Sonar vs Logic , ProTools

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fedayi1

New member
Sorry if this topic has already been posted.... but I am a Cakewalk user since Cakewalk 4.0 (decades of use). Now looking to potentially switch to Logic or Protools because I would like to go with an iMac. I am torn between staying with Sonar (X1 Producer) which means staying with a PC (unless I use Boot Camp), or biting the bullet and going with an imac and one of the other applications. Not sure if Boot Camp is problematic. Also is it really worth going to Mac and why? Any thoughts on this are welcome.
 
Hey man, if you have been using Sonar for a long time, I would just stay with it. You will get the same result from every DAW.
 
I tend to agree that the end result will be the same....but I am so tired on the resources the anti-virus takes up. I can run it on a separate PC that is not networked but then need 2 PC's. Also I have many colleagues in the industry who go on 15 min rants about how I should be using a Mac do do my music, I need to upgrade soon, so thought I would pose this question.....
 
Well I mean. You really should have a dedicated computer (no internet, no other software except the DAW) for recording. And what would they say in those rants?
 
Basically how mac's have better managed HW (no defraging), stable, no viruses (if you need to connect to download patch, more intuitive, etc....) I think running Cakewalk in Boot Camp on a mac could be a solution....any comments thx
 
I'm making a similar move. I enjoyed the time I spent with Sonar X1 in my brother's studio...it's a really nice program. But I really can't make my PC a dedicated machine. There's a lot on it and my family uses it as well. I have Reason 6, which is DAW-ish but I'm heavily researching Logic as well in case I need to go full-blown. So yea..I'm going Mac. No muss no fuss
 
fedayi1 said:
Basically how mac's have better managed HW (no defraging), stable, no viruses (if you need to connect to download patch, more intuitive, etc....) I think running Cakewalk in Boot Camp on a mac could be a solution....any comments thx
Click to expand...

Don't want to get into a big PC vs. Mac debate, but most of those arguments are outdated. First off any file system can become fragmented. Windows 7 has a scheduled defragmenter that you never have to go in and defragment the drive. This is really no different than what HFS does in MacOS. HFS basically defragments the files as they are being accessed, which actually takes up availible resources.

Stable? Again Windows 7 is just as stable as MacOS. Part of this has to do with the modularized kernel MS went to after Vista. In WinXP the kernel code was monolithic, so a failure in one module or application could bring the whole system down. Now a crashed application will be isolated and will not touch the primary kernel. They've also gone the UNIX approach in separating user space from kernel space. That is why certain applications you have to right click and select "run as Administrator" to access certain functions.

Viruses. Again an old argument pre windows 7/Vista era. In fact Windows 7 is a more secure OS than Mac OS X. That's not opinion that's a fact:

Security Expert: Windows 7 Is More Secure Than Mac OS X

Again, I'm not here to knock Mac's. Mac's are fine, and I like the space friendlyness of the Mac mini's and iMacs. Logic is a great program and a good alternative to ProTools for Mac users with cheaper plugins. Heck even Garage band is a great little program for what it does.

The point is, if you want to use a Mac, use a Mac. If you want to use a PC, use a PC. I just hate seeing hype and misinformation spread about this stuff. Yeah if you are still using XP, you are going to run into some issue, but you know what? XP is a 10 year old operating system. Upgrade to Windows 7 if you are still running XP! It won't even be supported after 2014.

But honestly if you're that worried about it, install VMWare and make a Windows 7 standalone image without networking. This idea that you have to dedicate a machine for home recording just to recording is again outdated. If you're running a pro studio that's one thing, but for home recording?

The other agurments about Mac somehow being superior for recording are 90% hype. I've heard stuff done on PC's with Sonar that will blow your mind.
 
The main difference between Windows and the Unix based Mac OS X is that just like on Linux distributions like e.g. Ubuntu, applications are often not really installed in the same way they're on Windows, rather ran in an isolated environment. This is one of the reasons the operating system at least has the POTENTIAL to be more stable. And to a small degree explains the lack of viruses. It's also why you don't need to bother with things like registry cleaning, and generally your system won't slow down that much over time and use (as you've installed countless applications and drivers).

If you have a dedicated Windows 7 (I prefer Win7 over all previous Windows releases, first one I'm pretty satisfied with) PC with good hardware components, that is not online, and that generally has the same set of software and drivers installed on it at all times, there's no reason it should become "slower over time" and no reason it should be unstable, or give you any kind of problems really.

Personally, at this time, I use my current Win7 machine for both production, mixing, recording, internet, office work, movies, gaming... and I've got no problems really, but I'm going to build a new dedicated machine when my new studio room is done, as I like to have a minimal amount of clutter and software installed really. I tend to do a reinstall of my operating system, a complete clean out, once a year. I don't think I would've done that if I had a dedicated machine to music production.

As for viruses, I use ONLY Microsoft Security Essentials, and it's done a good job for a long time. It's not a pain in the ass either, like some anti-virus software, that's popping up all the time, warning you about every little thing that's not really a problem at all, or using a lot of resources. Unless you're stupid about it, it's really not difficult to avoid viruses.
 
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