IS LIFE THIS BAD WITH THE SWITCH TO MAC?

[Ryan711]

I'm posting this for all the mac users who have the 002 Rack. I have had nothing but random issues with PT LE7 and my 002R on my PC. The issues are everything from plug-in's not working to bounce errors to random shut downs of pro tools while recording. I'm not going to post any of the exact errors because it's a waste of time, because my PC IS BUILT TO SPEC to digi's recommendations and I have done every single recommendation and tweak that has been posted on the DUC and on every other site.

...Point is.....will my problems go away if I buy a MAC...a power pc G5 perhaps.

I noticed that the majority of the problems posted on the DUC are PC related.....

Please help, because...I'm starting to find myself more of a PC support technician than an artist.


FYI...HERE ARE MY PC SPECS...JUST SO DIGI KNOWS I'M NOT USING A COMMODORE 64 FOR A DAW.


CPU: Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3.0GHz 830 LGA 775 FSB800 2MB

Motherboard: ASUS P5WD2 Premium Mother Board

Memory: 2GB Dual Channel (1GB X2) DDR2 533 Memory (Samsung)

Hard Drive 1: Samsung 160 GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA II

Hard Drive 2: Western Digital 250 GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA II

Optical Drive: Sony 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive (White)

Video: NVIDIA Geforce 6600 LE 256mb

Audio: Realtek ALC 882, 8-channel High-Definition Audio CODEC S/PDIF out interface

Network Card: Onboard 10/100/1000 Gigabit Lan Network Card

Case: Wave Cooler Master Aluminum Tower Case (Silver)

Power Supply: Enermax Whisper II 2.0 (535w)

CPU Fan: Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu Fan

Firewire Card: SIIG 3 Port PCI Firewire 400 Card

[Sparky1]

Nope - your problems won't go away - they will just be different. Like should I modulate at the end of the first chorus, do I need an acoustic guitar during the verses?... etc., etc., etc.

All kidding aside - there are problems with all computers.

I've heard of people having rock solid systems on both platforms.

The more software you have loaded on a particular machine - the more opportunity there is for things to go wrong...

The only people who never complain about computer problems are those recording directly to tape...

Good Luck,

Sparky1

[samuelowen]

Let's just face it, life is never easy with recording on either platform.

But every other aspect of your life, including how much you as a person kick ass, will benefit ten-fold by switching to a Mac.

¡MacPorVida!

[drumkid]

I was in the same situation that you were in a few months ago. I had a PC running PT LE and kept getting errors while I was recording and random shut downs of PT. I became fed up with all of these issuse so I bought myself a Powerbook. I have very very rarely had an error while using my powerbook, and it makes my recording sessions go much smoother. I would recomend switching to a mac if you want a more stable system. Hope this helps you alittle.

[Windshore]

I just bought a refurbished Dual G5 2.3 Mhz on the Apple website. Been running PT 7.... smooth.....

[max cooper]

CPU: Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3.0GHz 830 LGA 775 FSB800 2MB

Motherboard: ASUS P5WD2 Premium Mother Board

Memory: 2GB Dual Channel (1GB X2) DDR2 533 Memory (Samsung)

Hard Drive 1: Samsung 160 GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA II

Hard Drive 2: Western Digital 250 GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA II

Optical Drive: Sony 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive (White)

Video: NVIDIA Geforce 6600 LE 256mb

Audio: Realtek ALC 882, 8-channel High-Definition Audio CODEC S/PDIF out interface

Network Card: Onboard 10/100/1000 Gigabit Lan Network Card

Case: Wave Cooler Master Aluminum Tower Case (Silver)

Power Supply: Enermax Whisper II 2.0 (535w)

CPU Fan: Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu Fan

Firewire Card: SIIG 3 Port PCI Firewire 400 Card

Whew!


One benefit will be that you can spec your computer in fewer words.

[lwilliam]

I spend too much of my time learning to use new features...well there is that problem of how to come up with the right pivot chord for the modulation into the "b" section and how much string swell should be used in that section and will it cover the horn section....how should I EQ that...and how much limiting do I want to use prior to mastering...

These are my typical problems. I don't seem to have many "configuration" problems. Occasionally I'll get asked where the samples are stored for some plugin or other, but workflow (what's the best way to do something) is a much bigger issue than technical problems.

I've heard of some people with Macs and PTLE having constant problems. Most of them are mBox users. I must have good karma because I've never had a 002R harness issue, I upgraded from 6.7 to 7 along with upgrading to Tiger and don't seem to have performance issues like some others (I just loaded up a VERY full song that pushed 6.7 to the max and it played just fine in v7).

I do note that the more software instruments I use, the more likely I am to have problems, so when possible, I bounce them to a track instead of running them live.

No one can say you won't have problems, but if you check the PC vs the Mac forum, I think you'll find that the PC questions about compatibility and crashing and whatnot are more prevalent than with the Mac forum. I think there are more operational questions in the Mac forum: How do I do such and such, or why can't PTLE do this that or the other thing...not crashing or compatibility issues. YMMV.

[Ryan711]

Thanks everybody for your input. I know there can be issues with both platforms, but if I can have less in one.....then that is platform I want to run with.

[gteam]

Well I had a MAC and I had nothing but problems with PT, but my PC is pretty much the same now. To be honest; I find Cubase/Nuendo to run better, but the studio I work with has PT so for the sake of being compatible, I use PT. AGH.. PTLE seems to have issues on both PC and MAC, I found little difference.

[samuelowen]

what you guys are all missing is that, it just wouldn't be as much fun without all the headaches!