LIVE 8 PERFORMANCE TEST - Results Here

[Cej]

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter 14% peak - 13% stable
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? MBP 17" (2011)
3) Operating System? 10.6.8
4) Ableton Live version? Live suite 8.2.2
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 2.3GHz i7
6) Amount of Ram? 8GB
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? RME UC - driver v1.59
Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? Apple SSD
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

How are you getting this kind of performance? Mine is a 2.0 Ghz MBP15 (current gen) and I get about 25-30% usage.

Also your results are better than some desktop sandy bridge cpus that are clocked faster!

@teejay ^^^ so I did the Live performance test a few times today and......

without my soundcard switched on I had mixed readings nothing ever stable, Abes Live CPU Meter was bouncing all over the place sometimes 17% - 24% other times 22% - 27% (playback tracks = 8 )

then I turned my soundcard on and changed the audio output device to the RME, Abes Live CPU Meter 14% - 15% >>> stable and rock solid at 15% (playback tracks = 8 )

also atm - Live suite 8.2.5


IMO > the way to get an i7 to really get down and boogie is to have your OS on an SSD
i7's have hyper threading technology, basically if you think of the cpu as a highway of info and the amount of cores represent lanes on this highway for information to travel along, HTT allows more lanes on the highway, but.... like all highways they have often have bottlenecking problems once they become busy
I believe with the Live performance test, the bottlenecking effect that chokes the cpu comes about from multitasking reverbs

SSD's have better IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) and can process (read & write) info at least 3x faster than a platter HDD = less bottlenecking
With a healthy amount of RAM it will help the highway of info at the on/off ramps if they become congested from multitasking

If you didn't know this stuff, I would like to mention that I only use my SSD strictly for OS and programs, important stuff I have on a platter HDD (my projects/files/data/libraries/samples/presets etc.....)
>>> the downside of an SSD is once they're cooked - thats it!!! no more info!!!!
(I have a 1st gen SSD & i7 in my pc desktop purchased in August 2009 and is still rocking along nicely)

If you do already know this ^^^ then please excuse my waffle

[teejay]

Thanks Cej for redoing the tests.

I agree, even my numbers were all over the place with the internal sound card - I wonder why, the older ones weren't this erratic.

Anyhow, once I connected an external sound card (like a Saffire LE) the numbers were a lot more respectable.

As for your comments on SSD, yes it does make the whole machine seem a lot faster but i'm not sure it increases power in any way. Just helps load up your applications/samples really really fast.

This is my config:

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter 17% peak - 16% stable
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? MBP 15" (2011)
3) Operating System? 10.6.8
4) Ableton Live version? Live suite 8.2.6
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 2.0 GHz i7
6) Amount of Ram? 4GB
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Saffire LE
Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 500Gb 5400 RPM Drive
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

[skatr2]

Also note that alot of people who are posting their mac stats are doing so without an external soundcard running...to give a better idea of the default range of their machine. If someone posts an i5 and another an i7, but the i7 has an external soundcard, that could skew whether the upgrade between the two would be worth it to some.

[strode420]

So these were my old laptop:

1. Ableton Live CPU Meter: 66%
2. Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model?: Macbook Pro 2007
3. Operating System?: 10.6.7 OSX
4. Ableton Live version?: 8.2.2 Suite
5. CPU Make, Model, and Speed?: 2.16ghz CoreDuo
6. Amount of Ram?: 2gb 667 mhz
7. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? : MOTU 828mk2 Firewire
8. Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? : 5400rpm
9. Number of playback tracks? : 8

Ugh....

New desktop

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % - 20% (no soundcard) 19% (MOTU 828mk2 FW400)
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? iMac 27"
3) Operating System? OSX 10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.6 Suite
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 3.4ghz i7 quad
6) Amount of Ram? 4gb
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? MOTU 828mk2
8 ) Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 7200
9) Number of playback tracks? I got to about 60 (@79-80% CPU) before it started clicking.

Should help the workflow a little bit

[teejay]

Seems like Lion has much higher CPU usage than Snow Leopard.

Under Snow leopard my 2.0 Ghz MBPro 15 would get about 17-18% usage, now under the same circumstances in Lion its about 25-30%.

This means either one of two things - 1) Live isnt fully optimized for Lion yet, or 2) Live is reading the CPU meter differently under Lion.

Either way it looks like some looking into is needed here.

I reverted to SL

[McQ714]

Maybe Lion isn't fully optimized for Live?!?!

[mazaibuzai]

1. Ableton Live CPU Meter: 12%
2. Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model?: Custom Rackmount DAW
3. Operating System?: 10.6.8 OSX
4. Ableton Live version?: 8.2.6 Suite
5. CPU Make, Model, and Speed?: 4.0 gHz Core i7 2600k
6. Amount of Ram?: 8gb 1600 mhz
7. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? : Presonus Firebox (however this test was done with the built-in audio)
8. Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? : 7200 rpm
9. Number of playback tracks? : 8

...16 playback tracks: 19%
...32 playback tracks: 34%
...64 playback tracks: 62%
...72 playback tracks: 70%

it's taken a week to build and tweak this beast, but it's finally up and running.

[groumpf]

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % (if it bounces around, please list the peak) 51.5%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? Laptop Apple MacBookPro4,1
3) Operating System? MacOS 10.6.8
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.2
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
6) Amount of Ram? 4Gb
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Line6 UX2
Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 5400 tr/mn
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

[lapieuvre]

I pretty much match Teejay's performance.

I didn't read the 41 pages, but I made the test with the same laptop running Bootcamp, so here are the results:

MAC OSX 10.6.8 vs Windows 7 PRO SP1 under Bootcamp
1. Ableton Live CPU Meter: MAC: 18% - Win7: 26%
2. Laptop/Desktop? MBP 15" early 2011
3. Operating System?: 10.6.8 OSX - Bootcamp Win7pro SP1
4. Ableton Live version?: 8.2.6 Suite on MAC - 8.2.6 Demo on Win7
5. CPU Make, Model, and Speed?: i7 2635QM 2.0Ghz
6. Amount of Ram?: 8gb DDR3
7. Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? : M-Audio Transit driver: 6.01.34603(Win7)
8. Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? : 7200 rpm Momentus XT (4Gb SSD)
9. Number of playback tracks? : 8

Is it because it's bootcamp that there is such a diference? It's funny how I just read an article that says the contrary...
http://www.dawbench.com/win7-v-osx-1.htm

[Fzang]

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % - 20%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? 15" MacBook Pro Late 2011
3) Operating System? OS X 10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? 8.2.5
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 2.2 GHz Intel i7 quad-core 2675QM
6) Amount of Ram? 4 GB DDR3
7) Soundcard? Internal
Hard Disk Drive Speed? 5400 RPM
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

Apparently, the post above me is getting better performance on a slower CPU. Must be Lion I guess?

I can say that I haven't had any crashes or hiccups, ever, in Lion. And I love the OS in general. No reason to downgrade because of a yellow bar that tells me I'll be 2% faster.

[lapieuvre]

Apparently, the post above me is getting better performance on a slower CPU. Must be Lion I guess?

Try with an external soundcard, you'll get a better performance.

[Destro]

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter: 15% -16%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? iMac 27" (2011)
3) Operating System? 10.6.8
4) Ableton Live version? Live Suite 8.2.6
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 2.7GHz i5
6) Amount of Ram? 8GB
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Novation Nio 2/4 (ver 1.3)
8) Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 7200rpm
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

[zigzag]

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter: 21% -23%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? MacBookPro 17" (late 2011)
3) Operating System? 10.7.2
4) Ableton Live version? Live Suite 8.2.6
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? 2.4 GHz i7
6) Amount of Ram? 4GB
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Built in
8) Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 5400rpm
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

[cocacool]

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter: 13% *
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? selfmade Asus P8Z68-V PRO
3) Operating System? Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit SP1
4) Ableton Live version? Live Suite 8.2.6
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? I7 2600k @ 3,541 Ghz
6) Amount of Ram? 8GB
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? RME Fireface 400
Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 120 GB SSD via SATA 3 - very quik
9) Number of playback tracks? 8

* 37% @ 24bit/96khz with 96 Samples Buffer (2.67ms Output latency)
... lets see were it guides us when the livesets is ready

[lapieuvre]

1) Ableton Live CPU Meter % 20%
2) Laptop/Desktop? Make/Model? Desktop custom built
3) Operating System? Windows 7 Pro
4) Ableton Live version? 8.1.1
5) CPU Make, Model, and Speed? Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83Ghz
6) Amount of Ram? 4Gigs DDR2
7) Soundcard (and driver version if you know it)? Fireface 800 driver version 2.9992
Hard Disk Drive Speed (if you know)? 7200RPM
9) Number of playback tracks? 8 (6=17%, 4=11%, 2=10%)

Weird, I posted that on march 2010 - Using My PC Desktop, redid the test with Live 8.2.5, Fireface 800 Driver 3.059, Win 7 pro tweaked and now my result is 15 % on the CPU Meter.

This is a major improvement.