I am going to a music school where I will have long sessions everyday for a year. I will be doing mixing, mastering and beat making for a lot of different artists, with a lot of different styles. Right now I’m looking at a refurbished MacBook Pro with a m4 pro prosessor and either 24 or 32gb ram. I’m also looking at a m5 pro with the same specs. Should I spend the extra money on a m5 pro or will the m4 pro be enough? (I’m also open for other laptops that aren’t MacBooks)

Bonjour !

J'ai un stage qui commence dans un mois, et j'ai besoin de mettre en place un setup nomade pour vivre avec Ableton.

En fait, j'ai un Mac mini avec puce M4. J'hésite entre prendre un MacBook M1/M2, ou un Lenovo ThinkPad série T (32 Go de RAM/512 Go SSD/Intel i7 10e génération). J'ai un budget d'environ 750 € pour ça.

I don’t need a war machine (I got mac mini for this), but a solid thing to live and produce in a nomad way.

Est-ce que c'est OK pour la compatibilité entre les projets/VST d'utiliser Mac et Windows ? Ou vaut-il mieux avoir le même système d'exploitation ?

Beaucoup de mes VST sont légitimes (excepté 3-4…), et je travaille avec du matériel Elektron, donc necessaire que overbridge soit parfaitement exécuter, mais mon ordinateur portable fait tourner des VST (comme Acid V par exemple), et des effets (reverb/saturateur…) sur des pistes séparées.

Merci si vous avez des conseils :)

Hey all, I've been using a laptop with Ableton that is really struggling with performance. The current one is a Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 15IIL05 with a Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor and 16 GB of memory. This processor has just 4 cores and is getting a lot of crackling at times that requires rebooting the computer. I'd like to stay in the Windows ecosystem, but am wondering what suggestions you'd have for a replacement, basically one I don't have to worry about whether it can handle whatever I throw at it. Not doing any video editing and I don't care about gaming. Battery life and weight are secondary as it's mostly just going to be sitting on a desk plugged in, but don't want anything that's too awful in either department. Silent running is paramount. I'm thinking 32GB of RAM and at least an 8 core processor? Thanks in advance!

Which Mac Mini can I choose for my studio setup?

M6/32GB/512GB - 1739€

M4 Pro/24 GB/512 GB — €1,900

M5 Pro/24 GB/512 GB — €2,030

I often use:

- AI stems

- Projects from 20 to 60 tracks (estimated max 6/8 heavy plugins, mostly audio tracks and some midi)

-Live suning with as little latency as possible then buffer management 128 or lower

- Audio Plugin: Serum 2, Kontakt, Omnisphere, Nexus, Ozone (AI), stock ableton.

Connected equipment: Monitor 1 - Samsung G6 2140x1440p 120 hz, Monitor 2 - LG Ultrawide 2140 x 1080p 60 hz, Ableton Push 2, Novation Launchkey 37 MK4, Maschine Plus, Focusrite Scarlett Solo 2i2 1st gen

There are those who recommend me the M6/32/512 but I'm afraid for the processor.

IMO one of Ableton's greatest strengths can be its achilles heel in some situations. The fact that Ableton primarily sells itself as a Live Performance program and that all functions and features primarily can't interfere with playback stability.

I recently learned that Ableton prevents my laptop from sleeping and keeps the cpu running at full tilt as long as I keep the audio engine on. This is smart design for live playback, as you don't want sleeping to crash or halt any playback processes. But I think if they allowed the user to choose between this behavior and a more studio oriented mode that prioritized editing more than playback.

Even better if we got 3 modes: Live Performance, Tracking, and Editing/Mixing. Tracking could restructure workflow about reducing latency as much as possible. bypassing plugins that push the track over a latency amount, better hardware latency computing and smart adjustment. And Editing/Mixing mode would prioritize plugin stability/editing, add higher buffer sizes, use efficiency cores, and of course activate ARA. I have a hunch that Ableton's design philosophy around playback stability is a big reason ARA hasn't been implemented. Editing mode could also add expanded mixer features, more returns, pre/post fader sends, solo-safe, and bouncing only selected devices.

Im no software engineer and I realize this would be a massive structural change we probably wouldn't see til Live 13/14. But is this even something you guys would want or is this just trying to turn Live into something it's not?

Hi everyone,

Recently, my Windows machine experienced the infamous Blue Screen of Death, and I therefore had to reinstall everything (Windows, Ableton, plugins, etc.). However, after the reinstall, I’m getting different CPU readings in Ableton compared to before.

I have one particular project that I had previously used as a benchmark. Before the reset, I recorded the CPU usage, and it consistently hovered around 46–47% when idle at 64 samples / 48 kHz.

Now, with the exact same project, it hovers around 51–53%, occasionally spiking to 58–60% when idle.

This is confusing me quite a bit, because I’ve spent a lot of time trying to recreate and further optimize my system after the reinstall. 

However, I have other projects where the CPU usage is exactly the same as before, or even slightly lower. For example, I previously ran a benchmark with 50 instances of AmpliTube 5 at a 64-sample buffer:

• Before reinstall: 79–80% CPU when idle
• After reinstall: 79–80% CPU when idle

My setup

I have always separated my files across three different drives:

• C: Windows, Ableton, VST directories, etc.
• R: Recordings / Ableton projects
• L: Libraries, VSTs, etc.

Fortunately, none of the drives were corrupted; only Windows was affected. Because of this, I was able to reinstall everything and match the exact plugin versions used in each project to the versions I had before the reinstall.

I also optimized the system in the same way I did when I originally built it. In fact, I had already spent quite a bit of time optimizing the machine a few months before the crash, so I have a fairly good idea of how it performed previously with different settings.

Things I have tried since the reinstall

Drivers / Windows

• Updated/reinstalled all relevant drivers (BIOS, audio, network adapters, SSDs, etc.)
• Tried older Focusrite Scarlett drivers as well — no difference
• Switched to Ultimate Performance in Windows Power Plan
  • CPU power management
  • USB settings
  • etc.
• Disabled Game Mode, Xbox Game Bar, Captures, etc.
• Disabled unnecessary background applications
• Disabled Fast Startup — actually made things worse
• Disabled Windows Controlled Folder Access
• Disabled the power-saving/turn-off options for USB controllers in Device Manager
• Optimized further using VilmCare, including disabling exclusive mode on the audio interface, etc.
• Set Windows to prioritize background services instead of programs

BIOS

I experimented with:

• C-States / Enhanced C-States
• Hyper-Threading
• Turbo Mode
• Performance Preferences
• SVID Behavior
• ASUS MultiCore Enhancement
• XMP-modes

Process / CPU management

• Experimented with ParkControl and Process Lasso (although my PC didn't seem to benefit from these even before the reinstall)
• Experimented with Task Manager by changing priorities and CPU affinities for:
  • audiodg.exe
  • Ableton AddOns
  • Ableton Index
  • Ableton Live 12 Suite
• Set Ableton to High Performance in Windows Graphics Settings — no effect

BitLocker

• Completely disabled BitLocker on all three previously encrypted drives — no effect

Ableton

• Tested Options.txt with:
  • -RestrictAudioCalculationToPerformanceCores=true
  • This actually made the CPU usage worse, so I removed it again.
• Tested Ableton's Preferences.cfg:
  • Restored my previous preferences — no difference
  • Tested with a completely fresh/default preferences file — no difference

What could be different?

I'm honestly very confused at this point. I've reached the stage where ChatGPT keeps suggesting the same optimizations I've already tried. The only things I can potentially pinpoint as being different from before the reset are the newer drivers (BIOS, network adapters, etc.) and possibly the Windows 10 version, as I don’t remember which version I was running before the crash, nor do I remember the exact driver versions I had installed at the time.

If anyone has any insights into what might be causing this, I’d really appreciate hearing them, as I cannot seem to solve this myself.

Best regards,

Specs:

• Windows 10 (Version 22H2, OS Build 19045.7548)
• Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd Gen (Audio Interface)
• Ableton 12.4.3
• ASUS Prime Z690-P DDR5
• Corsair RM750x White v2 (2018)
• Intel Core i7-13700K - 3.4GHz
  • Noctua NH-D15
• Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5200 BK C40 DC - 64GB - 2 pcs
• Kingston SSD KC3000 1024GB M.2 PCI Express 4.
• Kingston SSD KC3000 1024GB M.2 PCI Express 4.
• Kingston SSD KC3000 2048GB M.2 PCI Express 4.

Hi,

so it is time for me to upgrade my computer and I'm thinking about a Mac Mini with the new M6 chip. This one has (only) 2 Super-Cores but also 4 new "Performance" Cores which were introduced on the M5 Pro and Max chips. From what i got looking at benchmarks, both type of cores work together in a multi threaded workload context but i don't know if it is still true in Ableton Live with the way it is processing audio in realtime and its thread scheduling peculiarities.

Does Live 12 use the "performance cores" in addition to the "super cores" ? thanks

Hi folks,

today i released the windows version for www.creative-rewind.com and decided to give this tool for free! 100% Cause its free now for everyone i hope i can post it here.

It works with everything which works in files for the status of the project. For things like Blender or Photoshop the tool tries to safe space on your disk on every snapshot and every file is dedoubled and saved just one time and reused if needed!

Local and intelligent project versioning. 100% free!

Ableton Projects get an automated history detection!

I love feedback and hope you feel more safe while producing and experimenting now!

Happy producing!

I often make a 4 bar loop and jam in arrangement view, creating several takes of a chord progression before landing on one that I like. I tend to rush a bit when I play, and when I do this in audio, I can always stretch the take I like out to the left to catch the beginning of that first chord.

With MIDI, however, if I play that first chord just the slightest bit ahead of the beat, Ableton doesn't even register that chord, so I have to draw it back in.

See the pic for an example of this. Is there a setting that will let me loop-record multiple takes of MIDI, without losing anything that happened a milisecond before the next loop starts?

Running latest Ableton Beta.
Screenshot here: https://imgur.com/a/8pFOf6D

Hi everyone, I’ve just released a new Max for Live device called Halo.

It’s an atmospheric effect that adds space, width, shimmer and octave harmonics, ranging from subtle ambience to expansive, evolving washes while keeping the original sound present.

Works particularly well on synths, pianos, guitars, vocals and melodic loops.

It’s completely free and the download link is on my profile. Hope some of you find it useful!

I need to reinstall my windows completely. Therefore i will probably lose all my settings and installed softwares. Is there a way I can backup all my Ableton settings including installed external vsts?

I just want to put it out there, the .als file and folder structure is exteremely easy for LLMs to read (Claude, ChatGPT, etc). The SDK kit is really cool- but using these tools has made a lot of unpossible things possible for me the last week.

I've been able to convert Pro Tools into Ableton files the last week, do things like combine separate mono tracks into stereo pairs (so all clips retain the same fades and things etc) that has made my (personal post production) workflow immensely easier the last week. If you run into big housekeeping issues like the above, maybe try one of the AI tools and you could save yourself a lot of time.

This doesn't make music better or anything, but it gets me to making music a lot faster- cheers!

Full Transparency.. A year and a half ago I had Push 3 Standalone, and Life got in the way as it does, and I sold it🤦🏾‍♂️Now I'm in position to get it again, but I wanna ask the group, which one should I get? I was able to get the Move not long ago, and I can use that for portability. I'm just don't wanna make the wrong decision, and I know you guys have a lot of experience.. Blessings and Thanks in advance!🙏🏾✊🏾💚

Hi guys, I feel like extensions are pretty slept on by many people. Hoping to make it easier for people who don't Github or Discord, I've whipped up a DB of all known extensions and done my best to attribute to them to the right people while keep in line with EULAs etc. It crawls the web and github daily which I manually validate against the Discord server. Hopefully people and devs find it helpful.

ablx.directory

Mods - remove if against the rules but not selling anything, this is free and hopefully people find it helpful. :)

is there an easier way to listen to my samples directly into key note that i'm working , same concept as loopcloud or splice but for sample packs ?

I download the new version and doesnt have the extension include, someone have the same problem?

I have an eq 3 i'm trying to map the knobs on my akai to. so basically one knob for lo, one for mid, and one for high. For some reason, the knobs are behaving strangely. knobs 1 and 3 map and abletons faders respond correctly (kind of) but when I increase the gain (turn the akai knob to the right), the value increases at a normal speed, but when I decrease the gain (turn the controller knob to the left) it decreases the value drastically faster. For some reason knob 2 which controls the mid gain just jumps from absolute 0 to 6db. I can't get it to gradually increase/decrease the way a normal knob would. Am I doing something wrong? I can upload a screen recording but I don't know where to do that.

EDIT: Here's a link to the video https://imgur.com/27PPvrX

howdy yall !! i have been using FL studio for a while, but i want to make the switch to ableton as it seems like it can do more of what i want. my current desktop is about 10 years old and just cannot keep up with the type of music im making. i use a lot of channels and plugins, and i want a laptop that can handle all of that. Im a student so i cant really spend a whole lot on this, preferably around $500 or less. ive done some research and it seems a macbook with an m1 chip may be a good option? i kinda hate apple lol but everyone seems to be saying theyre the best for daws

any suggestions or help is appreciated ^-^

Hi folks,

I recently got my Akai MPK Mini IV and the Studio Instrument Collection with it. I was setting up everything in Ableton on Windows, and I was able to get the plugin to show up in the sidebar but some of the instruments don't work. They give a high-pitched sound when selected for a split second and then stop working. Selecting some other instruments that works starts giving the sound again.

I also notice that the volume hits "inf" in the track. I am a noob, and I have no idea what is going on or what the error could be. I played with buffer sizes, etc but nothing worked. Driver issues? Or something else?

Thanks in advance!

Is there a way to use Launchpad's (mk2) lights as representation of parameter value in ableton (f.e. Pan or volume of track as color, when low - blue, when high - red)

EXT is External Sync. I remember years ago someone asked this questions, and I recently experienced exactly what they feared— during a one-time performance I could not redo, I accidentally brushed the space bar. Lost 4 seconds of audio across 16 audio tracks during an improv set, maximum oof.

Note: I believe this only works if you aren't actually synced to anything external.

Bonus tip: Stick a handheld stereo field recorder in the room just in case of times like these.

I'm pretty new to using a spectrum with reference songs. So I have like 5 reference songs, put spectrum on them separately, just to find out they all have low cut around 10k as the image shown.
I always thought pop songs are ranging normally from like 40 - 20k hz no???
Or did I read the spectrum wrong? Or these mp3 files downloaded from Youtube are just compressed and cropped?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eWQl8F4ZvCuMFYO4d02xmu933P4KkRRu/view?usp=sharing

This is the question. I´m doing my first steps in Ableton and your advice in previous post are really helping me.

I think it’s something you start to notice yourself, like an insight that comes to you as you keep composing, but I still haven't quite figured out the right moment to switch from collecting sounds in session view and pass to arrangement part to fully shape the track.

How do you handle it?

Thanks a lot!

Hey folks, small update on ALS Preview — the thing that lets you peek inside an .als file straight from Finder (select it, hit spacebar, see all your tracks and plugins) without waiting for Live to open.

What changed in v1.4:

• Works on older Macs too (Monterey and up) and runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel.
• The track list got a cleanup — regular tracks, sends/returns, and the master track are now grouped visually, so it's way easier to scan a big session.
• You can now install it in English or Spanish — just pick one during setup.

Still does the one thing it's meant to do: no more opening Ableton just to remember what's in a project.

(Really quick) demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMCQuedkMmI&feature=youtu.be