Mac and PC as your workstation
- Thread starter TOBZ
- Start date
hollandturbine
New member
The only reason for using two different platforms is if you can't do everything you want with just one or the other.
Mac or PC?
In my opinion, Mac is just more efficient and smoother when it comes to music production and audio recording. Especially with a quadcore i7! However, Fl studio was the first DAW I've ever laid my hands on and I still use it despite the fact that it's a window program.
You can download the cross over beta directly from the image line website or set up an alternate windows version on your mac which you will be able to use Fl studio.
But for the most part, both work stations get the job done so it's really I personal choice.
Let us know what you decide to work with!
Happy producing!
In my opinion, Mac is just more efficient and smoother when it comes to music production and audio recording. Especially with a quadcore i7! However, Fl studio was the first DAW I've ever laid my hands on and I still use it despite the fact that it's a window program.
You can download the cross over beta directly from the image line website or set up an alternate windows version on your mac which you will be able to use Fl studio. But for the most part, both work stations get the job done so it's really I personal choice.
Let us know what you decide to work with!
Happy producing!
Windows for the thousands upon thousands of freeware plug-ins only developed for windows and also FL Studio. Mac for Logic and driver support basically. Used to use PC/FL Studio, now use Mac/Ableton, and I do miss all those free plugins sometimes. That said, I like Mac as a laptop a lot more overall and don't miss dealing with ASIO drivers, plus all the brand name high end VSTs work on Mac anyways so. . .
If I owned a PC again now that I've been using a Mac and Ableton for the past year or so, that PC would probably just collect dust or I'd use it for gaming or something.
If I owned a PC again now that I've been using a Mac and Ableton for the past year or so, that PC would probably just collect dust or I'd use it for gaming or something.
hollandturbine
New member
I am not a big fan of using laptops or inside-out all-in-one desktops for music production, I still prefer having a powerful tower system packed to the gills with audio hard drives and using a card based audio interface etc as opposed to having a mess of shit hanging off wires taxing my CPU unnecessarily, believe it or not tower systems are actually neater and if you want that you kind of have to go PC, also some dual platform software just works better on PC.
When it comes to laptops however the Mac is preferable in my opinion but only if you are prepared to lug around a keyboard, the up side being that the on-board audio elevates the need to also lug around an audio interface, if however you are not prepared to trade portability for efficiency you are probably going to want to use FL Studio because despite it's deficiencies it has been designed for noobz who don't own a keyboard so that they can draw shit into the piano roll with the mouse as efficiently as possible, and if you are not playing in real time latency is irrelevant anyway so if you don't want to cart around any peripherals a PC and FL Studio might be the way to go, otherwise go the Mac.
I still use quite a bit of outboard hardware and I am fortunate to still be able to use some discontinued MIDEX MIDI interfaces on a PC to drive my gear without latency or jitter, the drivers are relatively new but the PC does tend to do backward compatibility better than Apple, like there is no way you could use a Unitor interface with Logic now however one thing I do think is quite awesome is that you can get the same low latency/jitter performance using a new MOTU MIDI interface on a Mac, of course such time stamping protocols don't work on MIDI input so it will not be as good as the MIDI input found on a card based audio interface but it's still an advantage the Mac has over the PC.
When it comes to laptops however the Mac is preferable in my opinion but only if you are prepared to lug around a keyboard, the up side being that the on-board audio elevates the need to also lug around an audio interface, if however you are not prepared to trade portability for efficiency you are probably going to want to use FL Studio because despite it's deficiencies it has been designed for noobz who don't own a keyboard so that they can draw shit into the piano roll with the mouse as efficiently as possible, and if you are not playing in real time latency is irrelevant anyway so if you don't want to cart around any peripherals a PC and FL Studio might be the way to go, otherwise go the Mac.
I still use quite a bit of outboard hardware and I am fortunate to still be able to use some discontinued MIDEX MIDI interfaces on a PC to drive my gear without latency or jitter, the drivers are relatively new but the PC does tend to do backward compatibility better than Apple, like there is no way you could use a Unitor interface with Logic now however one thing I do think is quite awesome is that you can get the same low latency/jitter performance using a new MOTU MIDI interface on a Mac, of course such time stamping protocols don't work on MIDI input so it will not be as good as the MIDI input found on a card based audio interface but it's still an advantage the Mac has over the PC.
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KonKossKang
Ozagas
Depends on whether you value porta vs power.
Laptops are way better than they used to be even 3 years ago, but still.
I like desktops cuz all of that extra stuff isn't connected to no usb ports unless it's strictly external like a focusrite or padkontrol.
Although I got a lil cheap ass 100$ windows 8 tablet as a portasampler/bootleg mpc. Laptops are pretty good allrounders though.
Laptops are way better than they used to be even 3 years ago, but still.
I like desktops cuz all of that extra stuff isn't connected to no usb ports unless it's strictly external like a focusrite or padkontrol.
Although I got a lil cheap ass 100$ windows 8 tablet as a portasampler/bootleg mpc. Laptops are pretty good allrounders though.
Y
yada
Guest
You could also use pc and mac in tandem if you have both. Vienna ensemble does this. Cubase has got that system link option which does the same kind of thing if i read it right.
You don't necessarily need a bunch of wires hanging out of a laptop. I have my mouse and soundcard in mine, which is the same as i have on the desktop. 3 internal drives allows it to be much more self contained. Higher heat and noise and less power than a desktop though, but lower consumption.
Personally i don’t anymore use the mac for anything heavy after getting a pc again. The heat and noise they put out is crazy in my opinion. No problem with outboard gear and strictly audio i’d imagine, but anything cpu intensive is just bizarre. Doesn’t help that Apple seem to like putting their thermal paste on with a shovel mind. Cleaning that crap off and doing it properly can lower temps quite considerably.
You don't necessarily need a bunch of wires hanging out of a laptop. I have my mouse and soundcard in mine, which is the same as i have on the desktop. 3 internal drives allows it to be much more self contained. Higher heat and noise and less power than a desktop though, but lower consumption.
Personally i don’t anymore use the mac for anything heavy after getting a pc again. The heat and noise they put out is crazy in my opinion. No problem with outboard gear and strictly audio i’d imagine, but anything cpu intensive is just bizarre. Doesn’t help that Apple seem to like putting their thermal paste on with a shovel mind. Cleaning that crap off and doing it properly can lower temps quite considerably.