Here we go - home recording buffs, pc or Mac?

ThePrettyDamned

Okay, I'm hoping to be at uni again in about 18 months. During that time, I'll be working, saving for spending monies and a lappy or small desktop.

Although it'll be for work, I know pretty much everything has word processing and internetting on it.

But for recording, where should I go?

I'll be getting a demo of logic X from a mate soon, so I might be interested in that. He says there is a genre virtual drummer thing that works great, and he uses BFD3 with it as the midi triggers match or... Some technical shit.

So, pc or Mac? I'll have an android phone probably, for what that's worth.

spacecadet

I would always say Mac. Although PC's have come a long way since I built my studio, I know loads of people who ditched the Mac's for PC's only to go back again within a very short space of time. There's a reason you don't see PC's in proper studios.

ThePrettyDamned

I should add, EASE OF USE and RELIABILITY are key here.

I want to use BFD3 and it's grooves to record, but other than that it'll probably be software amps or maybe an amt or blackstar amp/preamp. Depending on how the ID CORE series sounds.

Just a simple set up really.

spark240

Im sure Mac or PC will be fine for the level you are looking at, which ever suits your budget best.

Im using an old HP laptop with FW to Studio One software, works fine for me. 

IanSavage

Mac. I switched because the studios at University were using them, wouldn't use anything else now. 

ThePrettyDamned

Cheers guys, keep them coming. Mac is in the lead!

I should add, I'd like growing room so I can work on my slightly naff sounding stuff now, but have the capacity to grow into a more sophisticated set up, software or hardware.

randomhandclaps

I have only ever used Macs and home or the studio.  Partly because of a long standing dependence, partly because of a snobbery that that long standing dependence has caused me to develop and partly because I'm a self-harmer and enjoy the fact that any time I need to update any part of Pro Tools I have to update every other damned thing on it as well.  Bare in mind these are running solely as recording computers.

That said if you are looking at it value for money wise and you aren't exactly flush a PC wins hands down.  The baseline cost for an adequately capable Mac is about 2 & 1/2 - 3 times that of an equivalent PC.

Branshen

Nothing wrong with recording with PC. I use cubase with it and it's dandy. But if you have a choice and can set aside the cash for a Mac, go for it! The one thing we Windows users will probably never get to use is Logic Pro, which looks superb.

PolarityMan

Unless you desperately must have logic as your daw i reckon it's no odds between tehm these days.

Danny1969

We have both Mac and PC running Protools at my studio .... no one uses the PC. Like some of the other guys I started on PC and then switched to Mac and I wouldn't want to go back. 

ecc83

I have never had or used a mac but I know they are well loved.

On a purely money basis?? I have just spent £185 on an Asus M5A97 LE 2.0 MOBO and a AMD FX 6300 3.5G 6core Black Edition processor and I now have a pretty badass music PC. Ok, it is not an i7 8 core paint peeler and I have not stressed it at all so far but running Radio3 HD, Samplitude recording same and internet is glitch free for hours  (2X M-A 2496 cards) . The CPU cores are doing pretty much 0- 2% much of the time so lots of capacity there?

Ok so I had to buy a case from the PC repair guy down the street (the one I had was too small) 30quid with a 350W PSU, and DVD buner! I had to spring for Win 7Home 64 bits and I already had 6G of stick about. So, a fair total would perhaps be £350 for a computer that will surely do anything the home jockey will need ?

I understand that for portable use the MacBook Pro is pretty untouchable? Mind you my HP i3 Win7/64 lappy runs 20tracks of Cubase LE6 and only breaks a sweat of ~30%CPU grunt, that's using an NI, KA6.

Dave.

guitarmangler

A mac mini? Not too expensive , and logic is reasonably priced, too ( cheaper if you can buy it when your a student)
Also, budget for a good sound card/interface.
Have you thought about both in one handy device?
Cough, hackingtosh, cough..

digitalscream

If you're using Logic, you don't have a choice - Mac only.

I'd say go with a PC though, if you're not set on Logic. I've always run PCs, and I've had nowhere near the amount of reliability problems and operating system bugs that my Mac-loving friends have...and that's not to mention the fact that I didn't have to sacrifice a limb to upgrade On top of that, OS upgrades from Apple often have a lot of gotchas in them. Our drummer's just "upgraded" to <something or other> and suddenly his MBP - which was a fantastic little portable studio machine - refuses to operate with his interface for more than a few minutes without crashing. Apple have just told him it's not their problem, and Akai have told him he's using the latest most compatible driver. That essentially means that the primary use for his machine is a bust, and he's got to spend more money replacing an interface which he likes with one that he doesn't.

In my experience, that seems to be a trend with Apple gear - the solution to a lot of problems is often to spend more money.

Whichever you go with, consider using Reaper instead of Logic. Even dyed-in-the-wool Logic fanboys have been wowed by its features for tracking when I've shown them. It's also much cheaper.

Jalapeno

If money's really tight - PC & Reaper.

If not, some sort of Mac with Logic.

Either way you STILL need a good sound card that'll cost you £50-£150 on top - I wouldn't bother with PCI based cards anymore, go  USB.

The upgrade saga @digitalscream recounted mirrored my journey from Windows XP (worked a treat) to Windows Vista & 7 - left high and dry without a workable solution.  This is why I first dabbled with a Mac Mini & Garageband/Logic.   I moved on to a MBP later.

The Mac Mini lasted 3 yrs and the packed up - not been able to re-breath life into it yet, despite a new disc (can't get it to boot).

My other 2 main music software programs Reason and Ableton work fine on either platform.

Not really done anything with my iPad musically, but will probably give that a try soon.

guitarfishbay

I use Mac and Logic... the trick is don't be the first to upgrade software. I usually read Logic forums for a week minimum after each Logic upgrade (there has just been a massive Logic update as it happens). After that I decide if it will work for me. I do the same with each OS update too.

FWIW I'd take the same approach with a PC.

Heartfeltdawn

spacecadet said:

I would always say Mac. Although PC's have come a long way since I built my studio, I know loads of people who ditched the Mac's for PC's only to go back again within a very short space of time. There's a reason you don't see PC's in proper studios.

And the definition of a proper studio is...?

Using Macs in 2002 turned me off Apple forever. 

PC all the way. I built my desktop to have the bits I wanted, it's quiet as hell, I can upgrade it easily if I want, and it's much cheaper than a Mac. 

sweepy

Don't be afraid to look at an older s/h Mac Pro Tower post 2008, that will last you years and it is easy to fill up with extra Hard Drives .

If you are only recording 1 or 2 inputs at a time you have a massive choice of interfaces , Line 6 MAudio etc and because it is deemed dead technology, there are a fair few Firewire Interfaces knocking about at very sensible prices

GIJoe

You can get a nice student discount from the apple store!

ThePrettyDamned

So... 

Basically, take your pic and roll with it

I like Reaper, I've gotten quite used to it now, so I will prolly stick with PC and go with that.

mellowsun

Mac for me. I just like to be able to plug in and record without the operating system getting in the way. You know, the way Windows often interrupts what you are doing by saying that it is about to restart because it has downloaded important updates, etc.

littlegreenman

mellowsun said:

Mac for me. I just like to be able to plug in and record without the operating system getting in the way. You know, the way Windows often interrupts what you are doing by saying that it is about to restart because it has downloaded important updates, etc.

I just go offline when recording, which should be the default whichever platform you're on.

PC w/ W7 64 here, M-Audio 192, Guitarport as an interface, BFD2, Garritan GPO4 orchestra, Proteus for synths, loads of VST's and FX galore. Rarely skips a beat. YMMV