Ableton Forum

I've got a Powerbook w/1 GB RAm and a 1.25 GHZ G4 processor. I can run Live 5.2 on it ok, although I'm kinda pushing the envelope. How about Live 7? I know it's within the recommended specs, but am I going to be struggling all the time?

does Ableton even make a version of Live7 for non intel macs?

adventurepants_ wrote:does Ableton even make a version of Live7 for non intel macs?

Yes. It would be very foolish of them to do otherwise, as there is still a huge base of non-intel users they'd be missing out on.

anyhoo to answer your question, it would run like crap anyway. too slow, too little ram.

Download a demo of 7 and try out your Live 5 projects on it?

On my old powerbook (800MHz/1Gb) Live 6 felt much better than Live 5.

Ultimately, the main point is Live doesn't utilise Altivec/Velocity Engine (the G4's big feature), so at some point you are going to be less able to use Live's current (and future) functions.

If you were happy with the performance you are currently getting with the G4 and Live 5, I would say go to 7, because relatively, the hit from the later software version is less that the hit you are already taking for using a G4.

But since you say you are just scraping by . . .

I jumped from 5 to 7 (see specs below) with a few days on 6, and 7 seemed to run better than 5 on my system. Could have been a skew in my perception, but I was using more devices and racks and Drumracks, and she just purred right along. Good luck.

live 6 runs ok on mine, but I'm also a bit reluctant to jump to live 7 for the same reasons until I buy a macbook !!

I only started from 6 and now on 7. Does Live5 have track freezing?correct me if i'm wrong.

With Live 7's ( and even 6's) track freeze function, you'd be able to get a lot more out of your powerbook.

i like the fact that you can still edit frozen clips (something that even Logic 8 is sorely missing; once a track is frozen in Logic, you can't even touch it)

You'll be able to free up so much cpu that way, still be able to edit your arrangement and also do more complex projects on a mere powerbook.

mrsakitumi wrote:I only started from 6 and now on 7. Does Live5 have track freezing?correct me if i'm wrong.

With Live 7's ( and even 6's) track freeze function, you'd be able to get a lot more out of your powerbook.

i like the fact that you can still edit frozen clips (something that even Logic 8 is sorely missing; once a track is frozen in Logic, you can't even touch it)

You'll be able to free up so much cpu that way, still be able to edit your arrangement and also do more complex projects on a mere powerbook.

Yes. I believe Live 5 was the first version to offer track freezing.

PowerBooks are underpowered. That's just the way it is. That said, 7 has some fun new stuff going on, so I would say upgrade now anyway. When you get a new computer you can move 7 over to it. Using PowerBooks with Live is all about being minimalist. That won't change. I'm tempted to say the limitations of a PowerBook are a good thing, but really, they're not a good thing at all.

Serato Scratch Live runs like a champ on my old 1.5 g4 PB 512. I wish Live did too.

Pitch Black wrote:Download a demo of 7 and try out your Live 5 projects on it?

On my old powerbook (800MHz/1Gb) Live 6 felt much better than Live 5.

Ultimately, the main point is Live doesn't utilise Altivec/Velocity Engine (the G4's big feature), so at some point you are going to be less able to use Live's current (and future) functions.

If you were happy with the performance you are currently getting with the G4 and Live 5, I would say go to 7, because relatively, the hit from the later software version is less that the hit you are already taking for using a G4.

But since you say you are just scraping by . . .

+1

I'm running Live 7 on a powerbook 1.5GHz w/1.25G ram. I definitely like Live 7 better than previous versions. So, go deh!

I run live on my macbook with only one gb of ram...it's fine! I also run reason at the same time!