production overhaul - Going from PC to Mac

[antperri1222]

Hey guys. im a relatively novice music producer. I have been messing around with fl studio for a couple years and have watched as much youtube tutorials as one can take and I play guitar as well. im looking to take producing seriously and really pursue it.

so I just bought the new MacBook pro 15 with all options as I needed a major computer upgrade (i had a 7 year old hp pavilion) and i do work with photoshop and video editing on the side. my questions are:
-how is the process of switching from a pc to mac?
-I know about bootcamp but will my plugins/software/samples etc. transfer over and is it safe for the computuer?
-or how about using other software like abelton, logic?
-am I going to have to get all new plugins etc if I were to switch software?
-has anyone gone through a similar transition?
- and also any recommendations for samples or tutorials

any help would be appreciated. thanks!

 

[krushing]

Getting used to OSX will obviously take some time, but while it's obviously a subjective experience, I personally think it's the more logical, easier and thus productive of the two prevailing platforms. The hard thing is, of course, getting away from trying to do things "the Windows way".

As for programs and plugins - no, they don't automatically "transfer over"; OSX and Win are completely different systems. Most commercial plugins have both PC & Mac versions available, so in the case of bought licenses it's just a matter of re-downloading the correct version. Even most popular free plugins nowadays support both platforms, so unless you're only using super obscure Windows-specific freeware, this shouldn't be a problem.

FL Studio still doesn't have a native Mac version. They've been making it for years, and there's an old beta of it, but everything doesn't work as it should. Some people run FL on OSX in virtual Windows environments like Parallels and VMWare Fusion, but as it's an emulated Windows-in-OSX environment, it's not always trouble free either. Running Windows via Bootcamp is of course an option, but why go for an expensive Apple machine if you're not gonna be using its best part which is the OS? In other words, I'd recommend considering another DAW, as you suggested yourself.

Samples, on the other hand, do transfer over as long as they're in common file formats like .wav, .aiff or .mp3.