computers for music production
Computers for Music Production
Computers for Music Production
The most obvious piece of the puzzle to making music on your computer is a computer! How does one decide what they need? Is your current computer going to do the trick or will you need to invest in something more powerful. I’ll help you decide. I’ll let you know.
MAC:
I think a good way to make a point about the Mac computer would be to regale you with a little experience I have had with my very own Mac. You see, I heard the hype, I saw the commercials, and you know I read the articles. The Mac (specifically, the Mac Book Pro) is the coolest of cool and the fastest of fast. I saved up some scratch and made the purchase. A slick 15” Duo-core Mac Book Pro. The real deal. The thing was hot, sleek and sexy.I cracked open the box and loaded it up. It worked awesomely right out of the box. I didn’t need to install a billion drivers and face any blue screens to make things work. I just needed to install the latest software updates, which were all downloaded and installed automatically. This would be the beginning of a wonderful friendship.
Or would it? It took me a few days before I had enough time to start getting my audio production software ready for this beast, but one thing I noticed off the bat is that everything installs so easily and it just works. On PC, I had problems where I could not get programs to work or install properly. This is almost never an issue on the Mac.
But after installing everything, including all of the music production tools I use (most of which appeared to install properly), I realized something terrible. Almost all of my programs were incompatible with the Mac Book Pro. This was because of the new Intel processors that the Mac Book had on board. I checked around on the websites of the makers of the software I used and most of them had at least acknowledged that they needed to do an update for the Mac Book Pro.
But some of the timelines I read were bleak. One of them is quoted as
saying, “We are working on an update for our software on the new Intel Mac computers, but it will be a very long time before it is done.” A very long time!? I didn’t have a very long time; I needed to make music now! So what did I do? Well, I waited for about 3 months, to really see how long it would take for the various software updates to come live. Some of them came through, but another problem presented itself. Some companies were charging for the update! Ouch! So I had a decision to make. Do I wait and possibly pay more to make my Mac Book a dream machine? Or should I buy a new PC hoping that the price would be less than buying the software upgrades. Turns out the PC would be a bit more expensive than buying the updates, but it did solve the more important problem of having to wait.
The point of the story is this: even though the Mac is a great machine, it costs a whole lot more than a PC and it is not a necessity like many would have you believe. The PC is just as good now and a fraction of the cost. So did I waste my money? Actually, the Mac Book has still indeed served me well. Even though it is not my main music production tool, it does a great job for me running Traktor DJ studio. Of course, this one had to be updated too, and of course, I had to pay. Shame on you software companies!
Mac Summary:
Ok, so you really want to know if you should buy an Intel Mac. Let’s consider the advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
• Works perfectly out of the box
• When software works, it works well
• Easy to install new programs
• Excellent display on laptops
• Very stable system
• Cool factor
Disadvantages:
• Not easily up-gradable
• Expensive
• Lack of software updates hurt your resources (time and money)
• Some software not compatible
Final verdict:
Get a Mac if you have the money. As you will find after reading the PC section of this chapter, it really will help you production efforts if you have both a Mac and a PC. It’s a matter of being ready for everything. Another thing you can do with the Mac is run windows. So effectively, you could buy a killer Mac machine, and run both Windows and OSX. Do that, if you can afford it.
Recommended system:
A laptop or desktop with these minimum features:
• Processor: 2 GHZ core 2 duo
• Memory: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- PC -
Most Mac owners would scoff at the sheer mention of the acronym PC. But the fact of the matter is, a Windows operated Personal Computer is a much more cost-effective way to break into the sound production scene than by buying a Mac. So, as you read before, I needed to buy a PC to keep up with my production efforts. My old PC was not able to handle my tracks in their effects loaded state, so I needed an upgrade. I had hoped the Mac Book Pro would do that, but I had to get another PC instead. In hindsight, I would have saved a lot of money if I just went for the PC upgrade instead. That doesn’t mean I would not have got a Mac laptop, but it does mean that you can get a sweet machine that will let you start making music fast.
When you get a PC, you are getting extreme bang for your buck. A solid PC can be bought for under $1000 easy. I paid $950 for my latest PC, which is even a little bit faster than my Mac Book. I paid over $3000 for my Mac Book. Do the math! Are you limited on a PC? Well, in a sense you are. On a Mac, you can load both Windows and OSX, giving you the best of both operating systems. Windows actually runs perfectly on the Mac too. But you need to pay 2/3 more than you
would for a good PC.
One perk to the PC is more software compatibility. It’s almost a guarantee that software will work on a PC. If it works on PC, there is only a chance that it will have a Mac compatible version. Another perk is that you are able to upgrade a PC and conversely, you can omit certain pieces of hardware that you may not require. So, you do not need a big graphics card to make music, so if money is an issue, you do not need to buy one! Also, if you want to upgrade your PC after a couple of year, it’s entirely possible. With a Mac, you will need to buy a brand new machine most of the time (although this has gotten better in recent years).
PC Summary:
Will a PC do the trick? It most certainly will. Take a look at the advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
• Cheap!
• Up-gradable
• Compatible with almost all software and hard- ware
Disadvantages:
• No cool factor
• Does not work right out of the box (unless you pay considerably more)
• Drivers may be difficult to install properly
Final verdict:
Buy a PC if you want to break into the sound production scene on a bargain budget. Even the slowest PC on the market today will be enough to make some mean sounding music. One spec you may want to consider if you are buy a PC (or Mac, for that matter) is the Duo Core processor. Two processors can be used for different functions within many sound production software studios, so this will give you a huge boost for a very small price increase. That said, with the advancement of computing technology, it is very likely that single core processors could be obsolete and off the market when this book is published, so look forward to things getting even less expensive!
Recommended system:
A laptop or desktop with these minimum features:
• Processor: 2 GHZ core 2 duo
• Memory: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
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