Live Performance Help

[hughfrancis89]

Hey guys,

ive been writing some electro in ableton 8 suite on my PC, and I want to start playing it live.

I figure im going to need a laptop. Im a PC user, but i know that mac's are more reliable. everyone who i know with mac says they cant remember the last time it crashed. My PC freezes alot, and I really want that reliability.

The problem is I use alot of VST's, that I want to use live. I don't quite know how easily they will port across to Mac. Will it be a matter of just copying my VST folder across to my new Mac? Or will half of them not work in the Mac OS?

If someone could explain how this works it would be greatly appreciated! Im a complete Mac noob!

Also if someone wants to have a go at convincing me that a PC laptop would be just as good, please do! I would much rather pay half the price for a laptop that wont have any compatibilty issues. The Laptop I have will be completely dedicated to music, I'm not even going to connect it to the internet. The only program on it will be ableton, and heap of VST's and Audio files.

Thanks Guys!!
Hugh

[8O]

The problem is I use alot of VST's, that I want to use live. I don't quite know how easily they will port across to Mac. Will it be a matter of just copying my VST folder across to my new Mac? Or will half of them not work in the Mac OS?

Many PC VSTs don't have a Mac version. I would check beforehand and see where you need to install a Mac version (I'm guessing that like Live, as you've purchased the PC version that entitles you to a Mac version too, but also worth checking).

For the general question about Mac or PC, check out the General and Lounge forums for endless arguments and personal insults ...

[hughfrancis89]

Thanks very much for your reply!

The mac version of a VST is usually called an AU isn't it? Do any VST's work on ableton mac at all? Or do you have to find AU versions of ALL of them? (I use alot of freeware VST's (like Delamancha and Tweakbench plug ins) and I can't tell if th

Is there a converter?

A main VSTi for me is unknown64 Pro. Does anyone know if there is a mac version of it? If not, is there a good 8bit/c64 emulator kicking around in Mac form?

[hughfrancis89]

sorry i trailed off there. I meant to say: I can't tell if there is a mac version.

[8O]

On a Mac the plug-ins can be either VST or AU. They run different code to the PC VSTs, so you can't run any PC VST on a Mac, you'd have to find the Mac VST or Mac AU for that plug-in. There's no converter afaik.

[hughfrancis89]

Thanks again, I think I'm starting to understand.

Does anyone know of a great c64 emulator, or 8bit emulator for Mac?

Or does anyone know if there is a Mac VSTi version of Unknown64 Pro?

[hughfrancis89]

alright ive been doing some research and I'm confused again.

Can someone please explain to me what a powerPC is? And what universal binary is? And what an Intel Mac is?

I know heaps about PC, but nothing about mac.

Thanks guys!

[8O]

alright ive been doing some research and I'm confused again.

Can someone please explain to me what a powerPC is? And what universal binary is? And what an Intel Mac is?

I know heaps about PC, but nothing about mac.

Thanks guys!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_G4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel#Part ... with_Apple

Up till around 2006, Apple used PowerPC processors. Then they switched to using Intel. That means if you buy a new Apple today, it will contain an Intel processor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_binary - a file that runs natively on either PowerPC or x86 (Intel)-based Macintosh computers

[hughfrancis89]

is it true there are programs (vst's or AU's) that can run on one sort of mac and not the other?

im beginning to think the reliability of a mac is not worth the giant price tag or compatibility issues.

[Pitch Black]

is it true there are programs (vst's or AU's) that can run on one sort of mac and not the other?

As you may have gathered, there are two different types of processor in Macs: PowerPC (PPC) and Intel.
PPC is the old G3/G4/G5 series, that ceased production about 4-5 years ago.
All Macs since the last 4-5 years use Intel processors.

Anything complied as a Universal Binary (applications / VST's / AU's etc) will run on ALL Macs.

Anything complied as a PPC [PowerPC] (applications / VST's / AU's etc) run only on PPC Macs, but may also run on older Intel Macs that have a program called Rosetta installed. Rosetta was a transitional software used during the transition to Intel processors and was not very good for audio - some PPC audio apps simply failed to work under Rosetta.

SO... If you buy a Mac made in the last 2-3 years, you would need to use apps and plugins coded as Universal Binary or Intel - which almost everything now is. It is really only the obscure 3rd-party "little" plugs/apps that didn't get updated.

Hope this clears some of this stuff up! we'd love you to join us in the Reality Distortion Field...

[hughfrancis89]

Thanks very much guys, you've all been so helpful!

OK. Last night I was talking to a friend about macs, and he said he uses them at university.

He said there is a program you can get called "virtual PC" (or something to that effect) that means you can have Windows running "windowed" in the mac interface. He said you can easily drag and drop files from the windows desktop to the mac desktop.

If this is true, would that mean I can have all my obscure Vst's running in windows, and when I'm happy with them, bounce down an audio file and drag them across to my main project in Mac? If so, this would have me sold on Mac. I just don't want to loose my beloved VST's and spend months trying to find similar mac versions.

[Pitch Black]

Basically... helldafukyeah People with dual-boot machines do it all the time. I'm only in OSX, so I'm not up with the pro and cons of the various dual-boot options - Bootcamp / Parallels etc ... some you run both OS's at once, some separately...

Any of you Windows/Mac turncoats care to spill the beans?

[hughfrancis89]

sorry mac users. ive decided to stick with PC.

Can anyone recommend me a good PC laptop for music production? Im looking for a decent sized screen, huge processor and ram, but i dont know much about the laptops on the market at the moment.

[lars vom mars]

hey..

if you keep the work on pc-platform..

i can recommend you the thinkpad/lenovo line
for laptops...
the thinkpads used to be build by IBM ,
a stable workhorse some years ago..
(mine is now in its 5 th year..never had any problems)

now they re build by lenovo which can be a bit tricky
as there are tons of new modells, which aren t
all good for makin music....

greetz
lars