Why are Macs "better" for recording/mixing?

[ecc83]

"on the audio and computer front. Has anyone plugged a MacBook into an audio system and had nasty hums and buzzes, I’ve not, yet PCs really struggle to be noise free. Sure, you can make a PC noise free with either care or knowledge, and an avoidance of certain makes, but how many times do we tell people to pull out the power cable and see if the noise goes away, and it does."

Are you saying Rob that macs are never a cause of ground loop problems? If so I would say that is merely a function of their PSU design and nothing to do with their superiority for audio work.

I have owned/messed with about 4 Windows desktops and 5 or more laptops. They have been connected to a variety of interfaces and my Tannoy monitors (3 pin IEC) I have never had a ground loop problem in some 15 years.

As for the internet debacle...Why S or B? My son has turned off the web on a rather old and slow HP laptop and uses it just to run software synths. He keeps his later W10 Lenovo online but runs Cakewalk with that. No problem.

Dave.

 

[rob aylestone]

Linux is always talked about as wonderful and stable - but how many computer related topics on this forum had Linux as an OS. Which of the everyday DAWs can run on it? I assume Audacity runs on Linux, which is good - but looking at the open apps on this computer AND the macs, Linux would seem to be somewhat useless for my everyday activities. A wonderful OS that can't open a word document, let alone music apps?

What recording DAWs do run on Linux?

On Dave's question - I don't think I've ever plugged a macbook in using the 3.5mm output and ever had it not work? However, while a few windows laptops have been OK, not a single Dell ever worked without noise issues.

 

[ecc83]

Linux is always talked about as wonderful and stable - but how many computer related topics on this forum had Linux as an OS. Which of the everyday DAWs can run on it? I assume Audacity runs on Linux, which is good - but looking at the open apps on this computer AND the macs, Linux would seem to be somewhat useless for my everyday activities. A wonderful OS that can't open a word document, let alone music apps?

What recording DAWs do run on Linux?

On Dave's question - I don't think I've ever plugged a macbook in using the 3.5mm output and ever had it not work? However, while a few windows laptops have been OK, not a single Dell ever worked without noise issues.

I have had precisely the same experience Rob with 2 HP laps, 2 Lenovos and an E machines laptop. Yes, the H/P jack on one of the HPs has failed but that is me being a clumsy sod. I am sure I could break a mac as easily!
BTW there is a dirt cheap USB 3.5mm in out dongle available that solves that problem.

I get the limitations of Linux but know FA about it. I am sure Will can tell us which DAWs will work on it? I do know the NI KA6 does and I bet RME will as well?

DOH! I am confusing HR with SoS forum. There is a top bloke called Folderol there that uses Linux.

Dave.

 

[TalismanRich]

Obviously Linux is so much better than Win and Mac that it was not yet mentioned in this thread. What a shame.

I am personally working on Linux. Especially on older hardware it is much faster than Windows. There is not so much choice regarding DAWs. I think Ardour is the only powerful one.
But I have to admit it is not very user friendly. I think that is the reason why so many people go for a Mac.

The lack of popular programming is probably the biggest failing for Linux. For many tasks, there are "work alike" programs, and certainly for browser and email tasks, Linux works great. For many tasks, it's superior to either Windows or Mac. But if you want to run tax software, or need the real MS Office, you're going to have to either work through Windows in Wine or a virtual machine. For the normal user, that's way too complex. People who have issues with standard Windows would never be able to maintain something like that.

I thought these people are nuts. It’s just a fucking phone?

Two days ago, I left home to play golf, and my phone was sitting on the kitchen counter!!!!! I was alone in the big bad world without a phone. Can you imagine the horrible things that could have happened, and I would have never known?

FYI, I lived through the ordeal.

 

[Folkcafe]

I've worked putting together audio and video editing workstations going back to the Power PC and NuBus days. Also worked with a lot of mixing and mastering engineers along with video editors. What I see, it mostly comes down to what you are comfortable with. I've straddled between both PC and Mac worlds for decades but take a Mac or PC user and have them switch, there is going to be some discomfort. Back in the early days my approach was that same as it is today. Pick the software then the hardware that works best for the tools you need. Reality is that sometimes that is a wash as some tools are multi-platform. Then decisions get made around performance or price or simply what you are most comfortable with.

Studio I worked at was all Mac till performance didn't keep up after Apple went Intel and software started using native hardware processing. There were tons of examples of PC running more plugins than the Mac could. It was a pretty big deal when we built a story boarding PC with Adobe Premier. Most of the Mac guys wouldn't touch it but the editor that did most of this work was comfortable with PC's and it ran rings around the Mac's that were available at the time unless you were running Avid hardware processing. We couldn't justify another uncompressed Avid system for this low level work.

I still have both. I was an early adopter of the Apple silicon Mac Mini. I picked it for video editing as performance to dollar ratio was excellent. Runs audio pretty good too but there were some issues with software and plugins you had to pay attention to.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

The Dell laptop noise issue may be a thing of the past. The one I have is fine.

There's a Linux DAW called Ardour. I haven't experimented much with it, but it seems to work more or less like most other DAWs. Some of the settings seem a bit fiddly. I think Reaper can run on Linux. There's actually a build of Debian Linux called A/V Linux, which has Ardour and a bunch of other audio/video production software built in. I installed it on an old laptop that I thought I might be using for capturing multitrack from digital consoles, but then I got the Dell for that.

 

[rob aylestone]

I'm not sure for certain, but I wondered if it how they identify the type and make of power supply - they were clever enough to recognise "wrong power adaptor" and not charge the battery. Good they've fixed the problem - so many Dells would be impossible to silence.

 

[Trichter]

There's actually a build of Debian Linux called A/V Linux, which has Ardour and a bunch of other audio/video production software built in. I installed it on an old laptop that I thought I might be using for capturing multitrack from digital consoles, but then I got the Dell for that.

There is also Ubuntu Studio that comes with the major audio production tools of Linux:

Features: Audio – Ubuntu Studio

ubuntustudio.org

For me the main conclusion is still, that today every OS can be used for music production. In Mac you just have to invest more money but get a user-friendly system. Linux is essentially free but you need to invest quite some time to get it working. Windows is in between.

 

[TheSynthDev]

Personally I prefer PC's but that really does not matter. There are many reasons that Macs are considered "better" for recording and mixing than Windows machines. The most important reason is that Macs come with built-in software that is specifically designed for audio production, while Windows machines require additional software to be purchased or downloaded. The most popular audio production software for Macs is Logic Pro X, while the most popular audio production software for Windows is Reaper.

Another reason that Macs are often preferred for audio production is that they have a more stable operating system than Windows machines. This means that there is less chance of your computer crashing during a recording or mixing session, which can be very frustrating and time-consuming.

Finally, many people believe that Macs produce better-quality sound than Windows machines. This may be because Macs come with higher-quality built-in microphones and sound cards than most Windows laptops.

--
Jason Hook. Audio Enthusiast and Software Developer
Remove or Isolate Vocals from any Song ? https://www.UnMixIt.com/

 

[rob aylestone]

No they don't. Macs have lots of advantages and disadvantages but so does Windows. I'm a mac supporter, but none of my macs sound better or worse than the PCs - and as people use interfaces, it matters not!

This christmas I held a show start five times because the MD's macbook dropped it's drivers into mainstage, needing a reboot. Reliability and crashing happens on Macs - perhaps not so often, but people tend to put horribly designed software on PCs, that they don't on Macs.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I could list the reasons why nobody should ever buy a mac if they are interested in anything beyond garage band, but Microsoft is showing in no uncertain terms that they are about to put the worst of apple into windows 11. I just got my first mac for compatibility testing. There's some good stuff about it, but it is far inferior for audio production use than windows

 

[rob aylestone]

Cubase users are reporting big operational benefits of Cubase 12 on M1 MacBooks. Sit seems the software and the chip really get along well.

I just fried the gadget I use to make the two USB-C connect to everything and to complete a project I used the headphone output - it worked fine going into the line input of the interface. The thing with the sound card in windows machines is that so many (I have at least 3) put the sound of the mouse moving into the interface. It's a low level, but you can hear it and the PC in the office has a noise on the Tascam interface's output that is determined by the 2nd monitor's screen content! Some screens I can hear, others are silent.

I think we now have choice, and the differences help form your opinion. In one studio I have a silent and nicely working PC and in the other a MacBook - neither is better or worse, and now Cubase works on both, I'm very happy. Qlab will mean the MacBooks get used for shows, but I'll happily run Chamsys magicQ on Mac or PC - it doesn't matter.

 

[TalismanRich]

Well, I just had my first encounter with Windows 11. 2 years ago, I bought my sister a laptop with a 2.4gHz Celeron processor, upped it to 12GB RAM, and it has a 1TB harddrive. It ran Win10 ok, not a blitz, but workable. She doesnt do much internet, just uses her 3GB of hotspot data for things like doing her social security, medicare, etc.

Over the Christmas holidays she was at her son's house and they upgraded it to Win11. No other online usage since then. Today, it had 8 updates when we fired it up at 1pm. It's now 8:00 and it's on the last update, at 69% complete. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! What a piece of crap! It downloaded over 1.75GB of data for the updates alone. The downloading/unpacking/updating make the hard drive light just stay on constantly. The computer was totally useless. for the entire 7 hours. We ended up doing her taxes on my laptop, went out for Mexican, talked to my brother, and finally she left with the computer on my kitchen table still doing updates. It is now dark, and she has trouble driving in the dark.

Microsoft needs to put an accelerated update system so the system isn't put in a worthless zombie state for 7-8 hours.

I think I'll just buy a 1 TB SSD, clone the drive and pull it. I can stick the drive in a $15 USB case for a spare backup. As for their new icon/start menu system.... ITS CRAP!!!!
Can they make it any more difficult for an experience user navigate the system? Each iteration of Windows has had usability improvements.... Yeah, if you're a total moron who only knows how to click on a picture.

Sorry Microsoft, I'm not impressed. I give it a half star. Do better!

 

[spantini]

I leave my Win 10 desktop powered up and connected to my internet service 24/7. By powered up, I mean that I never shut it down but it does go into one of it's sleep modes when inactive. This leaves it open to online updates at all hours, which is the key to eliminating the 6-8 hour update problem. I have my updates scheduled for overnight hours and that's working out nicely.

I found this explanation concerning the 6-8 hour updates monopolizing the computer : https://www.computerworld.com/artic...ng Windows 10 and,a new report from Microsoft.

 

[TalismanRich]

The problem with long updates, Microsoft claimed, is most prevalent on devices running Windows 10; those systems require substantially larger updates than Windows 11. Microsoft reduced the size of updates for Windows 11 by 40% through compression technology, “thereby cutting time and bandwidth requirements for updates," a Microsoft software engineer and program manager wrote in an October 2021 blog post.

This is bullshit of the highest order. Using compression to cut bandwidth requirements is not going to fix the problem.. She was connected through my wifi, which can do 130Mbps. I download gigabyte files all the time in a couple of minutes.

The cumulative Win 11 update alone has been going since before 6:00. That alone is 3 hours.

Their update process sucks... SUCKS!

As I said, she has limited data capacity thru her Iphone plan, and one month, she used almost all of her hotspot allotment just for a month's Win10 updates. She can't leave it on 24/7 on hotspot. Because of that, I had to block updates through metered connections. But when it's on wifi, it should fly! It doesn't.

 

[spantini]

 

[TalismanRich]

Finally finished at 9:43. It's back to running adequately. I pulled up Ookla Speedtest and it ran 158Mbps downloads and 8.8 up on my 5GHz channel. We'll see how its running around Easter! 4 weeks to go.

 

[Folkcafe]

If you've ever had the experience with bricking a device doing a firmware update, you come to appreciate data verification at least a little bit. The staggering number of possible configurations of different hardware alone makes Windows updates, more often than not, a technical marvel. Much like with rendering large video files, the less power and memory, the longer it is going to take. A celeron is at the bottom of the performance spectrum. Surprised it qualified for Windows 11. That said, I've updated some dog PC's (family) from Win7 to 10 and they have worked better. Network speed tests don't tell you anything about how fast your computer will process that data.

I like that my Mac can stay "frozen" in time and I can choose when to update. I have the studio Mac Mini working perfectly, don't need an update to break something. With my Windows work machines, it is another story. I often work via remote connectivity with programmers where I need to keep everything up to date. I am usually connected via a MiFi set as a metered connection, which prevents attempting to update while in the middle of a work project. It is not however perfect. If I connect to a client's network for connectivity, Windows will often work in the background and some of the virtual server software I am running will run like crap. Whenever this happens, I first look for the update icon in the system tray. Programmers sometimes have 8-9 different programs running at once trying to debug custom code. This requires a lot of processing throughput and memory. Same with updates. The faster the processor and the more memory you have, the shorter the update duration.

 

[TAE]

Two days ago, I left home to play golf, and my phone was sitting on the kitchen counter!!!!! I was alone in the big bad world without a phone. Can you imagine the horrible things that could have happened, and I would have never known?

FYI, I lived through the ordeal.

The Horror of it all! You are truly lucky to be alive Back in the 90's I swore I'd never own one of those new fangled things....then a job that required and paid for it came along and the rest is misery....My grandkids have no concept of a world with out "technology"...sometimes makes me a little sad...sometimes makes me wonder if learning these complex digital tools at such a young age is giving their brilliant little minds a jump start...guess we'll see as the future unfolds...

 

[Folkcafe]

The Horror of it all! You are truly lucky to be alive Back in the 90's I swore I'd never own one of those new fangled things....then a job that required and paid for it came along and the rest is misery....My grandkids have no concept of a world with out "technology"...sometimes makes me a little sad...sometimes makes me wonder if learning these complex digital tools at such a young age is giving their brilliant little minds a jump start...guess we'll see as the future unfolds...

One way to look at this is to consider when electricity first became available, modern refrigeration and even the telephone. Those things were technologies of the time. For most today a refrigerator is just an appliance and is not seen as technology and yet they have a lot of tech in them. What can be said for our children and grandchildren, if you grow up with it, you don't have any sense of marvel. Tech is ubiquitous.

As we get older, many have trouble adapting. We had to replace my mom's microwave some years ago. She had one of those simple rotary dial control units that wasn't worth fixing. We got her the simplest (we thought) replacement we could find but with modern controls. Ended up having to go out and find a rotary control replacement. She is now 96. She has a computer and iPad and is on Facebook everyday. It took a lot of time and effort getting her comfortable with this new fangled tech. The transition from Windows 7 to 10 went better than I thought for her. She's going to be 97 in a couple months. Thinking about updating her iPad.