Live = CPU drain whoa!

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:17 pm

I am coming from Logic, where I can run almost 5 times as many plug in instruments and effects. I'm not sure why...

One thing I just sort of 'figured out,' my kick drums are all 4 to the floor, so instead of using an impulse or 3-4 simplers, I set up kicks as clips using follow actions, and it consumes much less CPU.

Are there any other little 'tricks' like that you could recommend?

There's no turning back now, I made the plunge and I prefer live much more and have made it my main compositional tool. The sidechains drain the HELL out of Live when compared to Logic, I couldn't switch to Live until they were implemented, but now I see that they might have a couple bugs to work out...

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 4:29 pm

j2j · Post by **j2j** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:06 pm

why the fuck did you bump this after an hour and two minutes?

are you going buy the cpu monitor bar in live?

Lives cpu monitor bar has a bug they don't bother to fix...

use activity monitor... yikes!!

I can run so many plugs and gizmos its not even funny, I dont know how to freeze tracks, ( although it might be a left click or something )

mbp 2.2 c2d 2 gigs ram

considering some people have 8 core desktops...

tw1nstates · Post by **tw1nstates** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:12 pm

I have the same problem with Live

Macbook 2gig core 2 duo 2 gigs ram

Basically bussing, sends and (as you seem to report - sidechaining) all seem to kill Live.
Minimonsta is also a massive hog in Live in comparison to Locic.

The workaround I have been using is do the layouts in Live and the mixdown in Logic 8.

It's a pain though cos I love the fact that live makes automation and getting stuff to groove by using the track above as a visual reference kicks ass. . .

I hope that ableton address this at some point. . .

Cheers
TS

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:21 pm

j, ya douche. There were 20 users online

Thanks guys. Weird. I'm not really trying to rant so I won't mention more problems but I would like any insights or wisdom on saving cpu resources from a workflow standpoint if you have any

pribeh_tom · Post by **pribeh_tom** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:28 pm

what setup?

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 6:10 pm

It's a dual 2.7 gig G5. 6gigs RAM
I have narrowed the problem down a bit, It;s sidechiaing, but also VSTs with multi outputs and Drum racks are KILLING my CPU resources.
I am not going by the meter, I am just using my ears, Live craps out at about 50-60% though...
It's choking with one multi out Nephetone, and one Drum rack using 8 simplers, no effects beside 5-6 sidechained compressors...wierd.

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 6:31 pm

is Logic really more Cpu freindly than Live? I have read that before... so if it is, then is there a difference in Audio quality, not saying Live audio sucks, just was wondering.
anyone do a project in both apps and notice any differences between the two??
thanks.

blank · Post by **blank** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 6:38 pm

Just to know

what is your global sample rate in live ?

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 6:44 pm

i'm at 41000 ,
where can I bring up the activity monitor on a mac?

thanks

Caymus Cab · Post by **Caymus Cab** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 7:12 pm

^ nevermind, found it...:-0

Dunno if I am reading it correctly I am showing about 58% CPU usage under Activity Monitor (for Live 6 only), then Live's CPU meter is showing about 25% CPU usage... is that normal???

thanks!

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 7:52 pm

Caymus Cab wrote:is Logic really more Cpu freindly than Live? I have read that before... so if it is, then is there a difference in Audio quality, not saying Live audio sucks, just was wondering.
anyone do a project in both apps and notice any differences between the two??
thanks.

Yeah it is. In older versions I did an extensive test to failure using Absynth 2, and an 800mhz powerbook. Logic could run 8 instances hitting a single note with a huge delay tail, Live could run five. I repeated it with other devices and the numbers came back at around Logic maxing out = 100% cpu usage VS Live at around 60-65%
Live runs every open soft synth, track, clip, effect, etc. as needing to be active 100% of the time, so it quite naturally takes more CPU.
Logic is very leanly coded in these terms, it's leaner than Cubase, Digital Performer, and Sonar as well.
That said, Logic doesn't have Session View, win for Live.

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:08 pm

This is a bummer, but I am working around it... Live is running about 1/2 of Logic's capability, but seems to handle audio 10 times better, so it's just a matter of changing up my approach a little, getting further in to follow actions.

I did this with some kick drums, and other sounds usgin the 'play again' action.

What about 8th note high hats? how would you apporach getting clips to loop playback but startng at posiitons other than 1.1?

The one thing is that you can't bounceor freeze tracks with active sidechains, because the sidechain won't reflect proper modulation with regards to the arrangement, until I do the arrangement (I do the arranging in realtime using knobs and faders etc..)
I am stumped on this part as far as changing up my workflow. A million great techno records get made in Live, thanks to the session view (ever use touch tracks in Logic? It really is a joke.) I just might have to change it up a little...

tw1nstates · Post by **tw1nstates** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:44 pm

It's very frustrating for the reasons you mention. I also use busses a lot so encounter the same problems.

I wish Live would enable us to freeze busses / sidechained stuff.

The freeze thing could be cool if you could unrender parts of the frozen track then render again and it would recalculate delay / reverb tails etc. . .

it's funny on here cos I think that a lo of the time people are venting frustration cos they know how creative and cool the software is and how it could be sooooo much better with just a few tweaks

My 2 yen anyway.

it's still a cool app tho

blank · Post by **blank** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:15 pm

Just to tell, there is a good article in the sounds on sounds current issue regarding multi core threading and the various issues surrounding it.

They don't talk about live directly but they talk about the « a track by core» method.

there is the link for the webzine members

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan08/a ... n_0108.htm

-B