Maximum PC

Hey, I'm a recording artist now and I use Ableton Live 8 Suite for my studio, Now that I've gotten better and producing my own work, my CPU will easily bog down under all of the effects I load into each project.

I'm thinking about building a desktop computer, what would you recommend for a good processor with at least a dual core because thats what the software supports.

Any suggestions? I can also give you my current specs if you want that.

I suspect you are one of the few people who would truly benefit from running a i7 920 or one of it's bigger brothers.

I don't think ableton supports hyperthreading, so you may want to consider turning it off at least in the short term, it may help.

Are you looking to just replace the cpu? If so what mobo do you currently have?

If you are open to a whole new mobo as well, your options will open up a lot more, but so will your costs.

In general, I'd say loading up on RAM and cpu cache are probably good ideas.

My motherboard that I'm keeping supports the 1066 FSB...
I found this one while looking on newegg earlier... do you think it'll be sufficient?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115056

Thanks for ya'lls replies btw...

I think it might be helpful to know how much ram you have and what your current cpu is

Here are the system requirements.



If that's all they're asking for then it doesn't look like you need a monster rig to run it.

But I KNOW that I need more power. In the program, it shows a percentage mark for your CPU usage and it can easily go up and beyond 100%. When it does that, everything bogs down. Yeah, its not required or recommended to simply run it, but to have everything running perfectly Ableton needs more than what the website says.

What do you currently have?

2.2ghz amd dualcore, not sure how much cache, but with 3gb of ram
(laptop)

How many tracks and effects do you have to have running in order for your system to start acting up?

I'm running Sonar 6 Producer on my 1.5GHz dual core laptop and have never had problems.

Have you checked to see if there is any background processes that might be interfering?

Of course it depends on how in-depth the effect is that I apply, but let see.... running simutaneously, it'll generally take about 30ish

and when I'm working on a very intrinsic song that you're working on, then you are going to use that many if not more to get each sound perfect.

Yeah, I've even opend up task manager to check that,but you can tell that it's Live because when it plays the sounds at the same time you can see when the cpu is loaded up as much as itll hold...

Do you need to be able to control those effects in real time? IIRC, you can make static recordings of the effects on the track, and plug them in to reduce cpu hit.

I really don't want to make static recordings. The benefits of having the ability to change each effect on the fly greatly surpass those of going without.

I need to know if this CPU will be efficient or not. Not ways to bypass it and make the music creation process harder on me.

It's a socket LGA775 motherboard that supports FSB speeds of 800 and 1066. If I have to then I'll consider upgrading my motherboard. But can I please get a yes or no answer out of someone with the link I posted above? It has 3 times the amount of L2 cache that I currently have, and the speed will be .8 Ghz faster than my current laptop.

Sorry, but it's a little frustrating.

Well, it would certainly be an improvement, it is a beefier proc. As to whether or not it will fulfill all your dreams, its hard to say, but the price is good, and you should get better results. If it were me, I'd probably pull the trigger, and then deal with any shortfalls in performance afterward by tweaking how I was working, rather than the equipment that I was working with. But your willingness to trade money for performance is a factor.

I would suggest pawing through the ableton forums (http://forum.ableton.com/) as well, they have a huge assortment of tweaks, tricks, and tips. Turning off HT is one that people generally recommend.

One idea may be to run a second computer with ableton, synched to the first computer, but I don't know how that would play out with licensing. I believe Ableton does allow multiple use, especially when two rigs are running the app simultaneously, but I could be wrong.

You should explain how one would actually synch computers to improve a programs performance....(I didn't think it was possible due to lag over any means of connecting the two computers)
I'm also about to build a pc for ableton, I was wondering what kind of processor/mobo(probably one with integrated video as I don't need a graphics card till crysis2)/ram

What is a easy liquid cooling setup and are the radiators quiet?

Thanks,

It would probably be much less confusing and more productive if you started your own thread. Be sure to give details on what you have , your budget, and what the shortfalls are with your current rig(s).

The information on syncing is in Ableton's FAQ's, and there are any number of google searches which will turn up the topic explained in articles, blogs, etc.

The second question would be better off in another area of the forum with a new thread, likely the overclocking and cooling section.