Anyone Using Cubase Sx3 Happily On Mac? Options

[cruelc]

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

[rickenbacker]

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.