Getting Crazy, Help me decide Options

[sampoo]

Ok guys,

Be prepared for a long story

Lately i posted a lot of questions on several forums and i still don't know what to do.
Let me explain,
The PC in my studio needs replacement and at first i was considering buying a mac g4.
The main reason why i thought about switching from pc to the mac was that i had/have a lot of problems, my current pc is very instable and i'm tired of reinstalling the system to find out it fails again. I made up my mind and decided to buy a mac but when i checked if al needed software was available i found out that Aksys (for the Akai samplers) and the software for my Mackie UAD-1 isn't written for OSX. Since i would like to use Logic Platinum and Spark XL 2.8 i realy need to run OSX and no earlyer version like OS 9.x. ...... Bomber! After a bit of research i found out that updates will be available soon and i can use everything i want on the mac.

I posted many questions on this and several other forums about MAC vs. PC. (yes, i started a real MAC vs. PC war) I had many reply's of people who say that PC is better, ..MAC is better or both are fine. When i cal some local music shops most of them advise me a PC because they perform better they say, ... and they also say that when running Windows XP al problems are solved and it will run stable. Since i have an older PC running Win98 in my studio i don't know if they are right about this. I'm a sysadmin myself and i do know that i have a lot of work taking care of problems on W2k/XP running Microsoft applications ( i actualy think xp is not so great in a office/work enviromant). I realy don't know if this is any diffrent in a music enviroment so i only can take there word for it.

At the end of the story, ....... i still don't know what to do!
Should i choose a mac or pc? will xp run stable on a new PC or do i have the same problems after i spend a lot of money on new hardware? wil OSX run smooth? will OSX be supported in the future bij audio hardware and software manufactures? As far as i can see now everybody is taking a long time to write new software/drivers for OSX! Will OSX opens a new world and will mac become more populair for the music bussines? If i choose to buy a mac will the G4 be good or will it be better with the new CPU's apple is working on?

As you can see i have many questions witch makes it very difficult to choose between platforms.
If i new for shure that WinXP would never chrash i would choose PC but i just don't have that much faith in it. However other people do and thau confuse me.

Any advise to help me make up my mind is welcome

Thanks in advance

Alex

[a0k1a]

Here's something to think about. You're a musician so I'm going to assume that you have your eyes on the music scene once in awhile at least. PC's can be equated with Mainstream Music while Mac's would represent the Indie's, underground, what have you. The mainstream is soley out there to make as much money in as little time as possible.They don't really care about what the customer NEEDS, they cater to what they WANT. And what we want doesn't necessarily coincide with our needs, as I'm sure you know. Quantity over Quality, basically put. Mac's represent the Indies, underground, etc. Lots of heart and soul, lots of research, mastering of their craft, etc. I'm a hip-hopper and I freestyle with people on the corner regularly that spit harder than those Nelly's and whatevers. Anyway, that's my take on this. I'm a Mac or die.....that's it.

PEACE AND LOVE

[ricsimp]

I am fairly new to computers (2yrs)but i've been a
performing musician for about 37yrs, I've had no problems
recording,editing, playing back,or transfering to midi with
my mac and I'm using a G-3 OS 9.2.2 w/midi interface.
Except for the ocasional wrong command caused by
all nighters.
I've tried to use my brother-in-laws PC on occasion when
I'd be at his house, but the problems were just to much to
deal with!
I would advise you to talk to some recording studios
in your area who use computers in their work, but from
my experience mac is the only way to go!!!

[Synthetic]

ok.... first, NO computer is uncrashable. You say you would go with PC if XP never crashed but in reality, it doesn't matter whether if you get a mac with OSX or PC with XP... at some point one is going to crash. I have yet to see any computer that is unfowlable. Second, never listen to sales people at stores for computer recommendations as they will always point you to a computer they sell and the one they make the most money on. For instance, when Best Buy carried Apple for a short stint... they never pushed Apple products (part of reason they don't have them now) and they only pushed PC hardware because they had more markup on them and 90% of their staff was PC only literate. Third, I think you are making this a little more difficult on yourself than need be. The more people you ask for opinions, the broader the ideas get and thus it will only make things more confusing.

Almost anyone who is in a creative profession whether music, publishing, web design, graphic arts etc. usually prefer the Macs. Intel uses Macs to produce a lot of their advertising for instance. 90% of all publications like a newspaper or magazine use Macs in the creative end and maybe PCs for billing etc. I work in Newspaper advertising industry so this I know first hand. A lot of music studios have Macs... pickup a copy of MIX magazine and you will see that Macs seem to be more common than the PCs. A lot of music tours are controlled by Mac laptops such as Madonna's shows for instance. Also, a lot of band members or musicians have a Mac for their personal computer at home which they dabble on for music ideas. MOBY for instance does almost everything on his several Macs. Visit apple.com website and you can find a huge list of other famous musicians that use Macs and there are many more not listed on the site as well.

a0k1a... not sure if your post was just an analogy but in reality, MAINSTREAM musicians for the most part use Macs rather than PC's. I can't tell you how many times I pick up a music mag with an article about how this band used ProTools or their studio recorded them in ProTools and where there is ProTools.... there is a Mac almost always.

Personally, I think if you want to play games... keep up on the trendy gadgets and software not miss out on the cheesey but funny email jokes sent as .exe files then get a PC. But, if you want something that is a multimedia powerhouse... will work with almost any third party device made for it with just plug and play effort and is fun to use then get a mac.

My main reason for not ever wanting a PC is due to the fact that I hate the problems that arise when adding third party devices to it. For instance, my old roommate had a Gateway... bragged about how he got an internal CD burner for it for $20 bucks... but, he never got the CD burner to work right. I had older PC that I had bought faster modem for about 6 or 7 years ago... ended up selling faster modem and putting old modem back in because for some reason new modem conflicted with the sound card and sound never worked right with it. If I had computer science degree... I might have been able to fix the problem but was beyond my comprehension. Also, because PC's are so popular, Microsoft products are the most widely exploited apps by hackers. If their is a security hole... it will be found. For every 1 virus that affects Macs... their are ten for the PC. I love sitting at work and laughing at the new viruses scares as 90% will never cause a problem with my Mac.

If your only reason though for hating your PC is because it crashes... stay with PC's... every computer is gonna crash at some point. Most notably... computers crash when loaded down with lots of apps that sometimes don't like working on the same system. The best running computers are the ones that fewest apps on them. I used to work in computer lab at a college and when computers have fewer apps loaded.... they seem to have less problems whether it is a Mac or PC. And at some point, every computer needs its hard drive reformated and apps reinstalled to keep it running at optimum performance. I usually do this with mine at least once a year or two.

If you are unhappy with your PC for more reasons than it crashing ocassionally... then think about getting the Mac for its better OS which Microsoft tries more and more to emulate. That's my final 2 cents and then some

[torbjorn]

You need more facts. There is alot to read about at AllOSX
Please read the PDF file 'Audio latency measurements of desktop operating systems'

Best
Torbjorn

[sampoo]

Thanks for the reply’s guys.
I’m aware of fact that every system can crash ones in a while but the pc I use at the moment crashes every studio session witch is unacceptable.
Most people say that a PC with well-selected hardware running winxp will be stable as a rock but than again, …. I use winxp on several systems and all give problemsso I’m not realy convinced I will work on a masic system. ( At the other site many people use a PC for music and they don’t seem to have many problems )

Maybe somebody have a similar configuration as I have if I choose the mac.
If so, please let me know if you’re experience any problems.

Mac G4 with 1GB RAM running OSX10.2.6
Logic Platinum 6.x, Recycle 2.0 and Spark XL 2,8
My audiocard is a RME Multiface8 and I also have a Mackie UAD-1

(I know drivers/software for the uad-1 is not yet available)

Thanks in advance
Alex

[stergz]

Hi there

As a MCSE Sysadmin contractor, I have wide experience running applications and I have had many years experience running applications on Windows boxes. Windows XP can be quite stable on the right hardware and if you decide to run a music PC you should really get one designed for music. Quite hard drives and power supply. Pay as much as you would for a Mac or you will be dissapointed. With any system, Install only what you need and it will remain stable. If you need to play, have another cheap PC to do this. My Mac seems to be more stable though when it comes to installing stuff. No dll hell.

If you end up going for Mac OS X, be prepared to stick with it to learn the interface paradigm. i found that after a while of using OS X that my work flows increased and thinks seem to work that much more seamlessly. I have tried running Pro Tools with an MBox on Windows XP and i found that it was difficult to get it working as it was highly dependant on the USB chipset. I use a 12" 800MHz iBook to record up to about 16 tracks of audio + plugings and it works fine. Hard disk I/O is probably the most important thing for audio recording. Mixing and editing tend to use the CPU more. 7200RPM is a must.

[dixiechicken]

As Syntetik said I think you can make your decision rather easy, if you're fed up with your old Win98
system, ( win98 is the worst piece of shit I have ever seen on a computer ) and your experience as
a sysadmin tells you it's a lot of work with PC:s, compared to Macs.
( I'm a sysadmin too, 10 years now, mixed environment close to 300 computers in all
my experience matches yours exactly )

Well then do the switch, you wont regret it. Go for Mac OS X & take your time learning to get
around it. ( I's Linux - FreeBSD distro at the foundations ) For comforts sake & house-keeping its
good to know a few linux commands.

Mac OS X is very stable compared to Windows XP, but "stergz" is correct in asserting that a windows box mainly - Win2K XP 2003 - can be made very stable if configured carefully for the proper hardware. ( NT4, W2k, XP, 2003? are notorious for beeing picky on hardware )
Stergz has also some good points about keeping things as simple as possible on the boxes, be they
Mac or PC:s

Remeber that it is one thing that Apple excels at, thats the interface, every version of Mac OS from
6.0.3 to 9.2. ( the ones I've run myself ) have only been refinements.
( under the hood lots of legacy code was changed to make the trasitition to Mac OS X possible. )

I'm guessing we will see a similar evolvement in Mac OS X, interface.
You're fed up with crashing PC:s, you're ready for a change - go for Mac & Mac OS X you wont regret it.

Dont forget to follow "stergz" advice the "KISS"-principle too - and good luck:
Dixiechicken!

PS. I case you wonder:
(K)-eep (I)-t (S)-imple (S)-tupid
D.S

[sampoo]

Ok guys,
Yesterdaynight i finaly made a decision.
Next month all software i use will be available for MAC OSX and i will make the switch to MAC. Taking a good look around on the net and asking some pro’s for their experience i found out that there are very few MAC users having problems at all.
In future i would like to have a second studio with Protools and if i understand there is no
witch platform to run than.
Thanks for all the help guys!

Kind regards,
Alex

http://jovan-remkob.nl

[Synthetic]

glad to hear you decided to switch... I think once you really get into your new system... you won't regret it.