Is it worth switching from PC to Mac, and which one?

[paulsmusic]

I'm considering switching from PC to Mac, and would be grateful for advice about whether it would be worth the transition, and if so, which model of Mac might be a good option.

I use Apollo interfaces with Cubase Pro, and feel that Mac is better supported than PC (eg no Lunar for PC). After installing the latest UAD software update, the Console plugin is crashing, and I am currently unable to use my Apollos. UAD support have not yet been able to find a solution...

Would you say that Macs are generally more stable / better supported by music software developers than PC?

In terms of which Mac to get, I am looking at desktop models, possibly an Apple Mac Studio M2 Max 2023...

[Kwackman]

I’m a long time Mac user and it’s been a happy relationship, so I’m obviously biased towards them. I’m a iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and desktop user so fairly much an Apple devotee!

BUT, I’d suggest you DON’T change unless there’s absolutely no way your UAD issues can be resolved.

Apart from new hardware, you’ll have to learn a new OS and that is likely to slow down your workflow for a while. Your non audio peripherals MIGHT work, but sometimes printers are platform specific for instance.

If you have access to a Mac, it might be worth a quick check that your UAD interface doesn’t have the same problem and the fault isn’t with your PC.

But, if you do decide to jump, the new Mac mini is interesting… but the Mac Studio is a nice machine with more connections. Personally, I wouldn’t do an iMac, because I don’t need a high quality monitor and can save money buying a standard one.
Of course you’ll need to learn the special Mac handshake….

[tea for two]

As Kwackman said it's a lot to switch. How abouts a different audio interface for your PC an Audient iD14 mk2 iD44 mk2, recent mkII SSL2 SSL 2+ have encouraging reviews.

I switched in 2008, although I still run Cakewalk, Bitwig on wind. Touchscreen on wind for some music making software I dig a lot.
Ipad iphone with music making apps has advantage over wind tablets.

Of course you’ll need to learn the special Mac handshake….

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxZ3H5nA ... FrZQ%3D%3D

[garrettendi]

For what it's worth, Luna is now available on PCs!

Mac is much better than PC for studio stuff, but speaking as someone who made the switch to Mac and then the switch back to PC, stick with what you know unless you have a really good reason.

[ConcertinaChap]

I'd second Kwackman's advice in its entirity, except for the handshake. That's a joke, I think. [whisper] the truth is you get a Captain Video decoder ring which is what makes everything work so well.[/whisper]

CC

[garrettendi]

[whisper] the truth is you get a Captain Video decoder ring which is what makes everything work so well.[/whisper]

This is one of the reasons I'm going back to PCs. I never got my decoder ring

[The Elf]

I have, and use, both. There's really no difference. Once your DAW is up and running it matters not one jot which platform you're on. This idea of Macs being better for creative work is a myth, repeated often enough to make it seem true.

[garrettendi]

I have, and use, both. There's really no difference. Once your DAW is up and running it matters not one jot which platform you're on. This idea of Macs being better for creative work is a myth, repeated often enough to make it seem true.

I somewhat agree, but also somewhat disagree. Macs have some features like native plug-and-play with no need for specific ASIO drivers, plugins are easier to install, and Macs allow for aggregate devices - something Windows has no concept of.

[The Elf]

I have, and use, both. There's really no difference. Once your DAW is up and running it matters not one jot which platform you're on. This idea of Macs being better for creative work is a myth, repeated often enough to make it seem true.

I somewhat agree, but also somewhat disagree. Macs have some features like native plug-and-play with no need for specific ASIO drivers, plugins are easier to install, and Macs allow for aggregate devices - something Windows has no concept of.

Understood, but neither prevent anyone from making music.

[garrettendi]

Understood, but neither prevent anyone from making music.

Absolutely. As I've said I'm slowing making the switch back to PC myself (the Mac will now be reserved for Mrs Endi's photography business) but I did want to clarify the points! My apologies for any unintended disrespect!

EDIT: It's worth noting that PCs also have some things better than Mac such as 32-bit support. So actually I'd say both have their pros and cons, I guess.

[tea for two]

For me one of the best things about having wind lol, I have runs my older hardware software on wind10 wind11. Just a palaver macos for older hardware software.
One of my favourite keyboards 2007 Line6 KB37,
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/li ... eport-kb37
one of my favourite software 2006 Cakewalk Dimension pro
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ca ... ension-pro
runs on wind10 11 fine, won't run on later macos. Meaning I have a 2010 mbp with osx 10.6 snow leopard just so it can run Kb37, Dimension pro.

Touchscreen for some soft synths is ace on wind.

Logic X with bundled :
sampled sounds including world instruments, orchestral; analogue synth emulations, fantasy sounds; acoustic drum kits samples, classic drum machine emulations; plugin emulations of some classic outboard; means I can do have done multiple albuumes just in Logic X.

[tacitus]

I switched to Mac back in 2005 when the then new Mac Mini was my cheapest option and I had been eyeing up the move for a little while.

While it’s true that once running, it makes hardly any difference, I find the philosophy behind the two products is significantly different. As a PC user I spent a lot of time and money rebuilding my machines for better performance. All that stopped with the move to Apple. Also, where Windows is based on making everything run as long as possible on as many chips as possible, Apple clears the wood at regular intervals and there’s no practical alternative to moving on with it.

So I buy new and run until I can’t update any more - 7-8 years. I tried going longer but hit a wall with apps not running any more or being able to update them.

Because I don’t fiddle under the bonnet, running Apple actually costs me less in the long run and now I’ve twigged how much time I have to upgrade the machine after the os upgrades dry up, it’s all remarkably easy and I’ve essentially carried over stuff from my first mini to the present M3 iMac.

Finally, one standard machine makes support so much easier. Any problem I get has almost certainly been experienced and documented before it happens to me …

[Drew Stephenson]

I jump between the two for work but having grown up on Windows, and using Windows at home, I find there's a catching up process every time I use the Mac. It's not about the specific programmes, it's about the OS and things like keyboard shortcuts and stuff like that.
Things that are instinctive on one platform take a moment's thought on the other.
I'm sure if I was using the Mac more then they would both get programmed in (as it were) but it just slows me down at the moment.

[The Elf]

Understood, but neither prevent anyone from making music.

Absolutely. As I've said I'm slowing making the switch back to PC myself (the Mac will now be reserved for Mrs Endi's photography business) but I did want to clarify the points! My apologies for any unintended disrespect!

No apology necessary. Your opinion is as good as mine.

[Sam Spoons]

I'm another Mac fanboi, typing this on a 2020 M1 MBP. I ran Windows for years and my take is that Macs require/allow much less OS tweakery. I would concur that once you are in the DAW the OS matters not a lot and changing will involve a learning curve.

FWIW my studio machine is a 2008 'Cheesgrater' Mac Pro running El Capitan and Reaper. But I don't use huge channel counts or VSTi's.

[OneWorld]

..............
one of my favourite software 2006 Cakewalk Dimension pro
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ca ... ension-pro
runs on wind10 11 fine.............

That's interesting, back in the day I bought into the Dimension Pro and ZETA seup and really liked them both but once Cakewalk (the company) announced it was leaving the stage I presumed the products would cease to run as Win10 and its successors came along. However I still have both DimensionPro + ZETA, hmmmmm, methinks I might just have a fiddle about

[R_A]

Be-careful about switching if you any older software, third party plugins such as Waves etc. For instance, my version 9 Waves plugins still work perfectly on my PC whereas MAC users end up paying for updates.

That said, if you really, really want a Mac - buy a Mac. They do look nice.

[BigRedX]

I've been a Mac user for almost 35 years now - I made the jump when Windows was still at v2 and was little more than a graphical façade over MS-DOS. I always say that the main reason for picking an OS is because of the applications you want to run. Back in 1990 it was because Quark XPress was the only serious page application and it only ran on a Mac.

While Mac OS does have the advantage that audio and MIDI support is built-in a system level and it still seems to be much better at prioritising real-time events (like the input and output of audio and MIDI) than Windows, the sheer processing power of most modern PCs has made this advantage less important.

Even as a dedicated Mac user for me the main reason to keep using Mac OS is a mixture of familiarity and the fact that my DAW of choice, Logic, is now only available for the Mac.

If you are not considering also switching to Logic, I'd suggest staying with what you know unless your current problems can be shown to be entirely down to an incompatibility with Windows.

[OneWorld]

As for switching from Win to Mac, I concur with some of the opinions and get the feeling that it is best to stick with what you know. There are persuasive arguments for each of the two setups but neither of them would be the answer to all your prayers.

Additionally, wasn't there an article on here a few weeks ago where it was said that Microsoft was going to make Windows much more musician friendly, for example having an inbuilt feature that would mean any PC would have lo latency thus negating the need for any hardware to have its own drivers, and ASIO would not be a requirement?

Considering the vast number of people that use a PC for media work I cannot understand why Microsoft haven't done this already. I think I would be inclined to continue music making with what you have already and wait for any of these developments.

I have an iPad which I am impressed with, I use it a lot, for general stuff, but I have this issue where I feel subsumed by Apple, whereas the Windows setup offrs much more freedom, maybe too much as one can dump all manner of rubbish on a Windows PC, at one point I think I had almost every free/cheapo VSTi known to man, and they did nothing but slow up Cubase when I started the app, as it loaded all the VSTs

And there's me, in the previous post, talking of digging out Dimension Pro - of only I listened to my own advice, I'd be a model of perfection

[MOF]

In the past there were conflicts between various audio and midi cards since these were third party devices (each with their own drivers) and the computers themselves were from different manufacturers.
Apple had core audio and core midi and you bought peripherals that were specified for Apple computers, so since the computers were built by Apple you were certain that they would work.
I had bootable Windows software on a MacBook Pro and really didn’t like it, it didn’t seem to ‘just work’. That was a good ten years ago so presumably with the power of computers increasing greatly and the use of fast USB devices instead of Firewire and PCI cards Windows computers aren’t on the verge of crashing when running complicated systems such as DAWs.

[paulsmusic]

Thanks for all your comments - lots to think about there. I would rather not switch from PC to Mac unless I feel I really have to. UAD support have not been great so far in resolving my current issue. Around 2 months ago I moved from Windows 10 to Windows 11 (doing a clean install) because the UA Connect App wasn't working with Windows 10 on my PC. I thought the problem was solved, until the latest UAD software update, which is now causing Console to crash whenever I launch it in Cubase.

Another solution could be to change interface; the closest to my current setup (an Apollo x8p and x4) is the Antelope Audio Orion Studio Synergy Core, but I have read reports of Windows users having problems with the software. I'm also not too keen on the idea of using the AFX2DAW plugin, as this feels like it could be another stumbling block with my Windows setup, in the same way that Console with UAD is being problematic.

[R_A]

Also Paul - there's a big difference (imo) between using any old PC for music and PC that's specifically built for audio production.

SCAN are a reliable PC builder:
https://www.scan.co.uk/shops/proaudio/3xs-workstations

Will cost pretty much as much or more than a typical MAC depending on the spec.

[James Perrett]

Another solution could be to change interface; the closest to my current setup (an Apollo x8p and x4) is the Antelope Audio Orion Studio Synergy Core, but I have read reports of Windows users having problems with the software.

I'd suggest that you stop looking at interfaces that are marketed towards musicians and just go for something from RME. In my experience they just work with no fuss on both Mac and PC.

[ef37a]

I read this thread with interest and was pleased and a little surprised that the mac users did not immediately shout "yes! convert, Windows is the work of Satan!" but no, a very measured and useful lot of contributions, not something I am wont to say, you would get on many other audio forums?

Can I ask? "Aggregate Devices", this facility of macs is oft trumpeted but I have read that it is more often pretty difficult to use in practice?

I have only ever seen a mac from about a mtr, never even touched one and never likely to jump at my age!

Dave.

[garrettendi]

Can I ask? "Aggregate Devices", this facility of macs is oft trumpeted but I have read that it is more often pretty difficult to use in practice?

I have used this in a non-studio application when I used to stream my church's services with subtitles for Deaf attendees, and for that it worked fine, though I cannot remember the specifics of what I did.

For music production, I have no experience of this, only having the one interface (at the moment).