I only have a simple question - Mac vs. PC as it pertains to Wavelab and Cubase only.
I would love to hear from anyone who uses both platforms professionally. I’ve been a windows user for over 20 professionally, and my primary tool is Wavelab. My home computer was also Windows, but I recently bought a Mac. I’ve had a macbook for over 10 years and I love Apple laptops - they are rock solid and last a long time, but I don’t push them very hard, I just do simple tasks. At work, I’ll be a lot more demanding of my computer.
There are two areas that I’m curious about:
Which OS is Wavelab more stable on?
In which OS does Wavelab have the best feel?
If I get a work Mac, it will be a Mac Pro, so I’ll be forced to use Catalina.
If I get a new Windows machine, I’ll likely get a custom built Boxx that’s overclocked for good single core performance.
WaveLab has been solid on Mojave on my two main Macs, and I’ve done a little work on my laptop that came with Catalina and it seems OK too.
Sounds like if you go Mac you’ll be stuck with Catalina anyway so it doesn’t matter much. WaveLab graphics seem to be not great in High Sierra but that is rather old in software years.
I can’t speak for Windows because I don’t have the mindset or patience to tweak it to be audio friendly. I know it can be done, but it’s not for me. I pay the Apple Tax and it just works out of the box. I generally like the MacOS as well, but the security stuff they keeps adding is getting annoying.
Thanks Justin, that’s the kind of feedback I need! I’m completely comfortable building an audio PC, but there are a few things I love about Mac, and one thing I need on a Mac. I love iMessage. An important part of my work is communicating with people. Having iMessage on the desktop is REALLY helpful.
I also need to verify and sometimes edit Apple ProRes videos. ProRes is a pretty miserable experience on a PC.
I figure that as long as apple doesn’t abandon the Mac platform, a Mac Pro will be a good computer for me for the next 10 years. My current work PC is 9 years old. It still works well, but it’s just painfully slow for any video work.
I run Windoze 10 Professional on the main machine. I see no reason to change that.
On balance, OSX is starting to loose us with the continual OS updates. Windows has updates as well, but ‘10’ is apparently it (there won’t be an ‘11’) and this is bring real stability and long term confidence to the table.
With WL, I’m not sure if there’s been a formal tally, but it seems that the higher proportion of issues raised in this forum are from OSX based systems.
My definition of a good OS is one where I don’t think about it. That used to be OSX, but maybe not these days.
I use both platforms on a daily basis. It seems there are more people with problems on this forum lately who are Mac users (something about the new OS which I have not upgraded to). Windows 10 has been very stable and my main machine is a Windows 10 Pro machine. I LOVE MACS but i also don’t need more problems. WL 10 has not been very stable in my world so I have been sticking with 9.5.5 for my daily work. Which ever platform you chose I am sure you will be pleased.
Right. My reason for using Mac vs. PC has little to do with WaveLab. I could probably get by just fine using WaveLab itself on Windows. What I do value is having all my personal and business stuff on one synchronous platform.
My messages all sync to all devices, my email templates all sync, my ISRC database syncs, my NeoFinder hard disks archive syncs, my project management app syncs, and my other utilities like Copy "Em Paste and Alfred all sync. App settings are also easier to sync if you are dealing with just one platform vs. two.
This makes it easy to move between my A rig, B rig, and even my laptop if I need to be mobile.
I admit that I have’t really explored Windows in this area but I believe that whatever you use, having all your devices easily in sync and talking to each other makes life easier and more productive. If I had a Windows machine for my workstation and Apple everything else (or vise versa), my workflow would feel compromised.
I thought about going Windows a few years ago but then the iMac Pro came out, and there were signs of a Mac Pro update which is finally ready. If saving money by investing time in fine tuning a Windows rig is up your alley, Windows makes sense. If you just want something that pretty much works right out of the box but costs more, Apple is good for this. Online debates pretty much never change anyone’s mind but I really see value in having all your stuff on one platform for sync reasons alone.
I have a Macbook Pro mid 2014 with wich I do the field jobs and the mixing and mastering I do on a PC with I7-8700k with Win10 Pro. It works very well and I would think 10 times before buy a Mac Pro. With the difference of money between them I would rather buy some gear for my home studio. But that’s me
I recently switched from 4 years on a Mac Pro to a top-level custom Windows machine made specifically for DAW use by a highly respected place. Before the Mac Pro I was on two Windows machines in a row from ADK, and often had issues, so I went to Mac, which was a major relief in certain ways. But to get a faster computer I didn’t want to go broke with Apple, so I went with Windows 10 on a new machine.
It’s a great machine and incredibly fast, but after almost a month things have already gotten a bit shifty for me, just like they did on my two Windows machines before. I had high hopes, but…yeah. W10 is a great OS, but for me Mac is simply more reliable and it really does simply “work”, in MY experience. Cubase does have some Mac issues and also has in the past. But there are issues with Windows, too, I’ve found. I used to love getting in there and tweaking things in the OS, etc., but at this point I don’t have the time or desire for that, and regret my decision to go back to Windows – will see what happens next.
I think that in the end you can run either and be fine, but for someone like me who relies on my DAW for my living day in and day out, Mac is simply more reliable and far less finicky without needing to worry about adding new apps, etc… This is in MY personal experience. Others’ experiences may differ, but this is my own direct experience.
