Download Ableton Live - 6.0 Reference Manual

CHAPTER 25. COMPUTER AUDIO RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES
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You can also decide to atten frozen tracks, which completely replaces the original clips and
devices with their audible result. The Flatten command is available from the Edit menu.
Besides providing an opportunity to conserve CPU resources on tracks containing a large
number of devices, the Track Freeze command simpli es sharing projects between computers. Computers that are a bit low on processing power can be used to run large Live Sets as
long as any CPU-intensive tracks are frozen. This also means that computers lacking certain
devices used in one Live Set can still play the Set when the relevant device tracks are frozen.
25.2
Managing the Disk Load
A hard drive's access speed (which is related to, but not the same thing as rotational speed)
can limit Live's performance. Most audio-optimized computers use 7200 RPM or faster
drives. Laptops, to save power, often use 5400 RPM or slower drives, which is why projects
on laptops usually have lower track counts. The amount of disk traf c Live generates is
roughly proportional to the number of audio channels being written or read simultaneously.
A track playing a stereo sample causes more disk traf c than a track playing a mono sample.
The Disk Overload
Indicator.
The Disk Overload indicator ashes when the disk was unable to read or write audio quickly
enough. When recording audio, this condition causes a gap in the recorded sample; when
playing back, you will hear dropouts.
Do the following to avoid disk overload:
ˆ Reduce the amount of audio channels being written by choosing mono inputs instead
of stereo inputs in the Audio Preferences' Channel Con guration dialog.
ˆ Use RAM Mode for selected clips.
ˆ Reduce the number of audio channels playing by using mono samples instead of
stereo samples when possible. You can convert stereo samples to mono using any
standard digital audio editing program, which can be called up from within Live.