Re: Which macbook for live audio?

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Ben <benoitruelle@yahoo.fr> wrote:
>> I am running ableton live, with some built-in basic effects.

As far as I know Ableton is as good with a 2 core as with a 4 core CPU.

My MBP has the 2 core i7 CPU at 2.7 mHz speed. I'm just back form a
little tour project and this MBP worked perfectly well playing back
four stereo tracks - sending out 8 mono signals for octaphonic
surround audio PA - while also applying heavy effect chains for five
audio inputs and one instance of the synth Alchemy (by CamelAudio). I
had four Alchemy patches preloaded inside a (Ableton) rack to switch
between. My old Macbook would never have been able to deal with this
but it just worked flawlessly.


>> I would like to move towards using ableton's looper for my looping 
>> needs, so
>> I probably need something with 8gb ram. What about processor 
>> requirements?

Having much RAM is not really an issue for making long audio loops but
for the whole OS X system to work efficiently.

>> Will the newest macbook pros be overkill?

History has proven that "overkill" doesn't exist in buying computer
technology ;-))  As soon as computers in general gets more powerful
there will be new audio software available that makes great musical
use of these extra CPU cycles. Who doesn't want a better sound? If you
can afford it go for the best, but maybe buy it when it is not the
"brand new thing". You can even buy "next year's model" with top
specifications.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.perboysen.com
http://www.youtube.com/perboysen