WOW!!! Thanks Swamptooth. You have resurrected hope  
 
Thx Vintage Vibe - as I said I wasn't doubting it, I had only really "tickled the edges" as it were. Hmmm, I guess as ST advises,  set up the CWB's or CWP's , rack 'em and run 'em - and treat it as a "suck it and see" . My projects are mostly midi backing tracks driving VST'is, and some live play keys racks.  I run vocals through a separate stomp box. I don't have anything even remotely close to 40 gigs of data...wow!!
 
Again I thank everyone who has ventured tips, traps and experiences. I  might have a go at installing X2 on the lappy, transfer the projects over and try it. 
 
Cheers

it's all about having fun.  my motto is try it and see.  it might work for you - maybe not.  sh** happens sometimes no matter what.  i was at a cramps concert in 91 and the power went out halfway through the set.  so, we all sat down on the floor (mind you this was in fresno, so there were about 30 of us weirdos at the show), drank some beer, and lux did a screaming running around storytelling thing. power on ten min later and the show went on.  that was FUN!

I dunno man, if you also own Live and you aren't happy with either you might be too good for software. Frickin' Depeche Mode uses Live on their tours and they seem to do alright with it.
 
That said, I've used both Live and SONAR for live uses. I like Live better, but you gotta do some homework up front to convert everything to your desired level.

I've been using Sonar on stage for years now. Currently we have it running about 10 audio tracks, 8 to FOH and a click track + a bounce of everything else to the drummer. We also have an instance of Battery loaded with som samples the drummer triggers with some pad thingy. Never had any problems besides hardware. It's a very cheap laptop that I have upgraded pretty much everything on. We are currently using X1d because I haven't taken the time to upgrade to X2 on the live laptop. I have X2 installed on it so I might give it a go on rehearsals. We have just set up markers at the start of each song and use the markers view to select songs from. And instead of a fancy playlistfunction, we use the old school handwritten setlist - or our memory - to keep track of what song to play. Never been any issues except with heat on some stages where the computer have stopped running. We still use an Echo Indigo DJx for audio output (stero to FOH and two outs to the drummer's mixer) at 256 samples latency, but we're upgrading to a Native Instruments Traktor DUO to replace it. When the hardware doesn't overheat, it's extremely reliable.
 
We are, however, changing to a Macbook Pro and Live 9. But that's more out of a compatibillity need than anything else. When moving to a Mac, we have three backup machines instead of just that one, slightly worn out, laptop to use.
 
¨But in my experience, Sonar is very reliable as a live tool as well.

If you are in a group and have a front man to distract people while you fiddle around with getting the next song ready scary technology on stage might be fine. But if you are a solo performer you need your playlist set up so you can bang off the songs fast without distractions or even taking your hand off your guitar- 
You need: 
1- Song stops after playback
2- Change set list on the fly
3- Foot control of start -stop -advance
4- It never crashes, ever, never, not even close to crashing.... 
 
Answer- Win Amp and a X key's USB foot controller. Any Laptop made in last 12 years. 
Optional audio interface with stable drivers if you find the idea of on board sound unacceptable. 
One thing I don't understand is why some would not simply mix the instruments in the studio and only require a stereo wave file for backing? What, are you going to do? change your mind mid song about something?? I know for some music like electronic, things are organic but if it's top 40 music the mix should have been set in stone first.
I haven't used a live midi track since they came out with affordable digital playback.
 
This eliminates the need for everything other than live VST playback from a keyboard, and software like Forte or Cantabile make much more sense for that.  
 
What the software market has never done is develop the perfect tool for live playback of both backing tracks and VST access. It seems to be one or the other or a DAW which is a terrible choice for me... I can't be fussing with stuff when I'm should be focusing on a dance floor and entertaining. Give me foot control!! 
 

I also should mention that I work solo and when I have new songs I use Sonar so I can do on the fly leveling but if I don't have any new material I have everything dumped onto an iPod as wave files and I have an Alesis mixer with an iPod dock that has easy to use iPod controls built in.  That is super easy and has never failed me.  Even the times I've run the show from the iPod's controls it's pretty easy and has never failed in about 6 years.  

@ Cactus - I use midis as when I feel like it I cam mute out parts when and if I feel like it...I can re-assign an instrument at the drop of a hat...I can dynamically alter keys for guest singers...I can vary tempos at will....I can apply real time effects to individual tracks...I can use part markers to jump seamlessly to and from ANY bar in a song......and this is just a some of the reasons why full audio does not cut it at all. Any of the above requires a new recording session to change even the SMALLEST thing on a song.
 
I am fully aware of using mp3 tracks and I can even link them to charts on the ipad, however having much fuller control over what I want to do on a given night at a give venue (and we ALL know how venues and crowds can change at the drop of a hat!!) is more important.
 
Following some encouraging posts re using X2, I think I am going to give it a try..if it doesn't work I will drop back to Cantabile..
 
Cheers
 
PS: btw ...wicked, what was your post all about?????
 

Like I said, if your in a band you might have time for all that, I don't. And once I arrange a song I very rarely change it. If I do,, I will do that at home in the studio. I use real bass so I can't re do a track without re- recording the bass anyway. 
I build the songs with MIDI and try them out first. Tempo , key etc.. When I like what's happening I record real bass and sometimes parts of real drums. Then I master and copy to my playback laptops performance folder. I keep a copy of wave lab in the playback laptop so I can make some changes without returning to Sonar. Mastering things like if the file plays to hot, cold or needs eq touch ups. Heck, I can cut and paste verse chorus too, but that's super rare. 
 
My dream would be a DAW like playback with MIDI and Wave side by side in a playlist that I could use a foot control for... I know Sonar might do this but have heard bad things about the playlist function too. I would like to use MIDI for control of outboard gear but it's not important.  
Someday I'll give it a try but what I use now is real good for me and it's never not worked through 100's of gigs. 

That's cool - soz, I didn't mean to seem like I was disagreeing I just prefer a different method...As for midi + Audio I think Live can do this??
 
D

hey joden - i think you'd appreciate this vid about how the band eoto uses their ableton setup.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAuq00Ze-Gw