Explore the relative merits of a PC and Mac as regards creating music

Mac is out of the frame for me on cost grounds.

OR: can I get reason without paying for it?

the benefit of mac is the stability of osx, and the likelihood that you will have an easier time setting up. pcs are cheaper, and have a better selection of software and maybe hardware too, but it will be more complex to put together. however, if you are careful to pick components that are compatible, you will probably have few problems.

my advice is to download demos of the major sequencing packages (Logic, Cubase SX, Sonar, Digital Performer, Pro Tools Free) and figure out which one you like, then pick a machine for it, being extra careful to check compatibility issues on the website of the manufacturer of that sequencer package. if you want to start small, cakewalk (maker of sonar) and steinberg (maker of cubase) have cut-down versions like Cakewalk Home Studio and Cubase SE that will get you started. You can learn those programs and gradually work your way up with upgrades. Those, btw, are supposedly better on PC than Mac.

Lastly, please dont pirate as some of us actually pay and are paying too much because of piracy. most of these companies are small and independant. fuck microsoft all you want, but when you steal from propellarheads, you are stealing from a small group of liberal programmers in Sweden.

Personally, I've been amazed how easy it has been to go back and forth between the two...I've had no problems transferring files between Cubase on my PC and on my friend's Mac, same for Reason. It really seems to be a matter of preference at this point.

macs only seem like what everyone uses because by the time someone is famous to be featured in sound on sound or keyboard magazine, they have made enough money to purchase one. i have friends through work who own a label and release high-selling records. they use a pc, an audigy 2 soundcard, creative labs speakers as monitors, sonar, reason and acid. thats absolutely it.

I'm reviving this thread because I couldn't find the one I wanted.

I'm going to buy a mac for recording. I have (well, have access to, anyway) cubase and a motu interface. I talked to a mac store owner and home-recording musician today who seemed to think the absolute minimum I should get is the 20" imac, preferably with 3 gigs of ram but at least with 2. He was really pushing the mac pro, it being super expandable and all, but I think that might be both out of my price range and unjustifiable considering my lack of experience. (also it's heavy as fuck and the imacs are light.)

What say you good people? What IS the minimum I need?

I think there are probably some I Make Music threads up your alley, but good luck finding them without thread categories.

People like to feel like "pros"

How many simultaneous tracks are you thinking you'll need?

also JW OTM, the "minimum" suggestions I hear bandied about are mostly ludicrous.

I'm guessing the most tracks simultaneously I'd POSSIBLY ever do is four or five (and even that assumes having a place to do it - I'm certainly not going to record a full band in my apartment).

(if by simultaneous you mean as simultaneously record live - I don't know if that's what you mean)

If you're only using the mac for recording, and not doing full band live stuff, you really don't need a huge amount of processing power.

One thing that's essential is to turn widgets off, they become processor drags at the worst imaginable times.

xpost: yeah.

I'm doing analog tape transfers right now (2-track) on an ancient 400 MHZ g4 desktop with 500 megs of ram, and it's working just fine. Any g5 w/1 gig of ram should be OK/overkill for what you're doing (although more RAM is always nice to have.)

So it looks like for under $1400, I could get the following:

# 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512
# 160GB Serial ATA drive
# SuperDrive 8X (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X - U.S. English
# ATI Radeon X1600 128MB SDRAM
# 17-inch widescreen LCD
# AirPort Extreme
# Bluetooth 2.0 + E

Are you basically saying you think I'd be more than happy with something like this? (and will the 17-inch monitor be large enough in spite of what sales dude says?)

I just used a 17" widescreen monitor to record an entire album in Sonar. It was fine.

Gah, now I have, on one hand, an offer for a new 17" iMac loaded with 3GM of RAM (and the standard 2.0 ghz processor/160gb hard drive) for $1550.

OTOH A friend of mine thinks I should just shop craigslist and get a used G5 tower. This will probably wind up costing me more than an iMac when you factor in the display, but you have the expandability and the firewire 800 (which I think the iMacs don't have?). I didn't REALLY want to spend over $1500, but it's tempting.

Help me with my decision, oh ilxoracle

If you're going to buy an iMac of any kind, make sure not to do it for at least another week. It's apparently very likely that on the 7th they're going to be upgraded for the first time in a year, and greatly so, while staying the same price.

Oh man, sweet. Thanks for the tip.

I'm doing analog tape transfers right now (2-track) on an ancient 400 MHZ g4 desktop with 500 megs of ram, and it's working just fine. Any g5 w/1 gig of ram should be OK/overkill for what you're doing (although more RAM is always nice to have.)

-- John Justen, Tuesday, July 31, 2007 3:43 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

I'll back this up. I've been using the same set up for recording for years with zero problems.

Designing graphics and editing video -- that's another story.
(use a dual G4 for that, but could use more power, esp wrt video)

Get more ram. Those of you using old computers are probably using old software. Great if it works fine, but if you're using Tiger and whatnot, the more ram the better. An iMac is fine, just get more ram than you think you need. You won't regret it.

way old software, true

get more ram = 3gb is enough?

I'm running tiger on the one we're using, and I'm working almost entirely in Digital Performer 4.6 with a shit ton of plugins (not my fault). BUT...I'm only doing two track with no live processing, which is probably why it isn't crashing.

3gB is fine, I'd say. Dan totally OTM re: can't have too much RAM, though.

My PB G4 is woefully underpowered for video editing. It seems to do ok at real time composition though.

Also no one should invest any money in buying an entire PowerPC mac at this point. Get a Mactel.

2 gigs vs. 3 gigs isn't going to make a difference unless you're like playing flash games in Firefox while recording.

rumor confirmed:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/20074389