Your preferred Macbook Pro DAW?

I used Digital Performer and Pro Tools for a long time, now just use Digital Performer, a couple other guys in the band use Pro Tools and Logic, everyone seems happy.. :) I think people just get used to whatever they start with and stick with it for the most part.
For the price Logic can't be beat, as it comes with lot's of stuff, but depending on your needs you might want to get some better sounds then the included ones, they're good plug ins, but not the best available these days in my opinion.
 
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clarky said:
sticking with the nostalgia trip for a mo....

when I started out on this path I remember the two main computer sequencers [at least in amongst my own crowd] were Cubase and Creator
I had Cubase on an Atari ST - that was upgraded to 4 whole Mb of RAM
jeez my Mac has got 3 times that in gigs... lmao..

for sounds I used a Roland U220 and an Akai S900 through a little 8 channel mixer
[my pals thought my system was the nuts.. lol..]
still got them.. and they still work..
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LOL! My first set up included a Linndrum, DPX-1 sample player, DX7, Roland MKS-20 piano module, MidiBass, Rockman and a Portastudio. I had to give up one rack for smpte. Soon after I got an Akai 12 track I synced with Performer, Akai S900, Emax II, TX-802 . . . Then 3 Adats, 8 Millennia mic pres, Mackie 8-24 bus mixer ( I never used the pres!) all before I got into Digital Performer or any other tapeless digital audio workstations.

Ah, the memories! I don't miss it at all!
 
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jeez... that's a mental kit list...

my first tapeless setup was pretty simple but worked a treat

sequencer was a pentium 3 PC with Cubase VST [it wasn't man enough handle audio]
Yamaha AW16G
Korg Triton
Digitech 2120

I still use the Triton.. it got some great sounds in it..

erm... sorry for the tangent guys...
 
Last tangent! I forgot about the computers! The original Macintosh (1985), and then I bought a Mac Plus. Data frame 20 MEGABITE hard drive that cost about $2k! Then it was a Mac IIsi. Before all this I had a Apple IIe, but that doesn't count. There was no music software for it then.
 
So many good options. A teacher I had who'd been a Nashville studio guy favored Cubase, saying it sounded best. Logic is a crazy deal in terms of what's included. If you've got an Ipad and TouchOSC, there's an amazing Logic controller template that even fills in parameter names for soft synths you're using. It's the most full featured control template I've seen, going well beyond the Mackie Control emulation many things use. Digital Performer is a great program that a couple of pals use and love. Ableton Live is great for laying down ideas and is probably the most intuitive for routing of midi in particular. There's a new one being developed by former Live people called Bitwig that looks pretty amazing. Another friend uses Studio One and loves it for simplicity and intuitiveness.

So many options. I highly recommend Native Instruments Komplete 7 for the virtual instrument world. It's absolutely nuts what they give you for the price. Truly astounding.
 
tommytwang said:
Studio One works great for me!
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Same here. Studio One came with my Presonus StudioLive digital mixer. I started looking at it and really liked how easy, but full-featured it was. My Band uses it every rehearsal to record on a 2008 Macbook Pro 2.4Mhz Duo, w/6 GB Ram and a 500 GB, 7200 rpm drive.
 
MikeyB59 said:
So many options. I highly recommend Native Instruments Komplete 7 for the virtual instrument world. It's absolutely nuts what they give you for the price. Truly astounding.
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I have Komplete 7 and yes I have to agree...

and when you combine this with the instruments and fx that come with Logic you really do have a formidable collection
 
Logic here. Before the price drop Reaper was an option, after the price drop, there's no denying that Reaper is a half assed piece of shit compared to Logic. :)
 
plexi59 said:
Logic here. Before the price drop Reaper was an option, after the price drop, there's no denying that Reaper is a half assed piece of shit compared to Logic. :)
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I'll deny it. I like Reaper.

Then again I never had anything but apples you can actually eat. Was just looking at the macbook pro prices... I'm having a hard time looking beyond them.
 
plexi59 said:
Logic here. Before the price drop Reaper was an option, after the price drop, there's no denying that Reaper is a half assed piece of shit compared to Logic. :)
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That's crazy talk. So, before Logic was cheaper Reaper was decent, but somehow because Logic's pricing came down Reaper is now a "half assed piece of shit"? Nonsense.

Reaper is excellent. Logic is great as well. The most important part of a DAW for 99% of us is that it's something that you're comfortable using and can develop a good workflow with. Bashing one because you like the other helps nobody, it's like the iPhone vs Android crap.
 
I used Logic for years and liked it but switched to Ableton Live 8 when I started to see the live performance possibilities that DJ guys were getting out of it. I figured a "real" musician could really put it to use. I'm happy to report, it really is fantastic. It functions great as a DAW. Ableton has made it super easy and quick to use since it is geared toward electronic guys who are generating most of their sounds using the computer or hardware controllers utilizing soft synths. I actually prefer it to Logic now, as your workflow is smoother and more logical. The real genius is how you can switch between views within the same project to use it as a traditional DAW and then also as a live performance machine. It has replaced my mixer PA board as I now use Ableton as my mixer and can use plug ins for effects. You can trigger all kinds of samples or sounds with a controller like an APC40, which can also be used a a channel strip type controller in your studio or live. It really has been a godsend for me as a solo performer, but the great DAW really makes the program hard to beat. Totally plug and play and tons of people use it, so the company is not going to drop off the face of the earth any time soon.
 
Logic here. I came over from the evil PC world in 2006, and have never looked back. One of my regrets is that Cakewalk/Sonar was never released for the Mac. That said, I bit the bullet (back when Logic was $1K!) and have been learning ever since. Is it easy to use - probably not when you first get exposed. After a while you develop the flow. It sounds great, and makes a lot of sense (logic?) when you get used to it, but I don't deny that there's a learning curve to be overcome. Lots of tips on You Tube, and it's the only audio solution supported directly by Apple. Albeit - they have NOT been holding up their end lately. If you read the Apple support forums, lots of folks have had issues with Logic and Lion/Mountain Lion. I have stayed at Lion for now (on my music Mac) as it seems much more stable.

The nice thing about Apple is what works really works. I have never had a dropped frame of audio, and no glitches with audio (assuming a reasonable buffer size). In my case, with RME hardware - Fireface 800s - they have been rock solid at a buffer size of 64 samples, which means you can record THROUGH the DAW with no appreciable latency. PC's always seemed to me such a maelstrom of settings and optimizations, hardware and OS issues. Whew. Glad that's all behind me.

I regularly record, while ripping a CD, while surfing the Web, and have an email program up as well. Rock solid.

Pete
 
MG-Chris said:
That's crazy talk. So, before Logic was cheaper Reaper was decent, but somehow because Logic's pricing came down Reaper is now a "half assed piece of shit"? Nonsense.

Reaper is excellent. Logic is great as well. The most important part of a DAW for 99% of us is that it's something that you're comfortable using and can develop a good workflow with. Bashing one because you like the other helps nobody, it's like the iPhone vs Android crap.
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Before price drop Logic was jus too expensive, so I had to live with Reaper. After the price drop, pricing is quite bearable at $199, and Logic is a vastly better product. Mac users simply have different level of expectations when it comes to ease of use and user experience.
 
Hey Cobbler!
Exciting to hear you've wandered over to the dark side. I think it should go something like "Walk towards the light". ;-) I'm still living in a PC world at work but about 3 years ago I took the plunge at home and bought a Mac. Best move I ever made. Now we've got a house full of Mac Pros, Mac Book Pros, Mac Minis, Mac Server, Mac Time Capsule, iPods, iPads, iPhones. Personally, I love/hate computers. Macs have merely given me the freedom to use them as a tool to work on the things I like to do; i.e. music. The PC required an equal amount of time and effort to keep it running right, as it took to do the work I wanted to do. The Mac just works. No muss, no fuss. I also ran Parallels and Win 7 on my Mac Pro for a year or so. Eventually I weaned myself off the Win 7 and haven't touched Windows at home in a couple years. The Mac does everything I need.

As for the DAW, I don't have a lot to compare it to but I'm pretty stoked with Presonus Studio One v2. I dabbled with Pro Tools a bit a few years ago and played around with Garage Band but that's about it. I'm in Baton Rouge right now for the Presonusphere user conference. Thursday I got a first hand look at Studio One v2.5 scheduled to release in about a month. It's wicked cool. Does some really slick stuff. Studio One's claim to fame is the GUI and improved workflow. From that standpoint I can vouch that it's really well designed. Integrated with so many features and modules. Just a slick program. Worth a look at the very least.
 
Big Joe Daddy said:
Hey Cobbler!
Exciting to hear you've wandered over to the dark side. I think it should go something like "Walk towards the light". ;-)
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I feel dirty! :roll

30 years in IT and never touched an apple computer. I was proud of that.

I have already partitioned my MacBook to run both OS X and Windows! :D

I have used Sonar X1 on my Desktop PC for the last 2 years but since it is not available on the Mac side that is why I started this thread to get eveyones input. My RME UFX will work in either environment so I am good there.

One thing I will say is the retina screen is impressive!

Where's my control panel? No command line? Arrrrrrghhhhh! :D
 
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