Break free from Apple and Microsoft

wibelr · Post by **wibelr** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 4:22 pm

I would like to see Ableton help create a new standard of music production that breaks Music producers free from the dependencies of Apple and Microsoft OS software and PC Computers. Music production is specialized and requires specialized dedicated software and hardware and support.

1. Have a rack-mount self contained (no PC computer needed) hardware CPU device that has Ableton Live built into. It will fully be designed by Ableton for Live and/or other Ableton software.

a) No more software license agreements and iLoks.
b) No more software incompatibility issues.
c) It will be running on Abletons own Operating System, software, and hardware design.
d) Software and Hardware fully upgradable and manageable by Ableton.
e) No more worries of illegal use of software.
f) Built strong for stage and studio work. Not a delicate Laptop.

2. The Ableton CPU will have video out, keyboard In and other I/O's for visuals and control of the Ableton CPU.

3. If more processing power is needed, Ableton CPU's can be scaled/networked together.

4. Can network other companies CPU's together with Ableton CPU's.

a) Like Digital Performer, ProTools, Sonar, etc.....
b) Can network PC's to the CPU's if needed.

5. Can connect hardware audio/data I/O interface devices to the Ableton CPU's.

a) Can have a rack of I/O interface devices that ALL ( Digital Performer, ProTools, Sonar) networked CPU's can share.
b) Have digital audio/data busses to the networked CPU's that ALL CPU's can share.

I think this will make music production more rock solid and dependable, give developers more control in developing, managing and maintaining their products, give us powerful and dependable tools, and create more jobs. Let's break free from the dependencies of Microsoft and Apple. They belong in the web, email, video, office, games world.

WibelR

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:06 pm

I was thinking about this a while back, and I like the idea.
I guess price is the key concern in any enterprise like this and would determine whether Ableton would choose this path.
They would have issues of compatibility with third party plugins, for both AU and VST, that could cause some problems. I don't think many people could get by with only ableton products so they would need those VSTi and AU to be supported.

So although it sounds great on paper, it is probably unworkable and none too profitable.

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:23 pm

CPU is an acronym for "central processing unit", not an abbrieviation of 'computer'.

Other than that, what you really want is Live on Linux and a list of certified hardware...

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:58 pm

TBH
I skimmed the thread itself. In the words of another (grumpier) forum user TL;DR
I assumed he wanted something Like a Muse Receptor with Live sticker in it.

OriginalSpaceMan · Post by **OriginalSpaceMan** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:37 pm

I would love this too, but I don't really see it happening. This is why I spent a lot of time turning my PC I run Ableton Live on into an appliance. Sure, it technically runs Windows, but you wouldn't know. It also doesn't store any data directly on the drive it runs on and I sheriffed the hard drive so that no matter what happens (virus, etc.) I can just reboot and it's back to the way it was on day 1.

forge · Post by **forge** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:26 am

I think it's unlikely - it has been discussed, but I dont think they'll do it - too much re-inventing the wheel and I really dont think it would be worth their enourmous effort

but it's looking like Windows 7, possibly out next year, will be modular which means you will buy the components and add on any extra crap, which means you could buy a minimum version I guess - I'd like to just get the kernel and bare minimum to run what I need - all my applications are non microsoft (mail, net etc)

OriginalSpaceMan · Post by **OriginalSpaceMan** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:01 am

forge wrote:I think it's unlikely - it has been discussed, but I dont think they'll do it - too much re-inventing the wheel and I really dont think it would be worth their enourmous effort

but it's looking like Windows 7, possibly out next year, will be modular which means you will be the components and add on any extra crap, which means you could buy a minimum version I guess - I'd like to just get the kernel and bare minimum to run what I need - all my applications are non microsoft (mail, net etc)

Yeah, hopefully that will turn out well. If anyone is interested, I just use nLite to remove all of the excess bloat from my installation.

http://www.nliteos.com/

forge · Post by **forge** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:09 am

OriginalSpaceMan wrote:
forge wrote:I think it's unlikely - it has been discussed, but I dont think they'll do it - too much re-inventing the wheel and I really dont think it would be worth their enourmous effort

but it's looking like Windows 7, possibly out next year, will be modular which means you will be the components and add on any extra crap, which means you could buy a minimum version I guess - I'd like to just get the kernel and bare minimum to run what I need - all my applications are non microsoft (mail, net etc)
Yeah, hopefully that will turn out well. If anyone is interested, I just use nLite to remove all of the excess bloat from my installation.

http://www.nliteos.com/

interesting - does it help in any way other than minimising the Hard disc space used by windows?

at the end of the day, over the years I've tried various different tweaks and removing bits and pieces and if there was any performance increase at all it was so minor it didnt affect me

truth is, by taking so long to update windows MS have done us a favour because after 6 years XP is pretty damn stable and there is very little reason to do anything to it - you can download different programs from all over the place that do anythign you want and I find if I'm not actually using certain features they dont affect me, and hard disc space is so cheap now that whatever the unneeded crap in Windows takes up is negligible

it looks a bit ugly, but I can live with that - I've tried skinning it but ended up deciding it wasnt worth the bother - plus I make screen captures for tutorial videos so I need it to be standard

and sweetjesus on this forum knocked up a little utility to load Live as the Shell so if you really want to you can not even have to look at it and just load explorer and any other applications when you need them through task manager, make the title bar black and change the '3d' of windows to a slightly different shade of grey and it's barely noticeable

I use Object dock for my application icons

personally, I do prefer OSX in some ways, but they are mostly to do with things like the IAC driver and Core Audio and being able to switch on your MIDI controller without quitting Live, things like that, but they are minor things and I can get around them

once an XP install is up and running and stable there is little reason to question it really, XP is definitely more configurable and I do like that