Ableton Forum

Now that we all know about the coming wintel mac, what is the best setup for Live use for gigs? Most of you seem to be torn between the imac G5 and the powerbook or ibook. It will probably be awhile until the wintel machines come out so what is the best system until then? Obviously Sasha has been using the G5 imac and most other big names are using laptops.

What are you guys using to play gigs with? Which mac does version 5 run best on?

At the risk of seeming like I"m taking the piss (I had to use that phrase as I can"t spell fasetiou... fascetios.... you know what I mean)... it seems that the best Mac to run Live 5 on is a PC..... having said that I"m just about to shell out for a dual P G5.... not for running Live though. Sorry just quaffed two bottles of Chianti.

Happy Holidays

well its obvious that version 5 will run best on the fastest macs (G5s) available.

that said, i get by just fine with my 1.5ghz G4.
for gigs i'm never cracking 50%. and while writing i've never had freeze more than 2 tracks to get back some CPU. it helps that i use alternatives for some more CPU intensive plug-ins (Live's Reverb, using AUMatrixReverb or WaveArts MasterVerb instead - Live's EQ3, i use EQ4 to do the same stuff.) but at the same time i do use plug-ins that aren't the most effecient (Hydratone, Kontakt 2, iZotope Trash, etc.)

whatever mac you get, get at least 1GB of ram in it (preferably even more)
Live 5 on OSX runs soooo much better with more ram.

I never think to myself "damn, i wish i had a faster computer". But when the MacIntel's do come out, i'll get one and i will be using alot more Reaktor 5 at that point.
I used to own an Athlon 64 3700, and about the only difference in my workflow from then to now is i use Reaktor less.

2 x 2GHz G5 with Cinema Display. I never exceed 25% on the Live CPU, but I'm only running 6 audio tracks simultaneously max, minimum effects, no soft synths, but over 50 simultaneous MIDI tracks for lighting & video. But I need the rest of the power for Arkaos VJ, which is a CPU hog and will be until the HW version is released.

I don't mind the size or weight of the G5, but am looking forward to the Macintel Powerbooks. It remains to be seen how good the video for VJing is, though.

I read rumors there are new macs coming next month.
That, and they're flying job's ass to paris.
So they need somebody to make the high-priced stuff sound like the second coming...
I can hardly wait

G5 minimacs would be sweet.

I hear that this is what Sasha has been using lately.....

One thing that's nice about the iMac G5 is the small footprint of the unit.

Since everything is contained inside the screen, you can use the desk space right up to the front edge of the screen.


If you see how Sasha sets up his Maven, he has it pushed right up to the iMac screen.

I have noticed that while my laptop has a 17" screen, it still feels like I'm standing too far away from it if I place my MIDI controller on the table with the laptop behind it.

When I played a gig recently, I was cramped for space... so I placed my MIDI controller on the keyboard of my laptop. I found this much easier on the eyes, because the screen was closer to me.

So, for that reason... I really like the concept of the iMac.

Oh sweet! I need to dig out my old Apple IIc and use that! haha. Actually I still have Live4 that runs on a G4/350....works well enough. I cant run more than about 3-4 tracks though.

do any of you mac giggers use a mac mini (with a cheapo lcd panel) or is the spec too low?

I'm curious, because I guess Jobbo will try out the first wintels on the more 'disposable' coffee table end of his market first - IE wintel macMini and iMacs . Because the apps mostly run on those machines are mail and word processing, not requiring rosetta too much.

just pondering.

BTW :

this is a classic machine: my second 'puter - complete with Greengate DS3 sampling card(s) and lightpen. It's the IIe all the way kids.



that one aint mine .. but it brings back happy memories. I am sooo Old !

I was planning on getting one, the slower one actually. I heard it made little differance as far as speed. Jack it up with RAM and it should run Live 5 just fine. For around 650 including RAM you have a nice little machine.

Hang on... the G5 Mac Minis are just around the corner...

Angstrom wrote:do any of you mac giggers use a mac mini (with a cheapo lcd panel) or is the spec too low?

I'm curious, because I guess Jobbo will try out the first wintels on the more 'disposable' coffee table end of his market first - IE wintel macMini and iMacs . Because the apps mostly run on those machines are mail and word processing, not requiring rosetta too much.

just pondering.

BTW :

this is a classic machine: my second 'puter - complete with Greengate DS3 sampling card(s) and lightpen. It's the IIe all the way kids.



that one aint mine .. but it brings back happy memories. I am sooo Old !

About the mac mini. I can run all the projects on it that used no more cpu then 50% on the dual g5. (they run at about 65-70% on it without dropouts)

I would hold out for the g5 mini though.

I would recommend the powerbook g5

but at the moment i get on fine with an ibook

Angstrom wrote:do any of you mac giggers use a mac mini (with a cheapo lcd panel) or is the spec too low?

I run Live 5 on a mini and it works quite well (1gb RAM is a must), but if I had it to do over again, I'd probably buy a G5 iMac... I don't like seeing my CPU meter go over 50%.

that's the only kind of thread where you don't get COMPUTO going :" buy a mac !" and it's great