thinking about switching platforms

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:42 am

T-rex wrote:I use two Delta 1010lt's which I am hoping to upgrade to a single RME Multiface and Digimax FS very soon.

I'd be willing to bet that a big part of your system's stability and longevity has to do with those 1010's. Those things are tanks. I do mixes for a hip-hop group that does their own tracking. These guys are actively trying not to learn too much about engineering. And the last time I had their machine open, it looked like they're smoking their blunts inside the chassis. And they've gotten good, solid use out of their 1010 for five years running now.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:39 pm

superaction80 wrote:smoking blunts inside the chassis

i wish this was a posting rank.

Quest Poetics · Post by **Quest Poetics** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:03 am

If you are going to download and view tons of porn get a PC

If you are going to record bands and work it.....Get a Mac

I own both and find that doing audio on a PC is a hassle

Peace brotha....

Do what you gotta do!

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:54 am

noeqplease wrote: This is enough for me not to use a PC. that and the Blue Screen of Death you get when pressing "play" on any given DAW, on any given moment.

I haven't gotten a BSOD in ten years. I have to question someone getting BSODs on a modern day XP machine...

I've messed up my home PC before by trying to fit ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag. I reinstalled a year or two ago and everything has worked fine.

At work, one of the OSX machines is _terrible_ ! It doesn't let me take a DVD out of the drive sometimes, or freezes the finder when I try to, half the shit I do results in that stupid ass spinning wheel that's been driving me nuts since 2001. applejack and other programs were of no help. OSX got reinstalled and it runs smoothly.

Bottom line, PEOPLE WHO CAN FUCK UP PCS CAN FUCK UP MACS JUST AS EASILY! Computers are the worst medium for modern music production, excluding everything else.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:20 am

Sound Campaign wrote:If you are going to download and view tons of porn get a PC

If you are going to record bands and work it.....Get a Mac

that's funny cos i know a person who runs a porn pay site and he uses all Macs for his biz.

and most of the ppl i know use PCs for their DAW and get PLENTY done.

but then they use Sonar or Cubase or Reaper instead of PT.

rwc wrote:I haven't gotten a BSOD in ten years. I have to question someone getting BSODs on a modern day XP machine...

yah, i was wondering about that myself.

i haven't seen a BSOD or anything remotely equivalent since finally leaving NT4 behind in 2001.

Sculli · Post by **Sculli** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:49 am

Randy,
I haven't had any problems w/my G5 1.8 since I got it,3 or 4 years.Personally, I think
misery likes company and have many friends with PC problems.I will be getting a
Mac Pro as soon as PTLE is qualified for Leopard.I like to record music, not screw around with my computer. So I stay with my Mac.That being said,Your results may
vary.Ladies Choice, All Skate.
Peace,
Kevin

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:45 am

Right now it's getting to the point of either I get a PC or I don't record. I can't drop $3000 on a machine and another $1000 on card upgrades to stick with a Mac.

I have also found out that the PC motherboards being made no longer support 5v PCI cards, so unless I can find a motherboard that supports PCI 2.1, I need to drop $300 on a card upgrade from MOTU. At least my Powercore PCI board will work on a 3.3v PCI slot (so going with a homebrew PC would save me $700 there.)

Does anyone know of any current motherboards that support PCI 2.1? I have been looking and nothing has surfaced yet.

Thanks everyone for all the input!

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:55 am

Sculli wrote:Randy,
I haven't had any problems w/my G5 1.8 since I got it,3 or 4 years.Personally, I think
misery likes company and have many friends with PC problems.I will be getting a
Mac Pro as soon as PTLE is qualified for Leopard.I like to record music, not screw around with my computer. So I stay with my Mac.That being said,Your results may
vary.Ladies Choice, All Skate.
Peace,
Kevin

I got my G4 in 2002, and it has always had a problem freezing up with Quicktime files. There was no real rhyme or reason, it was pretty random. I took it in a few times and they eventually replaced the motherboard on warranty but the problem persisted. They eventually said "upgrade to 10.4 when it comes out, that'll fix it." I tried that, but it didn't work, so I just did all my Quicktime conversion and listening on my iBook and went back to 10.3.

I have been dealing with that for 6 years, but now it's starting to freeze up pretty often. I just tried updating to OS 10.4.11 hoping that would fix the problem, but it continues to crap out.

I don't like screwing around with computers also. Seems like it's my lot in life right now.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:31 am

Hey, no fair bringing up the bsod. Cheap shot.

Hey, if money were much less of an object or if I recorded clients for pay I'm sure I'd have a nice new fast mac on hand at all times. I tolerate the inconveniences of windoze because it's so cheap.

Btw, on my ibm outlet pentium 4 tank, I've never gotten online and I haven't seen bsod since the last wipe and spartan xp install 1.5yrs ago.

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:43 am

Randy wrote:
Sculli wrote:Randy,
I haven't had any problems w/my G5 1.8 since I got it,3 or 4 years.Personally, I think
misery likes company and have many friends with PC problems.I will be getting a
Mac Pro as soon as PTLE is qualified for Leopard.I like to record music, not screw around with my computer. So I stay with my Mac.That being said,Your results may
vary.Ladies Choice, All Skate.
Peace,
Kevin
I got my G4 in 2002, and it has always had a problem freezing up with Quicktime files. There was no real rhyme or reason, it was pretty random. I took it in a few times and they eventually replaced the motherboard on warranty but the problem persisted. They eventually said "upgrade to 10.4 when it comes out, that'll fix it." I tried that, but it didn't work, so I just did all my Quicktime conversion and listening on my iBook and went back to 10.3.

I have been dealing with that for 6 years, but now it's starting to freeze up pretty often. I just tried updating to OS 10.4.11 hoping that would fix the problem, but it continues to crap out.

I don't like screwing around with computers also. Seems like it's my lot in life right now.

I'm sure you've tried these already, but in case not:
1. Alsoft Diskwarrior. Don't leave home without it. It costs $99 and is worth every penny.
2. Onyx. Free download from apple.com. Use it to repair permissions and run scripts .
3. Make sure to download the combo updaters when you update your os. Using the automatic updater is risky.

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:16 pm

Thanks Superaction80!

Your post reminded me that I didn't run a hardware check on the machine. It's a CD that comes with the computer. I put that puppy in and ran it and sure enough, there's an error on the logic board. So now I know for sure it's a hardware problem and it's probably been there since day one. I can officially declare my G4 dead. I wonder if they even swapped out the logic board when I brought it in...

Anyway, I was talking with a friend who bought a G5 recently and her old G4 is just gathering dust and she was going to recycle it, so I'm once again recording with a Mac. I don't know what I was thinking, I could have checked eBay and found a bunch of G4's with the right PCI slots for $300 and less.

This only goes to show that old dumpster divers never die, they just move up to cast-off electronics.

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:34 am

Glad to be of service

Seriously, though. If you don't already have it, pick up a copy of Diskwarrior. Best $99 I ever spent. It wouldn't have helped you with the bad logic board, but I've seen it bring hard-drives back from the dead.

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:20 am

I'd take the $100 you'd spend on a program that works half the time(that only won't work when it's data you _really_ need) and invest in a cheap raid 1 card and another HD. there's no protection like mirroring.

^^^spoken from someone who was stupid enough to use diskwarrior _and_ spinrite.

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:23 am

rwc wrote:I'd take the $100 you'd spend on a program that works half the time(that only won't work when it's data you _really_ need) and invest in a cheap raid 1 card and another HD. there's no protection like mirroring.

^^^spoken from someone who was stupid enough to use diskwarrior _and_ spinrite.

So you are recommending skipping routine registry repairs on OSX? I'd be interested to know what your maintenance regimen is.
And Diskwarrior isn't going to fix bad hardware. But I've had drives that sounded like they were functionally impared come back to life after running Diskwarrior. So I guess I'd like to know what application you used on the other 50% of drives you didn't have good luck with.
Of course, mirroring your system drive is a generally fool proof way of disaster protection, provided your 2nd drive isn't on site.

Spark · Post by **Spark** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:55 pm

Tatertot wrote:Hey, no fair bringing up the bsod. Cheap shot.

Too make it fair lets also discuss the apple multicultural screen of death:

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thinking about switching platforms

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