i ve been giving some intro lessons for complete beginners in ableton and so far everyone has been using macs

can anyone tell me what main differences i should expect when teaching people using pc's ?

thanks

You can't plug MIDI devices in after Live's started on Windows.

Also, you'll probably be using ASIO instead of Core Audio. Not a big change, same conceptual idea.

Some versions of Windows (Vista for sure, maybe 7) allow certain things such as graphics to outprioritize audio. Doesn't affect use of Live beyond adding more time spent troubleshooting latency and dropouts.

yeah the ASIO thing is number one - and I have found it to be much more of a PITA on some of the newer PCs that have made some kind of half arsed attempt at "pro audio" - HP was a big offender there.

when it's all running fine then it's no different really apart from keyboard shorcuts etc. but it can be an absolute nightmare getting them to run fine in the first place

but it's luck of the draw really... better to start asking once you get a specific problem

one thing's for certain though, if they are looking to buy or upgrade and aren't sure, I always recommend a Mac.

thanks guys

And of course your sentences will be longer: "... hit Command-D, PC users it's Control-D..."

Actually thats the main one - command instead of control.

Other stuff:

Don't worry if it crashes - this is normal on a PC.
If running Live on a PC laptop do not ever use the OEM install of windows, format it and disable ALL of its built in hardware devices (yep - onboard chipset too ooops!)
MIDI port names are confusing "USB Audio", "USB Audio 2" etc
Don't ever unplug anything - and if you do - make sure you remember which port it was in - and quit (if it hasn't already crashed) and start Live.
Read an inwardly digest all windows audio tweak guides ever public - then fuckup your machine beyond following them - format and then just switch to prioritise for background services.
Get jealous of mac users with virtual midi ports, midi port routings, etc -0 useful if you want to sync live with another application like Traktor etc.
Get even more jealous of mac users as they only have one audio driver stand to work with, so everything just works with it.
Also get jealous of Mac users because VST (yep from PC) are better organised than on a PC so they don't loose half of them because they installed somewhere random when you don't have Cubase installed.

Im sure Ill think of some other things after dinner...

haha - classic khazul

hear from you after dinner

One thing PCs do have in their favour - proper f***ing keyboards so you don't end up with more typos than there are words in your forums posts!

A little exageration here! Actually Live 8 is more stable on a PC...

EVeryone knows Windows is only for making spreadsheets.
It sucks at EVERYTHING else!

You can do this on a Mac? I'm impressed. one of the most annoying things in Live.

You can even switch on your audio interface while in the preferences dialog - just reopen the device menu band its there.

Ive lost count of the number of times where live has died horribly when Ive accidently unplugged the wrong thing on a PC (whether live issue or driver issues result is the same). On OSX - just works...

another reason to get a mac.

wish i wasn't a broke student

YES MAcs are amazing! I switched about 4 years ago and I would NEVER go back to the dark-side!
I could easily build a sick pc for the fraction of the price but IMHO, Macs are totally worth the extra $$$$$

I am getting ready to buy a new one though right now. I have a late 08 Macbook. Theres absolutely zero problems w/ it at all but those new I7's are looking pretty awesome!

In conclusion.

Go Apple!

Win7 works better. Get it if you haven't invested.
http://www.dawbench.com/win7-v-osx-3.htm