What is your preferred OS you use for Music Creation? ( Poll)

Started by Elantric, October 28, 2014, 01:14:59 PM

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Elantric

What is your preferred OS you use for Music Creation?

If your choice is "Other" - please post a reply with Details!

Bill Ruppert

I love my iPad air but the itunes based system is ridiculous.
Plus the Apple thing is good and great for people that want a way to have a computer with out getting their hands dirty or to involved with the system and programming.
Its easy and harder to screw up AND less virus prone.
I still use Windows 7 as it does all I need right now AND does things I could not do with ease on a Apple Mac system.
There are MANY things i could not do a Mac with out a shell emulator.
Again for a non tech friend or my Mom I would say get a Mac.

I have had high power Mac systems but in the end its the PC that does all I need for music and work.
I am also a staunch believer in the IBM/now Lenovo Think Center systems that have been near bullet proof for many years.
They are basically non consumer brick sh** houses that are designed to keep businesses up at all costs.

Kevin M

A Mac non-tech???  It's Unix at its core, so it's geek-heaven!  Need a terminal?  Run bash in a terminal and go to town!

supernicd

I chose "Other" because I use more than one and I'm not sure one stands out to me as "preferred."  My main studio rig is a Windows 8 machine.  I chose that because I could get the most hardware for my buck that way.  Because I've used Windows forever, I have more software and know the most about it (keyboard shortcuts, etc.)  I also know how to configure it so I'm not so worried about the freshman music software blues you can encounter with Windows.

OSX is also a fine choice.  One manufacturer that selects high quality components = stability and quality.  it comes at a premium price.  A MBP is my secondary/backup studio rig.

iOS is also useful, especially for mobility.  It's not there yet in terms of offering all the capabilities of a desktop system.  It is missing some software, and the lack of a centralized file system can be frustrating.  But it's "there enough" to be very useful for a lot of things.  I would say it actually gets used the most due to the sheer convenience factor.  But I go to the desktop systems when I need certain capabilities.
Strat w/ GK-3, Godin LGXT
VG-99, GR-55, GP-10
---------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Ruppert


Yes for a non tech friend I would pick Mac.
I never said it was not tech... Its the OS that is very easy for people who are low tech.
I have had many friends who were not tech savoy, sitting in front of a PC blue screen and on the phone with Best Buy to get the Geek Squad out to save the day!

Quote from: Kevin M on October 28, 2014, 09:31:47 PM
A Mac non-tech???  It's Unix at its core, so it's geek-heaven!  Need a terminal?  Run bash in a terminal and go to town!

jburns

i had an hp laptop that was good for its time and a custom pc gaming tower along with an older dell brick. when i got the vg99 i thought it was roland's fault it played so bad since it lagged more then my midi man, korg x50 and roland 201 keyboards. (they all had latency for live performance too on either machine). my friends all had MacBooks and i wouldn't admit bc of pride but i was secretly jealous. no matter what i loaded up there was never any lag. so i got  mac. and all my keyboards and my vg999 perform perfectly. i don't feel like I'm on usb, i feel like I'm on hardware. windows will always be in my heart. there are infinite more numbers of software and potential for editing. but whats the point if its not usable for me? I'm fortunate that i get what i need out of the software I'm using and therefore don't need windows. i think windows are better computers overall but when it comes to a daw its I-M-A-C MAC MAC MAC!

try getting this to run stream start to finish on windows. i dare you!


GovernorSilver

I voted Other because it's not a multiple choice poll.  I use IOS the most, but still utilize a Mac OS app (Ableton) on occasion.  I also use Korg apps on my Nintendo 3DS, which is yet another OS.

aliensporebomb

Mac OS 90% IOS 10% - I did build a PC specifically for PC only audio apps but haven't had to use it much.

Mac system is a bit overbuilt.  24 gigs of ram with 11 TB of disc.  If there's something I can't do on this machine it's not the fault of the OS or the music apps, it's me!

This year I've only done about 115 projects - I spent part of the time this year prepping a vocal booth for the wife because she's getting more and more calls for voiceover work so her computer is set up for audio now too.  She's actually gotten pretty good at editing audio too.

Back in the day I used Instant Music on the Amiga as sequencer.  That was fun!
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

GuitarBuilder

I've tried Windows-based systems over the years, but always ended up back with Macs.  OS X is the winner for me.
"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

autodidactic

I use a variety of systems for different tasks.

Linux for tinkering
FreeBSD for web development (and soon for storage too)
Windows for games
MacOSX for anything creative (Logic, Ableton/Max4L, Pd, Adobe apps).

For music specifically, OSX is hard to beat. It has all this music goodness baked in from the beginning not just tacked on like an afterthought. Low latency audio, network audio/midi. If you use Logic you can even distribute your audio processing across a cluster of machines. I could probably cobble together a workflow on any of the other platforms, but OSX just makes things easier. For building custom hardware gadgets I use Linux.

I personally find Windows to be less than optimal all around. I say this because there is a distinct advantage to starting with OSX in that it is Unix. For noobs OSX gets out of the way, but as you get to know the stuff under the hood, you can branch out and use Linux, FreeBSD, Illumos or anything else Unix based. 99% of your Unix skills transfer. You will eventually find that anything you need that doesn't already have a solution, you can make yourself. You'll have the knowledge and the tools all available to you. This can be a benefit in all aspects of life.
1965 Gibson J45
1979 Gibson ES347
90's Epiphone Joe Pass
80's Yamaha Classical
Bouzouki by Dekavalas

mapperboy

Have to disagree with SuperNiCD about MAC quality.  As someone who works for an ethical electronics recycler (ethical means we ship out the cannibalized motherboards cellphones and components to clean tech North American metal recovery companies not the Indonesian beaches) we take apart thousands of broken and EOL MACs.

The component failure rate on many Apple models is extremely high and many parts and subsystems are Apple exclusive and proprietary so there's no shopping around for quality replacements is a non starter.  At least with a PC you can build/source to what ever quality you want and then throw on Ubuntu (our favorite Linux distro).  Of course for a lot of popular DAWs and other audio goodies there are no Linux versions, but its getting better all the time with open source audio software.

Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.
"No such thing as spare time.
No such thing as free time.
No such thing as down time.
All you got is life time. Go!"
- Henry Rollins

GraemeJ

To be honest, rarely use a computer these days for recording.  I much prefer to use a dedicated machine (currently, I'm running a Korg D3200) as I find these are much less prone to producing a problem at the most critical moment.  Most of my work is live location, no chance for a re-take, so reliability has to come top of the list.

I do still use a computer for final assembly of tracks (order, levels, etc.) and that is a Win7 machine, running Adobe Audition - which is all I need-

alexmcginness

Finally switched from XP to W7 SP1 last Nov. It works great. Also I bit the bullet and bought 2 HP Z Series workstations, a dual quad with 24 gigs of ram for the main DAW and a dual hex core with 48 gigs of ram as a video editor/FX Teleport server when doing music machine. Its nice not running out of horsepower when recording and the glitch free low latency you can get.
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

dafrimpster

I am an IT guy with intimate knowledge of PC's both hardware and software. However, when I want to make music I fire up my Macbook Pro. Mainstage alone is worth having the Mac. When I am at a gig I don't need to geek out. I want to turn on my computer and use my software for creative purposes with no hassles. The Mac has delivered time and time again. I love PC's for just about everything else though.

kenact

For several years I was using Vista Pro x64, because that was the latest that was available for my Dell Latitude D630's. I just recently found out how to get the same laptop up Win7 Pro x64, and now I'm on Win10 Pro x64.

I too am an IT professional, who has worked on numerous OS's since the early 1970's. I've always been of the opinion that any operating system can do what you need it to do, as long as you know how to use it.

More often than not, I find that people tend to gravitate to whatever OS they're most familiar/comfortable with.

I've been doing some form of pc based music creation since the late 1980's, starting with a Wang PC (running a flavor of DOS), an Olivetti Line1 pc, and numerous others.

In the mid 1990's I started using an inexpensive program called Digital Orchestrator Pro, which was Windows based. I still have, and occasionally still use it, although I was never able to load it on Vista x64, but mostly I'm using Cubase, which is capable of running on Windows or Mac.

I also played around with a Linux distribution that was geared strictly for music production, but I was spending more time patching the OS for this device or that, than I was making music.
Godin Session & Montreal FTP, LGXT, LGX SA, Redline, ACS, A12, A11, A10, A4
Danoblaster Baritone w/GK-3
Gretsch Nashville, Viking
Fender Strats
Fret King Supermatic
Larrivee DV03RE
Parker Midi Fly
Seagull, S&P 12
VOX Phantom XII
GR-55, 33, 30, 20, GI-20, RC-50, US-20, VG-99, VP-7
Sentient 6
Cyr 7

jem7sk

I am all new to this so I would have to say that IOS (iPad mini 3 apps) are what I am using.  Elantric, you forgot to mention what your favorite is?

Elantric

My day gig work in engineering requires Windows

But for music the Mac with core audio,multi-client Core Audio , built in OSX MIDI Manager - I find OSX Mountain Lion is light years ahead of windows

But both OS's latest versions are getting so bad with their recent security restrictions , I'm looking hard at Linux

http://linuxmusicians.com

kneagle

I'm still running Hybrid Arts SMPTE Track on my ATARI 1040ST. . .

Just kidding! I run Logic Pro on a Mac Pro (OS 10.6.8) desktop with mostly Spectrasonics Plug-ins. No problemos.

But I gotta tell ya - for MIDI stuff synced to tape - that ol' ATARI/Hybrid Arts setup was great!!

Elantric

QuoteHybrid Arts SMPTE Track on Atari

In in 1984 I  actually purchased an Atari 800XL just so I could run Hybrid Arts SMPTE Track +MlDlMate MIDI Interface to run my pair of yamaha TX7's, Juno-106, and a JL Cooper MIDI to CV/Gate to run my Sequential Pro One.

kneagle

QuoteIn in 1984 I  actually purchased an Atari 800XL just so I could run Hybrid Arts SMPTE Track +MlDlMate MIDI Interface to run my pair of yamaha TX7's, Juno-106, and a JL Cooper MIDI to CV/Gate to run my Sequential Pro One.

State of the art, my man!!

Elantric

QuoteState of the art, my man!!

Ive been state of the art all my life - just wish i had more success, and less distractions ;)

One this is for sure  -I can tell you precisely what Doesn't Work, as Ive spent a lot of time in personal failure mode at every turn.

autodidactic

Quote from: Elantric on August 30, 2015, 09:30:50 AM
...But both OS's latest versions are getting so bad with their recent security restrictions , I'm looking hard at Linux

http://linuxmusicians.com

What software are you considering? If I was going to make the jump to Linux, I'd be looking at Bitwig personally.
1965 Gibson J45
1979 Gibson ES347
90's Epiphone Joe Pass
80's Yamaha Classical
Bouzouki by Dekavalas

slooky


alexmcginness

#23
well I have to modify this post. Finally got something useful out of my Macbook pro. It certainly took a while. Im still a windows 7 guy but the one thing I bought the Macbook for I finally got to run and that is the VG-99 driver so I can use the 99 as a guitar to midi interface. After noodling with it it does indeed surpass the windows driver for doing the guitar to midi thing. Its far less glitchy than my Axon ax 100 MKII. I can even use it as a stand alone unit sending midi out of the Scarlet 2i4 into my windows machine running Cubase 8. Finally im sold on something Apple! Will I use it exclusive for music? Heck no. Ive got a HP Z series dual quad xeon for audio and a Z800 12 core for video editing. I got the Macbook for $645US which is not much more than I paid for the Axon. Im a happy camper. Anything else the Mac will do is a bonus IMO.
  So my preferred OS is windows 7 and for guitar to midi OSX 9.5. Best of both worlds.
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

Tronical Bens

I love my apple laptop.
4 x i7 16gig Ram and SSD gives me all the native power I need for recording.
I do not use big DSP etc. anymore.

Also I stayed on OSX Yosemite because I still work with PT11. Everything runs smoothly.
Everything runs perfectly. Even Waves Bundle doesn't cause any problems - not even with 70 channels or more.

I had this one time life changing experience where I had my macbook crash. The OSX was not repsonding anymore and the screen froze during a live-recording, but PT was still running and it recorded all tracks and channels until the end of the show when I had to switch off the macbook by holding the on-button. I was very surprised that everything was recorded perfectly in good quality and entirely.

I would never go pack to a windows based system or a hackintosh...

I am using an RME UC USB... the preamps are not very dynamic but clean.
You Rock - We Tune