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146 Comments
- dmoney06, on 10/12/2007, -15/+47This isn't so much a top 10 for music on the mac, its pretty much a top 10 on why to buy a mac.
- emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -14/+43As a photographer... there's not a damn bit of difference. And ask most sound engineers and film makers with knowledge of the technology they use... it's personal preference. Anything more than that and you're pretty much just making things up.
Pretty similar to getting excited about how one computer is prettier than another. - VMark, on 10/12/2007, -8/+36Agreed.
I own a mac, but I must say this feels like something copy and pasted from Apple.com - henryaj, on 10/12/2007, -6/+32Actually, there's a helluva lot of warez available for the Mac. BitTorrent will get you any software you like, and if you're in need of serials, www.serialz.to provide their 'SerialBox' - a huge database of Mac serials.
- XMashedPotatoX, on 10/12/2007, -7/+31He forgot to mention that the Macbook packs a sweet 5400 rpm drive, which is absolute garbage for heavy multi tracking.
I am sorry, but my desktop PC that I built three years ago runs circles around my Macbook in the area of music production. - illicium, on 10/12/2007, -23/+44Uh, free Garageband? No thanks. Used by pros? Yeah, whatever.
Marked as lame. - Hacktivist, on 10/12/2007, -7/+26As well as a reason to pimp his affiliate link.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -36/+53As a filmmaker, I could n ot agree more with this article. Doing anything creative on a PC was painful. When I switched to Mac, it was heaven in comparison.
- Sartori, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18As someone currently making music on a PC and buying a Macbook Pro in the next few months, I applaud the sentiment of the article.
However, the only really valid point on that list is point 2 - it comes with a good built-in soundcard. Everything else is either personal preference (GarageBand? no thanks), totally worthless (I don't care how the laptop looks, and I don't want to make music videos), or just a lie (you can get similarly-specced PC laptops for less money. I know, because I almost bought one)
There's really not that big a gap between using a PC or a Mac laptop for music, especially if like me you use a cross-platform application. The other differences mostly boil down to personal taste. - JanWinnicki, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18this article looks more like advert/marketing babble than constructive information
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -37/+52I have to agree with Cymrubeats. Sorry everyone, that's how it's going to be.
There is always 1 BIG reason valid in the REAL world, that nobody ever talks about. People use cracked (warez) plugins and DAW software. Specially startup musicians. even the ones that now are famous, probably used audio warez when out of the studio.
And macs suck at warez. PCs have all the wide range of options for RTAS and VST. So Macs are great for audio, if you have like 3 or 4 thousand dollars just to spend on plugins.
You know this is true. Don't play nice and shocked like "ohh dear I don't use that illegal software thing! How dare you! It is now my duty to undigg this insanely mad and socially misleading post!"
Even Microsoft uses cracked software for testing purposes. It's true. - itistoday, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19@marysuze:
"macs suck at warez"???
The only way you could have made a statement like that is out of complete and utter ignorance. The fact that you decided to spread it as truth just means you're a tool. It hasn't been mentioned much, but it is *incredibly* easy to get pirated software for the mac, *especially* when it comes to audio software. You just have to know where to look, there are plenty of sites out there that are dedicated to this and have just about every single VST known to mankind.
I've a musician friend who produces electronic music, and *****, he's probably got several thousand dollars worth of software for his mac, and he can't stand making music on a PC.
Don't spread FUD. - wingnut21, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17This isn't an article. People just digg it because of their mac love. Please people, use restraint when promoting.
- StephenCIreland, on 10/12/2007, -8/+17macbook : consumer notebook with optical audio in/out that says good to me
- emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -21/+30This is pretty much the same as the nonsense people used to spew about how macs were better for photography. Same idea, fueled by misinformation and hype.
Are they good for doing this kind of work? Sure. Better than windows? Nope. Painful or hard to use for these kinds of tasks? That's purely based on one person's opinion of which OS is easier to navigate. Using both regularly I don't think Mac OS is easier, if anything I slightly prefer the way Windows operates but I recognize anything beyond preference is hype. - monkeybutler, on 10/12/2007, -24/+33Sorry, but this article is weak. Yes, MACs definitely are great for music but nothing here indicates why the "macbook" is so special. There's probably a top ten list for why NOT to do music on a macbook somewhere. Why would you trust laying down tracks or doing anything artistic on a system that runs way too hot and can turn off on you at any second?
If someone was planning on doing music on an entry-level computer then i'd easily recommend an iMac over a macbook. Its got more capacity, cheaper upgrades and is much less problematic. But then I guess "buy an iMac" won't get enough traffic to yet another redundant blog. - illicium, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Looking at the articles from the site, it seems to me like it's just a bunch of ads (with factory text) for various interfaces and controllers and such.
- roguescout, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Agreed. Marked as spam. Long-winded reply to follow:
I am a professional who makes money recording with his PC DAW (small desktop network in-studio/ HP notebook for location recording up to 32 digital tracks) and I consult others on studio design. In finding out what works well for me, I have used and/or owned just about every setup out there (Cubase, Acid, Pro Tools, Audition, Sonar, Live, Logic, Digital Performer... etc... on both PC's and Macs at various studios).
If the machine is set up right, I don't even notice if it is a PC or Mac. A DAW set up correctly to begin with should not have any performance issues since every pop, click, or dropout during recording will cost you money. A realistic expectation of what your processor and RAM can handle in regards to number of tracks and plugins helps too.
If I am consulting, I leave it up to the client if they want to run Mac or PC. Whatever they are more comfortable using will help with their workflow and output.
What I do notice is the workflow designs amongst the various programs. That makes a huge difference and can make or break using a particular vendor. Some programs are like marching through molassas for me (like Cubase, which was developed from a MIDI/sequencer background). I learned on and am certified for Pro Tools (developed more for multi-track recording than sequencing), so that is the DAW style I like. I recommend to all the musicians that I work with to at least learn Pro Tools.
Any serious musician should know the basics of Pro Tools. It is a must-have skill. It is the industry standard. You will run into it everywhere. It does not matter if you run it on a PC or Mac.
Unfortunately, I have grown to dislike Pro Tools and have turned away from it. Bad customer service, phasing issues with the master bus, and limited choices with their required proprietary hardware make it a pain in the ass. I still have to keep all my Pro Tools gear up and running though, since people constantly bring me Pro Tools sessions to work on. I am glad I know how to use it. I just wish I wasn't forced to.
And to all the people who want to strangle Sony for various reasons, I can say their Media Software division is very robust and simply amazing. The combo of Acid, Soundforge, and Vegas cannot be beat in terms of price, features, and ease of use. You can get some serious production done with Sony apps and content. I am a very happy, long-time Sony Media Software customer.
I use Magix Samplitude Pro with RME cards and Firewire 800 interfaces for most of my recording and mixing. The best setup ever IMHO. The best sound with the most capabilities. It is the easiest to use and the prettiest to look at.
Samplitude (and RME to a certain extent) is a redheaded, step-child in the DAW world, but it is quite extraordinary. I have never got this much work done with such high quality.
German software and hardware engineering is working great for me! - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11I use a guitar, and alcohol.
- mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Trent doesn't use Garageband to mix his albums, he just offered two of his songs for fans to remix it in GB.
But he is an Apple lover. - Robotsu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"As a filmmaker, I could n ot agree more with this article. Doing anything creative on a PC was painful. When I switched to Mac, it was heaven in comparison."
I am extremely curious what exactly you mean, and I have always been extremely confused when people say things like, "Macs are better for video", or "Macs are better for photo manipulation."
Do you mean because of OS specific tools, a good example being Final Cut Pro? Because then I can certainly understand how you can say, "_X_ operating system is better at _This-Task_ because of _This-OS-Specific-Software_."
Or do you believe that, in general, Mac's have an OS environment that fosters creativity moreso than the Windows OS? How, is it because you percieve Macs to have a more intuitive, vibrant interface (which is something I percieve myself)
Don't get me wrong, I think Mac's do lots of things right - consonance, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8As a "bedroom musician," I can see that this guy is babbling. Reason number one for buying a Mac is just plain wrong. No pros use Garageband. There's a big reason why the program is called Garageband, and not Studeoband (or something of that nature) - it's not as good as the Windows based digital audio workstations. I also love how he mentions that Garageband can do things like timestrecthing. Good for Garageband? Every major DAW software for Windows has timestretching capabilities. Every sound editor has timestretching capabilities. You're not playing with the pros simply because your six second loop is now reduced to four seconds.
Reason number two I just can't figure out. What he's saying just doesn't sound different from what you can do on a PC. All you need is a good sound card (less than $50 will do the trick for a high-quality WDM card). He also talks about plugging in - plugging into what? Maybe I can't figure out what he's saying is so great because I use a desktop, but it doesn't sound all that impressive.
Reason three is really null. A smart Windows user can experience zero crashes. I can't remember the last time I had a crash. Is this guy trying to say that Macs are just as good as PCs? I'm not arguing there. But because a Mac is as good as a PC doesn't make it better than a PC.
Reason four is a matter of tastes and preferences. Lots of pros work with Windows. Lots of pros work with Macs. This is pure economic theory. The demand curve for each product shifts based on what people like to use and want to use.
Reason five I can't argue with, since I don't have a laptop. But I would hardly count iLife as a reason to use a Mac for making music. iLife doesn't have anything to do with DAWs. At all.
Number six is, again, a matter of tastes and preferences. Although, if you're basing your studio equipment selection on the look of the computer case, I would recommend actually comparing the hardware INSIDE the case to that of the hardware in a comparable machine before making a purchasing decision.
Number seven again has nothing to do with DAWs. Also, I can't imagine why you would be using your digital video recorder to add sound effects, when that is the purpose of DAWs.
Number eight actually isn't a bad reason, although you can buy a remote control for your PC, so perhaps the only advantage her is that the Mac's remote comes bundled with the machine.
I'm perplexed by number nine. Isn't the point of the article that Macs are better than PCs for producing music? So why would you tell your readers to buy PC software? That's like admitting Macs don't have superior features and can't truly replace PCs.
Number ten is just stupid. Also, a "reason" that's given with every word capitalized will convince me only that the reason is spam. - mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Nitrodist, I've heard about that thing the second it was cracked. Either way, it's not as easy to set up as Boot Camp is, nor is it legal, and to top it all off not all of OSX's applications even run on it.
and Rickler, don't be a dumbass. Of course you can upgrade Macs. Look at the Mac Pros, and new iMacs. Hell, I can even upgrade my iMac G5, and G4 PC (which I have). - mouthster, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12"1984 - macintosh sound synthisiser inbuilt
1992 - PC, still sound is an optional extra on high end machines"
2006 - No one cares. - pocketcalc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9you can find a lot of audio warez for mac, except the apps that make use of this ilok dongles stuff.
- socbret, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I have to agree with emorphien, as an editor on films working around a lot of other editors and filmmakers, more than ever it's a preference thing. There are many good arguments for using Final Cut vs. Avid on the PC, and although the Mac does have some benifits( I personally have a G5 and a Macbook Pro) you can get the exact same resuts with a PC with the exact same effort. Maybe trouble shooting is easier on the Mac to a point, but if your above editing home movies, your going to have the technical knowledge to be ok with either.
- selectodude, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9I've found that Macs are better for Photography because you can set an OS-level color palate whereas in Windows, you need to set one for each program.
- doubledoh, on 10/12/2007, -15/+20Uh, sorry, but there are at least 10 times more music programs, drum machines, effects, sythesizers, etc etc available on windows.
Macs are good if you like the limited selection of software available for them, but if you want no limits, you have to choose windows. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7"Garageband has been underated by a lot of musicians - its basically a user friendly version of Logic"
I don't think so. Garageband is a joke compared to Logic. - Bioshocker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5These kinds of stories (the Mac guide for photographers! the Mac guide for porn addicts!) are always full of *****. They read like second-rate marketing material written as practise for someone who wants to get a job in PR/marketing.
Don't get me wrong. I *love* Apple. But if I want to read someone trying to sell me Apple computers, I'll go to www.apple.com, where the writing is fun and enjoyable. This stuff bores me to tears reading it and I struggle to understand why anyone else reads it.
There are not 410 (and counting) people on here digging this because they are musicians and were highly informed and enlightened by this article. You're just digging it because it pours praise on your favorite computer company. (And doubtless you're all clicking to bury me for demanding something as disagreeable as content worth reading.) - dep01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3404?
- emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7@mouthster
Exactly. It's the same in the photography world. They're prevalent because they caught on first, and everyone learned how to use them. Why switch from something that works? Even though in the past 10 years there were plenty of times (the majority of the time really) that a Windows platform was faster and less expensive, retraining people who typically aren't the strongest with computers to a new OS and software interface isn't worth the effort. - muleking, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5You'll have plenty of time in between repairs for random shutdown to work on your song writing.
- morriscat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have found just about ANY 64-bit system kicks ass at audio.
Its simply the memory bandwidth vs. a 32 bit proc. - sjm20k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I am an audio producer. I have a macbook and a PC desktop that i built myself. The mac goes online for email and chat - the PC does all of the audio work with cubase and all of the outboard studio gear. I wouldnt trade my PC for anything when it comes to making music and recording audio. Logic is nice but an expert in Cubase will tell you that its upper level midi functions and audio lane sequencing are tools that are indespensible to the professional producer. I would go with either Cubase or ProTools, which I have found are much more pleasent to use on a PC, where as its much more pleasent to read my email on a mac. I think a lot of producers would agree.
- stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Pro Tools cannot record in SDII on windows. Some audio guys I know only record 24bit in SDII with Pro Tools, and only Pro Tools on Mac can read read those files- not Pro Tools PC.
And to credit the parent: the most current version of Cecilia (csound frontend) is only for OS X. version 2.5.95, at the moment. Though older versions are avail for Linux and Win32. - brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I believe Trent Reznor uses GarageBand to mix some of his songs. Not sure of that though.
Marked as lame for not being a review so much as Apple marketing wankery. And I even like Apple. - Yashu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The PC has been the first choice of electronic musicians for a LONG time now... It always suprises me how many people are still stuck in 1994.
I have produced two electronic albums and, for me, the idea of trading a PC for a mac when you are a serious musician these days is ludacris.
There is absolutely nothing... not a single little thing, that a mac can do with sound that a PC cannot. Period. It has been this way for almost a decade. (The same can be said about video... but that is another thread)
The only thing that has changed a little bit are the switch to intel, and the development of OXS on top of BSD kernel. But why pay a premium for a mac that has less tweak and upgrade options when you are going to use it like a PC?
All the electronic musicians I know, and I aswell, all love build and tweak computers and hack hardware, and using a mac would be blasphemous.
Maybe a DJ/Tunrtablist can use a macbook... Final Scratch has a mac client.
Still, A beginner reading this article is going to get the wrong idea... so no digg. - MadChicken, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Ahh look at all of the hostility. Lovely.
Did anyone notice the blog name? Bedroom Musician. For someone is in that position, GarageBand plus a great fast soundcard and a multicore CPU is hard to beat!
The other 7 points are a bit lame though, - holycola, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I love Apple's stuff, but my Macbook is a lemon, and Apple is being horrible about replacing it. I've now had it in the shop for multiple visits totalling four weeks, and if I had sold my 12" powerbook that I replaced with the Macbook, I would have no computer right now. No computer==no work. Apple is 100% unsympathetic to this and has insisted that endless cycles of repairs are the answer, not replacing a genunie lemon.
Bottom Line: The Macbook is not ready for primetime, and until its revised to fix its problems it's not worth your money. - Vermifax, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Logic Pro 7. Garagband 3. Digital Performer 5.1. Reason 3. Pro Tools LE.
Enough said. :-) - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5"I've found that Macs are better for Photography because you can set an OS-level color palate whereas in Windows, you need to set one for each program."
Doesn't sound like Vista has made any improvements in this. Over a decade later and MS still hasn't fixed this problem. - emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well I digg what you said, because it's totally true. There's nothing wrong with liking or loving apple. I don't agree with brand loyalty, almost no brand deserves it and it encourages ignroance and a closed mind... but that doens't mean you can't like a company! (like apple)... anyway that rant is over.
- aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@Sartori: As I mentioned above, some musicians that usually use traditional instruments for laying down most of their studio tracks are not going to care about how complex music software is but rather how easy it is to use. If an artist is only going to use software as a tool to experiment with ideas to enhance their creativity, something like Garageband is perfect for that sort of application whereas Logic Pro is the wrong tool to use.
@iamexcite: In my book, people that cannot produce music without software are not musicians. To be a good musician, you have to have a solid base in instrument based music IMO. - aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That entire depends on what you mean by "pros" and what you mean by "used".
Garageband is a useful too for the traditional "singer/songwriter" as a device for brainstorming ideas. It is an electronic scratch pad if you will.
Obviously, it is not going to be used by "pros" in "electronica" and other genres of music that heavily depend upon music sequencing software. It also in not going to be used by musicians to create their final studio tracks.
Notice that I separated "pros" from "musicians" because while I may consider some people who produce electronica musicians, not all of them are IMO. - geardosdotnet, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Did you check the site? It is for bedroom muscians. Garageband is right on the money for that market!
- emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8not to mention you have more choices for better sound cards.
- joel8x, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I would hardly call the sound card un-upgradable. Most musicians use an audio interface through firewire or USB anyway, so the fact that they throw in a pretty useful optical audio card is a great thing.
- whalesalad, on 10/12/2007, -18/+20Why do we digg intelligent comments like this down? ***** Apple fanboys...
- geardosdotnet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I checked the rest of the blog and most of it reads like an advertisement/copy-paste review of most of the products featured on it. Digg down.
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