Mac vs PC poll

Mac vs PC

  • Mac

    Votes: 71 47.3%
  • PC

    Votes: 77 51.3%
  • Dont use computers

    Votes: 2 1.3%

  • Total voters
    150
True if you're using OMS. I don't have OMS anywhere on my system. I use FreeMIDI exclusively and It's hassle free. When I first started on a PC, setting up my MIDI was a pain in the a$$. Even when I was using OMS, I had less of a problem on my mac then my PC.
 
never had a problem with os 9.2 at all- set up is a breeze -no doubt!!!! i dont use oms with free midi- but the only trouble ever with free midi invloved an old yamaha dx7 so we retired her for now. moshen- not sure why you had so many problems....was it on an older mac?
 
I use both OMS and Freemidi and I don't have any problems, if it's a machine that everyone touches that's where the problem is :) once you turn off some extensions everything should be fine....
 
theblue1 said:
Now, now. I love my hand-built old Windows jalopy, too. And I'm quick to defend Windows as my choice of platforms when under attack (maybe a little too quick :D ).

But these things are subjective. Even bang-for-buck is subjective and arguable. I know I'd use a PC even if Apples were cheaper than PCs for a number of reasons which make sense to me but might be meaningless to others. And I assume that works the other way around.

There is no one right answer for everybody.

Well said.
 
Fumbling on Ecstasy said:
blue,
what are your reasons for choosing windows over another platform? I'm kinda curious what you look for in an operating system since I know you have a lot of experience in this field and you konw the inner workings of these things.


[Set your wrist-wake-up-alarm to "jolt" in 10-15 minutes. There will be no test.]

The less tangible reasons tend to revolve around an anti-authoritarian streak. It's dogged my PC life. I NEVER would have bought an IBM brand box back when they were still a major player. And it probably goes without saying that I've had serious issues with MS. In fact, I've run completely MS-free machines before (for a couple years actually). And even though I use some of their products for my day job (database and now some web development) and their OS (XP, of course, which I really like) MS accounts for a very small number of apps on my machine, which I built myself (after negative experiences, my own and others, with big name vendors).

If I had to live in a world where the same company made my hardware and my OS and even my apps (Logic, anyone?) I'd start feeling like I was living in some kind of candy-colored big-brother land. (Think "The Prisoner.")


In the old days my "loyalty" was to the notion of a generic pc that could run multiple OS's (I also ran DR-DOS, DesqView [a task-switching windowing interface that could host multiple dos or other sessions], Geoworks, and, hmmm.. oh yeah, Windows 3.0 and 3.1.


I'll freely admit that I hated Windows 3.x [3.0 was a trainwreck]. The 3.x family had a thoroughly illogical windowing interface that, thankfully, was completely overhauled in Win95.

Windows 95 was the turning point in my relationship with MS OS's. I had lots of problems getting set up because I had an extraordinairily comlicated setup (a pair of ADATs in MIDI synch and/or acting as 8x8 input/output A/D/A converters, an early SCSI cd-burner and a jazz drive, scsi scanner, another consumer sound card, a dedicated high performance MIDI card (to keep up with the torrent of MTC that my ADAT controller put out -- I had a total of 4 MIDI ins and 6 outs... and as many as 4 outboard MIDI keyboards/modules and internal SoundFont sample playback using a SB AWE32... I had some real IRQ headaches, lemme tell you. For a while in the early days of W95, it really was "plug and pray." (By W98, things were pretty butter smooth.)

But it all somehow worked. During the W3.1 days, I'd been used to being laughed at (rightly so) by my Mac-loving music pals and, until I synched the ADATs to the PC, I never really thought of it as anything more than a convenient way to program and deliver a MIDI sequence.

But all of a sudden I was doing things my Mac friends had just been talking about.

Because MS added in a dedicated multi-channel audio support layer and a plug-in layer (for standardized audio fx and other multimedia plug-ins) way back in the early days of W95 (similar to what Apple has finally added to OS X Jaguar), I've been enjoying things like interchangeable plug-ins and hassle-free MIDI and multi-channel audio (not to mention the ability to switch between multiple sound cards) since the mid-90s. By Win 98, Plug and Play was solid; adding hardware was a snap.

One thing a lot of Mac people have taken for granted was the necessity to set up extensions and manage memory alottments for programs. Windows people just look at you funny if you mention that kind of thing to them. They've never had to deal with it (unless they go back to the W3.x days). Just as OSX takes over memory management, Windows has handled application memory allotment since 95. (That said, some of the Mac's stability and ability to squeeze performance out of hardware has probably been its ability to run as a single process machine.)


And I did look into switching when my old ADATs started going south (around 2000). I figured I was looking at a new audio a/d/a interface anyhow, so I decided to look into whatever advantages I might gain by switching software apps (I looked into switching from Cakewalk to Cubase) and even hardware platforms which would open up the possiblity of Digital Performer. (I also took a look at a Digidesign/PT set up. Too much $$$.) I didn't consider Logic because I was barely aware they were still in production.

I didn't like what I saw. I didn't care for the Cubase that was out then, at all. Undoubtedly, some of that was just unfamiliarity -- but it just seemed extraordinairily awkward... there were extra steps everywhere. I really hated the file handling, the necessity to treat each audio clip as a separate file. (Yes, I know they are anyway in all the major systems. I just don't want to have to think about it. I just want to hit record and go. And CW gave me that ability. And as wacky as their internal management seemed I only had lost clip in maybe 80 or 90 or so projects. [Truth be told, that could even have been my error. I don't think so, but...].)

And when I looked at the Mac (again c. 2000 and in all practical respects pre-OS X) I was distinctly underwhelmed. The prices of the hardware at the time were far from competitive. The iMac and Cube were a joke for my purposes (you're talking to someone who's filled up 8 slot boxes before).

The G3 Towers looked pretty good as hardware platforms but the OS was just woefully behind the times. I was already used to the multi-tasking capabilities of Win98... when I played with Macs it seemed like a big step backward. It felt like using Windows 3.1 again -- but at least it had a halfway sane interface, unlike the benighted W3.1. (And the Mac's nicely organized access to system settings and the extension manager did look very clean and sensible. MS has learned something from Apple on that -- XP's new system settings pages are a big improvement and much more sensibly laid out. But I give Apple propper and due on that angle.)


So, there was no way, then. Now, the decision might be a lot tougher. Mac prices are more competitive now (still pretty high on a per-megaflop basis). They've announced some G4 boxes with more slots (and, of course, the ubiquity of USB and FW devices has cut down greatly on the need for expansion cards). OSX is real and has pretty good support outside the audio world (and within a year should be pretty much go there, too). I'm anxious to see the goods on the new audio and MIDI layers and how they handle things like plug-ins and audio data-streams.

But will I change? It's highly unlikely. If I was to make that kind of change I think you'd have to see Apple make the Mac OS an over-the-counter OS (ie, port it to AMD and Intel chips or reopen the clone market). It'd probably be more likely to see me move to a generic unix platform if major audio apps ever went there... I simply don't want to be in a world where one company controls my destiny. Sure, Apple's mostly making ok decisions now but who knows what could happen in the future. And, truth be told, that's exactly the nature of my fears about future MS moves. Still, over the course of my near 20 year involvement with personal computers, I am -- overall -- much more comfortable with the business and technical decisions that MS has made than those Apple has made. Do I like MS? Not exactly. Do I trust them? Let's just say they're somewhat predictable. And that's what you need when you're making long term decisions.
 
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Drew

Well, if I ever switched there'd be about 5 Mac users who would count it as a personal victory. A few of them know each other and I suspect they'd bust out champagne.

OSX is very attractive to me. Not in the pretty sense -- although it's that, too. But I'm really drawn to its UNIX roots as well as its generally elegant functional layout.


But the whole single-source-vendor thing would bother me. The power supply that came with the $40 case I put my machine in had what I considered a very noisy fan... and, sure enough, after around a year and change, I started getting a serious bearing noise. I went to the local computer superstore and plunked down about $45 for a thermo-controlled PS which reduced the fan noise by a factor between 3 and 5 (depending on ambient and internal termperatures, of course).

If I'd popped for one of those elegant G4's (on the inside... I still don't like the outside) I might be visiting this site (www.g4noise.com) in frustration... ;)
 
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MusickMan said:
I use both OMS and Freemidi and I don't have any problems, if it's a machine that everyone touches that's where the problem is :) once you turn off some extensions everything should be fine....

yes they are lab computers.. :(

do you have any specifics or seggestions? everyone up at school is clueless about how to go about a remedy without doing a low level format :p (and some of them have been using macs for years unlike me i've only been using them for about 2 years now and only at school)

most of them are quicksilver G4 700mhz machines
 
I Use Both

In the main room:

Dual 1 gig G4
1 gig ram
2 digidesign SCSI 36 gig drives
Running pro tools Mix PLUS

In the Production Room
My new ATHLON XP 2400+
with 1 gig ram
40 gig system drive
120 gig audio drive


I have complaints and praises for both platforms
But I find it hard to say that one is more stable than the other

If you spend the time and do the RESEARCH you can have VERY stable machines.
The Pro tools rig crashes maybe once a week
The New PC hasnt crashed (AFTER the setup process of course) since I got it last week.

Glenn
 
Don't even get me started...........

.>>PC and Studio Custom Built by me!!<< ;)

Dual AMD 2400+ (2.0Ghz x 2)
2x 1GB sticks Reg.DDR ram (2048MB)
2x WD2000JB (8mb Buffer, 400GB)
Tyan 2466n-4M Mobo
Lite on 52x CDRW
Samsung 40xCDRW
Motu 2408mk3 SoundCard
Gainward GeF4 Ti4600 w/dual DVI
2x Dell 1800fp LCD Monitors
Windows XP Pro

This is absolutely not only the fastest machine I've ever owned and Worked with but It is also the most stable. I've worked in both audio and video and have seen countless Macs and Pc's fail. While 5 years ago one could definitely say Macs were Better for Multimedia, they have now been surpassed by the pc. IMO Dollar for Dollar, there is no way a Mac can hold up to a pc. G5 Worlds fastest ? Give me a break! While 64 bit will be the new rage, remember it is up to the application so don't buy into the Apple Hype. :rolleyes: Besides, once AMD Drops their Backwards compatible 64Bit Proc. It will all be over, but then again Apple is now in talks w/AMD to see if they can make chips for their future Macs. If that isn't admitting defeat or Inferiority, I don't know what is
 
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PC - Asus A7N8X with AMD 2400, 1 gig pc2700 120,80,and 40 gig hard drives all 7200rpm, Plextor 4x DVD Burner PLextor 52x CD Writer, Echo gina 20 (!) Windows XP Pro, Cubase SX, Reason - ROCKS

42 tracks of audio and only 10% CPU meter so imagine the possibilites

Peace
 
P4 1.9ghz PC
640 mb DDR RAM
RME Hammerfall 9652 Soundcard
Cubase Sx
Reason 2.5
Live 2.0
Native Instruments VST ( Absynth, FM7, Pro-53,etc)
Halion Sampler
Waves Native Gold Bundle 4.0
Steinberg Mastering Bundle
Spectrasonics Atmosphere and Stylus plug-ins
Radium 61 midi controller (USB)
And A little Creativity!!!
 
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chalk another one up for the G4 massive.
G4::OSX::OS9::828::EXPRESS XT
 
Dual Xeon 2.4GHz (HT)
2G rambus w/ecc
Adaptec scsi raid 160
Matrox Parhelia 128M
Echo MONA
WT192L
UAD-1
UM-2 (usb midi)
17" Eizo L565 X 2
Alesis Q7
Event 20/20 + Alesis RA500
WinXP Pro
Cubase SX
GigaStudio
 
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I will not! :D

Time to hijack this thread with something just as interesting.....


So........


Anyone here into Baywatch?
 
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