KVR Audio

netsound · Post by **netsound** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:55 pm

Ableton Live 4 CPU PIG? Processor usage 20% higher then other hosts. Just check out the task manager processor usage % while running live with plugins and softsynths.

Why is that?

Yea, so what if there is timestretching?

Does processor usage bar in Live lie?

Ableton!!! everyone is following in the steps of intel and microsoft. Just make us pay double for 5-10% increasse in speed. 10% more features 10% more stupid de-evolutionary useless functions that slow down the music making process on the computer!

I just want to make music, not learn how to!

FaX · Post by **FaX** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 8:38 pm

mindrise wrote:Ableton Live 4 CPU PIG? Processor usage 20% higher then other hosts. Just check out the task manager processor usage % while running live with plugins and softsynths.

Why is that?

Yea, so what if there is timestretching?

Does processor usage bar in Live lie?

Ableton!!! everyone is following in the steps of intel and microsoft. Just make us pay double for 5-10% increasse in speed. 10% more features 10% more stupid de-evolutionary useless functions that slow down the music making process on the computer!

I just want to make music, not learn how to!

If you're on PC there is something seriously wrong with your system . LIVE flies on a PC (quite well known fact in thr Abes forum).
My task manager seems perfectly fine when using it.
Hell I can rewire a Good Quality Reason 3 piano Combinator + Mastering Combi with REV7000 for example and play 8 note chords and not pip 5% task manager CPU usage.

Don't know what's up there mate but something isn't right.

Midiworks · Post by **Midiworks** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:07 pm

8ghz dual cpu maybe ?

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:33 pm

What version are you using, mindrise?

I found Live a CPU hog until the 4.1.1 fix. I even posted, just as you are, my malcontent!

I did like-for-like tests with Tracktion (my previous host) and found that Tracktion was up to 40% better in terms of CPU efficiency. I corresponded with Frank Hofman at Ableton. He did similar tests.

Not long after that the Abes released 4.1.1, in which I repeated the tests... and found that Live now actually is more efficient than Tracktion. So there is a big improvement as of that update.

Now we have 4.1.2, which seems not to have changed CPU consumption! (although other issues have been adressed this time!)

I think that the Abes perhaps *did* let us down by releasing 4.0 too early. THe public beta was throwing up all sorts of issues... but they have responded well, and 4.1.1 onwards is running very well indeed on my laptop, which is only a P4, 512 Mb, 4200rpm.

feyshay · Post by **feyshay** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:51 pm

I have not looked at my CPU consumption in a while with Live. In the past, it would run several percent. Now without anything running, just some MIDI and audio tracks loaded but without synths, I'm running 18%!!!. However, when I loaded Operator (an Ableton synth) and patched it to another audio track, and then rewired Reason with a Combinator and played, I only went up to about 25%. It seems like just having Ableton open is costing a huge CPU. I am running 2% without Ableton running. I can usually do a lot within Ableton but had no idea of the CPU hit with just opening the program.
Hmmm...

BTW. I have a Pentium M 1.4GHz with 1Gb RAM.

aldi · Post by **aldi** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:17 am

please can all who thinks its not a cpu pig say how many plugins they are able to load of maybe princeton Reverb 2016 Plug-in. i can load 6 instances in live but 10 in ext and tracktion on a athlon 2000+ before the system hangs.

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:27 am

Hi aldi.

I think you have a more powerful system then I do... must upgrade to 1gb RAM

Anyway, I can load 3 full-on Ambience reverbs in Live 4.1.1, but only 2 in Tracktion 1.6 before the system hangs.

Similar results (relative %) were obtained on a Mac G5 by Frank Hoffman.

I was recently playing with a "monster" synth with a very complex patch going through a reverb. My lil'ol' 'puter was struggling in Live 4 but coped OK. I was interested to see how *others* would fare, having had problems in Live 4 in the past. So I tried the same patchs in FL5 and Tracktion. Both gave out.

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:33 am

[sidenote]...

I think that the *problem* here has a lot to do with VSTs in general, rather than the hosts. The fact is that in Reason 2.5 I can run more than 30 synths/effects without my laptop blinking. But in ANY host, I often have problems after 6 or more VST plugs are running.

I *mostly* use Reason for sounds (for obvious reasons in view of the point just made!). Live 4 is obviously a great ReWire host for Reason. The other two aldi mentions can't do this... eXT is not yet ReWire compatible. Tracktion is, but the famous ReWire bug drops the first beat or so of Reasons output - ouch! Unusable! Maybe someday Tracktion will develop into a good (bug-free) program, though...

aldi · Post by **aldi** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:43 am

that is interesting. main reason for not buying live 4 was allway, that both other hosts have given me much mor plugins before overload. i'll do the test again with ambience reverb. would be nice if some more people can post results here (with any plugin you like (but sure, same on both platforms)).

FaX · Post by **FaX** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 5:54 am

aldi wrote:please can all who thinks its not a cpu pig say how many plugins they are able to load of maybe princeton Reverb 2016 Plug-in. i can load 6 instances in live but 10 in ext and tracktion on a athlon 2000+ before the system hangs.

Don't have that reverb - that said I get plenty of headroom and never seem to run out of juice for the projects I do on my laptop.
That said live sits on 0% when open here ....
Uses 1% CPU for every 3 audio clips without effects also.

netsound · Post by **netsound** » Thu May 05, 2005 2:20 am

I have a dual athlon 1.37g ghz and 512mb I can rarely run more then one zeta+ for the patches i need to use. I have no problem running a lot of loops. But I only get to run 1 or 2 good synths(zeta, tera, imposcar) oh and the pspwarmener plugin for compression for my songs. I don't like bouncing cause I don't settle on the sound until i kmow where i'm going...

stale bread · Post by **stale bread** » Thu May 05, 2005 3:15 am

what os tweaks if any has everyone here done?

netsound · Post by **netsound** » Thu May 05, 2005 3:31 am

the usual, minimal services, tweak xp, adjust for performance, background processing

drez · Post by **drez** » Thu May 05, 2005 4:02 am

mindrise wrote:I have a dual athlon 1.37g ghz and 512mb I can rarely run more then one zeta+ for the patches i need to use. I have no problem running a lot of loops. But I only get to run 1 or 2 good synths(zeta, tera, imposcar) oh and the pspwarmener plugin for compression for my songs. I don't like bouncing cause I don't settle on the sound until i kmow where i'm going...

I've had nothing but problems if I enable Hyperthreading with Live4. You might be having a problem because you have both of your CPU's enabled?

FaX · Post by **FaX** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:27 am

drez wrote:
mindrise wrote:I have a dual athlon 1.37g ghz and 512mb I can rarely run more then one zeta+ for the patches i need to use. I have no problem running a lot of loops. But I only get to run 1 or 2 good synths(zeta, tera, imposcar) oh and the pspwarmener plugin for compression for my songs. I don't like bouncing cause I don't settle on the sound until i kmow where i'm going...
I've had nothing but problems if I enable Hyperthreading with Live4. You might be having a problem because you have both of your CPU's enabled?

That should not be happening.
Live 4.1.1 onwards Auto Assign's CPU affinity to CPU 0 on start up .
I have Hyperthreading enabled and it doesn't cause any problems what so ever .