If using a mac should i try to use au instead of vst?

Y

yodaone902

New member
My brief understanding of presets and plugins is that vst was origianlly made by stienberg for pc while Au is specifically constructed for mac users. I use Maschine and Logic pro X as my DAWS (i'm aware that Maschine isn't exactly a Daw but you can use external plugins etc)
 
Nah it all depends on what your DAW needs.

I dont think ive ever used an AU plugin and im on a Macbook Pro. For Ableton I use VST versions of my plugins and for Pro Tools I use AAX Versions.
 
Yumid said:
Nah it all depends on what your DAW needs.

I dont think ive ever used an AU plugin and im on a Macbook Pro. For Ableton I use VST versions of my plugins and for Pro Tools I use AAX Versions.
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Hey Yumid, not sure what DAW you used but I am considering switching over to a Macbook Pro. Do you have any problems running any of the common VST's such as Nexus, Omnisphere, Sylenth etc on mac? That really is the only thing holding me from making the switch
 
livinlegend said:
Hey Yumid, not sure what DAW you used but I am considering switching over to a Macbook Pro. Do you have any problems running any of the common VST's such as Nexus, Omnisphere, Sylenth etc on mac? That really is the only thing holding me from making the switch
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Wont be, and never has been an issue. Unless I missed something Im not sure how this idea got in peoples heads?

Again, VST/AAX, ETC.. depends on the daw, not your operating system.

If you couldn't use VST's on macs VST's wouldnt be anywhere near as popular as they are now.

Which Daw do you use? Odds are its VST compatible.
 
I use FL Studio, I have never encountered it personally because I have never used a mac in my life. That is a relief though because I hear that macs are great for music production
 
livinlegend said:
u sure about that Yumid? I have seen quite a few people running FL11 on Mac
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maybe you can with fl11 now
DAHTrump said:
Logic Pro X uses AU, so yes, you would look for AU files over VST.

Sincerely, a Logic Pro user.
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Since when are all Mac users running Logic Pro? ONCE AGAIN...it goes by your DAW, not your operating system. Logic Pro uses AU, not Mac.
 
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Unless u see a need for a mac...
Keep what u got goin on....
Dnt get dragged into the pc vs mac for production...
-all imaginary
 
yep, they use the same processors and board architectures now and their operating systems whilst different are just flavours of unix, so no nett benefit moving from one side to the other

main difference is and remains that macs are 60% optimised out of the box to produce audio, pcs are maybe 20%. Moving your mac to 90% optimisation or better takes a lot of hard work whereas tweaking your pc os to 90%+ is relatively easy, including being able to access legitimate iso images that are pre-tweaked for specific interfaces and daws

vst was created for all platforms that support them (i.e. they are specific to daws not os's, although you do need versions compiled to run on macs - most vst makers will do that automatically) whereas au was created for mac based daw software such as logic
 
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bandcoach said:
yep, they use the same processors and board architectures now and their operating systems whilst different are just flavors of unix, so no nett benefit moving from one side to the other

main difference is and remains that macs are 60% optimized out of the box to produce audio, pcs are maybe 20%. Moving your mac to 90% optimization or better takes a lot of hard work whereas tweaking your pc os to 90%+ is relatively easy, including being able to access legitimate iso images that a pre-tweaked for specific interfaces and daws

vst was created for all platforms that support them (i.e. they are specific to daws not os's, although you do need versions compiled to run on macs - most vst makers will do that automatically) whereas au was created for mac based daw software such as logic
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Pretty much sums it up (although the percents are probably just for purposes of example rather than actual data). I would put them a bit more on the macs are about 70-80% optimized out of the box and pc's about 30%. And it definitely is easier to tweak a pc (if spending time tweaking a machine is your thing) but you really don't have to do much of anything on a mac to get it up and running just fine whilst tweaking a pc (and keeping it running well) are essential to a PC audio system.

The biggest thing for me is the ability to plug things in and unplug them without worries. And no crashes when a usb chord gets unplugged, etc. the other huge factor is just getting stuff to work correctly. A quick look at the materials accompanying a new piece of hardware can reveal this. MAC/ Step 1: plug in device - Step 2: configure software while pc has two pages of installation instructions as well as drivers that must be installed (true sometimes mac has special drivers for hardware but not usually). And if that's not enough to convince, just browse support forums for same hardware and the vast majority of the posts are pc users trying to get one thing or another to work. Same goes for software; the support forums are full of discussions about this issue or that. Again the vast majority are pc users. Of course there are many exceptions to this and there's no sense debating that. Again the vast majority of users experience is what to consider when choosing one system over another.

But none of this is even the most compelling reason I use macs. It really boils down to, working with a mac in the studio feels much the same as working with hardware, while working on a pc feels like using software, at least to me.

There is a reason they are the industry standard (outside of budget home studios) and there is simply no debating that they are better machines than pc's for audio production. One can debate whether they are the most viable choice for budget vs performance and whether Apple is keeping up to pace with its own standard (some bad decisions and bad designs and some faulty hardware have recently tarnished Apple's formerly pristine record). But there simply is no argument that using a mac in the studio results in less headaches than using a pc. Anyone that has used both platforms (extensively) will know that.

when looking for guidance on the subject it is best to completely ignore both the Mac Fanboys as well as Mac haters (often driven by the simple fact they can't afford a mac) that simple love or hate macs by default and focus only on those that know both systems and have made their choice based on experience. As of yet I personally have not met anyone that migrated from a pc to mac and then gone back to pc's. And my guess is the majority that claim to (have gone from mac to pc for audio production) would not be able to provide past photos of their studio when it was 'mac based'. The old adage is pretty accurate... Once you go Mac, you never go back.
 
A clarification on VST's vs. AU

AU is Apple's proprietary format but Logic Pro X is compatible with both VST's and AU's. Ableton Live can even use apple's AU plugins. You can also use the AU version of a plugin in one DAW and a VST version of the plugin in another (DAW) and any presets, etc. will be compatible with both versions.

Really no reason to choose one over the other except when performance is concerned. Some claim Logic has better performance when running AU's. I have heard others claim that AU have better performance while VST have better audio (while others claim the reverse) but I have never seen real world benchmarks to support either claim. Personally I have never been able to determine a significant difference (in either performance or audio quality).
 
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robin_loops said:
when looking for guidance on the subject it is best to completely ignore both the Mac Fanboys as well as Mac haters (often driven by the simple fact they can't afford a mac) The old adage is pretty accurate... Once you go Mac, you never go back.
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....
 
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Him stating he was getting a macpro is what made me assume he was using windows but thinking of switching over
But u kno what they say when u assume...
 
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robin_loops said:
Pretty much sums it up (although the percents are probably just for purposes of example rather than actual data). I would put them a bit more on the macs are about 70-80% optimized out of the box and pc's about 30%. And it definitely is easier to tweak a pc (if spending time tweaking a machine is your thing) but you really don't have to do much of anything on a mac to get it up and running just fine whilst tweaking a pc (and keeping it running well) are essential to a PC audio system.
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the percentages I quote are from several reputable sites who deal in tweaking PCs and mac for audio, so in\mo are accurate. Also my own experiences tend to back these numbers as well

When you add in external soundcards and drivers for both machines maybe the numbers get higher initially, but you are still fighting some of the issues inherent in one system that comes "optimised for audio" and one system that "needs to be optimised for audio"
 
robin_loops said:
Really no reason to choose one over the other except when performance is concerned. Some claim Logic has better performance when running AU's. I have heard others claim that AU have better performance while VST have better audio (while others claim the reverse) but I have never seen real world benchmarks to support either claim. Personally I have never been able to determine a significant difference (in either performance or audio quality).
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Apparently Apple uses hidden playback buffers to improve performance.
 
robin_loops said:
AU is Apple's proprietary format but Logic Pro X is compatible with both VST's and AU's. Ableton Live can even use apple's AU plugins.
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Really? I'm pretty confident that Logic is still AU only (unless using a workaround solution like Metaplugin or the good ol' FXPansion VST-AU wrapper, which I'm not sure works anymore) - but of course, AUs aren't Logic-specific.

But, as said, the formats don't really matter.
 
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