I am considering buying a new computer because of Ableton sluggishness but I don't want to do that before I am absolutely certain that new computer will solve the problems. I made this test project with Live and I would like somebody else to load it and test a few things. I must say I am most interested in Win7-64 quad core laptop but other quad configurations like macbooks or desktops are interesting data too.

The project is simple, it has nothing more than 50 MIDI tracks with Sylenth1 loaded in each one. The numbers that I want to know are (use a timer clock, e.g. your cellphone to measure them):


1. how long does it take for you to load Ableton Live. From the moment you press the mouse button over Ableton Live icon to the moment that Live window has finished loading and is ready for you to work. (for me this took 14 seconds).

2. how long does it take for you to load my test project, from the moment that you press mouse button over "Open" button until the project has finished loading. For me this took 1min 43 seconds!

3. in this test you click a track in the project (arrangement view), then press delete button, then click the next track and press delete button, in total you delete 10 tracks one at a time and measure the total time it takes for you to delete them. Do this as fast as you can (without using shift and choosing multiple tracks). For me this took 22.5 seconds.

4. Now you load again the original project, after you have loaded it, you press the cross in upper right corner (that quits ableton live), and measure how long it takes from this click until Live has closed. For me this takes 10 seconds.

After you have finished these tests, reply to this thread and tell also your computer configuration, what processor, how much RAM, which OS version, SSD or harddisk, which Ableton Live version, which Sylenth1 version, etc.

Btw. my configuration is Lenovo Thinkpad SL510 core2duo T6670, 2.2ghz, 6GB RAM, 256GB Samsung 830 SSD, Live 8.2.8, Sylenth 2.211






My test project can be downloaded from here:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19692605/sylen ... -test1.als

Thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it.

link doesn't work, i am on a mc quad core 2.2 and would be happy to load your project as i have both live 8.3..3 and sylenth

Dling now

Just so you know, live launches in exactly six seconds here.

WOW project loading time was 42 seconds. terrible. That was agony.

Delete was instantaneous per track - 3 seconds to delete 11 tracks

BUT... still much better than your posts so far

Project quit/close = 3 seconds


Mac specs:

8 GB ram, 1GB radeon 6750m, 2.2 quad i7, 750 HDD 7200rpm, snow leopard 10.6.8, Live suite 8.3.3

i give you my word they are my exact figures, so obviously that is a huge improvement for you

hope that helps:) cheers
Last edited by TheoM on Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:25 pm; edited 4 times in total

edit double post

1: 34 sec
2: 1 min 28
3: 18 sec
4: 7 sec

Acer Aspire X3812 core2quad Q8300, 2.5ghz, 4GB RAM, 1000GB Hitachi, Live 8.2.7, Sylenth 2.202
Last edited by carrieres on Fri Jul 13, 2012 1:40 pm; edited 2 times in total

oh forgot to say i am using the sylenth NON beta.. the last official version

3 seconds? You'd be pretty fast and agile mouse clicker if you separately deleted 11 tracks in 3 seconds so I assume that you used shift...?





Helps definitely. Can you still elaborate, is it an imac or macbook pro or something else, and which year model (with thunderbolt or without)..?

Almost as slow as my computer except for startup which is much longer. Does your startup take that long if you disable VST plugins?, that is horribly long.

But what is strange is that you have 2 cores more but still almost as slow as for me. Which year model is that, and with windows version?

btw.. do you get the same times with both AU-version of Sylenth and VST version of Sylenth...?

Still anybody with newer Win7 quad core machine...?

And thanks very much for those that have helped already.

the project will not load with au version of sylenth it looks for the vst...

i am not going to replace 50 instances of sylenth sorry.

I used the DELETE button keyboard to delete the tracks.

In other words, i highlighted one track, and just pressed delete as fast as i could 11 times.

it was like 3 or ok let's say 4 seconds.

the response was instantaneous, no delay.

As far as the macbook, 2011 model. macbook pro.

loading time will not be improved by a quad core, only the cpu usage will improve, i will load more diva than you
win7 64 bit installed 27/10/2009 and with hundreds of plugins

Well there must be a bottleneck somewhere that causes these long waits. I changed hard drive to SSD and it did not effect the loading times so the bottleneck is not a hard drive. I doubled the amount of RAM to 6GB and it did not really effect and the projects even don't have that much plugs so it cannot be RAM either. So essentially the only thing that is left is CPU, I suppose.

Did you test startup time with VST plugs disabled...?