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Posted by: cruelc Tue 28 Feb 2006, 19:47

Hi there,

I'm thinking of moving from PC to MAC. I've been with PC since ATARI days, but always with accompanying frustration.

I currently use a Dell laptop with Cubase SX, Reason, Ableton Live, Midiman Ozone and Midisport 8x8 USB MIDI interface. I also have a Yamaha Motif ES6 synth and an AKAI DPS 24 HD recorder.

Anyhoo, each time I turn the computer on, it either does or does not recognise the USB interfaces so I realise that something needs to change.

Also, the ES6 is supposed to talk to the PC through USB and that's flaky too.

What I want to avoid is buying a Mac just to find I have the same problems.

Relatively few people on this forum talk fondly of Cubase, and some also talk badly of USB.

Does anyone have experience of any of the above equipment on the Mac platform, positive or negative?

I dont need huge processing muscle (maybe 8 audio and 10 midi tracks), and was contemplating a Mac mini to start with to see how I find it, or a laptop for portability.

But I also like the look of the imacs. Does anyone know if Cubase SX3 works OK on the new intel Imacs, even if it's not yet optimised?

From reading through many posts, performance and pricewise I might be best off with a second hand dual G5 tower. Would this accept a yamaha SW1000xg soundcard?

Appologies if I've asked too many questions, but I hope someone might have a system which has something in common with the above components, and can advise if it's satisfactory.

If you think it's the USB, can you recommend a Midi/Audio firewire alternative? I have a PCMCIA port on the laptop so could presumably get a PCMCIA to Firewire converter.

Many thanks in advance

Best Regards

Chris

Posted by: Chris C.L Tue 28 Feb 2006, 21:14

Hi cruelc
I am a cubase user on a 1ghz G4 mac. I can just get by with care.
Cubase recomends a dual prosessor mac for comfortable use. Live is even more prosessor hungry and they are no longer optimising software for non intel macs, so if you want to use either of these programs you wont be satified with much less than a dual G5. Logic is more efficient than both but still recomends a fast prosessor.
For any questions about cubase ther's a forum with a mac section www.forum.cubase.net/phpbb2/

Posted by: rickenbacker Wed 1 Mar 2006, 11:46

Cubase is fine on a Mac. Dual processors recommended wherever possible for ANY music app work.

Ableton's stated focus this year is to introduce support for ALL dual processor machines (Mac or PC) and improve overall efficiency. I've not read that they are abandoning development for PowerPC. Chris - where did you read this?

Crueic - everything else you mention will work on the Mac, but USB is inherently less suited to music than FireWire or PCI solutions. Sadly, PCI-Express is now Apple's preferred PCI solution (rather than PCI or PCI-X) and there are currently no audio products to suit it. If you bought an older Mac (say, the dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac), that still supports PCI-X. Otherwise, look at FireWire devices. Tons o'them about.

Posted by: TheCatman Wed 1 Mar 2006, 22:03

You should try the Logic Express demo. My excubase friends tell me they find the gui quite similar and the switch is really easy to make.

And I`m recording 10-track audio songs with several softsynths added without my 1ghz iBook breaking a sweat. (ok, maybe there is SOME moisture ).

The freeze track function in Logic allows you to recrd alot more tracks than your cpu will support with other daw`s. If your already thinking of changing your Computer and OS paltform, why not make the switch completely?

<S>

Posted by: Chris C.L Thu 2 Mar 2006, 00:22

Posted by: gdoubleyou Sat 4 Mar 2006, 00:17

I was an unhappy user, until I moved SX to my PC.

It is the least effecient of all the Mac DAWS, If you have anything less than a G5, you will stuggle.

From my experience I was able to get 40%-60% more instances of virtual instruments and effects with DP4, and Logic7.

Logic even ran fine on my recently retired G4/400, It could handle 24 stereo tracks no problem, Sx didn't function correctly on that machine, and it also didn't behave on my 1GHz Powerbook.

To my knowledge only dual G5 owners see good performance.

Posted by: eaks Sun 23 Apr 2006, 22:41

I dont have much to add here, but As a cubase sx3 user on mac, I thought I could give a little encouragement by saying I'm an happy user who never had to struggle with cpu when using less than 36 audio tracks, all with eq's and inserts.
I think thats sufficient for many situations.
the mac is a dual 1.25Ghz G4 with 1.75Gig ram. mainly used for pre/post-prod.

Posted by: kabie Tue 5 Dec 2006, 21:48

Hi,
I've been using SX3 for a year now running on a G4 Quicksilver 933MHz with 10.4.8. Use Inspire 1394 audio and Midisport USB midi linked to a Roland KR570 piano. Lots of problems with the Roland interface - instruments not remembered or some on the KR570 not available. Have worked though most of the problems but hit serious problems with audio processing on an 11 track recording. Screen freezes, glitchy playback and lack of response to controls/ compression/ eq etc. Finding the whole business a serious block to what I laughingly call creativity, have just bitten the bullet and ordered a 24" Intel Core Duo 2 iMac with 2.13 GHz proc, 2GB Ram and faster Graphics card. Arbiter tell me that SX3 won't run at all on the Intel machines so am also waiting for a Cubase4 upgrade. Can't wait to try the new system but will be EXCEEDINGLY p'd off if it doesn't solve my problems.
Anyone any experience with this gear?

Posted by: aportman Wed 6 Dec 2006, 08:07

In spite of having Pro Tools, I am an avid user of Cubase SX3, which I do everything on a pair of G4's, a desktop PC, and a laptop PB. I have experienced a few problems along the way, but never nothing severe. I have just finished a project, which averaged around 40 tracks, with a ton of plug-ins happening. Of course I also use UAD plug-ins, which have there own processing card (PCI). My desktop is a 933 mhz G4 (1.5gig ram), and my laptop is a Power Book G4 1 ghz (750gig ram). I am about to upgrade to a Mac Intel, but wanted to first complete a couple major projects I am working on. As far as I know Cubase SX3 should work fine on the new Macs, but will require driver upgrades from Yamaha (Cubase). Good luck!

Allen

Posted by: kabie Wed 6 Dec 2006, 15:45

QUOTE (aportman @ Wed 6 Dec 2006, 07:07)

Posted by: gdoubleyou Wed 6 Dec 2006, 18:21

QUOTE (aportman @ Tue 5 Dec 2006, 23:07)

Posted by: kwasi Thu 7 Dec 2006, 01:43

My experience is different. Tried to run Cubase SX3 on Intel, but had very little luck. It is going through the Rosetta conversion and is really slow and prone to crashing. SX4 is out now and runs a lot better on Intel machines. Well worth the upgrade.