Live issues, do i need an A.I.?

[symmetricalSound]

yeah ableton does start spazzing out when you get past 60/70% having a proper audio interface will take a bit of strain off the computer, firewire will take more strain off the cpu than a usb interface not sure if you have a firewire plug though on the MBP.

what speed hard drive do you have? you need 7200rpm for audio work. also are you on the latest update of ableton?

[lowpassfilter]

I second the HD question. I had that problem when trying to run on the internal 5400rpm drive on a macbook which I don't normally do. Use another dedicated drive (i.e. not the OS drive) or upgrade your hard drive to 7200rpm. A 7200 drive allowed to run the OS and large sessions with no problems. I use Live a lot and it doesn't give out on me until after 95% CPU useage, then it sounds like stuttering death.

[Renato Qu]

thanks for the feedback. i think i might just lash out and buy an SSD. remove the useless dvd drive and pop it in there... Having done a bit of pocking around the interweb, it seems the 7200rpm doesn't get that much faster, and in some cases, performs slower!