Home recording, Mac vs. PC

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Good luck finding any DECENT DAW's for Linux... let alone plugins to run in them.

Good luck getting any decent DAWs for Windows without paying for them (or pirating the software).

I mean, come on, there's no need for the depreciating talk on Linux. I don't like seeing such stuff degrade into OS wars.

Besides which, Linux is free, so you can't really complain. Even then, like I pointed out, maybe a non-computerized solution is called for, like an 8 track (or more) station that burns its own CDs.

Then you don't have problems with Windows instability / insecurity, Mac's high cost, and/or Linux's lack for good software (if you believe all the stereotypes, that is).

What I'm saying is that there really isn't a perfect solution, and that your circumstances will dictate which one works best for you. Examples: I highly doubt any recording business that demands stability uses Windows, or Linux for that matter: they probably go custom / solid state when they can. My friend has a $2,300 station that burns its own CDs, and in his shoes, he doesn't need a Mac, or even a computer.

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

I'll complain about Linux all I want when it's worth it to pay for the Win/Mac software than use some watered down Linux DAW.

If he wants to be using EZdrummer and other softsynths, a standalone recorded is not an option.


And no, recording 'businesses' won't be using 'custom/solid state' recording units. They'll be using computers, or, rarely these days, tape decks, which introduce a whole seperate set of problems.

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Good luck finding any DECENT DAW's for Linux... let alone plugins to run in them.

Have you actually used the software, or are you just bashing it out of prejudice? If you understood it on a simple conceptual level, then you would probably know that even Linux audio tools that don't support the standard plugin interface can still use any combination of plugins through JACK and any one of the many plugin hosts. And yes, there are hundreds of plugins freely available.

So now we just need a random link to a Goatse pic to make this transformation into Slashdot complete?

[theboatcandream]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Does anyone else here use CEP?

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Have you actually used the software, or are you just bashing it out of prejudice? If you understood it on a simple conceptual level, then you would probably know that even Linux audio tools that don't support the standard plugin interface can still use any combination of plugins through JACK and any one of the many plugin hosts. And yes, there are hundreds of plugins freely available.

So now we just need a random link to a Goatse pic to make this transformation into Slashdot complete?

I used it as a freeware DAW in OS X for a bit - could never get into it. I haven't checked, but I have a feeling most of the plugins I use regularly wouldn't be compatible based on what I've read from other users.

[ratherdashing]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

General tip: if you don't have a second computer to dedicate to recording, consider setting your existing PC up as a dual boot system. You should have two drives: one with two partitions (this is your OS drive), and one with one partition (this is your data drive). Install two instances of the OS (whatever one you like) on the partitioned drive and use the boot loader (Boot Camp on Macs, or OS Loader on PC's). Dedicate one OS to recording; strip away everything that isn't essential, and install only what you need to record and mix. Do whatever you want with the other OS. Use the data drive to share files between the two OS's (for example, record and mix a song in the recording OS, then post it to your website with the other OS).

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

I used it as a freeware DAW in OS X for a bit - could never get into it. I haven't checked, but I have a feeling most of the plugins I use regularly wouldn't be compatible based on what I've read from other users.

+1, actually. I think that these are the two things that are pretty lacking on the Linux audio side of things. The first being unintuitive interfaces, and the second being the fact that Windows-style VST plugins aren't currently supported.

If I were making a machine for myself, I would use Linux, because I've grown to like the strange modularity of the software, and I prefer a Unix-type environment. But if I were putting one together for a recording studio, I would use XP. Many people are willing to pay the extra money for the convenience and plugin compatibility of a Windows-based DAW, and I can respect that.

[wahwah]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

So, basically if I want to do work from home, browse the net, and recod music using Lamda as interphase all on one machine its I am smoking crack? it aint possible?

I'm running a 2.0GHz G5 iMac, OS X 10.4.9, with a Metric Halo ULN-2 interface and Logic Pro 8. The same computer handles all my e-mail and internet. I produce my own tracks from scratch sitting right here (the Beck-style track currently in Tips and Clips took three hours from start to finish yesterday afternoon...yeah, I know, it sounds like it! I was connected to broadband the whole time, and when I finished the track, I uploaded it straight to Soundclick), running a broad variety of 3rd party plugins, software synths and Addictive Drums as well as Logic's broad range of plug-ins and software synths. I also do sessions for other people via e-mail. They send me a two track master, I record the parts and e-mail them back the files. I've done full productions for other artists, which have paid for the computer a few times over. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. There are people doing exactly this all over the world. As stated in the first few posts, you just might want to get a faster drive (7,200RPM) than the drive in the laptop.



Cheers..............................wahwah

[J Moose]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

And no, recording 'businesses' won't be using 'custom/solid state' recording units. They'll be using computers, or, rarely these days, tape decks, which introduce a whole seperate set of problems.

Tape machines...

Rarely?!?

mmmm.... ok.

Let us know when you've had some REAL hands-on experience with those "problems"...

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

I'm running a 2.0GHz G5 iMac, OS X 10.4.9, with a Metric Halo ULN-2 interface and Logic Pro 8. The same computer handles all my e-mail and internet. I produce my own tracks from scratch sitting right here (the Beck-style track currently in Tips and Clips took three hours from start to finish yesterday afternoon...yeah, I know, it sounds like it! I was connected to broadband the whole time, and when I finished the track, I uploaded it straight to Soundclick), running a broad variety of 3rd party plugins, software synths and Addictive Drums as well as Logic's broad range of plug-ins and software synths. I also do sessions for other people via e-mail. They send me a two track master, I record the parts and e-mail them back the files. I've done full productions for other artists, which have paid for the computer a few times over. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. There are people doing exactly this all over the world. As stated in the first few posts, you just might want to get a faster drive (7,200RPM) than the drive in the laptop.




Cheers..............................wahwah

One of my bro's has a two year recording and production degree from san francisco state, Just last night he told that all I need for my lambda, is about 1000 ram, a good drive, and I should be fine for what I do. He has pro-tools all kind pre-amps/amplifiers/equalizers/filter etc rack mounted to his desktop that runs pro-tools, his polishing the drum tracks that his band just layed down in the studio and he is serfing the net and instant messanger is on ... he has 1500 ram, and impressive drive, I forgot how big ...... this stuff is way more confusing than guitar stuff....

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Ok, here is my prehistoric PC.
Inter Pentium III, 863 MHz.
512 RAM.
Drive 18.6 Gigs
Just ordered Lambda Lexicon, will be using Cubase and EZdrumms. A total newb, Right now I just want to be able to lay down a general draft of a song, no more than 4 tracks of guitar, Drumms, bass, maybe some "keyboards" via midi. On a very rare occasion maybe some vocals. Basically 8 tracks would them most I will have at this point. What if, per ratherdashing's advice I will do a dual boot, with a completely stripped down version of windows as one boot just for recording? would I still need a hardware update, considering that I will not use more than 8 tracks ? Thanks Dudes.

[infrared72]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

I use Ableton Live for everything on my Dell Windows XP computer, and I think it's one of the greatest DAW applications available. I've got a Pentium 4 2.6ghz, 1gb of ram, a 120gb sata, 300gb sata (both internal) and also a 500gb external hard drive. Currently using an Echo Audio Gina 3g ASIO interface on my setup, and I have a slightly older Fostex VM200 digital mixer tied into the GINA via an optical toslink cable that I can setup either as SPDIF (Stereo) or ADAT Lightpipe (8 channels).

A lot of people look at it LIVE like it's only for DJ's and remixers, but I've done some really good sounding guitar stuff on Live. I've got a fully registered version of Live 7 currently. I bought a Novation Remote Zero controller that came with Live Lite, which I got a really good deal upgrading to the full version of live back in October of last year. I highly recommend Ableton LIVE for guitar players as you can record your rhythm parts and phrases as loops, yet you can also record leads and other stuff on a regular timeline (Like Sonar, and others). The way you assemble your song sections, you can really go through a lot of "what if..." stuff with the arrangement of your tracks in LIVE.

The other part that I LOVE about DAW software is that your mix always comes right back to where you left it. To get total recall on traditional mixers and recording equipment will cost you a fortune, so PC (or MAC) based recording gets BIG points on this for me. Plus there's a lot of really cool VST instrument and fx plugins available now. If you don't have a lot of physical space for effects, keyboard modules, and other signal processing equipment VST's are a good alternative to racks full of Eq's, compression, gates, reverbs, delays, and the like.

-Peter

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Ok, here is my prehistoric PC.
Inter Pentium III, 863 MHz.
512 RAM.
Drive 18.6 Gigs
Just ordered Lambda Lexicon, will be using Cubase and EZdrumms. A total newb, Right now I just want to be able to lay down a general draft of a song, no more than 4 tracks of guitar, Drumms, bass, maybe some "keyboards" via midi. On a very rare occasion maybe some vocals. Basically 8 tracks would them most I will have at this point. What if, per ratherdashing's advice I will do a dual boot, with a completely stripped down version of windows as one boot just for recording? would I still need a hardware update, considering that I will not use more than 8 tracks ? Thanks Dudes.

Sorry dude, but that computer isn't going to cut it. You won't be able to get latency levels down anywhere near usable with that processor, and that amount of RAM isn't enough to run even EZdrummer comfortably.

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Sorry dude, but that computer isn't going to cut it. You won't be able to get latency levels down anywhere near usable with that processor, and that amount of RAM isn't enough to run even EZdrummer comfortably.

Yo! Ok, I have a lot of gear aquisition planned for this year so I have to budget wisely. considering what I will be doing, what is the minimal upgrade that you will recomend?

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Home recording, Mac vs. PC

Yo! Ok, I have a lot of gear aquisition planned for this year so I have to budget wisely. considering what I will be doing, what is the minimal upgrade that you will recomend?

You could pick up any low end PC at Best Buy or Fry's these days, replace the Vista installation with XP, and have a more than adequate machine. PC's these days are all coming with dual-core processors, 2-3GB of RAM, and 7200rpm harddrives. That's the only thing I like about Vista - it causes PC makers to load up their stock machines better processors and more RAM than before.