Ableton will discontinue Live 32-bit by the end of this year citing “persistent crashes” as they move to 64-bit OS only.

Depending on what you’re running on your PC right now, this could be some bad news. Ableton Live, the staple DAW for loads of producers, DJs, and musicians, is ending 32-bit support and going 64-bit exclusive.

Ableton claim that they are making the change due to “persistent out-of-memory crashes” caused on the 32-bit version of Live. The issue with 32-bit versions of software is that they are only capable of using 4 GB of RAM. With music software typically using a lot of resources and power that limited memory access can quickly be exceeded by large projects, powerful plug-ins and more which was the cause for many Ableton crashes.

Whilst you might think 64-bit would just equal double the power it is in fact much more powerful. Using the 64-bit version of Ableton the software can access 16 exabytes of RAM which as thousands of times more than computers have, essentially giving you unlimited memory access for computers with large RAM.

If you’re computer isn’t compatible with 64-bit software of if you’d like to continue using Ableton Live 32-bit you can keep the program, but it will be exempt from software updates from late 2017.

Users will be able to have two versions of Ableton, a 32-bit and 64-bit version installed on their computer at the same time. Users will also be able to download the final 32-bit version of Ableton anytime they like form their User Account where it will remain permanently.

For 32-bit legacy plug-ins you will need to read Ableton’s articles on using JBridge or 32 Lives for bridging plug-ins.

Find out more about the difference between 64-bit and 32-bit software and the benefits of moving to 64-bit in Ableton’s FAQ.