Are you successfully running Ableton Live on Windows Vista?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.

Are you successfully running Ableton Live on Windows Vista?

Yes, I am running Live on Windows Vista WITHOUT performance problems.
22
28%
No, I tried Live on Vista, but LIVE's performance was bad. Because of that I am back to XP.
7
9%
No, I tried Live on Vista, but VISTA's performance was bad. Because of that I am back to XP.
5
6%
No, I am running Live on XP and did not try Vista at all.
18
23%
Windows stinks, I'm using OS X anyway! :P
27
34%
 
Total votes: 79

Timur
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Are you successfully running Ableton Live on Windows Vista?

Post by Timur » Mon May 26, 2008 11:53 am

Hey folks, I need your help! :|

I am having serious problems with the combination of Ableton Live and Windows VISTA. Especially the combination with a Fireface 400 is UNUSEABLE (not even a single clip can be played back without drop-outs), but my two PCI interfaces also lead to serious problems (only turning on Aero helps to make it better somewhat).

Ableton Support states that the reported problems cannot be reconstructed on their own hardware and kind of suggested that my hardware-combination is to be blamed (which means I should buy new hardware). But after testing my installation on a friend's computer with completely different hardware I came to the same results. Before buying new hardware I will try to test this on some other PCs, too.

Reaper runs on Vista with the very same hardware-combination without any of the problems featured by Live! Live runs flawless with the same hardware-combination on XP!

Is Ableton Live Vista compatible? Does anyone - successfully or not - use Live on Vista (preferably with low buffers)? Please raise hands so that we can share experience and find the culprit in my system or the bug in Live.

Please, if you are using the combination of Live and Vista, leave a comment, so that we can share experience!

Thanks in advance! :arrow:
Last edited by Timur on Mon May 26, 2008 12:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Angstrom
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Post by Angstrom » Mon May 26, 2008 12:17 pm

just a note that you need to change the title.

anyone who isnt running XP on vista will look at that thread title and not even readf the thread. I read "[poll]Who is using Ableton Live on Windows VISTA?" and thought - well that doesn;t apply to me, because I don't.

I only opened the thread up to say - bad surveys skew results.


suggested title "[poll]Windows users - what version are you using?"

that way at least you aren't disuading non-vista users from even opeining the post

Timur
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Post by Timur » Mon May 26, 2008 12:39 pm

Thanks for the hint, but I don't care much about the statistics. I'm looking for Vista users (or those who tried but went back to XP), because I need people to share their experience with the combination of Live and Vista. If sole XP/OS X users come around, fine, if not, then not. Nevertheless I changed the title to fit the poll question. ;)

The only reason I cannot use my PC on Vista fulltime is because of the problems with Ableton Live at the moment. Is Live Vista compatible?

forge
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Post by forge » Mon May 26, 2008 12:48 pm

well I guess you know my experiences - I gave up on vista and given I have plug-ins that will not be updated that don;t work on vista I'll be staying that way

I dont see any reason to bother with it, you can configure XP to do all the things it does, with less overhead - and I'd say you are the king of tweak so you know that! :wink:

if you want to make music/have an audio machine that you can rely on then don't waste your time messing about with shoddy updates

Timur
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Post by Timur » Mon May 26, 2008 12:58 pm

forge wrote:if you want to make music/have an audio machine that you can rely on then don't waste your time messing about with shoddy updates
The only shoddy experience I am having with Vista is in combination with Ableton Live at the moment, this is wasting my time. :? :wink:

One person voted that he/she successfully uses Live with Vista!? Could you please leave a comment so that we can share experience? What hardware are you using and can you use low audio buffer settings? Would you do a simple test on your machine for me to compare results (takes only a very few minutes)?

Timur
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Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:55 am

Post by Timur » Mon May 26, 2008 6:32 pm

4 people voted to have a properly running combination of Live and Vista, could anyone of those please post a comment with their hardware setup?

carriero
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:08 pm

Post by carriero » Mon May 26, 2008 9:46 pm

ASUS Striker Extreme Motherboard with NVidia NForce6 chipset
3GB RAM
1.86 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
NVidia 7600GS PCIe Video Card
Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1
RME9652 PCI Card
Nuendo 96K ADC connected to 9652 via ADAT
Ableton 7.0.7
Latest BIOS
Latest RME Driver
Latest NVidia Drivers

I can't get Ableton to run without clicks at settings lower than 1024 samples /23ms. I switched the 9652 to a different PCI slot to give it a non-shared IRQ. This didn't help.

The only way to get useable performance with my configuration is to turn off multiprocessor support. With multiprocessor support turned off, I can run at 512 samples, but that defeats the purpose of having a multiprocessor machine.
Last edited by carriero on Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

brightonalex
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Post by brightonalex » Mon May 26, 2008 9:54 pm

You forgot the option "I am running with vista with some performance issues".

I am using Vista home basic and I am reasonably happy with it.
I had XP but it was media centre edition so I couldn't use my ultralite.
They were selling vista basic in the shop near me for 50quid which seemed OK so I bought it.
I've ordered 4 gig of RAM from crucial.com so I am hoping I will be "futureproof".

As regards performance issues - its crashed a couple of times with the message "has encountered a serious error and will be closed".
VISTA then tells me it is looking for a solution to the problem, but if it knows what it is its not telling me!
The other weird thing is every so often the screen will go completely black and back again, but the audio doesn't drop out.


At the moment I am running it with 1.5gigs of RAM so I am hoping upgrading to 4gigs should see an improvement.
I don't do any live performance so a crash every month or two isn't a disaster.

I am running a Toshiba Satellite laptop, 1.5gig RAM, motu ultralite, and an ultracrackly buzzy external Seagate drive.

adventurepants_
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Post by adventurepants_ » Mon May 26, 2008 10:31 pm

Vista is no good for me. Im running a dual boot Dell 1720 Lappie
2.2 Dual Core 2
4gb Ram
Presonus Firebox.

Live runs like ass on Vista, on this setup, menus take a long time to open, presets take a long time to load, latency is high..

Im dual booting vista and XP, and XP has none of these problems on the exact same hardware. No idea what the problem is, but I cant be bothered spending any time testing as it works flawlessly on XP.

Timur
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Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:55 am

Post by Timur » Mon May 26, 2008 10:31 pm

On moder Multicore CPUs good performance means that audio-interfaces buffer-sizes below 256 samples (downto 64 samples and even below) should be well possible for simple things like playing several dozend audio-clips. Anything worse than that is not good performance.

Via the FF400 I can play 70+ concurrent audio-samples at 48-64 samples in Reaper on Vista with no to minor drop-outs (depending on other system-load). I cannot play a single audio-clip without serious] drop-outs when using Live on Vista (no such problems on XP). Live's CPU load increases when other system-load increases (like Windows Explorer).
This doesn't seem to be a Live-Only Problem.

This is "not a Live-Only Problem"? Which other software does Ableton know about that is affected by these problems?

Is Ableton Live Vista compatible?

We assume that the clicks in the audio are the result of the combination of
1. Nvidia Nforce 6 Chipset
2. a PCIe Video Card
3. a PCI Audio Card
4. a Dual Core Computer
5. Vista 64bit

What kind of help is this? Does Ableton support read their own mails sometimes? If you read this literally then it turns out to effectively be a "combination of" all the hardware that makes a modern PC!? They forgot to include memory, chassis fans, leds and cables , the current athmospheric pressure and wether it's sunday or spring... :? <sarcasm>

Is Ableton Live PC compatible even? <bonks_his_head> :roll:

Timur
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Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:55 am

Post by Timur » Mon May 26, 2008 10:40 pm

brightonalex wrote:I am using Vista home basic and I am reasonably happy with it.
Home Basic does not offer Aero, does it? Maybe you could do some simple tests for me?

brightonalex
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Post by brightonalex » Mon May 26, 2008 10:41 pm

Timur wrote:
brightonalex wrote:I am using Vista home basic and I am reasonably happy with it.
Home Basic does not offer Aero, does it? Maybe you could do some simple tests for me?
Yes no worries. I have no idea what aero is though, other than a chocolate bar.

Timur
Posts: 2203
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:55 am

Post by Timur » Tue May 27, 2008 9:34 am

Brightonalex, Aero is the shiney new Windows GUI that features transparent glass on window-borders and 3D task-flipping (ALT-TAB). The very basic versions of Vista don't offer it.

If you don't have transparent glass borders on windows then please try the following:

1. Start Live and set audio buffers to 64 samples.
2. Loop a single short audio-clip on track 1 slot 1.
3. Put 4 instances of EQ8 on the clip, activating all 8 EQ points.
4. Copy the track about 9 times to reach a total of 10 tracks (or maybe some less or more depending on how powerful your system is).
5. Watch the level meters. Do they get jumpy instead of the usual fluent movement?
6. Watch Live's CPU meter and Task-Manager's CPU load of the Live process. Do they jump up and down?
7. Send Live's window to the background (minimize) while keeping Task-Manager open. Does the load drop slightly or considerably?
8. Go to Windows System Settings -> Display and change the desktop resolution while Live stays minimized. Watch Live's CPU-load on Task-Manager, does it drop considerably?
9. Restore the Live window and watch the CPU-load on Task-Manager, does it raise considerably (again)?

Thanks for your help! :)

4.33
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Re: Are you successfully running Ableton Live on Windows Vis

Post by 4.33 » Tue May 27, 2008 10:22 am

Timur wrote: Before buying new hardware I will try to test this on some other PCs, too. Live runs flawless with the same hardware-combination on XP!
what makes you need Vista so badly that you even consider spreading cash on new h/w? 8O

Timur
Posts: 2203
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:55 am

Post by Timur » Tue May 27, 2008 10:55 am

High Precision Counter (HPC) for one, see the rest here:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ight=vista

Besides that, I paid for a Vista compatible product and want to use it accordingly, no need to justify myself for using a product the way it's advertised to be used. ;)

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