totally end my inspiration: cpu maxing out.

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:07 am

about 3 weeks ago I decided to make a live set from scratch. cause I was tired of my old tunes and thought it would be fun to start a mega session from scratch with live-ness in mind. So it went beautifully actually and over the first week I got about 30 minutes worth of stuff into that session. I even recorded myself a "practice live set" and I've been listening to it on my ipod kinda feeling giddy about it.

the i start making fine tunings and the cpu reaches it's limits. crackles, pops, drop outs. you ignore those for a while but then frustration settles in. Then I start thinking "what can I mix down(freeze/flatten) to audio?" so I do that to a couple of parts. but then messing with it a little more and sure enough cpu maxing out again. It got so frustrating I haven't touched the set since. I hate working with only audio so I don't want to mix everything to audio loops. And I can't afford a new computer as I thought I could soon but seeing as I'm getting calls from the bank to pay my bills I guess computer is out of the picture.

just venting. not bagging on live or anything. It's just very frustrating to reach the limits of your computer and have to make compromises in order to move on. So frustrating in fact that it's completely haulted that project just because I get too frustrated when I try to work on it.

come to think of it, all of the songs I've actually finished over the years (few and far between) were most likely only finished cause I got lucky and didn't max the cpu out. f*ing sucks.

eskribble · Post by **eskribble** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:04 am

I know EXACTLY what you mean. It seems my computer is holding me back. I can't use live like it's meant to be

. I have to seperate my mix just so my computer doesn't vomit on me and that just throws everything off for me. Live is amazing my computer unfortunately isn't.

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:08 am

as outdated as my g4 is I refuse to believe that it's not a capable machine. someday I'll upgrade of course but come on I should be able to do f*ing tons on this thing and sometimes it seems that I can't finish a simple song of audio + 5 or so effects which is just sad.

I seriously ponder what it would be like to make music without computers. I have a bunch of machines but I don't use them to their fullest probably cause "the computer can do more"

I almost think I'd be happier with an alesis mmt8 and a few more effect racks + one more sampler (already got the nord lead/juno 106/akai s612, could easier do with that and cpu wouldn't f*ing crap out) and just say fuc* off to the computer world.

philipc · Post by **philipc** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:31 am

Its frustrating I know but really even if I had a computer 10x more powerful than the one I do now i'd still max it out without breaking sweat sometimes

Then again, on other projects i barely push the thing above 25%.

But for every leap in CPU power, someone codes a better sounding more processor hungry bit of software. So in return money gets piled into Intel etc and they keep pushing up the speeds...its mutually reinforcing and I don't think it'll ever end!

elektrovert · Post by **elektrovert** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:25 am

Lads!
come on??
First off, what's wrong with rendering your loops too audio?
they'll still sound the same.
Secondly, look how powerful computers are these days, they're SERIOUSLY powerful.

Stop upgrading to the latest software when it comes out.
do you need it?
Probably not.
Why do you need all those gigabyte romplers?
It seems to me like a lot of people dump older software for newer stuff just coz it's there.
I upgraded from battery 1 to battery 2 when it came out, and to be honest, I still prefer battery 1.
I use 2 occasionally but it kind of kills my laptop, and I still like the kits in battery 1 so why should I upgrade just coz its technically better?

Look at what people were doing with Atari STs and Akai S01 samplers and the like.

work in 16 bit instead of 24 bit.
compromise your system (within reason) to get what you want done.

otherwise you'll never finish anything.
New software is ALWAYS gonna be pushing your machine to the limit.
You have to stop chasing it sometime.

minimal · Post by **minimal** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:27 am

good advices elektrovert

another option: buy hardware so you can unload your computer, like I did with a monomachine an an mpc and a pulse

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:42 am

elektrovert wrote:Lads!
come on??
First off, what's wrong with rendering your loops too audio?
they'll still sound the same.
Secondly, look how powerful computers are these days, they're SERIOUSLY powerful.

Stop upgrading to the latest software when it comes out.
do you need it?
Probably not.
Why do you need all those gigabyte romplers?
It seems to me like a lot of people dump older software for newer stuff just coz it's there.
I upgraded from battery 1 to battery 2 when it came out, and to be honest, I still prefer battery 1.
I use 2 occasionally but it kind of kills my laptop, and I still like the kits in battery 1 so why should I upgrade just coz its technically better?

Look at what people were doing with Atari STs and Akai S01 samplers and the like.

work in 16 bit instead of 24 bit.
compromise your system (within reason) to get what you want done.

otherwise you'll never finish anything.
New software is ALWAYS gonna be pushing your machine to the limit.
You have to stop chasing it sometime.

it's hard to bounce things to audio because audio is much less flexible than a plugin. sometimes you don't want to bounce it cause you aren't sure you want it to stay that way yet.

2, I don't use gigabyte romplers. and I don't upgrade to the newest software just cause it's there.

I don't use any plugins that are cpu intensive. I use lives own built in plugins and a couple of extras.

I already do work in 16bit instead of 24bit.

I know what people were doing with old school samplers, I have an old school sampler myself. the limitations of old school were different than software limitations. the old school machine didn't say "maybe I can do 10 more things and maybe I can't" whereas software does say "maybe I can do 10 more things and maybe I can't" so when you're using an old school machine you simply accept it's limitations as apposed to software where you think "maybe, just maybe, I can get away with another eq in this tune."

personally I think I would enjoy working with old school machines more than I enjoy software. I've been buying gear alot over the last year but I don't quite have enough that I could ditch software, someday I actually might though and then continue using live as my multitrack recorder and mastering device.

I mean, I've tried simply having 10 tracks of audio in arrangement view. full audio tracks no cut up stuff or anything. and an eq per track. not even possible on my powerbook g4 (WHICH IS A GOOD COMPUTER THOUGH SOME MAY SAY OTHERWISE).

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:02 am

there is always of course the argument that "look what people used to make with less capable gear" but I think my point is that the less capable gear never reached a point where it would crackle and pop and drop out audio (unless it was breaking) which is a total buzz kill and interupts workflow like crazy.
there is also the factor that touching real machines is always such a pleasure and inspiring. I tend to record my macines into live, the first half of the project goes smooth because it's midi sequencing of external gear, then things end up in live and I start applying eq and compression and other effects and as soon as I know it the song is maxed out.

if you're workflow isn't effected by bouncing down to audio then more power to you. or maybe you enjoy that process. I personally just don't enjoy it and thats what this is supposed to be is something you enjoy.

sonsofthehounds · Post by **sonsofthehounds** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:18 am

i just upgraded to a macbook from a g4 powerbook as I was in exactly the same predicament....just maxing out on the cpu and it killed the workflow completely....

All i can suggest is that you make all your efforts to upgrade...I never thought I'd be saying this but now i'm only using the macbook, live and a controller and it's pretty much all I need. Going from a powerbook 1.5 ghz to the macboook core2duo is like night and day.....tracks that maxed out on the g4 are sitting at 15% on the macbook and it's not even breaking a sweat...it's seriously that powerful and I payed 300 quid less for it than I did for the powerbook new so you can't even front on the price.

If you're in this rut it's the only way out....I think you already know yourself....people that say....'well all these classic albums have been produced on way less gear' are correct in saying that but missing the point that you personally would like to work with the extra power that benefits your music, plain and simple.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:16 am

elektrovert wrote:Lads!
come on??
First off, what's wrong with rendering your loops too audio?
they'll still sound the same.

....
work in 16 bit instead of 24 bit.
compromise your system (within reason) to get what you want done.

...

just a quick note on this - rendering to 16 bit instead of 24 bit will not save you any CPU, Live uses 32 bit internally even if you are using 8 bit samples. The bit depth settings for clips and rendering only relates to what gets written to disk. Once it's in Live it's all 32 bit. And those 32 bits are what your CPU is munching on.

BASSbüro · Post by **BASSbüro** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:24 am

...and even if you use the bit-reduction (redux) effect it's still 32 bit.....he, he.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:44 am

as super nice as live is, the CPU efficiency sucks, period.

no matter how fast your maschine is.

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:17 pm

hey Johnisfaster, do this new mega set in Live 3 if you can. Live 3 will not max out your CPU, it won't crash either. my laptop is a powerbook g4 as well and i literally can't even launch Live 6, well it takes about 3 minutes. previewing regular audio clips in the browser hangs on each one for 30 seconds. not to mention it crashes if i look at it the wrong way. the whole thing is a mess. i'll use it on my dual core intel but on my laptop i only use Live 3. i wouldn't dare take Live 6 on stage, with any computer.
i'm just saying...

Rogue Scrunt · Post by **Rogue Scrunt** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:47 pm

no midi in live 3

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:09 pm

Rogue Scrunt wrote:no midi in live 3

exactly.