Ableton Forum

I am new to Ableton and digital recording having received a demo copy of Live Lite 6 with my Toneport UX2. I really like using the Ableton software which seems to be way easier to use then the Sonar Home Studio 6 XL I am also running. I'm considering purchasing the full up version of Ableton Live 7 but had a few questions before going ahead with the purchase.

First, my recording computer specsare as follows:

HP m1170n running Windows XP Media Center with Service Pack 2
3 GHz Pentium 4 processor
2 gigs of ram
200 gig hard drive
300 gig external hard drive
Line 6 TonePort UX2 audio interface
KRK RP5 speakers
AKG 200 Perception microphone

My main intrest is in recording both electric and acoustic guitar over drum and backing synth tracks. Nothing too complex.

I have read some posts in other forums about problems with running recording software on Windows XP Media Center. The demo version of Ableton Lite 6 I have seems to be running perfectly right now as does the Sonar software. I did take the time to follow the musicxp.net web link instructions on optimizing my computer to run recording software (turning off unnecessary features). So my questions are:

How many of you are running Ableton Live on a Windows XP Media Center operating systems?

For those that are, have you experienced many problems? and if so were you able to correct them easily?

If I elect to buy Ableton Live 7 and find I'm having problems getting it to run on Windows MCE, how difficult would it be to install Windows XP Professional in place of MCE? I don't want to have to reinstall all my current applications.

I'd like to avoid having to purchase a new computer in order to use this software since it isn't a small investment in cash. Hopefully, I'll be able to have success running Ableton on my current computer. I believe other then havint MCE as an operating system, the compter ist self should be capable of running Ableton software. After all, it appears to be running the Demo version just fine right now.

Thanks in advance for your replys.

Hi jetmech3421,

I run Ableton 6.0.9 on my windows media center with no issues at all. I have also run ableton lite in the past and other recording software. My audio interface is a presonus (firewire) firebox and has no issue on mc either.

I have been running Live versions 5 through beta 7 on a media center PC. I have never had problems.

I don't use it as a media center, though - I removed the video capture card to make way for a better audio card and I never use AWAY mode.