eep!! Music production, apple or pc?

If you plan on performing live then get a Mac - you don't want to be tinkering with Windows in front of an audience... I personally know a number of people who produce and perform electronic music and most agree that a Mac is more reliable.
A windows machine in a studio is ok but you will still waste precious inspired moments fiddling with it instead of writing hits.
IMHO of course.
 
assagai said:
just a word of warning - usb soundcards generally have higher latency then firewire/pcmcia options - so if you want tight midi response i wouldn't really recommend a usb solution. If you can try one out first and it works for you that'd be cool - but i try and avoid usb soundcards based on my experience of their laggyness!
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Not with the Mya.That card was discontinued and due to huge demand,brought back.I've used it with various dj software in the past with my cdj800's and as a scratch dj never suffer any noticeable latency.

SlinkyMike said:
If you plan on performing live then get a Mac - you don't want to be tinkering with Windows in front of an audience... I personally know a number of people who produce and perform electronic music and most agree that a Mac is more reliable.
A windows machine in a studio is ok but you will still waste precious inspired moments fiddling with it instead of writing hits.
IMHO of course.
Click to expand...
Mac should be more reliable they say,but if you use a standalone dedicated xp box there should be no problems.There should not even be AV running on.
 
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i'l say one last time - soundcard, soundcard, soundcard, soundcard, soundcard

i've done sooo many gigs with an xp laptop without problems because the RME soundcard drivers are rock solid and take some of the dsp load - it's alla bout the soundcard!
 
Biggie said:
Not with the Mya.That card was discontinued and due to huge demand,brought back.I've used it with various dj software in the past with my cdj800's and as a scratch dj never suffer any noticeable latency.
Click to expand...

that's dj software, but howabout when you have some heavyweight vst's loaded up? i've never used the maya so i don't know, but buyer be aware is all i was saying...
 
Biggie said:
Mac should be more reliable they say,but if you use a standalone dedicated xp box there should be no problems.There should not even be AV running on.
Click to expand...

Again: friends of mine who perform curse their XP laptop because they often end using CD backup and not actually performing... I suspect its XPs propensity to kinda 'clog up' over time that makes it a little unpredictable. Add a dash of bad luck and you can end up with a disaster!

I totally agree with the comments vis-a-vis sound cards, you just cant stress that enough.

On that point: has anyone encountered an audio interface that allows the user to manually route specific loads to specific cores?
For instance: I am running a heavy duty VST instrument and I want to give it its very own DSP core so I open up a patch bay type application and manually point that instrument to a specific core?
Been wondering about this for some time... obviously one patch on that bay would be an 'out' allowing essentially for a daisy chain of soundcards... thoughts?
 
SlinkyMike said:
Again: friends of mine who perform curse their XP laptop because they often end using CD backup and not actually performing... I suspect its XPs propensity to kinda 'clog up' over time that makes it a little unpredictable. Add a dash of bad luck and you can end up with a disaster!

I totally agree with the comments vis-a-vis sound cards, you just cant stress that enough.

On that point: has anyone encountered an audio interface that allows the user to manually route specific loads to specific cores?
For instance: I am running a heavy duty VST instrument and I want to give it its very own DSP core so I open up a patch bay type application and manually point that instrument to a specific core?
Been wondering about this for some time... obviously one patch on that bay would be an 'out' allowing essentially for a daisy chain of soundcards... thoughts?
Click to expand...

don't know of anything that can do that - closest i can think of is UAD with their modular dsp systems for their proprietary plug-ins

just curious as to why you'd need that feature though? I've done projects running video/multiple audio tracks and a ton of vsti's with xp pro/4gb ram/audio tweaks/rme multiface/0.7ms latency without any hitches - i'm talking from a composing side though, maybe a final mix engineer would need more on the dsp side.
 
assagai said:
don't know of anything that can do that - closest i can think of is UAD with their modular dsp systems for their proprietary plug-ins

just curious as to why you'd need that feature though? I've done projects running video/multiple audio tracks and a ton of vsti's with xp pro/4gb ram/audio tweaks/rme multiface/0.7ms latency without any hitches - i'm talking from a composing side though, maybe a final mix engineer would need more on the dsp side.
Click to expand...

Yea, mainly mastering but also just because it would be cool!! Find a rational use for it later attitude I suppose...

The fact is that no matter how powerful the machine I have always hit a ceiling in terms of raw processing power and I have always felt I'd rather be in control of whats happening down there rather than wonder if its been done in the most efficient way, I'm sure that thought is not peculiar to myself...
 
yeah i suppose there are some limits, do occasionally have to bounce intstruments, looking forward to seeing how the new mac pro handles everything once i finally get it set up! Still my old q6600 xp box performed admirably for the last 18 months
 
assagai said:
i'l say one last time - soundcard, soundcard, soundcard, soundcard, soundcard

i've done sooo many gigs with an xp laptop without problems because the RME soundcard drivers are rock solid and take some of the dsp load - it's alla bout the soundcard!
Click to expand...

Agreed, but there is something else which is just as important - having decent monitors. There is no point in having a R20,000 DAW, and monitoring on R100 gaming speakers.

My advice is this:
Stop worrying about what operating system and software to use, they're both irrelevant. Focus on getting a decent professional audio interface, (and no, an Audigy is NOT a pro card) and proper monitors - kiddie speakers = kiddie sound.
 
I moved over to Logic on an iMac a few months ago and have never looked back. It is awesome. Sound advice (so to speak) by the rest of the posters...
 
With regards to a audio interface to handle dsp loads, have you looked at the muse receptor. That can handle dsp loads from your vst plugins and instruments I think
 
It is true that it doesn't matter what os you use. It is what ever works for you. Personally I find the mac os more condusive for a creative environment. Protools is great, but I don't feel creative in protools. But with Logic I always feel creative, and I have less tweaks that I have to peform on my Mac with Logic than I have to with my PC and protools, and cubase.
 
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