Personally for DAW's I prefer to work with PC's - and specificially with SAWStudio - http://www.sawstudio.com

Check out Sager for awesome PC laptops that are as fast as desktops- http://www.sagernotebook.com

Not to nitpick - but maybe the "Mastering" forum isn't the most on-topic place for your question?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

you are right:) I should put it in another topic:) but thank you!!!

Samplitude is better then protools
-

1: Sounds better IMHO

2: More open you don't have digisign telling you what they think you should use. You can add any gear and plugs that you want.

go pc

don't :lol:

I have a long experience.
First i tell you what i used.
Then i tell you where i stopped searching.

-I used Pro Tools LE and TDM, Cubase on Windows. I used DP and Cubase on Mac.

-Then i used (and i still use) Logic Pro on OSX, and i will never go back.

It depends on the range of application. If U do mastering, broadcast or classical recording don't even think of Slow Fools (Samp is an enormous timesaver here). If U have a project studio without the need of compatibility go for Samplitude. If U need to be compatible, go for Pro Tools on Mac. If you're running a commercial studio, U need to be compatible. I'm using Samplitude and Nuendo on PC and have saved thousands alone by never buying that ultraslow but expensive G4. From time to time I buy a faster processor, Mainboard and Ram combo and for very little money I have an up to date 90% perfect workstation. I spend the saved bucks on such nice things as UAD and Powercore cards.
If you go for PC: Never use any windows version but XP or server 2003 and try to avoid internet connection.

Sorry, I didn't read your post very carefully, just the topic. Stay on PC and go for Samplitude. Always think of noise when U buy a notebook. A fast Centrino platform is usually the better choice than a noisy P4 ( can drive U crazy ). Good luck!!

pc or mac

hm... sometimes i just wonder what kind of ears or hearing people do have who make and love music, the question about pc or mac is in my ears not a question at all.

specially when it comes to using a laptop as the heart of your studio, which means you do probably most of the prosseing in the computer enviroment.

specially p4's are extremely NOISY bastards, you have to use stuff like digitalfishphones normalizer to get reasonable results.

macs outwheigting pc's specially in music by far... bar none.
there is no room for discussion, also programs like peak or logic which are native are the tools which give you about everything you ever need to write or record, master and edit music.

ever seen a REAL pro studio running pc's ever wondered why??
ok pc's are cheaper, but what you get is cheap too.

get a powerbook, logic, peak and a decent firewire card plus external firewire drive for audio (fast 7200rpm) and some decent monitors like genelec!! FOR YOUR EARS!

Axel, I guess U never worked on an up to date PC. There's nothing faster than a dual opteron system. No more problems since Win XP. I've been reading many more complaints on Mac with OS X then on PC the last year. Mac has no more advantages compared to PCs. And, Samplitude is a veeeery powerfull application.

:)

pc vs. mac

digidesign ditched mac? wow good news very good one - for once!

and yes i have worked on PC's many times, i am an pro audio freelance engineer and producer. (live work included: beastie boys / robbie williams / blue and so on...)

please name a few studios you concider as top notch running PC's cheers.

also pro tools is good for band / live recording the question asked in this topic was about setting up an home all-rounder along a laptop as the heart of the studio, also samplitude is powerfull, of course it's a rip off of peak on the PC platform, thanks god before PC users only had soundforge :evil:

opteron might be fine, don't know it. the choice here is laptop with either p4, and that is a noisy bastard whitout a question, thanks to sasha from http://www.digitalfishphones and his p4 noise reducer called normalizer or an centrino, better in terms of noise or a g4 processor
which in the level of laps rule...

just use decent monitoring / soundcard like a metric halo i/o and 8000 series genelec and you will be surprised what is comming to the surface of audio you will HEAR. i am just trusting my ears and really give a shit about brandnames / fancy stuff.
AUDIBLE PERFORMANCE RULES, and yes there have been or are probs with osx as it is pretty young, but improves and has lot of advantages too, like it/s incredible midi behavior and ultra ultra low latency....

cheers
axel

PC vs. MAC

and um.. i forgott,

about processor performance, ever wondered why some hardware sounds so much punchier and tighter??

like the akai mpc 2000, it's the processor timing,

just take the exact same setup same soundcard same mixer you route through and same monitoring same host app. like dp performer or logic and same soft sampler for example halion or whatever really take the same sample and play it back on a mac or p4 system, let your ears be the judge....

i would be happy if PC's would perform / sound as great, would save me and a lot of other pro users a lot of money :P

same with software some audio engines are just not reproducing the same audiophile quality like cubase or lot of steinberg stuff it is just not doing the job propperly comparing to others you have the choice from.
or plugs some are crap and some are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, that's a matter of the programming and the internal structure just as in hardware...

eh... don't forgett that the topic is / was a budget laptop system he asked for and not a million pounds (that's british pound sterling, for you) studio.

a.

Axel-

I'm trying to figure out the logic. How does a computer- noisy or not dictate which plugins you should be using.

The digital fishphones plugs are indeed quite good, as are the new analog suite of plugins that Sascha has developed for version 8 of Samplitude and Sequoia.

There are lots of good tools out there and there are lots of tools that can ruin your sound- both with plugins and with hardware (Alesis 3630 anybody?).

I happen to use Sequoia because it has a feature set that allows me to get my work done. I'm also very happy with the way that things sound inside it. If there was another tool that did the same thing with better results, I'd consider using it, but for now this is what I use and I'm quite happy with it.

Phil-

Where did you hear that Digi was dumping mac? There have been rumors for ages about that (ever since Avid dumped the mac for their editing stations), but so far I have not heard any word from Digi about that. At NAMM just a couple months ago, they had an equal number of macs and pcs running their demos and according to everybody there, Mac support was going to continue for a LONG time.

-Ben

go mac for recording and mixing
go pc for mastering

my $0.02

PC vs. MAC

oh...
i think we are loosing the topic of this discussion,

a computer certainly does not dictate the plugs or hardware someone should use for his work. (can't remember having said that!)

the original question asked, if i remember right, was should i switch from a PC to a MAC and what would be good to invest into setting up a homestudio around a laptop.

i do really believe out of over 10 years experience working with computer based systems, to invest money into a powerbook a decent firewire card and a firewire external fast drive like maxtor, running logic and peak, logic because it gives you a great deal of both midi, writing music, recording, editing and so on it's a versatile investment and has some really good softsynths plus peak for the final touches and some decent plugs yupp like digitalfishphones, i love them because they have sonic character on their own and doing the job, and if the budget holds a good little mixer (mackie) and some nice little 8030 genies, i believe that is a worthy investment into a very decent mobile / homestudio.

a different aproach is if you have hundred thousands to spend on upper level pro gear, powerbooks are also relativ rugged for on set purposes, that's just an experience i have and a response i got from many of my collegs. PC books tend sometimes to have problems with firewire on top, and it's certainly better than usb for audio use (no traffic jams of data when it gets really busy)

that's my opinion out of experience. and as you mentioned hard or software can really affect sonic quality / behavior massively.

cheers

and i say swop to a mac with good stuff around it, a computer on it's own is not doing it.

PC vs. MAC

eh...

the only thing i have said is that 'a' or 'the' processor itself in a computer affects the noise and sonic quality.

thereby i say go MAC or older pentiums like the p3 or centrino (a bit weak in terms of processing power) have a better sonic behavior than p4's

g4 or g5 processors handle audio tighter, that's all i tried to point out

cheers

And that's what I'm calling you on....

A processor has absolutely no effect on the sound quality. It simply is crunching numbers. Plugins, software, etc.. will affect your sound, but the chip that is processing your numbers does nothing.

Find software and an interface that does what you need and then worry about platform from there.

--Ben

Phil Blackbourn wrote: actualy the very top studios in the industry use pc's. and even more will now that digidesign have dumped mac

That's a funny joke.

In the realty, 80% of the professional music production happens to be on Apple computers.

There is this idiotic stigma with wintel machines (ie PCs) that they are not capable of doing recording, editing, mastering of audio as well as a mac. This is simply false. Period. Both platforms (I've said this before on the proaudio laptop thread) perform just fine in this field and both have their strengths and weaknesses.

The reason that macs are used more in studios is because of the long track record in audio applications. But windows machines are being used more in studios now than they ever were before and for good reason. Either platform is a viable option.

Some differences might be heard between audio engines but that also happens on both platforms. Alot of mastering engineers with great ears use samplitude, sequoia or wavelab on PC even though they are familiar with the macintosh equivalent. They wouldnt do this if the PC were somehow diminishing the sound as compared to a mac.

It comes down to choosing which platform you feel most comfortable using.

a classic debate

Ahhhh....the classic mac v. pc debate. Well, here is my experience with the two:

I currently use a PC based platform with Nuendo, Samplitude, Soundforge, and waves plug in bundles. Mac makes a great machine and they really have come into their own with the G5. A powerful, 64 bit dual processor machine. However, the thiing to keep in mind is that most of the audio software and plugins available are still coded for 32 bit, hence they cannot take full advantage of a 64 bit architecture. The only real advantage the g5 has is that it is optimized for dual processor. If you take a wiintel architecture with, say, a dual Xeon configuration, you are on an equal playing field with the MAC. What about Athlon 64's you say? Great machines for gaming, but the VIA chipset does not play well with a lot of the external interfaces (motu being one of them). Not to mention, we're back to the 64 bit vs 32 bit issue again.

So, for any small or project studio, I would recommend a PC based platform. It is far more cost effectiive and can be just as powerful as any MAC g5, if properly configured.

Unless your daw is logic or Digital Performer- then you need a mac-

pick the software and the computer will follow.

Re: pc or mac

axel wrote:

specially p4's are extremely NOISY bastards, you have to use stuff like digitalfishphones normalizer to get reasonable results.

AXEL,

What has 'digitalfishphones normalizer' got to do with noisy P4s??

It looks like you are talking about things which you don't understand!

The 'normalizer' plugin was designed to address the problems which occur when a CPU goes into 'denormal' mode. (when the CPU 'shifts gear' or precision, in order to pocesses very small numbers near zero) .

Nothing at all to do with noise!

Friendly advice: check your facts before posting.

Regards,

Terry

PC vs. MAC

the normalizer reduces p4 niose when he is as you pointed it out only busy with low numbers.

however a processor is not only crunching numbers it's a vital part of hardware and affects as any other hardware sonic behavior just like a good or bad fader, etc. or a good or bad cable injects noise or not (or at leasdt less of it).

that's my point after lot's of time spend on a-b test's (by the way lot's of that i did not believed before my ears told me differntly, i thought bollocks this is not going to make any difference, but i have heard it myself it does!!)

apart from that this whole disscussion is so funny, we really drifting apart from the original question asked here, hm.. a g5 yeah yummy but he wants to set up a system around a laptop (if you go back to the original question on top of this discussion) there are no g5 lpas yet.

so my point still is, if i can feel free os making a suggestion, go mac powerbook and decent firewire for a solid portable homestudio!!

a.

:)

PC vs. MAC

hi phil,

do you really think so??

do you agree that it makes a difference in other vital parts of the studio, that there are however differences in sonic behavior and noise.

say: mixers, cables, monitors, mics, etc. ??? so why do you have doubt, then ??

or my brain / ear relation really functions differently!

a.

:roll:

Axel-

There is a huge difference between Mixers, Monitors, etc... than there is between processors. An Athalon won't sound different than a Pentium- denormalizing or not. With the same software a Mac shouldn't sound different than a PC (unless there is something drastically wrong with your software). Obviously different programs will sound different regardless of the platform they run on.

There are so many places where gear makes a massive difference in your sound... The computer processor ain't one of them.

--Ben

FifthCircle wrote: There are so many places where gear makes a massive difference in your sound... The computer processor ain't one of them.
--Ben

Hmm. Actually there were a few faulty processors released on the market. They simple gave wrong results in some floating point calculations. They were extremely rare as I remember it.

The P4 problem is a completely different. Some floating point units took very much longer to do some calculations. This eats performance, but does not change the sound. The normalizer is a workaround that, in theory at least, might change the sound, but saves the performance.

But let us forget that part. Given a decent modern laptop none of the problems will occur.

So you have to select between a PC and a MAC. As for MAC-s there are really very few to select from. Easy choice there.

As for PC-s there are literally hundreds of models available at the same time. Some are super cheap, some very expensive. Some have fans that sounds like the vacuum cleaner, some are rather silent. Some are fast, some are slow. Some are compatible with sound-cards, some are not. So clearly if you want to go the PC way, you could use some friendly help. So the choice is a bit more difficult there. But a lot of people run their DAW-s on PC laptops and are satisified, I´m one of those.

So if you want to be lazy, go with Mac. Only a few to chose from is as good an argument as many others.

I would instead recommend that you start in the sound-card / software side of things. Some ideas here:
-- I find the most interesting sound card lately to be the Motu Traveler. 4 pres, transportable, and can be supported with power over the firewire so you only need the laptop wallwart. But, and here is the but, NO laptop PC you can buy today can supply this firewire power. So, hate to say it, but in that case it is Mac.
-- some software is available on several platforms. Some are not. And if you ask me, the really good software is only single platform. Either Mac or PC. So look for the software and then select the platform afterwards. That is, if you know enough to make an informed selection. In the meantime, just perhaps, test a few different sharewares or low-price stuff to understand what you really want. You can find them on both sides. On the PC maybe Tracktion, Audacity, n-Track might be ideas. Maybe one of lower-priced Cubasis. On the Mac, I´m a bit off, but don´t ever forget Garageband as a starter.

Difficult? Yes.
Forums fiull of conflicting info? Yes.
-- even downright wrong info? Yes.

Have fun. Just do it.

Gunnar

Re: PC vs. MAC

axel wrote:
the normalizer reduces p4 niose when he is as you pointed it out only busy with low numbers.

a.

AXEL,

You are hilarious!

You just don't seem to understand anything at all, and you are just making yourself look stupid.

Regards,

Terry

Let's keep the personal attacks to a zero. Please don't make me edit any posts. I don't like to edit posts, I'm tired and I have to many things to do including walking my dog to have to worry about editing posts.

ha ha ha...

apart from that gunnar, posted as ghellquist (hope i spelled it right!)
has taken up the actual topic of the original question, which some people like to drift to far away from.
thanks gunnar!

a.

that's to my understanding.

ok,
that's the last one
gunnar was the only posted answer within the at least last 20 which actually answered luckyval's question. (if you want to go back to the top of this conversation)

i originally answered as well, or better say: gave my opinion to luckyval's question: homestudio PC-MAC? Samplitude - Pro Tools? based around a laptop!!!

i felt pushed into explaining why, which i think is not really necessary, as it is a matter as i realized of the ability to hear!

to me EVERYTHING including the things involved behind ANY sience, are making a matter of the sound (not the musical performance or ability to actually make good music)

i just simply trust my ears (which are giving me bread and butter since over ten years) when i compare gear. if this is stupid to some of us, than i am afraid i feel sorry.

to manifest: my personal opinion: go mac / firewire soundcard plus whatever you think you need or can afford, for a laptop based home setup.

sincerely yours
a.