PC Users

Sup folks. I'd like to get a Mac to add to my studio setup but they're so expensive.....my question is for the PC users......are you guys pretty happy with your PC's in the studio? And if so....what are your personal pro's and con's for using a PC instead of the music industry standard of using a Mac.

I've had no problems using my PC for music. I've got a friend who is looking at going Mac for his studio only because he's hooked on Logic and loves it.
My only concern with Mac is that the majority of music programs and VST's out now are made exclusively for PC use thus why I'm staying with my PC.

Just something for you to ponder on.

I like my PC, but I have never done any music on a MAC so I can't be a good judge. I am running an AMD 1.3 GHZ Duron w/ 512 MB of RAM and 100 GB Hard drive w/ XP tho. It will freeze up every now and then, but not too often. One of my buddy's at work in the IT dept did something to it and it has'nt locked up on me since that, knock on wood. I was having trouble installing a soundcard and he fixed it by running checkdsk from a dos prompt and installed some backer on the system. If you run PC just make sure you keep your BIOS and Motherboard drivers updated and you'll be str8.

djames wrote:I like my PC, but I have never done any music on a MAC so I can't be a good judge. I am running an AMD 1.3 GHZ Duron w/ 512 MB of RAM and 100 GB Hard drive w/ XP tho. It will freeze up every now and then, but not too often. One of my buddy's at work in the IT dept did something to it and it has'nt locked up on me since that, knock on wood. I was having trouble installing a soundcard and he fixed it by running checkdsk from a dos prompt and installed some backer on the system. If you run PC just make sure you keep your BIOS and Motherboard drivers updated and you'll be str8.

Your an AMD guy also huh. I don't have the Duron though, I got XP1700 which is 1.47 GHZ. 512 DDR. I'm upgrading pass 2.5ghz in a couple of days.

My PC is coo. Although I dont use a MAC in my lil studio. I use a DELL 4300 with a Pentium 4 processor, she gets the job done

I've always done my production on my PC... Mac's are expensive and slower than PC's... For me theres no point to getting a Mac other than to follow what is supposed to be the industry standard as far as computers... Meanwhile, everyone I know uses a PC and neither I or them have any problems that aren't just basic problems of computers in general (meaning we no compatability problems).

I use a Mac G4 Dual 1.25ghz, P4 2.66/533fsb and an Athlon XP 2600+(laptop). The Athlon out performs all of them with Pro Tools but the G5 would mudrer all of my systems. However the new Athlon 64 processors are out performing the G5(for about 1/3 the cost). Let me add that I don't own stock in any of these companies so I could give a **** about who, what and why people choose the platform that they do, I'm just speaking from my experience with these computers.

Also, the reason that you'll find Macs in 99% of pro studios is because they have Pro Tools TDM or HD systems (in other words, pro systems, not the poor quality "project studio" le setups)Pro Tools wasn't even available in Windows format until about 4 years ago so naturally these studio's aren't going to switch platforms cuz their Macs do a great job handling PT as it was originaly designed for Mac. Keep in mind that these "pro" setups don't put as much of a strain on the computer as the low budget "host" systems because much of the processing power is drawn from the hardware as opposed to the computer processor with the le systems.

In other words, you can't go wrong with either one, just make sure you know what software/hardware you want to use so you don't run out and buy a bunch of equipment that conflicts with the mb/processor in your new computer. Do a LOT of research and take your time, you'll save yourself a lot of aggrivation down the road. Good luck.

If u are getting a pc the way to go is to build it yourself, thats what I did only bad thing is if u are not technically inclined it may be difficult to troubleshoot later. no probs here tho. But then again if u arent technically inclined I wouldnt recommend trying to build your own PC

If you got huge money or really need the new logic, go mac. I use logic 5.5 on pc, no problems, especially with XP. Put it this way, I spent a grand putting together a PC with the help of my buddy - not one problem. I mean like maybe one crash in three months - 40 plugins running on some tracks, 3ms latency, the thing just works. I would have had to spend at least $1800-$2000 on a comparable mac - and who wants to deal with OSX problems? Check out www.audioforums.com for help putting together a system.

I use an AMD XP1700 with 768MB ram. No complaints. I run nuendo 1.6 and have a client that used 125 tracks of audio. He had a P4 w/512Mb ram running the same program and it couldn't handle it. I was able to use all 8 FX sends real time with automation including on the group channles. all Instruments (23 of them) had 2 - 3 insert effects. Not one studder. I just defrag my drive every 2 weeks. I have been running this computer each day for the past 2 years. All mess up's were due to my error.

'preciate the info. thanks a bunch y'all

I used PC all my life. I never really liked how mac look or feel even though they came a long way. but my pc never gave me any problems. I think when your workin wit things like pro tools a Mac would be tight. No problems tho...

I use a 17" Flat panel iMac, 1Ghz, 1Gig RAM, and although I have only scratched the surface of what it can do, I love OSX.

I use PC's all day at work, and my girlfriend has P4 1.8 Laptop which is sweet, but the iMac is a treat.

Tiny footprint so it saves space, greta apps, and I got it off the UK refurb store so saved £700 - hmm nice.!

Having said that, the majority of people I know use PC's in the studio, have never had a problem, and have had stuff released using just the PC and some software.