Ditching my current DAW or upgrading my PC for it.

[zklaus]

I sort of made the commitment to stick with Ableton Live (I have Ableton Live 9 Intro) when I decided to get Max 8 (I got a permanent license as part of a trade) a few months ago. As far as Max goes, I've taken the time to go through the Max tutorials and even some of the MSP tutorials. Overall, I like it and I've gotten over the initial learning curve and it's not scary anymore (but there is a lifetime of learning it, that never ends ).

Anyway, I had planned on upgrading to Ableton 10 (Standard or Suite) so that I can purchase Max For Live and then I'd be 'good to go' for a while. I think they give you $100 off if you have standalone Max. But, I had some unexpected financial issues/problems in Nov. and now I do not see myself picking up anything this year other than a soft synth or two....too many other things I need to take care of that's non-music related...etc....definitely not the $400-$700 I'd need for an Ableton 10 upgrade plus a decent PC upgrade and I have Push 1 and would like a 2 version as well. It's all gets pretty expensive once i think about it....but nowhere near as expensive as hardware was.

So I figured I have two or three options and know plenty of you here have been though something similar and could give some advice:

1) I can upgrade my PC a bit (while I have a little extra) and use Ableton Live Intro *and* Max standalone running together, it's not ideal but I can use loopmidi in order for them to 'talk' with each other)...then maybe the very end of this year or early next year upgrade Ableton....long time though...

or...

2) Say f*** it and ditch Ableton completely. I would then go with a very lightweight and inexpensive DAW as I do not want to get stuck back into a similar situation. For example, no reason for me to ditch Ableton and go with Bitwig. I would need a super light DAW, then I would need to see how well Max plays with the new DAW (it wouldn't take me long to figure that out so I could demo several)...If I found out running Max and a DAW at the same time is going to be an issue, I can ditch max for some software synths and be done with it all.

3) Third option is just ditching all DAW's and going with just Max and some VST's I have. I feel better having a DAW though, it would just be easier and I could focus on making music and less on learning things as Max involves learning. I do enjoy learning it though, it's not something I hate. It's a kick-ass piece of software, very powerful.

I'm sure there are a couple of other things I'd like some opinions on but I can't remember then atm and I've rambled on way too long anyways. All advice welcomed.

[Distorted Horizon]

Stick with what you have now and if your projects grow out from live intro.. Grab Reaper?

[Aloysius]

Upgrade your PC. Reaper is for noobs.

[thecontrolcentre]

I upgraded when Live went 24 bit. I got a custom laptop with as much RAM & SSD space as possible. No regrets. I use PUSH2 as well, and my RemoteSL integrates nicely with Live. I've been with Live since v5, so the prospect of learning a new DAW was a big part of the decision. I'm comfortable with my current workflow & setup.

[rlared]

Use the remaining money to buy whiskey

[W23]

As much as I love Suite, I honestly only use about 1/3 of all the stuff that comes bundled...like the M4L part, and Sampler, and (only sometimes) Operator. If you look around here in the Sell & Buy you can find Standard (or maybe even Suite) super cheap, I’ll bet. I did it all incrementally too, over a couple of years (student discount Standard, to Suite, and Push), when the price was right. You WILL need a fast computer if you go the Live route. Start with that first. Stick with Max for a while...it’s practically a DAW in itself. Live lends itself to performance so, if you don’t plan on performing soon, it won’t hurt to wait. Just do it when you feel the time is right, the deal is right, and the money is there

[zklaus]

Ok, this is an overwhelming response to just stick w/ what I have and upgrade (which honestly, I probably need regardless as Live runs the cpu pretty high at times). My first reaction was upgrade PC so I guess I was on the right track. I've been with this DAW well over a year so I'm comfortable w/ it anyways. Thanks all, I guess I need some type of confirmation at times.

I did it all incrementally too, over a couple of years (student discount Standard, to Suite, and Push ALL at a significant discount), when the price was right
Good tip, I can do it that way as well...

[fedexnman]

Handle your financial business . After that hurdle is over get your fix on . I'm kinda waiting on Ryzen 3000 series of CPUs before I build a new PC , that's the 1st thing I'm gonna do so I'm gonna plug along for now . I have to do some closet cleaning to sell stuff I'm not using guitars , software etc. etc .before I can justify new PC and stuff . So handle your financial stuff and make do is the best advice . If your track count gets out of control in Live lite or intro maybe pick up a inexpensive DAW like Reaper or a Tracktion/Waveform DAW , Mulab , or an out dated Bitwig license once 2.5 is released soon , I see some used out dated Bitwig licenses on the cheap after 2.5 drops .

[Tj Shredder]

I was using Max for decades without any DAW, only occasional jobs with ProTools (never owned it myself). When Max4Live came put I thought it would drive me back to a DAW, but it didn‘t. Later Bitwig did...
But still, the biggest advantage of a pure Max set is that its a completely different mind set as 95% of the music creating world. That will influence your musical outcome even if you later - or much later - go back to a DAW, you learned how to achieve musical results which you would not ever get an idea of if you are just bound to a DAW as tool...
My advice, take the financial difficulty you are in as a chance, devote your time to get into Max/MSP deeper and you won‘t regret it. Live would make you lazy, getting ready made tools which are limited within Live and locked in there as well.
The Cycling forums give you all the support you need to get you going. It will be a life changing experience...

I know you will have fun with it...