A few days into using a mac.....

[beezelbubba]

and I hate it.It's different, and there's not as much cool free stuff available.
Still, I paid $250 for this Macbook, so I'm gonna make it work for the purpose I bought it (live midi)
Anyone recommend some freeware, shareware or not too expensive virtual instruments for OS X?

 

[guitarplayr82]

I think the biggest reason for the initial hatred of Macs is simple things about the OS that take getting used to vs Windows. Let me just help you out real quick (you might already know all this, but just in case...)

This is THE WAY to close applications on a Mac: Hold the command key (AKA the Apple key) to the left of the spacebar with your left thumb. Then hit the Q key with your left hand pointer finger.

To close a single Window (or a Finder window) you can do the exact same process except with the W key. You can do the same thing with the H and M keys to either Hide or Minimize a window. [The difference between hiding and minimizing: hide makes all windows of the entire application disappear. You can get them back by clicking on the application's icon in the dock. Minimize shrinks one single window into the right section of the dock.]

I'm not sure which version MacBook you have, but you should be able to scroll up/down and left/right on the trackpad by placing your pointer and middle finger next to each other on the trackpad and then moving in the desired direction. Holding two fingers down and clicking should also perform a right click. (Some of these actions might have to be turned on in System Preferences.)

Download the app Quicksilver and set it to open at login. Set it up for a hotkey on your keyboard so you can have quick access to it. It's a really great app launcher that makes it super easy to find and open apps. Just hit your hotkey, type in the first few letters of the app name, the app's icon should show up in the viewer, and then hit enter to open the app.

Hopefully that'll help you out a bit. Those tips really helped me when I first got a Mac.


Now onto the virtual instrument software:

Believe it or not, GarageBand has some decent virtual instruments. I don't know what version of OSX you have, but if you have the App Store then you should be able to download MainStage (I don't think you need to have Logic in order to download it) which is great for live MIDI and has tons of great instruments inside it. I think it's about $30.

 

[beezelbubba]

Yup. Everything I hate about it so far is a result of 15 years of windows conditioning.I'll check out those tips, and keep plugging away.Thanks!

 

[Justsomeguy]

I think the biggest reason for the initial hatred of Macs is simple things about the OS that take getting used to vs Windows. Let me just help you out real quick (you might already know all this, but just in case...)

This is THE WAY to close applications on a Mac: Hold the command key (AKA the Apple key) to the left of the spacebar with your left thumb. Then hit the Q key with your left hand pointer finger.

To close a single Window (or a Finder window) you can do the exact same process except with the W key. You can do the same thing with the H and M keys to either Hide or Minimize a window. [The difference between hiding and minimizing: hide makes all windows of the entire application disappear. You can get them back by clicking on the application's icon in the dock. Minimize shrinks one single window into the right section of the dock.]

I'm not sure which version MacBook you have, but you should be able to scroll up/down and left/right on the trackpad by placing your pointer and middle finger next to each other on the trackpad and then moving in the desired direction. Holding two fingers down and clicking should also perform a right click. (Some of these actions might have to be turned on in System Preferences.)

Download the app Quicksilver and set it to open at login. Set it up for a hotkey on your keyboard so you can have quick access to it. It's a really great app launcher that makes it super easy to find and open apps. Just hit your hotkey, type in the first few letters of the app name, the app's icon should show up in the viewer, and then hit enter to open the app.

Hopefully that'll help you out a bit. Those tips really helped me when I first got a Mac.

THESE are one of the many things that make macs awesome

hide the dock = Apple/cmd+atl+D (super useful if you have app's that fill the screen and you want to access the bottom without inadvertently opening another application)

Depending on what generation of mac; either F9 (older version) or F3 (newer version), show all open windows. Cmd+F9 (older version) or Cmd+F3 (newer version) show desktop (throws all open windows out of the way). Any of these whilst also holding the shift key does the same thing but much slower. The show all window one is the shortcut i use the most and is now the biggest issue i have when using a PC as i can't do it

Also, depending on the generation of mac, there are different two, three and four finger options on the trackpad (if you're not sure, look in system preferences and see what's available). I don't know why, but for the two finger stuff i tend to use my middle and ring finger as it just feels more comfortable.

 

[DrumRookie]

hide the dock = Apple/cmd+atl+D (super useful if you have app's that fill the screen and you want to access the bottom without inadvertently opening another application)

Even better: Go into preferences, choose dock settings, and click "Automatically hide and show the Dock". When you mouse completely over to the side that your dock is located, it will bring up the Dock.

At first I was not used to it, but now I'm incredibly thankful for this feature! Of course the key combo works great too

 

[Steenamaroo]

and I hate it.It's different,

You're entitled to that

there's not as much cool free stuff available.

but what?????

I was overwhelmed at the amount of completely free open source stuff.
It's like, there's a whole mac/linux 'make it to share it' concept that I never knew about when I used windows.

I suppose it depends what you're looking for all the same.


The only thing that took me a while to get used to was the shared menu bar, but the fact that everything open shows in the dock kinda cancels that out.
I hope you settle into it!

 

[guitarplayr82]

THESE are one of the many things that make macs awesome

hide the dock = Apple/cmd+atl+D (super useful if you have app's that fill the screen and you want to access the bottom without inadvertently opening another application)

Depending on what generation of mac; either F9 (older version) or F3 (newer version), show all open windows. Cmd+F9 (older version) or Cmd+F3 (newer version) show desktop (throws all open windows out of the way). Any of these whilst also holding the shift key does the same thing but much slower. The show all window one is the shortcut i use the most and is now the biggest issue i have when using a PC as i can't do it

Also, depending on the generation of mac, there are different two, three and four finger options on the trackpad (if you're not sure, look in system preferences and see what's available). I don't know why, but for the two finger stuff i tend to use my middle and ring finger as it just feels more comfortable.

Yeah, Macs are SUPER keyboard shortcut-based. Much more so than Windows.

 

[Justsomeguy]

Even better: Go into preferences, choose dock settings, and click "Automatically hide and show the Dock". When you mouse completely over to the side that your dock is located, it will bring up the Dock.

At first I was not used to it, but now I'm incredibly thankful for this feature! Of course the key combo works great too

pfft, that's not thinking like an apple kid! if there's a shortcut for it you earn +100 cool points for using it

lol, but yeah, the system preferences route gets a lot more things set and it normally tells you the short cut.

to add to shortcuts;

cmd+shift+3 = screenshot
cmd+shift+4 then drag with mouse = select area of screen to capture, let go of mouse to screenshot

 

[Steenamaroo]

pfft, that's not thinking like an apple kid! if there's a shortcut for it you earn +100 cool points for using it

Command - Option - D.

 

[Justsomeguy]

Command - Option - D.

You win +100 cool points. Would you like them all at once or in instalments of 10 cool points at a time?

Use them wisely

 

[beezelbubba]

Keyboard shortcuts are a big help, but it's the idiosyncrasies of the file system that are my stumbling blocks. Not that these are complicated, just slight differences from my habits.Another week and I'll probably be a mac snob. My biggest issue is expecting thing to act like windows.

 

[Steenamaroo]

You win +100 cool points. Would you like them all at once or in instalments of 10 cool points at a time?

Use them wisely

Gime them all. I'll just throw them in the pile.

 

[guitarplayr82]

Keyboard shortcuts are a big help, but it's the idiosyncrasies of the file system that are my stumbling blocks. Not that these are complicated, just slight differences from my habits.Another week and I'll probably be a mac snob. My biggest issue is expecting thing to act like windows.

Yeah, I can relate. One of the things I did most often in Windows XP was double click the blue bar at the top of a window to maximize the window. But when I tried to do that in OS X the window would do the opposite - it would minimize

 

[Justsomeguy]

My biggest issue is expecting thing to act like windows.

yep, i don't know a single person who's made the change that hasn't gone through this stage (myself included). The "no right" click thing got me at first until i discovered the cmd+click thing (and now just two finger tap)

Yeah, I can relate. One of the things I did most often in Windows XP was double click the blue bar at the top of a window to maximize the window. But when I tried to do that in OS X the window would do the opposite - it would minimize

lol, my better half still does this and it drives her insane! then again, she's doesn't use macs much apart from when the battery on her laptop dies and she decides to borrow my MBP to check Facebook.

Gime them all. I'll just throw them in the pile.

Done, i've added them to your iCool account

 

[Steenamaroo]

Done, i've added them to your iCool account

Mr. Jobs would love it!

 

[Justsomeguy]

Mr. Jobs would love it!

*Would have loved it. Past tense is often important when talking about those who are no longer with us.

dag nam it, i made myself sad.

i need an iHug

 

[Steenamaroo]

It's late here. I actually meant to type 'would have' but I went all autopilot.

Either that or Mountain Lion spell correct went off on one again.


I do like to think he looks down on us from an iCloud.

 

[Justsomeguy]

It's late here. I actually meant to type 'would have' but I went all autopilot.

Either that or Mountain Lion spell correct went off on one again.

Tell me about it! I'm only still here as the stairs currently resemble Mt.Doom!

and yeah, autocorrect is my only issue with macs (although it is super mega awesome for words i just can't spell). That, and how on the newer MBP's you can't invert the track pad motions. that took me a while to get used to after my old macbook white

 

[Steenamaroo]

Forgot you were UK too!

You mean scroll and stuff?
If you have any gripes with the trackpad functions you should check out bettertouch tool. It's pretty sweet.

I use it to disable that f**king stupid 'click to release' draglock bullshit that OsX has.
The downside is that for some reason it disables 'triple tap to select all', which is equally annoying.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Ha! The page ads are for Steve Jobs autobiography.
One of these days the internet will become self aware.