Logic vs Ableton: 16-inch MacBook Pro Performance Test

[@Bucky.music22]

Great video. It kind of confirms my theory that Ableton is very poorly optimised and has been for years. I use it myself on both PC and Mac. Wish I could switch to logic sometimes as Apple is able to harmonise its software with its own hardware, no other Daw can do that.

[@bjornark]

Thanks! Ableton is poorly optimized, or Apple (who makes Logic), also knows its ins and outs of the Mac system and take advantage of it? I think its the latter to be honest. Or a combination perhaps.

[@stevejhkhfda]

It may not be poorly optimised, but its audio engine is live like a sampler - every sound can be triggered immediately - it was designed as a live tool. Logic started as a recording/tape machine...its less CPU intensive. Live feels more like an instrument because of this.

[@AykutKlc]

Though didn't perform any controlled experiment, Live 10 feels slower than FL on my system (xps15 2018) for similar kontakt intensive sessions. I guess they've messed up something in version 10. Older versions felt more responsive. Meanwhile I find live very intuitive and still use it.

[@ZacharySound]

Yep that's what they do. Harmonize their HW and SW. How many people use 50 tracks in every Ableton project?

[@bjornark]

DISCLAIMER: Apple, may dynamically adjust the buffer size for you. I did not realize this, during the recording of this video. See more information about that here: support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203930 Ableton Live wont do this. Please have that in mind, when watching this test.

[@bjornark]

Thank you for watching. Been thinking of another test, but if I am doing another test, I want to be 100% sure to do it correctly so its no question about the results. Since Apple likes to hold peoples hand, I don't really know what buffer it uses as it can adjust it dynamically.

[@robertscott8336]

DISCLAIMER: Ableton and Logic handle buffering differently, which the author of this comparison did not know about , and did not make appropriate adjustments in the DAW settings to compensate for. (see his disclaimer).

[@bingbong69420bingiusbongius]

Thank you for this video! I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate a Pro Tools & FL Studio video as well!

[@bjornark]

You are welcome! Pro Tools and FL Studio is DAWs I have never tried, so I wouldn't hold my breath. Some time in the future maybe ... ;)

[@Nosalez]

Fl studio is not cpu heavy at all.

[@bingbong69420bingiusbongius]

@@Nosalez true, FL itself is not CPU intensive, but my workload with all plugins active is extremely CPU intensive. the point of this video is to show the optimization of various DAWs

[@turtletheorytv]

thank you for making this video. definitely curious if you can do more comparisons perhaps with max buffer size in ableton. I noticed a massive increase in performance when I switched to Logic and wondered if others had seen the same.

[@bjornark]

And thank you for leaving a comment. I think I have to research the inner workings of Logic Pro X some more before making another video about exactly this topic. Your suggestion is noted of course. :)

[@FormattedByWeitweejen2024]

Happy New Year for my friend Bjørnar Kibsgaard, i hope you have a good year

[@bjornark]

Happy new year :) 🎈

[@vandenhengel978]

I always tought that Ablethon was more efficient. Probably due to the simple user interface. But at the end its all about the program that fits your creative proces the best. Performance is only part of that. After trying Ableton I went to Logic. I don’t used the loop feature from Ableton and work on a Mac so those are no deal breakers. I do like the user interface from Logic. I do like the fact that you can start on your iPad or iPhone and finish your song on the Mac. Also the Logic remote for iPad is a great addition.

[@bjornark]

Logic is nice for sure, if you are invested in the Apple ecosystem. 👍

[@jotarroa]

This is very helpful. I’d like to see more performance test’s for DAW’s on both PC and Mac. I am a Abletoneer but Im always intrigued on how other software performs. Especially with CPU hungry plugins like Omnisphere, Kontakt, etc.

[@bjornark]

Glad it helped. :)

[@kbr4442]

you have to ask yourself some important questions. if you, like me, making music just in one place then get a pc. if you want to be mobile then get a macbook. why? building a custom pc you won't have issues with performance. i build for 2 grand a ryzen 9 (12 CORE!!!) system with 32GB of RAM and 3 TB SSD. i can also play games with the rx 5700 xt graphicscard. i could do a hackintosh with my build but i think windows 10 has evolved a good way and is really great for daw.

[@Oakich]

I just tested Ableton and Logic but both with AU instruments, and got pretty similar results. 2013 MBP

[@bjornark]

Interesting, thanks for sharing your results.

[@luisgarciarios4988]

you just saved me a lot of money

[@Zane_Zaminsky]

Listening to your music on a 2019 16" MacBook Pro is a great experience! Terrific!

[@bjornark]

Thank you! The speakers on the 16 Inch MBP sure are something. Never heard something that good sounding coming out from a laptop.

[@jdnorthrup]

The Echo and Glue Compressor in Ableton are not 1:1 matches with the Logic plugins. Those are modern heavy-duty plugins. Glue is meant as a buss compressor, and wouldn't be used on all tracks. Still an interesting comparison, but the differences might not be as crazy if you used 1:1 plugins between each program.

[@jamesr141]

I've been wondering whether Apple designed their recent OS to work poorly with other DAWs, pushing their users to switch to Logic. It's crazy that their top spec PRO laptop should struggle with 51 tracks in Live.

[@bjornark]

True, I am wondering if there are something I am missing. If logic is automatically increasing buffer size or something. Anyway I use Ableton Live and Windows for music production right now.

[@foljs5858]

"I've been wondering whether Apple designed their recent OS to work poorly with other DAWs, pushing their users to switch to Logic" No, because other DAWs can do just as good. BitWig for example stomps over Ableton Live too, performance wise. Reaper too. It's just that Ableton doesn't care to invest the resources to rewrite their old codebase... And having Max devices in the mix (which are subpar compared to native plugins with first-tier purposefully written DSP code) also doesn't help (Max is not optimized).

[@MKGOTBEATS]

this video was just what i was looking for, 64gb RAM is the way to go for me since i wanna live stream ableton.

[@bjornark]

Sounds good! Good luck with streaming. :)

[@Utanonomba]

Thanks for this test I gonna switch for logic

[@bjornark]

Logic is a great DAW, good luck!

[@artemis1747]

why 64gb of ram? isn't it overkill? I went with the 16gb version, I would have gone with the 32gb one but it costs 400 euros more sadly

[@bjornark]

Yes its overkill with 64GB.

[@artemis1747]

@@bjornark very interesting video btw, I would switch to logic for performance but I'm too used to Ableton ahahah

[@artemis1747]

@@bjornark would you please do a ram comparison between Ableton and logic? I would love it

[@bjornark]

I dont have it anymore. See this vid 16 Inch MacBook Pro Review: I Am Returning It kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqWldWqwdqZggqM

[@JimvsBob]

More RAM is never overkill; why don't people get this? It's like saying 512gb of storage is enough when frankly it isn't anymore.

[@WeDoLoveU]

Yes, thank you to confirm the result. Now I see why my Ableton crackle compare to my Logic and Cubase. Cubase is lighter (lowest latency for my 2013 iMac) on CPU than Logic and Ableton. But I still use them in different projects since they have their own stength and advantage.

[@andreysubabro2023]

hi here, will it be a good buy for the macbook pro 13' 2019 with the minimum configuration (8 Gb RAM, i5 2.4), work in Ableton for 30-35 tracks, plus a couple of NI Kontakt, Diva, Omnisphere, Ozon plugins? Will 8 GB RAM work well?

[@bjornark]

I would wait for the updated 14,1 Inch MacBook Pro that is rumored coming out.

[@andrebrown4677]

@@bjornark what's the spec of the 14"??

[@bravojrios5174]

cool video man. after having the macbook pro for a few months now, are u ok with how loud the fan is and how hot it gets? im getting mine this week and im kind of on the fence because i know there is a heating issue

[@bjornark]

The fans are louder compared to the previous 15-Inch, if you put hard load on the machine. But it means less throttling. and better airflow. All MacBook Pros get pretty hot and its apparently by design, and the aluminum enclosure also serves as a way to transfer the heat off.

[@foljs5858]

You can now get a M1 or M1X - there would be absolutely no fan at all, and even greater performance than this, and for over double the battery life!

[@andrebrown4677]

Thank you very much for this Video! Appreciated!

[@Jeremy-su3xy]

Which one is more silent regards fan noise?

[@bjornark]

Hard to say, it depends on the load. I would think that Logic is more optimized though. As it is made by Apple.

[@Addy323]

This was helpful! Thanks!

[@bjornark]

You are welcome 😊

[@andrebrown4677]

Do you know how to use all the laptops Cores with Ableton?? With logic you can alter the settings to use all cores to boost performance, but I cant find how to do that in Ableton. Thanks! Andre

[@bjornark]

Ableton handles multicore automatically as far as I know.

[@andrebrown4677]

@@bjornark Oh ok Thanks Mate!

[@giovaneim]

What are the characteristics of mac?

[@bjornark]

Its made by Apple, it runs macOS. Apple decides what hardware and software to use. Its generally considered more stable than a Windows based computer. Google mac vs pc, and you have reading for a lifetime. ;)

[@marco.scaligeri]

Can you please indicate what Ableton and Logic version are you using? thanks for the comparison, really insightful

[@bjornark]

Hmmm... I guess Logic was the version before 10.5 that was just released. Ableton? Not sure what version I used in the video. Ableton Live 10 Suite.

[@ShonTseng]

Hi Bjørnar Kibsgaard, interesting video. One question, did you pretty much match the plug-in settings between the two DAWs? the Ableton sounds more clear and upfront to me. Thanks

[@bjornark]

Thank you for checking out the vid. Yeah, I tried to match the settings as close as possible. However, there may be some small differences that could affect the sound.

[@ShonTseng]

@@bjornark Thanks for replying! Great video btw

[@dranek]

Anyone notice how the song sounds waaaay better in logic than in Ableton?

[@bjornark]

You may be right, I have noticed something similar but cant really put my finger on why that is.

[@BearLew]

that fan noise !

[@bjornark]

Oh yes.

[@AykutKlc]

That's the sound of Intel MBP. Hopefully

[@SteveSpekk]

this isnt very encouraging. Im watching this video pondering switching to apple because Ive had nonstop blue screens running ableton on windows. I just want to play my gear man :(

[@bjornark]

Having crashing issues is no fun. You need to get to the root of the issues tho. Ableton works on both Windows and Mac. You probably have some issues with your system and I dont think its Abletons fault.

[@mekinis]

The last time I saw blue screen was 7 years ago. I hope you managed to fix your system. If drivers and system is stable it should work equally good on mac os or windows.

[@akshatsrivastava7111]

Is 16gb ram and i9 good?????

[@bjornark]

Yes its good, the base models from Apple is pretty good nowadays.

[@akshatsrivastava7111]

@@bjornark how much ram your system consumed in logic?? And should I buy 27 inch i5 9th gen iMac or 16 inch mbp ?? I will be using kontakt and izotope

[@bjornark]

With 90 Kontakt tracks. Logic use about 25GB of ram according to activity monitor.

[@akshatsrivastava7111]

@@bjornark thank you and what do you suggest about i5 9th gen iMac 2019?? How is that for a logic pro machine???

[@bjornark]

Depends on what you need. I wouldn't buy an iMac now I think. It's a year since the iMac was updated so I think they are going to release something new soon. If you need portability go for the 16Inch. If not, wait for a new iMac :)

[@beforetheapocalypsetv2580]

What speakers are those?

[@bjornark]

Tannoy Reveal Active, bought them over 15+ years ago :D

[@beforetheapocalypsetv2580]

Bjørnar Kibsgaard they look new, and I like the design and color the most!

[@bjornark]

Gotta take care of your stuff 😉

[@beforetheapocalypsetv2580]

Bjørnar Kibsgaard yes you do! Brother i just got a 2 speakers Yamaha hs7 to produce music and also got a focursrite 2i2 audio interface but I don’t know wich cables I need to connect my monitors to the interface! Which ones do I need?

[@bjornark]

Balanced cables. So. TRS = from your focusrite. Then: TRS or XLR into your HS7. (XLR or TRS in your speakers is just a matter of preference in your case). TRS-TRS, or TRS-XLR should work. 👍

[@brianandrade_music]

Nice 👍

[@bjornark]

Thanks!

[@kingech_B15]

They should call it the Mac heat pro

[@bjornark]

Macs run hot, thats true.

[@sammythebull116]

Ableton suck so many cpu with less plugins!! Its a flinstones daw☝️

[@bjornark]

Ableton is not the best optimized DAW i think. But it works.

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

this test makes no sense, if you do the same there is no difference in any daw

[@t-softtechnologies9322]

There's when it comes to CPUs performance...