Mac or PC user? Pro - Semi Pro - Amateur?
- Thread starter Razorjack
- Start date
Mulder said:Splastik, here's the link.
006, concerning Halo: the Xbox 360 runs on powerpc's from IBM. Before Microsoft had a working model of the 360 they demo'd a game running on a dual G5, having the same cpu's. People noticed that cos of the slow speed, the total lack of AA and... Because there was a G5 hidden away in a box under the table...
Thanks for the link. I was going to mention the how the 360 was on PPC but then spaced it! So it would kind of make sense to use a G5 instead of an Intel or AMD etc, because of the processor involved.
metalkingdom
the kinder, gentler me
- Jan 1, 2005
- 1,634
- 2
- 38
Pro, 36, been doing this for about 11 years. I've been fortunate enough to work with some of the biggest names and most talented people in popular music today. I started on 2 inch machines and blackfaced ADATS, then forced myself to learn Pro Tools and the Mac OS to keep up with things. At the home studio, I use Nuendo 2.2 on an Athlon-based pc with XP Pro.
I used Mac's on a daily basis for years, basically because that's what you'll find in most of the big recording studios. Back when the Pro Tools revolution really started happening, Digidesign didn't make a pc version of the software. Pro Tools (and it's predecessors) were all developed for use on a Mac, hence the initial reason why Macs took such a stranglehold on the audio world. Even after the Windows version of Pro Tools came out, Macs still held their ground, and a lot of that had to do with the cracks for the Mac versions of the costly TDM plugins being so widespread. I'm willing to bet that there wasn't a studio with a TDM system on this whole planet that didn't run those cracks. After awhile, you didn't even need to call the studio beforehand to find out what plugins they had.
Pc's have always had a bad reputation of crashing unexpectedly (as we all know), and no professional has the time or patience to deal with that. It's pretty much the same reason why most would choose a Studer A800 over a MCI JH-24. Well... the Studer sounds great too, but you get what I mean - no one wants to take chances when there's money on the table and artists' livelihoods in your hands. Also, Macs are generally more user-friendly than pc's. This is especially true for those who don't have a lot of experience with computers. In order to get your pc to run very smoothly, you have to tweak it quite a bit. I think that a lot of the older guys would rather not be bothered.
On the flip side, pc's have come a LONG way (since even 2001) in handling demanding tasks, and software/hardware development for the Windows platform is expanding by leaps and bounds. I LOVE the way that Nuendo sounds. I don't know how to describe it, but it just sounds more "bouncy" to me than Pro Tools. I got my best (digital) drum sound ever on Cubase.
The main reason why I prefer (for my own personal use) pc to Mac is because pc's are legacy systems, whereas Mac's are not. Once the Mac is outdated, it's basically a dinosaur that resells for less than half of what you originally paid for it. My old "boss" used to have one of those PowerMac 9600's that we ran Pro Tools 3 on, and when we upgraded to HD he couldn't give that thing away (or the 16-bit 888). I've had the same tower, mobo and processor in my pc for three years now, and I'm about to upgrade the whole thing to "tits" status for less than $250. I like knowing that hardware companies are out there spending shitloads on R&D competing with each other to make the best components possible - often with a great value to quality margin. I also like tinkering with the hardware in my pc, it kinda fills the void of tweaking 2" machines, which is a lost art overshadowed by the digital revolution. My pc NEVER crashes.
I don't hate Mac's. I would just rather work with pc's if given a choice. Usually Mac's are very stable, but they do crash occasionally. I've always felt like the Mac will only let you control it up to a point, which is something that, personally, makes me feel uncomfortable (think "I, Robot"). Just kidding, but there is a growing backlash to Mac's mainly for that reason - if you haven't noticed yet, you will.
I plan to open my own commercial facility (and label) sometime in '06, and it will be built around a pc system. Mr. Brett's stellar work on the To-Mera album helped convinced me to buy the RME Fireface - which happens to be an excellent interface that is exclusively for use with a pc. I'll be switching to Pro Tools and probably a Mac as soon as the profits mount - mostly for credibilities sake.
I used Mac's on a daily basis for years, basically because that's what you'll find in most of the big recording studios. Back when the Pro Tools revolution really started happening, Digidesign didn't make a pc version of the software. Pro Tools (and it's predecessors) were all developed for use on a Mac, hence the initial reason why Macs took such a stranglehold on the audio world. Even after the Windows version of Pro Tools came out, Macs still held their ground, and a lot of that had to do with the cracks for the Mac versions of the costly TDM plugins being so widespread. I'm willing to bet that there wasn't a studio with a TDM system on this whole planet that didn't run those cracks. After awhile, you didn't even need to call the studio beforehand to find out what plugins they had.
Pc's have always had a bad reputation of crashing unexpectedly (as we all know), and no professional has the time or patience to deal with that. It's pretty much the same reason why most would choose a Studer A800 over a MCI JH-24. Well... the Studer sounds great too, but you get what I mean - no one wants to take chances when there's money on the table and artists' livelihoods in your hands. Also, Macs are generally more user-friendly than pc's. This is especially true for those who don't have a lot of experience with computers. In order to get your pc to run very smoothly, you have to tweak it quite a bit. I think that a lot of the older guys would rather not be bothered.
On the flip side, pc's have come a LONG way (since even 2001) in handling demanding tasks, and software/hardware development for the Windows platform is expanding by leaps and bounds. I LOVE the way that Nuendo sounds. I don't know how to describe it, but it just sounds more "bouncy" to me than Pro Tools. I got my best (digital) drum sound ever on Cubase.
The main reason why I prefer (for my own personal use) pc to Mac is because pc's are legacy systems, whereas Mac's are not. Once the Mac is outdated, it's basically a dinosaur that resells for less than half of what you originally paid for it. My old "boss" used to have one of those PowerMac 9600's that we ran Pro Tools 3 on, and when we upgraded to HD he couldn't give that thing away (or the 16-bit 888). I've had the same tower, mobo and processor in my pc for three years now, and I'm about to upgrade the whole thing to "tits" status for less than $250. I like knowing that hardware companies are out there spending shitloads on R&D competing with each other to make the best components possible - often with a great value to quality margin. I also like tinkering with the hardware in my pc, it kinda fills the void of tweaking 2" machines, which is a lost art overshadowed by the digital revolution. My pc NEVER crashes.
I don't hate Mac's. I would just rather work with pc's if given a choice. Usually Mac's are very stable, but they do crash occasionally. I've always felt like the Mac will only let you control it up to a point, which is something that, personally, makes me feel uncomfortable (think "I, Robot"). Just kidding, but there is a growing backlash to Mac's mainly for that reason - if you haven't noticed yet, you will.
I plan to open my own commercial facility (and label) sometime in '06, and it will be built around a pc system. Mr. Brett's stellar work on the To-Mera album helped convinced me to buy the RME Fireface - which happens to be an excellent interface that is exclusively for use with a pc. I'll be switching to Pro Tools and probably a Mac as soon as the profits mount - mostly for credibilities sake.
evilmanny said:Macs killed my father and raped my mother... (to paraphrase family guy).
Pro...
PC loaded with Creamware and Korg oasys cards
Sonar.
oh... I'm also 28
but I program midi on an AMIGA!
you knows it...
I could understand an Atari, since they have the amazingly tight MIDI clocks, but any reason for the Amiga?
elmuchoescadawg
Member
I actually have a MAC and a PC on my desk at work. I was just triying to leave a post about a producer I know who doesnt use computers at all and loves 2" but all of a sudden that post doesnt seem that important any more.
Internet explorer on my PC crashed when I hit the Post Quick Reply button so Im currently typing this on my MAC instead while I restart the PC.
Internet explorer on my PC crashed when I hit the Post Quick Reply button so Im currently typing this on my MAC instead while I restart the PC.
evilmanny
industrial sandwich maker
Razorjack said:I could understand an Atari, since they have the amazingly tight MIDI clocks, but any reason for the Amiga?
You know, I've never had many problems with the Amiga. I use a 1200 running Octamed. Yep... a tracker! I know it all seems a bit backwards, but I really dislike a lot of midi editing in cubase and that ilk. For certain things, like filtering etc, they're great and quick to use, but when you program drum lines and strange noises I like the flexability of a tracker and seeing what's going on with every instrument all the time.
I grew up on them as well (my brothers used to make PD tunes on them back in the day, so I got a lot of the tracker stuff from them) I was a commodore kid.
Regarding the midi clock, it's never been a big issue. After I have a song fairly finished with the programming I record all the midi data over onto my PC. The worst I get from synching issues is a very slight delay from where the measure is, compared to where the note hits and it will be, it's also the whole track as opposed to one or two notes. I can usually sort this out with a gentle nudge from quantizing land.
One of the biggest things about using trackers for midi is that there's a very particular sound to them. You can get some really weird shit happening with the programming if you're willing to learn how (or if you want that... ). A surprising number of people still use them as well. Squarepusher for one.
So yeah, it comes down to several things
- using octamed over cubase
- what I'm used to
- getting a different sound
- they kick arse
I may try moving over to PC based trackers at somepoint but I'm in no particular hurry.
elmuchoescadawg
Member
xmidihcx
off topic user
19, semi-pro with a decent pc, vegas with plugins galore.
I feel PC is the best, because personally I can work a hell of a lot quicker and feel more comfortable on it. im not saying that makes them BETTER, i'm just saying that i feel more of a "home field advatage" at studios running PC's.
the bottom line is that macs rock, but pc's will give you more bang for your buck, so if you are on a budget, go PC.
as far as the c4 setting goes: fuck all yall cus i use it on the master bus :Smokin:
I feel PC is the best, because personally I can work a hell of a lot quicker and feel more comfortable on it. im not saying that makes them BETTER, i'm just saying that i feel more of a "home field advatage" at studios running PC's.
the bottom line is that macs rock, but pc's will give you more bang for your buck, so if you are on a budget, go PC.
as far as the c4 setting goes: fuck all yall cus i use it on the master bus
:Smokin:
xmidihcx
off topic user
pc vs mac is kinda like the olympics. . .
you want your team to win, but in the end. . . WHO CARES?
you want your team to win, but in the end. . . WHO CARES?
I'm a total amateur, 30, with a day job...I initially went to school for music engineering, but quit 2 1/2 years into the program after realizing that schooling sucked every ounce of fun out of music and production and that 99% of the grads worked in music stores, were still interning or apprentacing or whatever you call it at a studio, and they all scraped by - no offense to the pros here! I thought I better get a "real" job so I changed majors and graduated with a degree in nuclear medicine...So I feel like I have the best of both worlds...Money for bills and gear and music is fun again. I find that when I view music as a hobby, I have more fun than when I try to buckle down and get serious...But, I take the hobby and fun aspect very serious (too serious), so it doesn't make sense...
BTW, I'm a noob with a Presonus Firepod and the included Cubase running on a 3.06GHz Pentium 4 with 1 GB RAM, 180GB HD, blah, blah, blah...and a ton of plug ins.
last week, the C4 comment would have been directed straight at a goob like me, but gladly I've tweaked it or chucked it on my mixes, so I'M AN INDIVIDUAL DAMMIT!!!!!
BTW, I'm a noob with a Presonus Firepod and the included Cubase running on a 3.06GHz Pentium 4 with 1 GB RAM, 180GB HD, blah, blah, blah...and a ton of plug ins.
last week, the C4 comment would have been directed straight at a goob like me, but gladly I've tweaked it or chucked it on my mixes, so I'M AN INDIVIDUAL DAMMIT!!!!!
chadsxe
Super Rad Member
- Dec 13, 2005
- 1,136
- 0
- 36
On Thursday, at the Intel Developer Forum in San Fransisco, Microsoft development manager Andrew Ritz revealed that Windows Vista, the successor to the aging Windows XP expected to be released later this year, will not support EFI booting. Ritz admitted that EFI support will not be seen until Longhorn Server is released in early 2007, and on top of that it will never support a 32-bit processor.
"
Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is the modern and flexible successor to the 20-year-old PC BIOS. It is responsible for initialising hardware in the PC, and importantly, device drivers are stored in the EFI flash memory rather than being loaded by the operating system.
This is terrible news for Intel Mac users who have been hoping that they could dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X on their new Macs: not only are their processors not 64-bit (and thus will never be supported by Windows EFI booting) but Windows Vista won't boot on EFI anyway.
"A combination of factors changed our plans. The big one, in my opinion was platform availability. With this huge move to 64-bit based platforms and for us to support it, we needed to see a large heterogeneous sample of 64 bit implementations out there for us to feel comfortable in supporting it." said Ritz."
"
Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is the modern and flexible successor to the 20-year-old PC BIOS. It is responsible for initialising hardware in the PC, and importantly, device drivers are stored in the EFI flash memory rather than being loaded by the operating system.
This is terrible news for Intel Mac users who have been hoping that they could dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X on their new Macs: not only are their processors not 64-bit (and thus will never be supported by Windows EFI booting) but Windows Vista won't boot on EFI anyway.
"A combination of factors changed our plans. The big one, in my opinion was platform availability. With this huge move to 64-bit based platforms and for us to support it, we needed to see a large heterogeneous sample of 64 bit implementations out there for us to feel comfortable in supporting it." said Ritz."
xmidihcx
off topic user
Black neon bob said:Im a rookie i guess.. started recording about 1,5 year ago, and i am still loving every second of it.. in fact, it's getting more interesting every day!
I'm 23 now.. in ten years, i would like to be filthy rich, have a lot of cars, and have lot's of unbridled sex with strange women just like James and Andy do...
During the daytime when im not mixing, i clean toilet pots, worship David Hasselhoff. and i am a true master at arranging flowers!!
i use a PC, saving up for a mac to get one at some point later on.. need something more stable.
software.. nuendo and a shitload of plugins.. nuendo is amazing!
oh and PC sucks, MAC sucks.. gameboy is where it's at suckers!
FUCKIN A + all i can say is damn, i can't beleive you used the word "unbridled"
second of all, FUCK your gameboy dude cus i got GAME GEAR!
in clinical studies worldwide game gear was proven to outshine game boy. first of all, it has a much more stable OS and muuuuuuuuch better graphics. i mean, cmon, illuminated color vs. stale yellow and black lcd? 3 words: FUCK OUTTA HERE!:zombie:
Lopes
Fuckin' Dr. of Journalism
evilmanny
industrial sandwich maker
Lopes said:Why in the world would you have Internet Explorer on your computer?
because bill gates is not that nice a person.
SteelRat
Member
It's fun to give the one guy in the office hell about using his mac...but really, as long as you are comfortable with a platform and can get what you want out of it, and get things done...who cares what someone else thinks of your system?
Can you pick up a CD and honestly be able to say, "Oh, I can hear that this was produced with a (mac)(pc) because..."?
No.
So who cares...really...no reason to hate the other system...if you're happy with what you can do...be happy...why knock the other guy for using something else?
BTW - my PC's don't crash...and I work them pretty hard every day...
Can you pick up a CD and honestly be able to say, "Oh, I can hear that this was produced with a (mac)(pc) because..."?
No.
So who cares...really...no reason to hate the other system...if you're happy with what you can do...be happy...why knock the other guy for using something else?
BTW - my PC's don't crash...and I work them pretty hard every day...
chadsxe said:
The original post was a very simple, and was a closed question. The way this thread turned out has been a great insight into the minds of forum members.
Thanks all
Brett - K A L I S I A
Dreaded Moderator
