Love Ableton, but since 9.something (I don"t remember exactly which version) I have been experiencing:

- frozen unresponsive screen every time I launch it for the first time. It lasts 2 minutes (sometimes even a bit more), then everything is ok if I restart it. If not, I can experience some slow downs when launching clips for the first time in a session (what can be a problem in live situations). And no, I do not have big sample libraries nor many third party plugins installed.
- I was moving slowly to 64 bit, and then I started to work with 10 and 11 64 bit, but the above problem was still there. And now with 11, together with the notorious cpu spikes that haven't been addressed yet.

Been thinking about trying a different Daw, as I am going to give a break at producing for the time being. I really love the session view and the clip launching in Live for live performances. Other daws have implemented it (bitwig, mixcraft, cakewalk come to my mind). Anyone with experience in them (or in any other that has this clip launching feature) to share?
I am on windows. Thanks in advance!

intel core i5-4200U CPU@ 1.60Ghz 2.30Ghz 8,00 GB RAM
win 8.1 64 bits

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2021

You should be using the latest version of Ableton. Maybe you should bring your whole system up to date. More CPU - more work memory ...! You probably have the same problem in another DAW! If you feel like it, you can write your system hardware here.

 

Just put it above, thanks.

 

You could upgrade to Windows 10, but you don't have to!
8 GB of RAM is sufficient - 16 GB would be better.

But a faster CPU would be important.

Live 11 system requirements:
Intel® Core ™ i5 processor or AMD multi-core processor

Intel® Core ™ i5-11500B processor (12 MB cache, up to 4.60 GHz) Recommended customer price $ 200

The cheapest option is used from ebay / Intel Core i5 4570 processor 4x 3.2GHz CPU socket 1150 TOP condition
https://www.ebay.de/itm/124881404719?hash=item1d1383032f:g:PnkAAOSwRA5hMGvy

 

I used to have FL 11 installed, and had no problems. As I said, the CPU spiking only happens with Live 11. I used to run the first 9 Live versions without these issues. Has Live become so CPU unfriendly since then that my machine just can't handle it properly anymore? I was wondering... Maybe, this is it.

 

Last edited: Sep 16, 2021

i'm assuming you use R2R's Ableton 11. unfortunately R2R's Live 11 release performs extremely bad compared to their Live 10 release. there really is something abnormal about that release. i have an i9-9880H and it's struggling really hard. the CPU meter is always going crazy even on very light projects. I have a friend who owns legit ableton and his computer performs about 10 times better than mine on the same project with a worse CPU. (note: i have a macbook pro so i have no RAM issues or anything)
you can consider downgrading to R2R's version 10 release, or going for a legit license if you can afford it.
as far as other DAWs, logic pro has similar functionality but i don't know how exactly it compares.

 

Bitwig

 

If you are experiencing very slow startups it's because by default Ableton scans every plugin every time you open it. This bothered me for YEARS i would dread opening Live.

Create a file in notepad called options.txt and add this value.

-NoVstStartupScan

Save it here /Users/YourName/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live (whichever version you're using)

You can read more about options.txt here https://www.reddit.com/r/ableton/comments/hch0ct/lets_talk_about_optionstxt/

As for slowdowns within ableton raise your latency settings to maximum and freeze tracks more. Also many users have complained that Live 11 is poorly optimized in comparison to 10.

 

Listen to acatnamedharmony. His solution will help.

 

Bitwig is the closest DAW to Ableton, created by ex-Ableton employees. This video may help:

 

Is Bitwig really more CPU efficient than Ableton Live 11 when doing the same tasks?

 

I don't know the science behind it, if "feelings" can be a relevant measurement for you, yes it totally feels like it is more CPU efficient and lighter. I use Live 11 mainly but sometimes when I needed something fresh for the eyes, I work in Bitwig and can actually feels it is lighter in a way. I think it has a way of handling plugins that makes it more stable, that sandbox feature especially when you load 30-40 plugins in a big projects. Let's just hope someone here can explain this with stats and facts. Plus you would totally love the hybrid session view feature in Bitwig if you like that in Live afterall it was created by people (from Ableton Live dev. team) that think Live can possibly be something more.

 

Last edited: Sep 17, 2021

I may be wrong but I think Live wasn't designed with multi-threading in mind, and when that option became widespread they opted out because it would mean re-designing the engine from scratch. So it's one of the least CPU efficient daws actually.

 

to enable a faster startup add abletonlive.exe to the windows defender exclusion list, loads up fast if thats what you mean

 

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I will make some tests and report back in a few days.

 

Made some tests this morning:

1) adding -NoVstStartupScan to option file improved Live 9 freezing at start up a little, but not Live 11. Thanks acatnamedharmony for the tip!

2) using Live 11.0.6 in demo mode (no crack or kg applied) with just one drum loop playing, task manager shows CPU oscillating from 8 to 35% (same behavior when "authorized"). Using Live 9.7.7 32 bit with the same loop playing, task manager shows CPU around 8%, without much oscillation.

I will give up Live 11 for the time being.

Thanks for the suggestions!!

 

good lord that's bad.

 

Thanks. I had checked already. Was using all my power settings to highest performance. It must be something between Live 11 and my system. I was expecting a difference in CPU usage, but not so drastic (considering it was just one audio loop, it was very bad indeed).