Your preferred Macbook Pro DAW?

[Richard_G]

Logic

 

[MM-Chris]

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.

I own five Macs, so I'd say I qualify as a Mac user. I completely disagree with you. To each their own.

 

[gpz]

I've been using Logic on a Mac. Then got tired of "Apple" and went back to Windows+Reaper. The Reaper UI is very good in my opinion.

 

[UnsungHeroGuitars]

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.

I own five Macs, so I'd say I qualify as a Mac user. I completely disagree with you. To each their own.

As where from a similar boat as you Chris, I'd tend to agree with plexi... so there is - as is always the case with these discussions - no right or wrong, just simply what works for you

 

[MM-Chris]

As where from a similar boat as you Chris, I'd tend to agree with plexi... so there is - as is always the case with these discussions - no right or wrong, just simply what works for you

I'm not saying that either is better, they both have their good points and bad points. This is my dock.

(You know, since we Mac users have higher expectations and all...)

-

I'm saying that calling Reaper a "half assed piece of shit" is wrong, and that comments like that are no better than ones from the "iPhone sucks, get an Android" debates.

Edit: Didn't meant that to sound so smug, late night posting and such.

 

[Manning]

I have used Mac and Windows systems for years. I'm in the process of migrating everything onto Windows because I got sick of replacing Mac motherboards at $1000 a shot (I also own five Macs). I'm off the opinion that Apple quality control is slipping as I have had so many hardware problemsin the last three years. Regardless, OSX is a fine environment to work with music. But so is Windows.

There is no difference between a "Mac user" and a "Windows user" in terms of expectations. Having used Logic, Cubase and Pro Tools on both platforms, I can also say there is no meaningful difference in the software usage. (with regard to Logic, I used v4 and v5 on both platforms, and until this year Logic v7/8/9 was my main composing platform. I have now switched to Cubase for composing, but do all recording in PT)

I have tried but not stuck with Reaper, Ableton and Studio One, for reasons entirely to do with my needs/preferences and nothing to do with the tools - they're all good.

 

[Sixstring]

Self claimed computer misfit here and a little off topic, I can't stand it when I have to change anything on a computer. So I find my self having to upgrade the OS and a few other things. I have Logic Pro 8, I need to be able to run the Axe II on my machine iMac running 10.5.8 Mid 07 production.

I'm thinking of doing this... upping the Ram to 6 Gigs ($40), 1 TB drive ($150) cloned and partitioned Leopard / ML ($100) Labor ($225) to have it done. Will Logic pro 8 work in the 64 bit environment wile using Axe Edit ? Also is it wort the $$$ to hot rod such an old machine.

 

[plexi59]

Manning, your hatred of Apple is well known on this forum.

"Piece of shit" might have been too strong a characterization. It does the job after all.

It's just that when I'm on a Mac, I expect the UI that looks and feels "native". Reaper feels like a Windows app, ported without much care to run on OS X. I'm a software engineer myself, and I would have never released it like that.

 

[plexi59]

Self claimed computer misfit here and a little off topic, I can't stand it when I have to change anything on a computer. So I find my self having to upgrade the OS and a few other things. I have Logic Pro 8, I need to be able to run the Axe II on my machine iMac running 10.5.8 Mid 07 production.

I'm thinking of doing this... upping the Ram to 6 Gigs ($40), 1 TB drive ($150) cloned and partitioned Leopard / ML ($100) Labor ($225) to have it done. Will Logic pro 8 work in the 64 bit environment wile using Axe Edit ? Also is it wort the $$$ to hot rod such an old machine.

I'm not sure Logic 8 is 64-bit aware. Make sure of that. As far as upgrades, the best bang for the buck right now is installing an SSD. It's expensive, but everything will run MUCH faster. Don't bother with Apple SSDs, get one made by Intel or Samsung. That's assuming you have at least 4GB of RAM. If not, upgrade RAM first. Also you should check if your machine will work with Mountain Lion. My wife's 6 years old MacBook Pro is not compatible.

 

[rsf1977]

I have Ableton Live 8 and Digital Performer 7. As far as the quickest interface to learn and by far the more intuitive Ableton Live kills Digital Performer. I can't count the number of times I've wanted to put a hammer through my screen because i can't figure out how to do something in Digital Performer. It's almost counter intuitive at times. Ableton's interface is simple elegant and very well thought out. It's easy to get started and getting stuff done. I did do a project with a lot of routing and tracks and it got kind of buggy the more stuff got crazy but for simpler tasks it's great. The midi programming view for drums especially kills DP. KILLS!!!!! It is such a frustration to use DP's midi drum editor. If anyone from Motu is out there, look at Ableton Live's midi editor, it rocks!!! Steal their ideas please, lol. Anyway enough ranting, I've expelled my DP demons. DP isn't that bad, but Ableton is super easy for non mega engineer types like myself lol.

 

[Manning]

Manning, your hatred of Apple is well known on this forum.

And your slavish insistence that Apple's are the only option for music production is also well-known. You've also never answered my question about whether you are employed or compensated by Apple or not, despite my asking on a couple of occasions.

And as I keep saying over and over and over, I do not hate Apple, and I still run numerous Macs. I do however hate the foolish assertion that Windows machines aren't equivalent. They're different OS's, but the software experience is largely identical. Pro Tools and Cubase are more or less identical regardless of platform, and Logic is a Windows app that was ported to Mac anyway. (Or did you forget that Apple didn't write Logic, they bought it from a German company called eMagic?)

 

[Manning]

I have Ableton Live 8 and Digital Performer 7. As far as the quickest interface to learn and by far the more intuitive Ableton Live kills Digital Performer.

Which only goes to prove the (obvious) fact that different people have different needs. I tried Ableton and found it completely useless for what I do. It's still a great tool, and I can see how it would suit a lot of people, but it's workflow doesn't suit me at all. On the other hand, I found DP logical and very easy to use, primarily because it is broadly similar to Logic and Cubase in how it approaches things (and that is what I am familiar with). The only reason I went for Cubase over DP was that there was no Windows version and I wanted to be able to switch back and forth (that has since changed, but I'm on Cubase now and I am not migrating again as it is too much work).

I dislike Reaper for the same reasons, but a respected colleague of mine loves it and produces excellent output using it.

Boittom line - there is no one tool that suits everyone and there never will be. Viva la difference and all that.

 

[Sixstring]

I'm not sure Logic 8 is 64-bit aware. Make sure of that. As far as upgrades, the best bang for the buck right now is installing an SSD. It's expensive, but everything will run MUCH faster. Don't bother with Apple SSDs, get one made by Intel or Samsung. That's assuming you have at least 4GB of RAM. If not, upgrade RAM first. Also you should check if your machine will work with Mountain Lion. My wife's 6 years old MacBook Pro is not compatible.

I was unaware of SSD's... A little out of my price range at the moment as I would still have to have everything else done. The machine will work with ML and I did some more snooping and found that Logic will work in ML but you have to launch it from the Terminal.

Detailed explanation from the poster on the Mac forum here...

"if Logic 8 does not work it is not because of 32/64 bit limitations, as OS X could not haver made significant changes without also breaking Logic 9 and a bunch of other 32bit Applications. 32bit Apps work fine in ML and always have, and 64bit bootloaders existed on nearly all Mac Pros and even the old Xserve and they ran Logic 8 fine. The restrictions are most likely in the .plist files inside the .app file, the same way they were when trying to run older versions of Java which were also 'incompatible' due to .plist only listing up to 10.7 being compatible (this was important wen testing and running old Java programs). I would tell you how to edit it so that Logic could Launch normally but I don't have a copy of Logic 8 anymore to grab the original and make edits.
As mentioned in the link you can run Logic 8 by doing the following:

1. launch Terminal

2. type (exactly, including quotes and ampersand)

If logic is not in Applications, substitute the formoer portion of the directory by dragging the Logic.app file into Terminal, then add /Contents/MacOS/Logic Pro" & to the end, make sure there a respeech marks at either end.

"/Applications/Logic Pro.app/Contents/MacOS/Logic Pro" &

3. press ENTER (and then minimize the Terminal window)

4. look (and hear) at Logic Pro Studio 8 roaring out at your favourite Lion

5. enjoy!

6. When you're finished recording/playing in Logic just quit it as usual (don't forget to save your job)

7. you can now quit Terminal too.

This will bypass the .plist files in the .app by running the binary directly"

 

[plexi59]

If large SSD is out of the price range, buy a 256GB one for system disk, and a larger "traditional" hard drive for longer term storage. I believe there's only one hard drive slot in your machine, but what you could do is replace your optical drive with an SSD. Brackets are available for that. So the way I'd do this is 3TB for the "long term" drive (about $170), and 256GB for the system ($200 for a quality one from Samsung). The machine will immediately feel blazingly fast (most apps will start instantaneously), and will easily last you another few years.

 

[iaresee]

If large SSD is out of the price range, buy a 256GB one for system disk, and a larger "traditional" hard drive for longer term storage. I believe there's only one hard drive slot in your machine, but what you could do is replace your optical drive with an SSD. Brackets are available for that. So the way I'd do this is 3TB for the "long term" drive (about $170), and 256GB for the system ($200 for a quality one from Samsung). The machine will immediately feel blazingly fast (most apps will start instantaneously), and will easily last you another few years.

This is how my MBPros are set up: optical drive replaced with a bracket and SSD drive from OWS. The SSD holds the OS, the hard drive holds the home directories (and thus the bulk of the data). I'll do some scratch work on the SSD too. Also: max out the RAM.

 

[UnsungHeroGuitars]

This is how my MBPros are set up: optical drive replaced with a bracket and SSD drive from OWS.

Yep, I replaced the optical drive in mine too - that's now in an external USB caddy

I didn't go full SSD though, I went Seagate Momentus Hybrid Drives - 500Gb with 4Gb SSD in each - works an absolute treat!

 

[dean_fry]

Currently using Presonus Studio One Free. Logic has the best price though.

 

[Sixstring]

If large SSD is out of the price range, buy a 256GB one for system disk, and a larger "traditional" hard drive for longer term storage. I believe there's only one hard drive slot in your machine, but what you could do is replace your optical drive with an SSD. Brackets are available for that. So the way I'd do this is 3TB for the "long term" drive (about $170), and 256GB for the system ($200 for a quality one from Samsung). The machine will immediately feel blazingly fast (most apps will start instantaneously), and will easily last you another few years.

Interesting... can you have an external HDD for storage and SSD for the OS and programs? I would like to keep the optical where it's at.

 

[iaresee]

Interesting... can you have an external HDD for storage and SSD for the OS and programs? I would like to keep the optical where it's at.

Yes. But SSDs big enough to handle user data are very expensive. The optical bay conversion kits usually come with an external enclosure for the optical drive. The one I used from OWC did. Do you ever use your optical drive? I never used mine on my MBPro. Haven't since I replaced it with an SSD either.

 

[Sixstring]

Yes. But SSDs big enough to handle user data are very expensive. The optical bay conversion kits usually come with an external enclosure for the optical drive. The one I used from OWC did. Do you ever use your optical drive? I never used mine on my MBPro. Haven't since I replaced it with an SSD either.

I do on accession but not a lot. I guess it's a convenience thing and having one more out board pice is not that big of a deal. So the way that Plexi59 suggested would be the better way to do this? I doubt I need 3TB of storage I haven't even used up half of the 465Gig HDD I have now. I'm confused with your comment with SSD's, If I have an SSD big enough to load the OS and any programs Logic etc... then any files I create from those programs can't I just store them on the HDD thus not clogging the SSD?