PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic windows to mac

Has anyone changed to mac and is it any better than windows for audio , Biab etc.

i have bought a mini mac and thought is it worth the 199.00 to change over ?.

Looking for thoughts and advice from forum members who know both .

Also what is the best Daw software for the mac ?>

I have a Mac, but I'm not the expert on it that I am with Windows. Mac in general gives fewer headaches with digital audio (drivers and all). Most Mac users I know have loaded Garageband, and the more serious ones like Logic. But I have friends using Pro Tools or Digital Performer, too. I'll bet if you posted this question in the BIAB for Mac Forum, you would get answers from more qualified users.

But you won't get RealBand which i think is an essential partner program

Bob is correct.

Bob, I'll agree that it is a partner but I do not think it is essential. One can go from BiaB directly to their DAW bypassing RealBand completely.

Macs come with a decent DAW GarageBand. Its big brother the excellent Logic Pro X costs $199 for life including frequent upgrades and additions to the vast effects and sounds library.

I used PC’s from their inception and switched to a Mac in 2011. I’ve never looked back.

I’m clueless regarding RealBand’s benefits so can’t help much there.

Bud

Janice and Bud's comments mirror my experience.
Worked/played in the PC world for 3 decades.
Abandoned it 10 years ago save BIAB.
Abandoned BIAB windoze this year.

I Love LogicProX for a DAW. $200 is great value.
Logic not only provides a great piece of software but a large community of users that offer many forums/teaching videos etc. Many of these are free or extremely low cost. Very helpful getting started or learning tips and tricks.

I used RealBand for a year or two before Logic. It got the job done.
I prefer Logic

In other threads, we've been told by PG Music that, because of GarageBand, it was thought that there was no compelling business reason for porting RealBand to the Mac. Like Bud, I've never used it so have no idea how true that is. I've never felt the need, however.

Also, like Bud, I've used PCs from inception in various work environments plus I've owned Macs since 1984. In 2010, I stopped using PCs altogether even though my day gig was a Windows house—my database ran much, much better on a Mac. I, too, never looked back and when I left the job, was told to keep that PC (no one wanted to pay the shipping) and I gave it away a couple months ago.

The best DAW? It depends. I use Digital Performer, many of my collaborators use Logic so I know it well, lots of ProTools out there. Anything you do in GarageBand can be opened up in Logic. One thing common to all 4 apps is telephone support (Apple does not advertise this but it's true).

Of the many collaborators I work with, cross-platform Mac & Win, the number of Audacity and Reaper users I deal with = 0. At a certain level, if you are under a deadline and you need to know something, you want the instant gratification of a knowledgeable person on the other end of the phone. Apple/PT/MOTU can log into your workstation and see what you're doing with permission. BTW, same is true with the MacOS for 3 years after release even if AppleCare has lapsed. Mojave is still under support through November 2021.

Although I've made many support calls to Apple for OS issues, only one for help with an app and it was iMovie. The tech logged in and determined that a) I was doing everything right b) it really was working but c) because I was using a 2010 iMac, the task was going to take many hours to complete—but it would (AV rendering—yikes!). He was right and the task showed a small progress bar hours later and finished late the next day.

I took the hint and bought my first iMac Pro a few months later so I could complete the same task in 20 minutes (my current iMP does it in 6).

Mac is somewhat better when it comes to real-time audio. Less problems with drivers + drivers are multi-client (many apps can use your audio interface), you can use aggregate devices, built-in IAC port, etc.

The only current threat I see are problems with Apple Silicon (the new M1 chip) as there are apps not compiled natively for it (yet).

This is a great thread. My only issue is that I prefer Real Band, and in fact have never even booted BIAB. And while I could generate on a PC and move the file to the Mac, that's a lot of money invested to buy the Mac and Logic, when I have Real Band and Pro Tools on my PC. That said, the underlying idea of that move is to leave Micro$oft and their intrusive business model behind. I despise their

"Take It Or Leave It - Flaws and All! Because we CAN!"

attitude. That's been my issue with them for years, but I have to say that along a long IT career path, Windows held up well. The Office Suite was the tool of choice everywhere I went except one that was Wordperfect. They changed over and had Microsoft trainers come in to teach the deeper and often ignored nuances of Word, like how to create styles, mailing list integration and such. The funny (funny in a sad way) thing there was that this was a law firm, about a half dozen of the legal secretaries were so angry about changing what they already knew (an attitude I see here WAY too often) that they actually quit their job than learn Word. One of them was telling me she was going to quit and I asked her if she had another job lined up. She said no. I then asked if she thought that she was actually going to find another law firm so behind the times that they still used Wordperfect, and did she somehow not notice that everything that was emailed in to us had to be converted because all the other firms used Word. Eventually she stayed because of that, and a few months into using Word told me "I have to admit, this is much better."

Just because it works doesn't mean there isn't better. "Better" works too once you get familiar with it.

Thanks for all the advice , I do have access to a copy of pro tools first ,through hardware I just bought.

Eddie are you saying you use bIAB to generate your tracks etc , then over to a Mac for final mixing ,recording as biab for Mac will now set me back 199 to cross over !!

Also the mini Mac I have recently got is a 2011 one , would that be a problem ?, willing to upgrade it in the future if it works out better for me .

Mini Mac has an i5 . 16 ram !

I'd ring Simon up on this question. I don't know Mac at all. I do know that I'd probably enjoy having a Mac for everything BUT music since Real Band isn't available for Mac. Again, I have never used, or even booted, BIAB.

There are two schools of thought and often very protective defenses for each O/S platform.

RealBand supports native chord input and generation of MIDI and RealTracks (without reliance on separate software, plugins etc), so it appears to have its advantages in some areas.

Reviewing the thread, I see we haven’t mentioned that you can run a Windows emulator like Parallels on a Mac and use the Windows programs you like. Peter Gannon has said he develops the Windows version of BIAB on his Mac. So if RealBand is important to you, you can still use it.

beatmaster.
heres my objective comments bout mac and pc ; haveing worked in tech.
a BIT OF A DIFFERENT ANGLE lol.
1. from your sig youve made a not insignificant investment in your current win rig. thus my question is WHAT ASPECTS of your current rig are you unhappy with ? btw i dont see your processor listed in your sig. what is it ? also whats your latency figure currently ?.
also in realband action>>test audio performance what does rb report for number of traks ?
2. both platforms have their plusses and minuses imho.
to quote monty python lol "its all very silly" .
if you want to get a objective analysis of both platforms cos i dont have the time to type all the various pros/cons of each platform ;
i would suggest you head to www.gearspace.com (formerly gearslutz) where zillions of recording studios from very large to small hang out and read tons of threads in the computer music section.
(enter in search mac versus pc).
the mac/pc topic has been debated at length on gearslutz.
which leads me to what i'm considering next... my strategy.
3. up till this point ive always used refurb pc's.
they have come through for me time and again. no crashes and no problems.
one of the reasons imho that people have probs with pc's imho is often they choose any old generic pc config.
then they go on the net ....
frankly THHERE IS A THIRD OPTION i'm considering.
>>> custom pc built by a company that specialises in building pc's for recording studios.
why am i considering this ?
a. i can get the expandeabilty i want. lots of internal ssd's // external/internal ports.
b. very low latency figures.
c. a system highly optimised "turnkey" for recording studios.
d. very high dsp processing power. for plug ns/processing.
d. very high trak and plug in counts.
e. good 2 year warranties for example.
f. some people on gearspace mention they did session after session useing such custom systems for 10 years.

so beatmaster check out such sites as adkproaudio, silent pc, purrfect audio, scan.co.uk where there are various interesting configs/articles relateing to recording studio computers. also on gearspace are lots of threads bout companies that make custom recording computers as well as huge threads on building ones own,
-------------------------------------------------------------------
beatmaster ; if you dig deep on gearspace and other recording forums on the net youll find some interesting facts emerge.
particularly that a lot of savvy studios after trying both major platforms have turned to a custom computer solution; because i believe due to all the factors above i listed. (a through f). particularly a lot of high end studios
need loads of dsp power and high trak/plug in counts
that only a custom build gives them.

yes its more expensive ; but the reason i'm looking closely at this custom solution is i get exactly what I WANT. rather than a generic computer solution decided
by other people. they start around 1300 bukkies.

best to you.
oldmuso

I switched to Mac full time around 2007 when I was given a broken G5 iMac (power supply failure, but I was able to fix that). At the time I was sick of Windows XP and Vista and wanted a change. Never looked back! I've since had a number of other Macs - Mac Minis, MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac Pros, and currently own a heavily upgraded 2009 Mac Pro tower (8-core 2.93ghz with 48gb ram, 512gb SSD, 2tb HDD, Geforce GTX 960, and USB3 card), a 2012 15" Macbook Pro Retina, and a 2009 iMac 24" (I think 2.8ghz dual core with 6gb ram and a 250gb SSD).

I also have a Windows desktop (mostly for gaming as it's connected to my TV) which has a 6-core i7 and 16gb ram with a Geforce GTX 1060 6gb, 512gb SSD, and 2x1tb HDD's in a RAID-0 - and while this is newer and faster than my Mac Pro (on paper at least), the Mac is able to get more done.

The audio system on a Mac is far superior to Windows, in that things typically "just work" as they advertise - I know, there definitely can be problems, but I personally experience far fewer problems in my day-to-day work with macOS than with Windows.

There is no such thing as a "best" DAW, only what works best for you. I personally use Logic Pro X for my songwriting, and I use Pro Tools for recording full bands, editing, and sound design for video. It's not that one is better than the other for each function, it's just that I'm used to each specific workflow in each program.




Logic Pro X is $199 for life - that is, until they come out with Logic Pro XI. If I remember correctly, there was no upgrade price discount when they moved from Logic Pro 9 to Logic Pro X - but regardless, $199 is an absolute steal.




So you're aware, Pro Tools First does not support 3rd party plugins at all, meaning the BIAB plugin will not work in it. You'd need to purchase the full version of Pro Tools for that. This is also true of some other DAWs - Studio One Prime for example. The free GarageBand and Reaper (trial) programs do not have this limitation.

Shouldn't be an issue using a Mac Mini i5 with 16gb of ram.




Thanks for the endorsement Eddie!




Yep. Many people who have never used a Mac will happily deride it for whatever reason they can find (price, "inability" to play games, etc), while many Mac users who haven't used Windows at all since XP will tear apart anything they don't understand in Windows 10. I personally use both Windows and Mac in my day-to-day work here at PGM, and while I still personally prefer Mac I'm not generally unhappy with Windows 10.




Parallels tends to work quite well for most apps. I personally use VirtualBox on my Macs, although I don't use BIAB on that so I can't comment much on how well it may or may not work.

One item not mentioned in this thread is the Band-in-a-Box plugin. The plugin is available on both the Windows and Mac platforms.

A major RealBand feature, Multi-riffs, is available in both Band-in-a-Box and the plugin thus reducing the need to use RealBand.

All.
Re: REALBAND. WHOA !...lol.
much as my love affair with reaper continues like lots of pg and other users around the world. i feel compelled to comment on RB.
it is a truly great daw , getting better with every new release; abosolutely loaded to the gills with a humungous feature set. and deserving of serious user consideration if a user has never tried it imho.
and with its own UNIQUE advantages and huge feature set.

i'll let the very knowledgeable joanne cooper (a pg user that has used pg products longer than i ) make the eloquent case for RB.

https://joannecooper.co.za/blogs/latest-news/posts/eight-reasons-why-i-as-a-band-in-a-box-user-use-realband-as-my-daw-of-choice

i highly respect joannes deep knowledge of pg products
includeing realband.

let me also say why i feel some people might not "get" realband.
its one of those music software products that rewards you the more one is willing to delve into all its deep numerous features.
imho if a user doesnt delve into it, they are doing themselves a disservice.

(as an aside let me also say for the user not needing auto accompaniement, powertraks has got to be one of the best deals in pro audio. cos it too is jam packed with features for 50 bukkies. price of a meal out for 2 lol.
ive known over the years studio people spend a small fortune for daw software that could have saved a load of money by buying powertraks that i started on. and with those saveings bought a better signal chain !)

i guess what i'm saying is realband deserves to be mentioned much more. RB ROCKS ! POWERTRAKS ROCKS !
and kudos to the coders for such.

i'm sure RB guru Rharv can add even more reasons to use RB that ive forgotten.
best
oldmuso.

ps to pg. in realband stylepicker please add (like bb) ...
"play with my song chords".

Well thanks oldmuso food for thought , can anyone point me in the right direction for the Mac forum