I just downloaded the Live demo for v11. I was expecting it to be lower on CPU given that it's running natively but to my surprise it's registering 45% whereas the intel version (v9) is only 35% for the same project.
Is that to be expected? Note, these are the same buffer sizes. I also heard the native version performs better with lower buffer size but this wasn't true either. Instant pops and crackles at 64 samples. What am I missing?
Ableton Live 11 vs Live 9 running on M1 isn't more performant
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- KVRAF
- 4340 posts since 8 Mar, 2005
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- KVRer
- 7 posts since 2 Oct, 2023
This all also highly depend on your audio device, other programs running on the machine etc.
The x86 emulation on the M1 is extremely good that's why you don't see a lot of difference (but there is and it matters on large projects as it compounds fast, especially in term of latency as the x86 translation with rosetta can introduce some delay).
The x86 emulation on the M1 is extremely good that's why you don't see a lot of difference (but there is and it matters on large projects as it compounds fast, especially in term of latency as the x86 translation with rosetta can introduce some delay).
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- KVRAF
- 2472 posts since 25 Sep, 2014 from Specific Northwest
It also depends on optimization. ARM processors do have Neon for SIMD support, but there are a few features missing compared to SSE/AVX. Rather than doing some hand-optimization, I think some devs may be relying on the compiler for autovectorization. My DAW also runs a touch more CPU on ARM vs Intel, but not enough for me to worry.
Regardless, if you use native plugins, that's where you'll see some great CPU gains, depending.
Regardless, if you use native plugins, that's where you'll see some great CPU gains, depending.
I started on Logic 5 with a PowerBook G4 550Mhz. I now have a MacBook Air M1 and it's ~165x faster! So, why is my music not proportionally better? 