Future Live 4 Mac users who want more beef/cpu just buy a PC

claudek · Post by **claudek** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 9:47 am

I bought a cheap PC under 700E P4/2.8Ghz and could not afford a G5 and must say live runs like a dream..One monitor for Live and the other will be for VSTi's..Steve Jobs seems to be targeting the rich these days with their 2000-3500 $$ G5's and BMW Ipod kits..
If you need more beef for Live ,just buy a PC..
trust me it all works the same, but better and smoother..
Not all of us can afford a G5 and you will need more juice for Live 4 if ya want to run those VSTi's..
Just some food for thought.

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 10:12 am

I think this makes sense for production

but for live jamming type use I find I don't need much cpu as i would not trust many vstis + host + live - I would probably think about maybe using one machine with something like RAX to just run VSTis etc and doing the loop stuff in Live 4 using midi out - I would feel alot more comfortable doing this on stage than I would using everything on one PC even with alot of 'beef'

I am probably going to use my PC as a kind of Uber monster synth rack and sequence Live on the mac - I still trust the stability of mac more

I just don't trust the mix of apps like that - but then maybe that's because I've had to use things like FLstudio etc, even still though I'd never in a million years use anything by Native instruments on stage

with Live I find it's usually better to create audio clips and then manipulate the audio anyway

but v4 might prove me wrong!!

Alex Reynolds · Post by **Alex Reynolds** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:05 pm

Troll! Troll!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:23 pm

I agree Macintosh computers are way over priced - I have a G4 and I can't complain - running Logic 6 (soon 2 be 7) Ableton Live 3 and Reason -
I am contemplating getting a laptop set-up and seriously looking into a PC w/ a MBOX (or is it XBOX) running Live 4, Reason and PT 6 - wish me luck

I agree MAC's are over priced and I own one which has yet to let me down

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:33 pm

Anonymous wrote:I agree Macintosh computers are way over priced - I have a G4 and I can't complain - running Logic 6 (soon 2 be 7) Ableton Live 3 and Reason -
I am contemplating getting a laptop set-up and seriously looking into a PC w/ a MBOX (or is it XBOX) running Live 4, Reason and PT 6 - wish me luck

I agree MAC's are over priced and I own one which has yet to let me down

ah well, dont worry about it, pretty much every pro out there uses Mac and Logic which makes me feel slightly left out as I stopped using logic when the takeover thing happened

the ar · Post by **the ar** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:51 pm

Buy a cubepc.
Okay, it's a bit more heavy and not as comfortable as a laptop, but I find myself really well, using it at gigs with my 12'' lcd 'foldable' monitor, my two controllers and my fw audiophile.
Looks f***in' elìte, too.

Everything fits in a sidebag and a small case, and the specs are pretty impressive for about 900$ (check my sign below).
Just my two cents.
Cheers,
the ar

Mbazzy · Post by **Mbazzy** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 4:04 pm

I don't know if Macs are overpriced ... for what I want a laptop for , I even consider the Ibook 12' the best Bang for the buck ... had this thread about it : http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8548

claudek · Post by **claudek** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 4:10 pm

I own 2 Macs and 1 PC..I really think Macs are nicelooking and OSX is sweet but these days they are targeting the rich..
Seems not like 3 -4 years ago with G4's at 1399.00 and many more to choose from..now it is like an elite line of G5's or for the poor Ibooks..
Ibook will not cut the dice..for that price you can by a powerful laptop PC and run just about anything..

Mbazzy · Post by **Mbazzy** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 4:29 pm

ClaudeK, I really would like you to show me the factorynew PC Laptop that for the price of an Ibook 1 ghz 12' + an extra 512 mb ram = 768Mb Ram [Not bought from APple Store of course ] , that gives you comparable functionality for Audio .[ +/-1120 Euro/$ ], dedicated video memory, 2xUSB, 1x Firewire, S-video out, ...

Never mind the HD speed that's just good for OS and applications, we need an external FW @ 7200 rpm anyhow.

Don't think it is THAT easy ... maybe secon dhand

jeffrydada · Post by **jeffrydada** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 5:26 pm

Sure, pc's are fine. I have a pc (AMD 64 2800+. 1 gb ram) For my games. My wife has a Compaq laptop she runs her bussiness from. Also Macs have always been expensive. My PowerPC 5260 that came out in '95 retailed for $2000. My G3 Blue and White was $2250! in '99! Besides all that I run VST's and VSTi's on my new 1.25 G4 powerbook ($2500) in Cubase Sx (v 1) with out any problems. As for the BMW thing the audio feature in the car is just a 1/8 " jack that inputs to the stereo system, for any portable audio device. No mention of Apple at BMW. This is Apple marketing taking advantage of a opportunity. Like BMW, Apple is built to last, dependable, and fun to drive, er.. use! My kids and I still use the 5260 for word processing and internet/e-mail. BTW I am not rich, I am a Pastor, and work in the mental health field as a social worker.

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:34 pm

about a year ago I was mister 'macs are a rip off, PCs are better bang for buck and stable these days with XP', but now I've changed my mind.

Partly because I've been so surprised at how well my upgraded 900mHz Pismo PB performs on alot of the audio apps and vstis/AUs I use - I can use it fine to do cool things using soft synths etc with big CPU overhead and I feel more like using it than the PC (except for the 8mb graphics which is a let down, but still) my point being, without having tried them I really can't imagine being in any way disappointed with the power of a decent G4 AlBook at all going by my G3 900 which doesn't even utilize altivec.

I started out years ago doing my music on macs and was very much of the opinion that they were the only audio machine, until Pentium 2 came out and made PCs that bit more accessable - but what I'm finding out now is that while I had a gap of a few years from macs, 80% of the audio community didn't, so mac carried on being their choice for music and there are now so many cool apps, and a big network of audio heads in mac land. Just the forums and resources alone are worth it.

And then of course the big issue of OSX and it's audio on OS level and the audio technology being just better.

Sure the Gig-o-ram helps, but i've been quite surprised at what I can do with my G3, so I'm seriously considering the switch to a bigger better mac because I'm certain my needs will be quite happily satisfied by the faster AlBooks and I really couldn't give a rats arse if the PC mega-super-monster-beasties can eat 40 million pies, I don't want that many pies!

I actually think my music may have suffered because I've spent so much time fucking about with PCs and adding this and that and reinstalling windows blah blah

on the mac you just do tunes.

And you don't get viruses.

Vercengetorex · Post by **Vercengetorex** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 8:08 pm

Hear hear Forge!

Kodama · Post by **Kodama** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 8:38 pm

Arrgh, well I'm in the middle of this right now. Macs have huge quality, style and the perfect OS (X) of the future. I have no problems with the available apps, and I have loved Macs for 10 years, but Live kills me.

I just got my wife a 1.6 $1500 centrino laptop. In Live I can make 28 reverbs on the demo song master track while it's playing.

With latency on the same setting, my iBook 800 can do 4. I played with Live on a 1.3 G4 PB a while back and got almost the same performance.

Reason, on the other hand is just about 2x faster on the Centrino, which makes sense. The centrino seems to be a G3/G4 class chip with a 400mhz bus.

I still think that the Mac port of Live is whack, or at least parts of it.

10% improvement doesn't sound like much...

I'll hold my breath until Live 4...

Even if in Live 4 a 1.6 G4 is as good as a 1.6 Centrino, when do you think Apple will have a $1500 15" X-Brite 1.6ghz 400fsb G4 PowerBook for us?

I'm hoping they have something awesome for us in July, but I'm afraid they are far too stuck on profit margin and sticking certain machines in certain price points for something like that.

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 12:43 am

Kodama wrote: I just got my wife a 1.6 $1500 centrino laptop. In Live I can make 28 reverbs on the demo song master track while it's playing.

i'm sorry, not pickin on you in particular... at all... but these threads about which is better are giving me the shizizinits... really dude, when are you gonna use 28 reverbs on a track??!??

i know... just a test... rar rar... but really...

regards,
-am, musician.

(ohh yeah, as well as pc and mac user)

FaX-0-Matic · Post by **FaX-0-Matic** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 12:53 am

just got my PC daw home this morning - will be unlocking and registering here shortly

...
Just ran the demosong and on my unit I hit 2% CPU usage for the demosong.
Mind you what I bought qwas the same price as fully blown 1.5ghz 17" PB.
I just decided if that was my budget i may as well grab a unit for the $$$ with the most grunt.
That said though I'm tracking down an older Powermac OS9 compliant to run metasynth ,metatrack and Xx on.
May as well get the best of both worlds IMHO

...........