Ableton with little or no hassle?

Yes, wait until after the September Paris Apple Expo! You're still waiting on the money? well wait a few weeks more and see. there is a very strong possibility that the powerbooks are updated, and even if you decide to get an older one, the ones out now will drop in price a bit.

Funny how it is? If I was DJ with Live on a mac, I would definitely get Altiverb, about the best sounding impulse reverb I've heard, but that's me.

there is a very strong possibility that the powerbooks are updated

I have my doubts about this. And even if they do upgrade the PB, I can't imagine it would be substantial.

I guess we'll find out, though.

subterFUSE wrote:

there is a very strong possibility that the powerbooks are updated

I have my doubts about this. And even if they do upgrade the PB, I can't imagine it would be substantial.

I guess we'll find out, though.

It probably won't be substantial you're right. Maybe 1.8ghz, if I'm lucky 2ghz, but here's something that most people don't take into account on a forum dedicated to one of the big three tasks you can do on a computer, audio....... most people, especially mac owners, don't care about speed. They do however like to think of something they buy as "new". So Apple will probably release one more G4 powerbook before the macintels roll out, and the Paris Apple Expo is probably the most logical choice IMO.
So substantial or not, if they do release new powerbooks, then the old ones go down in price.

AdamJay wrote: Personally, i find myself being able to get work just fine only using Live 5 + Operator, Hydratone from www.tritonedigital.com , FinalPlug from www.wavearts.com , PSP MixPack from www.pspaudioware.com , and Automat (FREE) from www.alphakanal.de
All the plug-ins i mentioned are $149 plug-ins.

Hi AdamJay,

I'm quite interested in a new EQ, I've got iZotope Ozone for my mastering at the moment, but I'm not always happy with the EQ... How does Hydratone compare to the PSP MaterQ? I'm thinking of investing in one or the other...

So Apple will probably release one more G4 powerbook before the macintels roll out, and the Paris Apple Expo is probably the most logical choice IMO.

In their ideal world, this would definitly be the case.

But there is a simple reason why Apple switched to Intel.... because they had no other choice. Steve Jobs is about the most stubborn CEO who ever lived.... its a trait that got him fired from Apple years ago, and is more-or-less responsible for making the PC the dominant platform worldwide.

He would never join forces with Intel unless he was absolutely given no other way out.

IBM simply could not supply Apple with chips for the future, and they've been standing still for years now waiting on them.

So, I feel less confident about any kind of significant improvement on the G4 PowerBook platform.

But that's just me..... I could be wrong.

sorry guys, when i said plug ins i meant as in an external controller like a midi device, e.g Sashas Maven, that sort of thing. Sorry for not making that clear

Powerbook or iBook with M-Audio Ozonic.

MIDI interface, 4 x 24-bit audio ins & outs, MIDI controller with lots of knobs, slider, buttons, joystick, 37-key keyboard, everything you need in one box.

The Ozonic is even bus-powered. Everything goes down a single Firewire cable. You can even run the whole rig off of your Powerbook/iBook battery.

If you need a controller AND an audio interface. I wouid go with the Alesis Photon X25. Endless knobs, 3d controller, audio in and out (and with the ability to use the onboard soundcard for mix cuing in 10.4), you will be SET. The m-audio ozonic doesn't have endless knobs - which sux - and mine got STUCK and broke off after about a year.

not to sound like a complete tool, but these look more like keyboards, isn't there something more along the lines of a Mixer more akin to a mixer used with decks, eg:



?

The lack of an endless knob on the Ozonic sucks. That's why I added a Powermate for scene selection.

The Photon X25 looks pretty useful, though.