Making Macs Faster? Need Feedback... Options

[E rouge]

hello everyone. I am a new apple user. I have been a PC user for years, and I made the swich about 1 week ago. I always heard that apples were better for audio, so now I get to ee for my self. I came here because I wanted feedback and help from the apple users who are more fimilar with macs. here are my systems specs.

dual 867 mhz g4
1 GB DDR ram
60 GB hard drive
motu 828
logic 4.8
os 9.2


I have to use OS 9, because the lac of support for os X drivers and stuff. Any ways, I wass using an

AMD 1600 Xp (1.4 ghz)
50 GB HD,
logic 5.3,
XP PRO
640 DDR ram
motu 828


I was finding that when using peak 3 , that it was slower then my PC when importing mp3, or converting wave and AIFF. I was wondering, how can I make my mac fast?

it seems to me, as my mac is slower then my PC. The fastest mac now is only a 1.25 GHz, compared to PC GHZ. yes I know abut the GHZ myth, I dont want to get into that, but how fast is my mac, compared to a PC?

Do other mac users find their macs slow? I guess maybe I am just use to the speed of my old PC. Is there anyway I can increase the speed of my mac> I have 1 GB DDR ram, that should be more then enough. Anyone have an tips or tricks, or links on how to make my mac faster for audio?

thanks in advance.

Erick Rouge

[BusError]

OS9 Doesn't support the two processors in your mac. Very few OS9 applications are able to use them both.
Also, those DDR machines are not supported by OS 9.2.2 (the latest OS9 'standalone') so there no guaranty it will work reliably at all!

[E rouge]

what d you mean its not supported in 89. logic 4.8 has the option to se multi processors.... Also, what is this I keep hearing about no more VST support fpr logic in OS x. That it just plain crazy...... I mean, i love using waves, and halion, both very easy to use, and now i wont be able to. Can someone please explain this, the emagic site is very vague on this...


so when using DDr ram, it doesnt work in os 9? thats onteresting to know.....

[E rouge]

what d you mean its not supported in 89. logic 4.8 has the option to se multi processors.... Also, what is this I keep hearing about no more VST support fpr logic in OS x. That it just plain crazy...... I mean, i love using waves, and halion, both very easy to use, and now i wont be able to. Can someone please explain this, the emagic site is very vague on this...


so when using DDr ram, it doesnt work in os 9? thats onteresting to know.....

[Synthetic]

note: when comparing PC speed to Apple speed.... be aware that mhz numbers don't show everything. Its possible to have a mac with slower mhz numbers that is just as fast or faster than a Pentium with higher mhz rating. Sometimes it really depends on what apps you are using as most Photoshop tests show that mhz for mhz... macs are usually faster.

Also, dual processors are nice but not every app takes advantage of them and not sure if Peak does so this may be part of the slower importing problem... also CDROM speed may be another issue. Apple CDROMs seem to be a bit slower than most PCs.

[E rouge]

yes this is might be true. well hoprfully the new apps that come out for macs will be able to use the dual CPU. its about time these companies did their jobs are produced the drivers... I am still waiting for my motu drivers.... the betas one crash OX S!

Anyways, thanks for all the help.

[rickenbacker]

The OS X version of Logic (currently at 5.4, although this requires OS 10.2 aka Jaguar) has been optimised for dual G4 processors and takes good advantage of them, so I hear.

As for OS X drivers etc, things are much better now than they were six months ago. You could definitely find an audio/midi interface that does the job.

But still no VST support. Never will be in Logic, either. You'd need Cubase SX if you want to stick with VST. I appreciate you will if you've got some favourite VST gear already, but why manufacturers can't agree on Audio Units is beyond me - every OS 9 VST app/plug has to be rewritten for OS X anyway.

[E rouge]

Yes, not vst support is horrible. I dont understand why apple wants to make our lives so hard. I love using halion and waves plugins. Now I cant. I doubt halion or steinburg are going to waste time on "audio units" when they have their VST.....

Now, all the people who have bought VST plugins and have learned them must switch and learn something else...

There is a huge learning curve when learning audio, and apple just made it harder. OS X and XP have been out for about the same time, and everything runs on XP flawless, even my motu 828, but not on apple. Motu is a mac friendly company yet they still have beta drivers for their firewire. I just dont understand. Alot of people have to make their living of this, and its becoming a real pain waiting half a year or long for companies to change.

After december 31, all new macs will not boot into os 9, and the OS window that pops up in OSX dont support logic, or apps like that. Plus the fact that OS X itself uses over 300 MB of your ram, on top of OS 9 , and on top of your app your running, performace is going to be very crippled if you buy a mac after december 31.

hmm...
i am currently a PC user shopping around for a used Mac. i have heard great things about using Macs for audio, dual processors, software support, etc.
this thread has me a little worried. are you saying dual processors aren't really worth it seeing as not all software supports dual? and what about OS X? it's not backwards compatible? and if VST is not useable on OS X, what are our other options?

thanks for your help,
semblance

[E rouge]

well, I just dont know.... they are switching everything up. I am still waiting for motu drivers for my 828. After jan 1, no more apples will boot in 9, and you cant use the apps in OSX. So we are in a rock and a hard place. In one hand you have apple wanted people to switch to OS X, and forcing people into OS X, on the other, you got companies with no support for OS X in site....

[rickenbacker]

Semblance: the future for music on the Mac platform is arguably the best it has ever been. I wouldn't worry about getting into it - OS X is an excellent system for music-making.

True, it got off to a shaky start, but now all the big guns like Logic, Cubase and Pro Tools are OS X-ready (only MOTU strangely has not announced a new version); other new-ish software like Reason, Live and Melodyne are all on OS X; there are lots of OS X-only apps and FX coming through now; and there is growing hardware/interface/driver support.

Granted, a lot of this is ideal only for people coming clean to the Mac, with no legacy hardware/software. For anyone who has been using a Mac and OS 9 for a couple of years, it's more awkward.

Personally (and at the risk of attracting a hefty does of criticism) I think VST should basically go the way of OMS - the Mac is better off without it in OS X. The new format (Audio Units) is much better and works at the system level, rather than being grafted on as a plug-in as VST is, so you get better stability and performance - the Holy Grail of computer musicians.

All OS 9 VST plugs/apps have to be re-written/re-compiled for OS X anyway - whether as VST or Audio Unit. So for the sake of Mac musicians everywhere, it would seem blindingly obvious to re-write them as Audio Units. Let's have one common format for all, which also happens to be the best solution. It's no more complicated than re-compiling a VST app for OS X, from what I gather, although I'm not a programmer myself.

But Steinberg are persisting with the VST format in CUbase SX (hey, no surprise there - they invented it) so the whole mess continues. This is a good thing, I suppose, if you want to use Cubase in the future. Live also uses VST, I think. If you choose Logic, they're siding with Audio Units - which in a recent poll of Mac musicians was the runaway choice for the future anyway.

Logic on a Mac = perfection. Dual processor support, very nice FX built-in and a solid future on the Mac. The main thing currently missing (for me at any rate) is ReWire support for other software, such as Live or Reason. "Coming soon", they say.

If you read other posts here from OS X musicians, they mostly say it's fantastic. There are issues, as there always will be, but I hate going back to OS 9 now for anything. OS X is unbelievably stable, fun to use and if you're coming to the Mac fresh, I wouldn't even bother with OS 9. CoreAudio and CoreMidi make Mac music much sweeter.

Rememebr - you can't use old VST plugs in OS X, even with Cubase SX. They have to be "new" VST plugs. If you get a couple of different programs, you can have both options - I have Logic Platinum and other stuff like Live and Reason, so I can use Audio Units in the future and VST, too.

So yes, get a Mac and I'd recommend getting OS X. If you have no legacy gear or apps for OS 9, don't even install it.