Poll - for those performing live, Mac or PC?

puthupa · Post by **puthupa** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:31 pm

Minima,

Could you describe your setup?

Thanks,

puthupa

minima · Post by **minima** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 10:05 pm

puthupa wrote:Minima,

Could you describe your setup?

Thanks,

puthupa

I usually use the following set up:
- g3 400 running Live w/ motu 828 and motu midi express
- Alesis mixer
- 2 fx units from Lexicon
- Quasimidi 309 drum machine
- Quasimidi Polymorph synth sequencer
- Pocket dial
- keyboard controller

that´s it... I play a hybrid set, consisting of my own stuff mixed, remixed, reconstructed with tracks from others...

there are a couple of samples from a party at the site:
planeta.terra.com.br/arte/minimalive

more tracks to come.
minima
sao paulo - brazil

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 4:15 am

i've always used Macs and i've always been happy with them. here's my setup for live performance:

PowerBookG4 550
Behringer Eurorack 802A(small mixer)
Ableton Live, ofcourse ; )
Propellerhead Reason(2.0)
Midiman Keystation USB keyboard
NI Absynth running stand-alone
emagic emi 2|6 USB interface
fretless bass guitar
2 mics(usually hidden in the bar somewhere)
portable CD player
FireWire CD Burner(i burn and sell copies of my set right there at the show)

this setup has worked flawlessly for me so far. i'm trying to gig with OSX for the stability. i do jazz-type drum n' whatever.

FORMAT · Post by **FORMAT** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 8:37 am

tjwett,

your setup sounds great... how many tracks in live do you get before the machine craps out? I'll have to consider switching to mac after the apple/emagic news....

the style of music you're into also sounds very similar to may own stuff... mind exchanging some music?

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 8:17 pm

FORMAT,
yeah, the setup works good as far as stability. sadly, i don't get a whole lot of tracks in Live, due mainly to the slow HD of a laptop, and mine is the slowest PowerBook they made due to the low cache. with a FireWireHD i'd probably get more. on average i can get about 10-12 tracks effects. and i'd love to exchange some tunes soon. i recently took my personal music site down for a makeover but it'll be up again soon. i'll drop a line when it's ready. being a Logic user i'm excited about the apple/emagic news, sort of. i think it could go either way. time will tell...

Stiffy · Post by **Stiffy** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 9:24 pm

Mac was the originator and is still the best- why would you use anything else?

Mikra · Post by **Mikra** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 7:00 am

because even though " Mac was the originator and is still the best- why would you use anything else?" the pc laptops are kicking their ass.

FORMAT · Post by **FORMAT** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 7:17 am

tjwett,

(OT though): I am very suspicious about the whole Emagic deal. Just having crossgraded from Cubase 3 months ago, I feel.. well you can imagine. And when you think what happened to other "swallowed" music software makers (opcode).... I see Logic coming out as iLogic shipped with every mac, and the OSX (I read somewhere it will be called "Titanium") version of LOgic becoming way more expensive. I did some testing at a store here with Live on both a Sony Vaio and a Powerbook and, as much as I would like a G4 TiBook for its portability and design, the Sony just kicked (with 30+ tracks and Reverb - First Class! - on every single one of them, just for testing of course) some serious a**

I would love to switch though....

Oh yes: Cubase will be able to import Logic songs AND Halion will convert EXS files...those guys sure are clever...

MIDI Terrorist2 · Post by **MIDI Terrorist2** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 9:18 am

Atari!!

Mikra · Post by **Mikra** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 10:02 am

specificaly did you test any of the ones that are under 4 and under 3 pounds?

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 3:47 pm

FORMAT wrote:tjwett,

(OT though): I am very suspicious about the whole Emagic deal. Just having crossgraded from Cubase 3 months ago, I feel.. well you can imagine. And when you think what happened to other "swallowed" music software makers (opcode).... I see Logic coming out as iLogic shipped with every mac, and the OSX (I read somewhere it will be called "Titanium") version of LOgic becoming way more expensive. I did some testing at a store here with Live on both a Sony Vaio and a Powerbook and, as much as I would like a G4 TiBook for its portability and design, the Sony just kicked (with 30+ tracks and Reverb - First Class! - on every single one of them, just for testing of course) some serious a**

I would love to switch though....

Oh yes: Cubase will be able to import Logic songs AND Halion will convert EXS files...those guys sure are clever...

yeah, that's my concern also. i could see Apple dumbing it down to an iWhatever or like you said giving it an Apple-style price increase. maybe they will talk about their plans for Logic at MWNY. if they ruin Logic i'd probably switch to Digital Performer because of the good Mac support. truthfully, i wish i was a PC user and didn't even know about Macs. i could get fast machines for less money and enjoy games and all that. but i've tried and i simply can't use Windows at all. i need Logic Audio to make a living. let's hope Apple doesn't fuck it up.

jdg · Post by **jdg** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 4:03 pm

being a PC and a Mac guy i have the best of both worlds. i have a nice fast studio box that is a PC. The thing is fast, i have yet to run out of processor, i can run many VSTi and FX.. no prob.

but... if i have a problem with configuring and audio software or wierd glitches, its on my PC, not my mac. its not like i'm clueless, i'm a sys admin for my day job... its just the PC is a bit spotty. my iBook just works. everytime, no matter what i decide to do, it works the first time. (granted OMS is pain to setup). But my iBook is slow but trustworthly. My PC is fast and a little on edge.
also, having both plateforms, i can run the software that is Mac or PC specific. best of both worlds!

joshcarter · Post by **joshcarter** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 7:20 pm

As for reliability questions: MacOS X is the first OS I really *trust*. I've used Macs, PCs, SGIs, etc. over the years (though not for music) and MacOS X is by far the most stable and consistent OS I've used. I run Live 1.5 with no problems. Right now I'm performing with Reason only (still working in Live), but on my own time I'm using both together. Machine is a TiBook 550, which is definitely not a speed demon for audio (unlike the current models out), but even still it runs *great*.

As for FORMAT's observation that the TiBook was a disaster, well, what do you expect when running the OS 9 version of Live under OS X? It doesn't work -- the two OS's have totally different audio frameworks. And that's a good thing: CoreAudio and CoreMIDI under OS X rocks. Next month with 10.2 it'll rock even more.

Best regards,
Josh

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 7:32 pm

joshcarter wrote:As for reliability questions: MacOS X is the first OS I really *trust*. I've used Macs, PCs, SGIs, etc. over the years (though not for music) and MacOS X is by far the most stable and consistent OS I've used. I run Live 1.5 with no problems. Right now I'm performing with Reason only (still working in Live), but on my own time I'm using both together. Machine is a TiBook 550, which is definitely not a speed demon for audio (unlike the current models out), but even still it runs *great*.

As for FORMAT's observation that the TiBook was a disaster, well, what do you expect when running the OS 9 version of Live under OS X? It doesn't work -- the two OS's have totally different audio frameworks. And that's a good thing: CoreAudio and CoreMIDI under OS X rocks. Next month with 10.2 it'll rock even more.

Best regards,
Josh

hey i've got a 550 also and i must agree the power leaves much to be desired. but i'd rather run 10 tracks with confidence than 24 with worry of a crash. OSX is indeed superb and 10.2 will surely kick ass. after years of dealing with OMS and ASIO Core is so refreshing. i couldn't believe it the first time i plugged my keyboard into the USB port and it just WORKED! without a single hitch. ever get nervous lugging your TiBook around in bars? i always ask to play in a DJ booth if it's possible. i went out and bought an alluminum z-case for it and i feel much better now. it's well protected and way stylin. what audio interface are you using with the Ti?

joshcarter · Post by **joshcarter** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 8:31 pm

I have the Brenthaven TiBook case ($150 at Apple store) and it's great. Very good protection, even though it's a soft case. As for audio interface, you'll laugh at this, but I'm using the headphone jack. It actually works fine for what I'm doing at the moment (playing electronic drums in a band, using Reason).

It is kind of a bummer that the rev2 TiBooks (550/667) had such slow cache, but even so my load meter in Reason stays at practically nothing. Drums don't really tax the system much -- it's just acting as a fancy sample player. But in all my experiments using Live, and Reason and Live together, I've never had any drop-outs or other performance issues.

Best regards,
Josh

Poll - for those performing live, Mac or PC?

Are you using a Mac or PC when performing live?

live setup

Mac...

FORMAT

Mac, of course!

Atari!!!

Format which Sony models did you test?