Jump to content

PC or Mac for Music?


Recommended Posts

Hello everyone!

 

This is not yet another thread asking which is better for music production. :) I'm curious to know just how many people use PC or Macs for their music production, and how they feel about their platform, and the advantages and disadvantages they see of both PCs and Macs.

 

I'm curious because a friend of mine is trying to tell me how much Macs are better than PC's. He states that Macs are better for music production than PCs because the hardware is better integrated with software. And says "Walk into any major recording studio and you'll see they use Mac's". I don't know what truth there is to this. Thus my question. I'd like some information so I can make a successfull argument as to why PCs are just as good as Macs for music production :)

 

Anyway, discuss :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello everyone!

 

This is not yet another thread asking which is better for music production. :) I'm curious to know just how many people use PC or Macs for their music production, and how they feel about their platform, and the advantages and disadvantages they see of both PCs and Macs.

 

I'm curious because a friend of mine is trying to tell me how much Macs are better than PC's. He states that Macs are better for music production than PCs because the hardware is better integrated with software. And says "Walk into any major recording studio and you'll see they use Mac's". I don't know what truth there is to this. Thus my question. I'd like some information so I can make a successfull argument as to why PCs are just as good as Macs for music production :)

 

Anyway, discuss :)

596375[/snapback]

Yes that is true, that you will find macs in ANY of the good and big production studios. You will however also find pc's.....

 

Which is better? For me, since PC doesnt have Logic anymore, MAC's are better, since Logic is clearly the better music production software (FOR ME)... I got very tired of Cubase lately, and I can NOT afford to buy a MAC, so I got myself a ProTools version for PC instead (250 euros)... I hope its going to be a lot better and stabler than Cubase.

 

Thing is, that Cubase is a very good program, it has a lot of features, and you can do almost ANYTHING that you can do with Logic, but its just not as stable. I am an owner of SX3, but I am NOT running the version that I bought, I am using a version that I downloaded from some site... why? Because it performs way better without that FUCKING protection dongle!

 

Enough rants, I would say, Macs are better, because they are way more stable when it comes to Audio Processing, and MAC has Logic...

 

Someone else might say diffrently though... I think what it comes down to as well is taste... and ways of working... etc etc :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont have any idea on music production but i will tell you what artists like Wizzy Noise,Deedrah,Astral Projection,Total Eclipse and many more have told me about it when i asked them.

 

So according to all these guys Logic is the best music software program in the market so they all use a Mac when producing music and they all suggest it to everyone who seriously wants to get involved with music production.

 

From what they showed me it seems to me that they are absolutely right.

 

I guess though that the most important is to have some music knowledge,talent and patience,if you got all these then the computer shouldnt matter a lot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess though that the most important is to have some music knowledge,talent and patience,if you got all these then the computer shouldnt matter a lot.

596392[/snapback]

You can sum that up that way.. I would vote for Mac but since I dont have the money to afford it I vote PC.. About that Cubase SX3, I was wandering that question: How people who spent fortune on original program can work when something is buging them all the time like the stupid dongle driver.. And I see that they cant stand that from Nemo´s statement.. So Logic is best (I thought Prot tools are) but which version is for the PC since its not any more, or was he ever made for PC?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can sum that up that way.. I would vote for Mac but since I dont have the money to afford it I vote PC.. About that Cubase SX3, I was wandering that question: How people who spent fortune on original program can work when something is buging them all the time like the stupid dongle driver.. And I see that they cant stand that from Nemo´s statement.. So Logic is best (I thought Prot tools are) but which version is for the PC since its not any more, or was he ever made for PC?

596431[/snapback]

Protools is made for PC yes. Check out the version that is available for PC/MAC and is compatible with A lot of the M-Audio soundcards here:

 

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProT...red71-main.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use a Mac Mini, but I'm going to upgrade to an iMac once Apple release OSX10.5 and Reason is compatible with 10.5 :)

 

Macs are very stable, you're right about the integration - almost no drivers are needed for them, it has Garageband right out of the box... Macs win, for me.

 

However, they do come with a big price tag, so if money is a problem then you can get by with a PC. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use PCs; I have no stability or compatibity issues. I know of one well-known producer using a dual-G5 Mac who had to reinstall lots of things and lost some samples just by unplugging a USB flash drive without ejecting it first, something that just isn't a problem on a PC.

 

Swings and roundabouts; I can't think of a single reason why Macs are definitively better than PCs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So Logic is best (I thought Prot tools are) but which version is for the PC since its not any more, or was he ever made for PC?

596431[/snapback]

the last release of Logic for the PC was Platinum 5.5, i believe its no longer supported by emagic which is why i switched to live 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like there's said, Last PC-version af Logic was Logic Platinum 5.5.x.x...., and as far as I know it's too old to support dualcore-processors (Don't know with hyperthreading), so if you wanna run on PC I would go for either Live or Cubase SX..

Mentioned above, Astral Projection runs Mac's, but what I've seen them they use Cubase (But they also be running Logic, dunno)....

 

I personally haven't had any crashes with my SX3.1 on a 2½ year old PC (Running XP, haven't been formated in 1½ year but have run slowly overall the last 2-3 months because of major system-additions, like 2 gigs extra Ram and so on)..

 

If you want Logic then go for Mac, now that Apple owns it it has become MUCH better than the 5.5 PC-version...

If you want quality then go for Mac.

If you want a lowbudget but nicely functioning computer with anything else than logic 6-7.X then go for a PC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But what about Pro Tools? Its available for both, and from what I hear, it doesnt matter what platform, it performs equally good on both... so what is the problem with Cubase for Mac, and Logic for PC? ;)

 

I think emagic made a big mistake, and I think that the development for Cubase for MAC is poor.... ProTools will always win in the end.... NO pro mastering studio and NO pro recording studio uses Logic or Cubase (The big ones, and thats a fact!)... now ask yourself, WHY?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Up until a few years ago Mac legitimately had an edge on pro-audio but these days the difference really has become meaningless and its become a taste issue. Its true that most major studios use Macs and Protools, but now-a-days this mostly has to do with habit and I know plenty of professional engineers, mastering guys, etc who hate both (a lot of mastering engineers seem to prefer Samplitude recently, although they will still often work with Protools sometimes due to client demand). Studios are famous for sticking with the "tried and true" and Protools has held the market there for so long that it will be awhile until the competition can work its way in regardless of how good the product is (in fact, quite a lot of audio engineers actually seem to dislike the sound of Protools). Change will be awhile off but its slowly happening. The same applies for Macs. Protools on Macs has become the "standard" so people wanting to get into the business train on the standard, get used to it and therefore become less willing to change after several years. It becomes a self fullfilling cycle that has very little to do with how good the actual platform is anymore.

 

In my personal experience I prefer PCs right now. In college I worked in a Mac based computer lab and those things froze and died about 10 times more frequently than the PCs the school had running did. Also I'm running 3 different legit versions of Cubase on my music making PC, which hasn't been reformatted or anything since I built it around X-mas 2003 and have had almost no stabilty issues at all with it. A couple long time Mac using artists I know recently switched to PC, and a long time Protools/PC using artist I know recently sold Protools and switched to Cubase on a Mac. Really it all seems to boil down to taste these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NO pro mastering studio and NO pro recording studio uses Logic or Cubase (The big ones, and thats a fact!)... now ask yourself, WHY?!

596640[/snapback]

Cubase or Logic are not used in mastering because neither of them are mastering platforms.

As for "NO pro recording studio uses Logic or Cubase" you're speaking out of your hat. Pro Tools might be more common but it has nothing to do with sound quality any more, but more to do with studios customers having heard for years about 'Tools and only wanting to book time at studios using software that they have the impression is 'more professional'. M-Audio interfaces use the same converter hardware as PTHD; Cubase SX3 knocks the socks off Pro Tools in both audio and MIDI editing - PT doesn't have offline edit history or even proper plugin delay compensation ffs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what is the big different between all those famous sequenzers?

they have all around same feature, sound is ok.

its only about how you feel with it, if it works good with you.

intuitivity workflow and stuff.

you can make good music with each of them.

 

many ppl own a mac just cause it looks good.

but i would go for pc, lower prices, and better compatibility.

 

 

....and Piracy! ;)

 

 

my pc is now one year old, well configured and usually it doesnt crash.

never crashed if i only ran the sequenzer, only if also internet explorer running...

new hardware has no problems with unstability, it seems, just keep the system well configured, and clean.

go for PC. :ph34r:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cubase or Logic are not used in mastering because neither of them are mastering platforms.

As for "NO pro recording studio uses Logic or Cubase" you're speaking out of your hat.  Pro Tools might be more common but it has nothing to do with sound quality any more, but more to do with studios customers having heard for years about 'Tools and only wanting to book time at studios using software that they have the impression is 'more professional'.  M-Audio interfaces use the same converter hardware as PTHD; Cubase SX3 knocks the socks off Pro Tools in both audio and MIDI editing - PT doesn't have offline edit history or even proper plugin delay compensation ffs.

596671[/snapback]

I didnt say that No pro as in ALL of them, I did leave a bracket, the BIG ONES? Anyways, sorry you misunderstood what I said....

 

Im just so tired of paying 800 euros for a product so full of shit that I am never gonna use, and then I find out that the CRACKED version works better... hows that for irony... ffs! ;)

 

EDIT, and both Logic (MAC) and Cubase (Steinberg) Claim them to be mastering suits... so.... say again?

 

EDIT 2, I also bought this for another reason, and that is because im gonna do some extensive vocal and drum recording over the next year for another project.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didnt say that No pro as in ALL of them, I did leave a bracket, the BIG ONES? Anyways, sorry you misunderstood what I said....

Sorry you've never heard the phrase 'perceived value' or thought about how it applies to studios battling to take bookings from people with no technical knowledge but a library of catch-phrases they've picked up from other studios. And there are plenty of large professional studios who also use Cubase and Logic, as they now have to take mixing work from producers with their own home studios who often use this software rather than just relying on six week lockout album sessions.

 

Im just so tired of paying 800 euros for a product so full of shit that I am never gonna use, and then I find out that the CRACKED version works better... hows that for irony... ffs! ;)

Surely you knew the features before you bought it? Perhaps something simpler would have suited you from the start? ;)

 

EDIT, and both Logic (MAC) and Cubase (Steinberg) Claim them to be mastering suits... so.... say again?

I don't much care about what Logic claims to be, as I'm a PC user, but please can you give a link to somewhere where Steinberg claim that Cubase is a mastering suite? I can find where they say that about Wavelab, but not Cubase.

EDIT 2, I also bought this for another reason, and that is because im gonna do some extensive vocal and drum recording over the next year for another project.

596796[/snapback]

Cool... what Pro-Tools features in particular are you looking forward to using that Cubase doesn't have?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you really go for the pro studio sound quality, Steinbergs Nuendo is one of the very best and is by several great producers claimed to be superior to protools

596947[/snapback]

That might be so, I havent really tried it, as I dont own it. Send me a legit copy, and I will do ;)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nah, I think it pretty much ended up like this:

 

Posted Image

596977[/snapback]

:)

 

I still say Cubase and Logic are used in as many pro studios (big ones included) as Pro Tools though... they have to cater for all their potential clients :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:)

 

I still say Cubase and Logic are used in as many pro studios (big ones included) as Pro Tools though... they have to cater for all their potential clients :P

596982[/snapback]

I still agree with you :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you really go for the pro studio sound quality, Steinbergs Nuendo is one of the very best and is by several great producers claimed to be superior to protools

596947[/snapback]

Is it? Well lucky me, I got Nuendo.. Which several great producers?

Nemo, that means I dont have to buy Pro tool or bother with cracking..

Yupie yai yei

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...