{"id":60194,"date":"2014-12-08T11:55:07","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T17:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.synthtopia.com\/?p=60194"},"modified":"2014-12-08T18:44:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T00:44:00","slug":"10-ways-to-improve-performance-in-ableton-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.synthtopia.com\/content\/2014\/12\/08\/10-ways-to-improve-performance-in-ableton-live\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ways To Improve Performance In Ableton Live"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ableton-live\"Today’s computers blow away the computers that were available in 2001, when Ableton Live<\/strong> was first introduced.<\/p>\n

Back then, if your computer had a 1 Ghz\u00a0CPU, 256Mb of RAM and a 20GB hard drive, you had it pretty good. Now, processors are 30-40 times faster, computers have 100 times as much RAM & terabyte hard drives are common.<\/p>\n

But, as computers have gotten faster, our DAWs have added features and our expectations have gotten higher. So, even with today’s faster\u00a0computers, you’ll still run into situations where you need more power than your computer has to give.<\/p>\n

In this article, guest author\u00a0Doug Beney<\/strong> offers 10 ways to improve performance in\u00a0Ableton Live<\/strong>. And, if you want even more information, we’ve included a collection of resources at the end of the article that you can check out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ableton-live-performance-tuning\"<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

After you use Ableton for a bit, you might start to wonder why everything starts to run slow when you have a lot of tracks. Maybe you\u2019re wondering why there are audio-drop outs every time you press play.<\/p>\n

In this article, I will talk about ways to fix these problems and, hopefully, make music production a much more enjoyable process.<\/p>\n

Easy Tweaks to Improve your Speed<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"performance-tuning-ableton-live-load-audio-clips-into-ram\"Loading audio clips into RAM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Loading clips into RAM will pre-load the clip into RAM, instead of doing it in real time. This can help with speed problems, especially with laptops with slower 5400 RPM hard drives, but a decent amount of RAM.<\/p>\n

To enable this option, click on a clip. You will see an option appear in the clip view that says\u00a0\u201cRAM\u201d. When you click that, RAM\u00a0view is\u00a0enabled.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> Don\u2019t abuse this! RAM is a limited resource and Ableton uses a lot of it, doing many processes. You might run into \u201cOut of Memory\u201d errors if you abuse this.<\/p>\n

\"ableton-live-enable-multi-core-support\"Enable Multi-core Support<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most computers nowadays are multi-core. You are going to want to take advantage of this with multi-core support. Doing this will noticeably improve the performance of Ableton.<\/p>\n

You can find\u00a0this option in Ableton\u00a0preferences, under the CPU tab.\u00a0This option should be enabled by default, but it is worth a check to verify.<\/p>\n

Collect all and Save<\/strong><\/p>\n

This option of Ableton will take all the outside files (drum samples, effects, audio clips), and it will save them into your project.<\/p>\n

This is good because it minimizes the work Ableton has to do to\u00a0find all the files. Everything is right in one folder. This is especially useful if you are planning on moving the project to\u00a0another computer.<\/p>\n

You can find this option\u00a0 under File >> Collect All and Save.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Using ‘Collect All’\u00a0won\u2019t make a huge difference, but it’s just good practice.<\/p>\n

\"ableton-live-return-tracks\"<\/p>\n

Use Return Tracks<\/strong><\/p>\n

A powerful tool for minimizing the overhead of effects is to use Return tracks. Creating return tracks is\u00a0great not only because they minimize CPU load, but because they let you apply the same affect consistently to multiple clips.<\/p>\n

This is especially useful for reverb – because it’s common to want to put sound into a shared ‘virtual space’. Instead of using a reverb on each channel, and\u00a0having the overhead of multiple reverbs, Return Tracks let you use a shared reverb, lowering your CPU use and making it easier to tweak settings.<\/p>\n

\"ableton-live-sends-and-returns\"Another common use is for delays. If you want to use a rhythmic delay on multiple elements – say a synth line and several percussive elements – using sends & returns make it easier to do it consistently and efficiently.<\/p>\n

You can create a return track by right clicking and selecting\u00a0\u201cInsert Return Track\u201d, as shown above. Then you can add effects to the Return Track, just like you would with a regular audio track.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> The Return Track doesn’t do anything by itself, it just gives you the option to ‘Send’\u00a0multiple tracks to a shared effect.<\/p>\n

You can adjust\u00a0which tracks send audio to the shared Return Track using the Sends controls, right, which show up above the Mixer section in each track.<\/p>\n

If you don’t see the Sends section in your Live Set, select View >> Sends.<\/p>\n

Download and install Asio4All (Windows only)<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are using Ableton on a Windows computer, you may want to use the audio driver\u00a0Asio4All<\/strong>. It’s a free download.<\/p>\n

Asio4All\u00a0is a hardware-independent low-latency ASIO driver for WDM audio devices. Asio4All can be useful to\u00a0those who experience driver issues and have\u00a0tested their manufacturer drivers without success.<\/p>\n

Using Asio4All\u00a0is simple. Download it\u00a0from http:\/\/www.asio4all.com\/<\/a>\u00a0and follow\u00a0through the installation.<\/p>\n

Then in Live,\u00a0change your Driver\u00a0to Asio4All:
\nPreferences >> Audio >> Driver Type.<\/p>\n

Adjust\u00a0Sample Rate & Buffer Size<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sample rate and buffer size are two items to consider that can significantly affect performance.<\/p>\n

Sample rate<\/strong> refers to the number\u00a0of audio samples carried per second. Sample rate is measured in Hz or kHz. In general, higher sample rates will deliver better sound quality – but also diminishing returns the higher you go above CD quality (16-bit at 44.1 kHz).<\/p>\n

\"ableton-live-sample-rate\"<\/p>\n

Ableton\u2019s default sample rate is 44100Hz (Found under Preferences >> Audio >> Sample Rate). For many purposes, this is ideal, because it’s CD quality and many\u00a0people have a tough time hearing improvements above this.<\/p>\n

The downside to using higher sample rates is higher overhead.<\/p>\n

So why would producers use any higher options?<\/p>\n

48 kHz is the standard audio sampling rate for professional video. And 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz are high-end options, which double the sampling rates of the 44.1 kHz audio standard and the 48 kHz audio for video standard.<\/p>\n

Some prefer to sample audio at the highest rate possible, in order to maximize audio quality. For example, if you stretch audio, you’re effectively spreading the samples out over a longer period of time and reducing the sample rate. So, using a higher sample rate with your source material may deliver better sounding results.<\/p>\n

Ableton recommends, for best performance and audio quality, that you avoid mixing clips with different sample rates within a single set. Do your sample rate conversion ‘offline’, outside of Live, to make them consistent with the sample rate you’re working at in Live.<\/p>\n

Buffer Size<\/strong> is\u00a0another\u00a0setting that may be useful to consider tweaking.<\/p>\n

\"buffer-size-ableton-live\"<\/p>\n

So you\u2019re making a song and adding a ton of tracks to your project. All of the sudden you start to hear crackles and audio drop-outs. Adjusting the buffer size can fix this.<\/p>\n