M-audio 410(firewire) - compatability issues!!please help!

[bishtay elliott]

hey guys, just bought a M-audio 410 and am running with an i-mac.. and ableton,..... however the cpu usage is still up in the 50-60's after only a few tracks of midi/audio/fx...i.e. the same as without the soundcard?!?!?!
any help would be a reeeeeeeeal plus as i have a gig this weekend?!?
Argh! :shock:
ta in advance

[bishtay elliott]

sorry meant to say e-mac!

[RDR]

have you got any external harddrives plugged into the Emac?

Which version of live are you using?

Have you got any background appz running?

How many plug-ins are you using in ableton?

More info please..

[bishtay elliott]

ok..... the live is version 4.1...and mainly just using the plug-ins in ableton....not sure bout background apps, not quite sure what u mean, but i would only have ableton open at any 1 time...and no external hard drive.....hope thats better 4 u guys!
any more info that may help, just ask!
cheers
;)

[RDR]

How much memory have you got in the e-Mac? Which processor are you using?

[bishtay elliott]

g4 1.25ghz 256 ddr sdram

[UngratefulNinja]

The sound card won't really 'unload' the CPU from usage.

All the sound card does is provide a better sound chip for your computer to use = higher quality audio. It also provides more inputs and outputs for you to plug things or output to stuff.

You also could defiently use more ram. 512 is a good starting point, a gig is about ideal.

Hope that clears some misconceptions up

[massplanck]

The soundcard wont help at all with your CPU load mate. :cry:

Ram & Processor & Background applications.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

processor wise you'll be fine but i'd recommend more ram

[bishtay elliott]

thanks very much guys!!!
most helpful!
:clap: