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Top 10 Reasons To Buy A Macbook For Making Music

bedroommusician.co.uk — After years of putting it off, I finally succumbed to the world of Apple and bought myself a new MacBook. Two months after buying it I feel it is time to give my fellow musicians the heads up on this amazing machine. I only wish I had found out how good it was before now. Here are the top 10 reasons to buy a MacBook for making music:-

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  • Cymrubeats, on 10/12/2007, -58/+37Whomever wrote that bollocks hasn't got the first clue about DAW's. buried for being less accurate that someone stating sand is worth more than platinum.

    http://www.kvraudio.com/ Go there if you want facts.
    • StephenCIreland, on 10/12/2007, -30/+14what is the deal today, every apple story i read the first comment is some cynical comment or something and its always been burried
    • emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -35/+21@StephenCIreland

      Because every apple story hits the first page, and the majority of them are fud. Pretty equivalent to meaningless marketing fluff.
    • xelloss, on 10/12/2007, -27/+3-delete-
    • marysuze, 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.
    • 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.
    • marysuze, on 10/12/2007, -19/+10"Actually, 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."

      Nah it's still very hard/impossible to find a lot of essential software (plugins and virtual instruments) - I'm not going to mention names and brands. And bit torrent is certainly NOT the best place for really underground stuff like audio warez can be. Let's hope that cracking companies start getting to work on mac for intel audio softz haha
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11I use a guitar, and alcohol.
    • Twango, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"Macs are great for audio, if you have like 3 or 4 thousand dollars just to spend on plugins."

      Of course that's not right. You can get many great plug-ins for nothing; others that are great come with DAWs that cost a few hundred dollars. Garageband itself has some good plugs.

      AT THE COMMERCIAL PRO LEVEL some people might need plugs that cost $3/4K. Pros can afford it.

      I'm sorry if the article's assertion that many Pros use Macs is painful ... but try going to some laptop battles or EM shows and watch how many Apple Logos you see. Can PCs sound as good? Of course. It's about the OS.


  • 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.
    • Hacktivist, on 10/12/2007, -7/+26As well as a reason to pimp his affiliate link.
  • BrowncoatJedi, 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.
    • drapelyk, on 10/12/2007, -21/+10heaven indeed
    • 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.
    • Lardquake, on 10/12/2007, -15/+6My own experience exactly.
    • bobmagoo, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6i've used both final cut and pc video editing programs, they're all basically the same in terms of functionality, but the one thing i noticed is that while i can accomplish the same feats on both sides, final cut takes and automates many of the common vid software features. (think livetype)
    • 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.
    • 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
    • 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.
    • 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, -3/+2If you're really concerned about color you won't be using in-built utilities on either OS, both of which are inadequate. If you are using the built in utilities you might as well not do anything at all since you're not making a major improvement.
    • jrbrewin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"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 suggest you were either
      a) using the wrong tools or
      b) being overly bias.

      think fcp is easy? try vegas.. it's easier, and it's pc based.
    • Twango, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@Robotsu

      "Or do you believe that, in general, Mac's have an OS environment that fosters creativity..."

      In my experience (15 years Mac, own multiple sequencers, own both machines), for people starting to do music on computers, there is so much to learn and so many technical hurdles to oversome that are just simply easier on Mac OS.

      ***Technical issues interfere with the creative process.*** Ask ANYONE trying to do music on a computer. The Mac has *earned* a reputation as being easier to use for people doing creative work, especially beginners.

      NOT that serious work can't be done on a PC. But it's easier for people who are already Win-proficient. The "plug-and-play" issue is just one example.

      And no I am NOT a Mac-fanatic.
  • BrowncoatJedi, on 10/12/2007, -22/+12Amen brother.
  • tmimp, on 10/12/2007, -19/+10I agree with the points made in the article, but most of them have very little (if anything at all) to do with making music. Buried as inaccurate.
  • pintomp3, on 10/12/2007, -26/+13reason #1. moo sound effect built right in. :)
    • mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -17/+11they took care of that a long time ago, you ***** idiot. Not to mention it was only a few of the initial shipments.
  • 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.
    • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -32/+24Just because they may be "great" for making music doesn't mean they are better than windows. Sure, you got your logic pro 7 on the mac, but that doesn't mean ther aren't better sequencers.

      If anyone tells me macs are better for making music than windows I'll f***** flip, because they are full of sh*t.
    • 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.
    • whalesalad, on 10/12/2007, -18/+20Why do we digg intelligent comments like this down? ***** Apple fanboys...
    • t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Spelling Mac as MAC - instant thumbs down. Sorry, but it's obvious anyone who does that doesn't know what they're saying.
    • Grimboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@monkeybutler: Sorry to go off topic and be pedantic but can I just point out that mac is NOT an acronym. So not only is MAC is incorrect but it is actually also a networking term.
  • lazydrumhead, on 10/12/2007, -26/+9#1 reason for not using a mac to make music: no support for adobe audition
    • Gustav, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Adobe Audition is the buggiest piece-of-***** DAW that I have ever used...touting that as a selling is point is weak...very weak...
    • mbthompson, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1There's nothing wrong with Adobe Audition aka Cool Edit Pro. I can't believe you would say that it's no good. It's as good, and frankly easier to use than many other DAW softwares available. BTW, how many have you used? I've used Pro Tools, Deck, CakeWalk, Acid, Audition, Garage Band just to name a few. On top of that I've worked professionally as an audio producer (live sound reinforcement and studio engineering) for many years now and Audition is a great program to use, depending of course on what you're trying to accomplish.
    • jrbrewin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2it has it's uses - and being a professional in any field is all about knowing what are the best tools for achieving the best type of results. Personally i wouldn't use audition for multi-track recording / effects / editing, but it certainly has it's uses.
  • mouthster, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3I'm a recording musician and haven't updated to a new Apple laptop yet because the only one that has FW800 is the 17inch and that's too damn big.
  • illicium, on 10/12/2007, -23/+44Uh, free Garageband? No thanks. Used by pros? Yeah, whatever.

    Marked as lame.
    • 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
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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!
    • 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.
  • 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.
    • Lardquake, on 10/12/2007, -15/+9Yes, but *having* taste will eventually show on the music itself... Maybe talented musicians simply gravitate towards the Mac naturally.
    • iamexcite, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4@Lardquake: Are you joking?

      If I buy a mac, will my mixes suddenly get better because I have better taste now? Mac people are just naturally better?

      Some of my friends use macs, and some use PC's (all bedroom or project studios at the most, nothing fancy). I can get around on either, especially because the software is the same and odds are you're using a third-party interface and a third-party I/O solution (PCI card, firewire interface, what have you). I have my (modest) project studio set up using a PC. Personal preference.
    • 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.
  • 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.
    • emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8not to mention you have more choices for better sound cards.
    • shmatt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3a retarded comparison. Any decent desktop will outperform most laptops for multitrack. also he's referring to a macbook pro.
    • t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Also, not to mention the hard drive is user replacable, from the battery bay. Without voiding the warranty.
  • MrSunshine, on 10/12/2007, -12/+14The reason I will keep Windows to make music:

    http://buzzmachines.com/ (free, unlike other music programs)
    • geardosdotnet, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5I agree with you, I use buzz and it is great.. But the intel macs can run windows now so you can use buzz and other windows-only software together with all the great software for OS X. So it's not really an excuse now!
    • iamexcite, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1If you install windows on your MacIntel, then it's essentially a PC for the sake of this argument.

      That is, of course, aside from the built-in digital in that someone mentioned above (some PC's have this as well), but honestly you'll probably use an external interface anyway.
    • dave1021, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4"...the intel macs can run windows now so you can use buzz and other windows-only software together with all the great software for OS X. So it's not really an excuse now!"

      Good idea - pay twice the price for a Windows computer to run a Windows program!

      Is that greatly insane, or what???

  • JanWinnicki, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18this article looks more like advert/marketing babble than constructive information
  • 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.
    • BrowncoatJedi, on 10/12/2007, -13/+6Every PC fanboy says "10X more programs on w1ndowz, d00d!!11!1!!1"

      Where are these programs? You mean crappy shareware? Who cares! Everything that matters is ported to Mac, or I can run on Bootcamp if I want. But there are plenty of great programs for the Mac that just aren't on the PC.
  • joncoop, on 10/12/2007, -17/+8The reason MACs are good for music is because the drivers/support for high end audio interfaces for windows is terrible. Not the only reason, but a big one.
    • mouthster, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7You're just spittin' nonsense. The drivers for high-end interfaces vary depending on the manufacturer. The RME cards have excellent drivers. The reason why Macs (no, it's not MAC) are more prevalent in the audio industry run parallel with the same reason they are more prevalent in the design industry. They were there first. Mac used to be the only way to run Pro-Tools.
    • 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.
    • StephenCIreland, on 10/12/2007, -10/+41984 - macintosh sound synthisiser inbuilt
      1992 - PC, still sound is an optional extra on high end machines
    • 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.

    • iamexcite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1If you get serious about your hobby and have a little extra cash, then you won't use your onboard audio on either platform (or linux). There are professional-level interfaces.

      My PC has onboard AC97, but it's disabled from the BIOS to run an M-Audio card for recording.
    • mouthster, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2".....professional-level interfaces...."

      ".... M-Audio card ....."

      That's comedy.
  • Danl, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Though I agree with this article, the reasons, as they go along, seem to stray from "Why to buy a Mac for Music" to "Why to buy a Mac". Good article anyway!
  • tempusrob, on 10/12/2007, -11/+12Sorry, but no self-respectiong musician or studio engineer would use GarageBand.

    And this thing reads like an advert, to boot. Marked "SPAM" for the shady TradeDoubler.com link at the end that redirects to the Apple store. WTF is that?
    • xswag, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3THanks for pointing that out. Total Spam submission. Delete this losers account please.
    • 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!
    • tempusrob, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6"Did you check the site? It is for bedroom muscians."

      I still maintain that no self-respecting musician would use GarageBand.
    • joel8x, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Garageband has many useful applications - especially when it comes to writing music. Just because you're a snob, doesn't make your oppinion fact. I would LOVE to hear your music that you think is so respectful. Please, entertain us all with your recording and writing skills.
  • ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -13/+12Wow, what a pathetic list of reasons. Why in the hell would an operating system matter? If the TOOLS are good, then the operating system shouldn't matter at all, and frankly I don't see how a tool like GarageBand is superior (or inferior, for that matter) to a multitude of choices available on PC. Each has their advantages and disadvantages, and the fact that you don't list either shows you're just ***** out of your ass.

    Furthermore... you list the un-upgradable Mac sound card as the reason for using a Mac? What kind of twisted logic is that? Competition breeds innovation, and with the different PC hardware makers competing with each other to make the best and cheapest PC sound cards, how is this even a debate? All the other equipment you cite can be purchased on PC as well, so what the hell is the advantage, that it all comes pre-packaged and can never be swapped for different components? To me, that's a DISADVANTAGE.

    And FINALLY... What exactly, in your opinion, are the benefits of using a notebook computer as opposed to a desktop computer? If the main benefit is that it's portable, what do you say to the musicians who use big hardware, like high-quality speakers and samplers? What happens if new innovations are available, and you can't upgrade your notebook nearly as easily as a desktop? Even adding more ram to accommodate for bigger and higher-quality sample libraries is a pointless task with a Macbook.

    Your list of reasons is bunk, and you're a dimwitted fanboy who doesn't offer a shred of rational or fair thought. My ***** detector went off as soon as I realized you don't say a single negative word about the product you're supposedly "reviewing", and instead soud like you're ADVERTISING it.

    With your writing style, I can only come to two conclusions: 1) You work for Apple, or
    2) You HOPE to work for Apple. Either way, nothing you say can be trusted in the same way that nothing any company states in their press release can be trusted.
    • 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.
    • axmasta, on 08/13/2008, -0/+0Jesus, finally starting to see a decent number of people standing up to debunk all the forcefed Appleganda they crank out. Steve Jobs just prepackages all his arguments (most of which are rediculously unfounded in any stretch of the mind) and the fanboys do the rest, which basically boils down to utter regurgitation.

      I use both platforms, and I preffer an open system, be it custom PC ( :D) or Mac Pro, the latter of which can deliver the same results - with the same quality of components and longevity- for a little over half the price of it's Mac counterpart.

      Vista's much more functional than most people give it credit for.
  • dagamer34, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5As Digg becomes more popular, the blog spam has now increased...

    I think Digg needs to take to Google about ranking algorithms. This is getting pathetic.
  • xswag, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2What "Pros" are using Garageband?

    Its more like armchair musicians that are twiddling a few knobs. I should know because my friends are making some really annoying stuff they call music with that program. Just a bunch of loops and some added original instrumentation. Maybe someone is making some good music with it but I doubt they are people any of us have ever heard of. I doubt any professional music studios are using this for their artists.
    • 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.
    • 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.
  • xswag, on 10/12/2007, -10/+7Marked as SPAM because that is all it is.
  • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -21/+161. You get Garageband for free!
    .. You have many music sequencers on windows, for free.

    2. Excellent low noise, low latency soundcard built in.
    Yeah, that's because you pay for more! Doesn't he understand?
    The more you pay, the better you get! what a wonderful concept.
    BUY a good soundcard for a windows PC and there ya go! Good quality sound.

    3. Its super fast - more tracks, more plugins, less crashes.
    Haha, are you joking?.. Again, it's how much you pay for your computer! What processor etc. As for more plugins... uhm... Does he know how many free VST's there are for windows?.. http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php

    4. As used by the Pros!
    What, The, ***** is it with this *****?.. As Used By The Pros!! Ohh, that means we all have to use them!!.. Tell you what, shut the ***** up because you have no idea what you're on about. A lot of the industry in audio engineering/mixing use Pro tools, by M-audio.. or steinberg's cubase.

    5. $$ The Price!
    The price is... yes, a lot more expencive.. even more reason to go with a windows laptop, or linux one.

    6. Design That Turns Heads -
    Sorry, is this a fashion show or a music making computer?.. If he likes to go on the cat walk with his laptop whilst making music then go for it, but for making music people don't show off their machines, you make music, you expect the computer to be good at making music, not LOOKING pretty.

    7. Create Hollywood style movies for your music.
    Are we making music or are we making music ***** videos?.. make up your mind.

    8.Remote Control your music apps.
    See "7."

    9. It also runs Windows XP
    And windows runs OSX!

    10. It Just Works! No Viruses, Rock Solid Operating System,
    If you're serious musician, you'll want full consentration.. you don't want 16 year old teenagers dancing around your ***** screen from youtube when you're recording.
    • mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5"5. $$ The Price!
      The price is... yes, a lot more expencive.. even more reason to go with a windows laptop, or linux one."

      You can't spare another $300 on a computer that's going to last you longer, with fewer problems, and holds both OS'? Are you a ***** retard, or just a cheap bastard still living with mom? And it's 'expensive'.

      "6. Design That Turns Heads -
      Sorry, is this a fashion show or a music making computer?.. If he likes to go on the cat walk with his laptop whilst making music then go for it, but for making music people don't show off their machines, you make music, you expect the computer to be good at making music, not LOOKING pretty."

      Hey now, then why do musicians buy pretty looking guitars and basses?

      "9. It also runs Windows XP
      And windows runs OSX!"

      Nevermind, YOU ARE RETARDED.
    • StephenCIreland, on 10/12/2007, -7/+13. More plugins - LAME, a free mp3 encoder still doesnt have a mac (intel) version, when it does then maybee ill come back
    • ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6Stop modding this guy down. The article is ***** misinformed spam, and it deserves to be called out on it.
    • Nitrodist, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4'"9. It also runs Windows XP
      And windows runs OSX!"

      Nevermind, YOU ARE RETARDED.'

      @ mywhitenoise:

      http://www.osx86project.org

      If you can't find out how to install it... NEVERMIND YOU'RE RETARDED LLOOLOLOLOL ROFL, I'M GOING TO SAY YOU'RE RETARDED ONLINE AND ACT LIKE I'M SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOU.
    • Rickler, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3Last longer? Macs are practically made to self destruct and you can't upgrade them.
    • 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).
    • FluffyArmada, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I would beg to differ... I have an old mac running OS 8 from a long while back and an Apple //e running... umm.. prodos from a looooong while back. Yet, oddly enough, my moms dell that she bought two years ago doesn't work at all anymore... won't even turn on. My two above-mentioned apple computers on the other hand, work fine. I play old games on the OS 8 box and still love to program the //e. 
    • emorphien, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3@mywhitenoise

      Or you can spend more and get a thinkpad, which will last longer than the Macbook.

      A lot of these arguments become circular quickly.
    • mikeisme77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I have a reason against audio work on a MacBook (I think the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, iMac, etc. might not suffer from this), but the MacBook does not support OpenAL, which doesn't matter for those of you doing just sound creation but can effect those of us creating software that uses sounds to represent data and such. This, admittedly, makes very little difference to musicians, but should be kept in mind for others (and is something I wish I had known about before purchasing a MacBook... but as there are still plenty of other audio APIs that DO work on a MacBook I can't complain too much).

      Oh, and one other warning for developers: GCC-3.3 does not work natively for Intel based Macs (it took several weeks of corresponding with Apple Developer's help to get this admission out of them)--you'll either need to build it yourself, compile programs for PPC architecture, or use GCC-4.0 (which can be a problem if the OSS libraries your using have not yet been made GCC-4.0 compliant yet...)
  • bart666, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7I find musical instruments are better for making music, myself.

    On the subject of using Macs for audio production, there are many suitable applications available for Windows as there are for OS X, but using a Mac seems to be more of a status symbol than anything else.

    Also, the sound chip used in a Mac Book (since they are now using the Intel chip set) is probably a SigmaTel chip (usually branded as Intel HD Audio). I have one of those in my Dell Inspiron 640m, which cost half the price of a similar spec Mac Book. I don't see where Logic fit into the equation as the author in the article suggests (unless there is some solid evidence to back this up).

    And finally, many digital musical instruments talk General MIDI anyway, which is completely non-reliant on a computer (as an example, my Yamaha drum kit can be used as a sequencer).
    • ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3"I find musical instruments are better for making music, myself."

      I suppose you have access to a symphony orchestra then? That, and many electronic music "instruments" do not exist outside of a computer.

      I suppose you also have access to high-quality recording studios that easily allow you to do mixing and mastering?
    • bart666, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2ilyag,

      Being a drummer (and only a drummer), I don't need a symphony orchestra. Nor do I need a high quality recording studio (if you need one of those, you almost certainly don't need a Mac :).

      Of course, it all depends on the style of the music, but, purely speaking for myself (as I was in my original comment), I don't need or want to emulate 500 different instruments on my drum kit. Just give me a drum kit, a double bass pedal and some 5B sticks, and away I go :)


  • aleandro, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1yeah I dugg it down because this is just lame. Most if not all creative artists use macs so this top ten thing is just unneeded bollocks. No need for this to be up front.
  • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4He's making money via clicks.. look at the very bottom link..
    "Check out the new MacBook Here!"
    This links to http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p=2554&a=1133155&g=32244
    and the homepage, I quote

    "TradeDoubler is a European provider of performance-based marketing and sales solutions and offers Internet marketing services to advertisers, publishers and agencies that want to improve the effectiveness of their online business."
    - http://www.tradedoubler.com/pan/index.jsp
  • HPSauce, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4I don't know about you lot, but I'm sick of the Apple grunt's "It's just works!!!!" thing; of course it works, you bought it expecting it to work. You don't tout it off as a reason; not unless you're trying to fluff out an article and can't come up with ten points that is.
    • HPSauce, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Revenge of the Macboys! Exterminate!
  • mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2whoops
  • sulaco, 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.
    • stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yeah. Comparing Logic Pro to Garageband is like comparing MS Paint to Adobe CS2 (complete suite).
    • t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1More like Gimp compared to Photoshop. It's an alright program, but it's not perfect.
  • Informativo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Really es very complete, and have a lot of utility!!
  • waynejkruse10, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2#5 is a bit of a hoot.
  • hyperpasta, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4SPAM! SPAM! SPAM! This guy literally copied and pasted text from Apple's "Get a Mac" site... wtf? And his own original reasons are flawed.
  • eddyc, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3The only reason you'd need a mac to make music is if you wanted to use Logic, thats it.
    Talk of viruses and crap is pretty meaningless as if you were in anyway serious you wouldnt be connected to the internet anyway.
  • Drakeguild, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3What utter *****. Macbook ideal for making music? I make music a lot, and I wouldn't use anything but a Mac, but I have had nothing but heartache since the word go with my Macbook. Spontaneous shutdowns makes music making close to impossible. Whoever wrote the article is a grade A wanker. I am so sick of reading inaccurate balls on the Internet.
  • 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,
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.)
    • 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.

  • muleking, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5You'll have plenty of time in between repairs for random shutdown to work on your song writing.
  • 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.
  • democracysucks, on 10/12/2007, -7/+6Stupid Mac fanboys, get a life. I like Linux, but I don't root for every stupid article that comes along saying, "Linux is better than Windows for gaming, because you can use WINE!"

    Seriously.

    Stop sucking.

    It's pissing me off.
  • 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, -3/+2Um.... Logic? Most studios I know use Logic.
  • muleking, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I gave them one last chance to fix it, and if they fail again I'm ordering a Lenovo and taking apple to small claims court for price of the gravely defective macbook they can't get right.
  • Vermifax, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Logic Pro 7. Garagband 3. Digital Performer 5.1. Reason 3. Pro Tools LE.

    Enough said. :-)
    • Sartori, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'll see all of those, and raise you Ableton Live :)

      Available on both Mac and PC, thank god!
  • Drakeguild, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6''Uh, 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.''

    Erm...no. In terms of pro use, Logic is Mac only. Go into any pro studio and 9/10 times they will be using Macs, and I am speaking from experience. Your argument is simply untrue. Sure, Pro Tools is cross platform, I will give you that one. And there are a tone of Windows apps like Wavelab etc, but saying ''if you want no limits''? I do not quite grasp that. I do a lot of sound design and use programs like SoundHack, Spongefork, CSound etc..all these apps are solely designed for Mac users..why? because the programmers know that those are the people that use Macs to make music. For every one Windows program you find, I could give you 5 that do exactly the same thing. I have nothing against the Windows platform in anyway, but that was a rather silly statement you made with no coherence whatsoever. Also, it is a rather lose statement...I mean what are you talking about? editors? synths? Because I can tell you know, there is much more available in those 2 alone for the Mac than there is for Windows based systems.
    • Sartori, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0CSound isn't Mac only, or Mac specific for that matter. Even if it was, Max/MSP isn't, Supercollider isn't, Puredata isn't, etc.

      A quick check of the KVR VST listings suggests there are around twice as many Windows plugin instruments and effects as there are for MacOS 8 9 and X combined. I have no idea about how the application ratio compares, but you'll probably find there's at least one Windows equivalent of each Mac app, and vice versa.

      And most *cheap* studios I've been in have used warezed Cubase on Windows, which is very naughty but there we go... :)
    • 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.
    • Yashu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1When someone says: ''Uh, 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.''

      They are speaking for the 99% of us that aren't going to use a top class pro studio, but are still very serious about music. These are people making music that is just as good, and sometimes better then you, but at a fraction of the cost... in bedrooms, garages, and various makeshift home studios. Some would say this is the future... and it certainly is my reality... in the sense that I, and other musicians I know, would rather loose their left nuts then trade in their PCs. We want to tweak and hack hardware, we want to custom build our machines, we want to share and trade software and code with all the other people like us. It's a different style, a different culture. It's not just on windows, though... linux too... but it is 9/10s of the time on a PC.
    • geoken, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@Drakeguild

      "For every one Windows program you find, I could give you 5 that do exactly the same thing."

      So what is the Mac equivalent of Buzz?
  • JerodSlay, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3macs are good if you don't know anything about it and are completely inexperienced. They're for the loser making a song with his voice over a love song track for his girlfriend, not "pros". "the pros" use pro-tools (that's no lie).

  • 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.
  • dep01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3404?
  • Turki, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Marked as Spamvirtesment.
  • Crypty, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3What about random shutdowns? That didn't make his top 10?
    • t3hX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm not going to say it again. Firmware update, or take it into the Apple store. That problem is solved.
    • Crypty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The firmware update does not fix it, and many, many people have gotten macbooks back from apple still broken. Some even 3 or 4 times.

      Having to repeated send your expensive, yet junky laptop in for repair multiple times is hardly desirable.
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