Mac or PC for Audio Production

unclebill98

I was just wondering what computer people here use for there Music Production.

I just noticed a few Audio heads on the Mac Forum and was just wondering.

I'm using a Mac, well a old Powerbook, never let me down etc.

I am not looking for a Mac Vs PC debate, that would just be unfair to PC users cause they'll loose.

so anybody?

PaulBrewer

Always been Mac myself.

trackmixstudio

Before the old mac vs pc debate starts up, I will say mac because EVERY pro studio uses mac for good reason.
The computer and OS are 100% compatible and reliable.
Macs use core audio which is part of the operating system, whereas pcs use drivers (such as asio) that run on top of the operating system.
I started off using pcs and spent more time tweaking and fixing problems than actually recording.
I have had 2 G5s and currently a quad 2.6 mac pro in the studio (as well as an imac in work and a macbook and macbook pro at home). Never let me down ever.
No contest.
You may find people posting saying that you can build a blah blah pro audio pc for less than the cost of a mac.
Anyone I have ever spoken to (and I know many) who have switched from pc to mac and would not dream of going back.

unclebill98

trackmixstudio wrote: »

Before the old mac vs pc debate starts up, I will say mac because EVERY pro studio uses mac for good reason.
The computer and OS are 100% compatible and reliable.
Macs use core audio which is part of the operating system, whereas pcs use drivers (such as asio) that run on top of the operating system.
I started off using pcs and spent more time tweaking and fixing problems than actually recording.
I have had 2 G5s and currently a quad 2.6 mac pro in the studio (as well as an imac in work and a macbook and macbook pro at home). Never let me down ever.
No contest.
You may find people posting saying that you can built a blah blah pro audio pc for less than the cost of a mac.
Anyone I have ever spoken to (and I know many) who have switched from pc to mac and would not dream of going back.

well that would be pretty much my argument for using mac's...

cornbb

PC at home and Mac at work at the mo but hope to switch to Mac at home soon. Logic 8 has seduced me beyond belief :cool:

11811

Mac. - Fact!

studiorat

I toyed with the idea of moving over to PC. I've an old G4 with PT HD and it's gonna cost €2,500 to switch my PCI cards to PCIe in order to use them with a new Mac Pro. We spec'd up a PC that was a similar board and chipset to a Mac Pro and it came to less than a Grand (using PCI cards).

I've never owned a PC so I still haven't made the Jump. (still too scared) There's lost of people using PC's with their Pro Tools and most seem to be doing it with very little hassle. Mike Hedges is one person who comes to mind. If only we could have OSX on a PC!!!! We have both computers in the studio and it would seem to me that the PC needs more maintenance.

Mind you you'd have to pry my Powerbook out of my cold dead hands!

unclebill98

In a studio setup your computer should be set and forget....

I've always found that you never get that with a PC.

You should turn on computer launch your software and work away...

dav nagle

Hey,


As a a p.c. user for many years I found myself constantly trying to tweak it to keep it running smoothly. For example I would use no ad-ware and spyware to keep malicious files off the computer and I would run virus checks all the time. The point I am making is that I was more paranoid using a PC.

I found the operating system unstable and at times my p.c. would crash to the annoying 'blue screen of death'.

I was very comfortable in the P.C operating environment so making the switch at the time seemed uncomfortable.

In January of 2007 I bought a mac pro and within one week I had a handle on its operation. The system has never crashed on me once. The system is practically virus free so my paranoia has left. I have recorded an album in 4 months on it with 100% stability. Not to mention the fact that I can run loads of 'AU' be it in Logic or 'RTAS' in Pro tools.

Mac is king, stress free operating system with so much power and room for upgrade.

Peace out

white_falcon

dav nagle wrote: »

Hey,


As a a p.c. user for many years I found myself constantly trying to tweak it to keep it running smoothly. For example I would use no ad-ware and spyware to keep malicious files off the computer and I would run virus checks all the time. The point I am making is that I was more paranoid using a PC.

I found the operating system unstable and at times my p.c. would crash to the annoying 'blue screen of death'.

I was very comfortable in the P.C operating environment so making the switch at the time seemed uncomfortable.

In January of 2007 I bought a mac pro and within one week I had a handle on its operation. The system has never crashed on me once. The system is practically virus free so my paranoia has left. I have recorded an album in 4 months on it with 100% stability. Not to mention the fact that I can run loads of 'AU' be it in Logic or 'RTAS' in Pro tools.

Mac is king, stress free operating system with so much power and room for upgrade.

Peace out

one of the things i really disagree with is the price of a Mac. I can understrand all the other points, but if you are recording at home, the PC that you can get for the price of a Mac, really does tip the balance towards the PC in my opinion. However, I can understand the other points about drivers etc....

But why not get a PC and install Mac OS on it if the operating system is so stable? The only difference in actual building terms between a Mac and a PC is the pretty white case, and the build quality in a Mac is obviously better - if you are good at building PC's however, this is nothing to be pushed about.

I'm not saying PC's are better, just I can't justify spending that much money on a Mac and not being able to use it for other things like gaming etc...

studiorat

I've had the same Mac computer for over six years now. Doing 3 to 4 albums a year as well as small gigs. I guess it's paid for itself at this stage.

cornbb

Yes, I think Macs are inexcusably overpriced, and thats the main thing thats been putting me off buying one for years. The OS is amazing but the hardware is nothing particularly special and is very much overpriced.

white_falcon wrote:

But why not get a PC and install Mac OS on it if the operating system is so stable? The only difference in actual building terms between a Mac and a PC is the pretty white case, and the build quality in a Mac is obviously better - if you are good at building PC's however, this is nothing to be pushed about.

Its against the terms of Mac OS license agreement to install it on non-Apple hardware (and its possibly illegal to do so, I'm not sure of the ins and outs of it), besides its incredibly different to build a "Hackintosh", a frankenstein of a PC running OS X. This restriction allows Apple to justify charging high prices for their hardware, as in order to run OS X people must buy hardware from Apple only, at whatever price they dictate.

On the other hand, it is now possible to install Windows XP/Vista on Apple hardware and have the ability to do all the things that come with that, i.e. play games, run PC-only audio apps, get viruses, etc... I do this on my Mac at work using Parallels and it works very nicely.

Helix

it really depends how good you are with computers and if youre bothered putting time in to optimize a system

if you want it to run fine out of the box but pay a fair bit more, mac is your man

if you know how to built, maintain and run a machine from the ground up and dont mind spending a bit of time under the hood to get things just how you like them, go for a pc

its as simple as that

judas101

just looking on the mac site there and you can get logic 8 for only 199 bills with any mac.


seems like a good deal!

PaulBrewer

Helix wrote: »

if you know how to built, maintain and run a machine from the ground up and dont mind spending a bit of time under the hood to get things just how you like them, go for a pc

its as simple as that

Of course that has nothing to do with music, that's what I'm interested in......

JJV

I work with both Macs & PCs, both systems fall over occasionally, but Macs less so in my experience. The beauty of Macs for me is that they are so simple to fix. Within a couple of hours you can have the drives backed up & re-formatted & a complete vanilla re-installation of the OS up & running. No worries about the bios, hunting all over the internet for drivers & having to have your OS scanned for authenticity by Uncle Bill. In fact a lot of PCs now come with no OS disk at all, it is just stored on a recovery partition on your HD. Where does that leave you when/if the drive dies?

Also, in my opinion Windows XP does become slower & slower over time, necessitating re-installation anyway. For me PCs offer greater value but at the added expense of requiring more hand holding.....oh, & Macs look great;)

JJ
www.jjvernon.com

cornbb

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Of course that has nothing to do with music, that's what I'm interested in......

There's absolutely no harm in spending a bit of time learning to tweak things behind the scenes regardless of which system you use. Although Macs also beat PCs in terms of ease and pleasure when it comes to configuring their inner workings.

judas101 wrote: »

just looking on the mac site there and you can get logic 8 for only 199 bills with any mac.


seems like a good deal!

Really? Hot damn, I need to save some more pennies fast.

I suspect that Logic 8's low pricing is designed to entice more PC users to the Mac platform. I think its working too, on me anyway!

Helix

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Of course that has nothing to do with music, that's what I'm interested in......

which is precisely why i posted this:

if you want it to run fine out of the box but pay a fair bit more, mac is your man

before the part you quoted

anyway, if youre reliant on a computer for your music and do it any way seriously, you should have a pretty good knowledge of how the machine works, how to tweak it, and how to fix any issues imo

squibs

On the other hand, the amount of software available for the PC dwarfs what's available for the mac, and why do RTAS/AU plugs cost so much more than vsts? Also, it is kind of scary the way Apple changes direction - e.g. the motorola->Intel switch, and the OSX (dump-all-your-old-software) changeover. I kind of like being able to run Hammerhead (vintage 1995?) on a modern PC.

Helix

cornbb wrote: »

I suspect that Logic 8's low pricing is designed to entice more PC users to the Mac platform. I think its working too, on me anyway!

ill never move to macs unless they stop being so hideously overpriced

currently my setup has no computers at all tho, so im free of the devil

cornbb

squibs wrote: »

On the other hand, the amount of software available for the PC dwarfs what's available for the mac

Happily, its now possible to run all this stuff on Windows on a Mac, thanks to the Intel switch. Although there are still teething problems with audio drivers when running Windows on a Mac, AFAIK.

Helix wrote: »

ill never move to macs unless they stop being so hideously overpriced

I was of precisely the same opinion til I learned that I could by a Mac with 20% off and no VAT via my workplace

[/brags]

currently my setup has no computers at all tho, so im free of the devil

Now that requires a bit more elaboration I think

PaulBrewer

Helix wrote: »

ill never move to macs unless they stop being so hideously overpriced

currently my setup has no computers at all tho, so im free of the devil

Hell Yea!

unclebill98

I do agree that Macs are expensive, but you can not put a price on the stableness when it comes to recording. So i guess thats what your paying for.

Some of the mac ad's are spot on when it comes to the reason why a mac is just better.

A setup with no PC???

As for software, 99% of the major software comes for both platforms. Games are a little of topic, but yes you can not get half the titles on the mac.

Core Audio is another major plus, as mentioned by trackmix.

Mac "it just works".

white_falcon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UNSfm4Of80

studiorat

My take on that is...
If the guy's stoopid enough to pay his mate a listen to his I-Pod? He deserves to be using a crap PC.

Helix

im surprised so many people are surprised at a no computer setup

unclebill98

Helix wrote: »

im surprised so many people are surprised at a no computer setup

Well I know there are plenty of multi-trackers etc. But with it being so easy and cheap its just unusual.

dav nagle

If computers were a fabric then I would say the PC is very itchy and at times to uncomfortable to wear while macs are soft and comfortable especially around the neck and throat areas!:eek:

unclebill98

dav nagle wrote: »

If computers were a fabric then I would say the PC is very itchy and at times to uncomfortable to wear while macs are soft and comfortable especially around the neck and throat areas!:eek:

Niall - Dahlia

Mac user here, both at home and work. I find Macs are more user friendly and easier to use and maintain. When you have so many things that can (and do) go wrong in the studio, the last thing you need on your mind is the stability of your computer. Mac just gives me ease of mind really!

teamdresch

I built and set up my music PC myself.
Since I got it setup it hasn't crashed, beeped or even looked at me sideways.
How?

1. No internet, ****e or unnecessary junk on it.
2. Disabling hardware I don't need - ethernet, sound card etc. etc.
3. Putting together a reliable spec using hardware that's been demonstrated to run well with protools.

I daresay it worked out a good bit cheaper than a comparable quad-core Mac, but then again, I can't run Logic on it.

Either can work just as well with a bit of care.