hey all,

I'm a PC guy myself, but I've been thinking
about switching over to a Mac. I also don't
know anything about Macs. Does anyone here
use a Mac, and if so, why do Macs seem to be
so dominant in music and post production?
Are they better than PC's and how so?

David
www.jdavidcrosby.com

There's so many ways to recommend Macs over PCs. I have to go to school, so check out www.apple.com/switch. It's kinda cheap, but it's true.

Pointgravity Productions

I use a Mac for all my composing. I have ProTools and Finale, Recycle and a bunch of other programs on here, and I have no problems. There are some incredible programs (digital performer, for one) which are made ONLY for Mac. They don't make a pc version. Most high end composers and studios are Mac based. In fact, the only pc you'll see at most professional composers' studios are for running Gigastudio (a sampling program that is pc native). They don't record on them. In addition, the new OS X for Mac is a very stable platform.
I don't know enough about the technology to know just what it is about Macs that makes them preferable. I just know that they work better.

The fact is that Mac is the standard in this niche of the industry, and if you have one you'll be compatible with everyone else. That's huge.

One of the major reasons Apple computers have gotten so big in the mdeia industry is because Apple had the first GUI (Gooey) which is a graphical system during the time DOS and all those crappy systems came out except for Linux of course. Most artists think visually so they went to the Apple. Thats my theory.
I have however, used the Mac to make short films and they are realible computers. Mac OS X is based on a Unix systems so the system is rock solid.
Since you are doing sound and that is fairly processor intensive go for the G4. Its just better.

Everyone agrees. Mac is better. Get a Mac or die.

Pointgravity Productions

Yep, Mac all the way. Dont even bother with PCs when it comes to anything more creative than typing your research report.

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

I've used both PCs on windows 2000 and macs on OSX. What I can tell you is that they are both great and will get the job done. Most of us are student filmmakers. Who cares about compatibility with others in the feild. I personally like mac because its easy to upgrade, stable, idiot proof if you want to teach your friends to help you edit. I joke when some people say that its crashproof. Oh youll never see an error message from a crash, the mac will just freeze and not tell you anything.

Also there are some powerfull tools to finetune your mac. If you use them, ultimately i guess that yes your mac would run better than a pc. But as for pc's, some software like the excellent vegas video 4 works only on windows. Prosumer but none the less great stuff. PCs are also cheaper and easier to build from scratch.

Ok, one guy got it right: You need both.

Yes, it's horrible, but you can't run Gigastudio on a Mac, and you can't run some of the awesome sequencers available on a PC. There really isn't any "better" system. Yes, PCs crash, but that is usually because whoever owns it doesn't take care of it or whatnot (unless you have Windows ME, but then again that is your fault too hehe).

Try not to worry to much about that stuff for now though, Get whatever is cheaper, because on either PC or mac, there is a ton of awesome composing / producing software out there and it will get the job done, just keep in mind that good samples are hard to come by and cost a whole crapload of money. Best of luck.

Yes... Both!

You might want to keep the PC and turn it into a dedicated sampler.

I have two G4's and am having two PC's built to run Giga / QLSO. The best orchestral samples seem to only be in giga format to this point. Although, VSL is now in ESX. Right now is a really confusing time to buy considering all the new high end libs, as well as all the new samplers. Add to this the issues with running 98 (which loads about twice what XP does) or running XP (which probably will be the way to go once giga 3.0 comes out). Other samplers; Kontakt doesn't yet support SI strings etc..... Mach-5 is still vaporware.

BTW... The good libs VSL and QLSO are about $3,000.... the pro addition of VSL will be $5,495. SI strings is $995. LSO $495. Just to name a few. Now you need computers to run this stuff. It ain't cheap to have the best samples. You don't need this stuff but this is what serious composers are using.


There is a lot still up in the air....


But yes, pros use both. PC and Mac.....

...that specialization is for insects. I'm a PC guy, but when I can get everything I want, you'll bet I'll have a Mac running things.

Nick

hey all
thanks for the input. I agree with the guys
that said both mac and pc. makes sense.
later

David
www.jdavidcrosby.com

Personally, I feel mac's have the upperhand with the current software available, and predictably the cutting edge software in the furture will be primarily mac based as well.

BUT, first hand, I must say that OS-X has been a big dissapointment in my eyes, as far as reliability. Everyone claims it is rock solid, but I must disagree. I`m sure that it is far more reliable that your average windows machine, but in my experience of using a G4 with a GIG of ram, running OS-X, while editing videos at school using <cough> imovie </cough>, the program was constantly crashing, causing much frustration and anguish.

In retrospect, I edited the same video using <cough> premiere LE </cough> on my 1.8 P4 with only 256 megs which never crashed or froze once.

While this proves absolutely nothing, I think its important for people to know that no system is perfect or error proof.

Purchase whichever platform which meets your needs as far as necessary resources and components.

ap has a good point...

But whats with the coughs? You don't need to put them in the symbols for HTML coding....agh whatever who cares.

"Don't breathe or I'll kill you!"

...yeah.. whats whith the "coughs"

...

The big stability thing that everyone raves about is that it's UNIX based. If one program crashes, it doesnt freeze the system. Sure, programs crash all the time, thats either the program or users fault, some time the OS fault. But the big nice thing is that if that program crashes, you can exit itmand not have to restart and loose all the toehr files you have open in other Apps. But with my experience, I have had so many fewer program crahses then on Windows or OS 9. The system hasnt even crashed on me once.

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

quote:

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Originally posted by JASONvb:
...yeah.. whats whith the "coughs"

---

the coughs aren't meant to be html, just a representation that I was sarcastically and reluctantly mentioning imovie and premiereLE as programs I was using.

I think the fact that my school uses imovie is a joke, and a waste of my time, so instead of completing my school projects on the schools machines, I did my projects using my own computer (all I have is freebee premiere LE), and while it gets the job done, its nothing special by any means.

quote:

---

...

The big stability thing that everyone raves about is that it's UNIX based. If one program crashes, it doesnt freeze the system. Sure, programs crash all the time, thats either the program or users fault, some time the OS fault. But the big nice thing is that if that program crashes, you can exit itmand not have to restart and loose all the toehr files you have open in other Apps. But with my experience, I have had so many fewer program crahses then on Windows or OS 9. The system hasnt even crashed on me once.

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

---

I would have to agree that besides those crashes (program only), I had no problems with OS-X.