Hi. I would like music producers to give me recommendations on producing music on Windows or Mac, since I have read so many discussions about Windows and Mac, and they all agree that if you are a musician, it is best to use Mac, but they do not give more details. So in my case I use Reaper, and it is really very accessible on Windows, but the latency (even with audio interfaces) is usually almost unbearable, especially in MIDI recordings, and it is possible that this simply does not exist on Mac. Another thing is the accessibility of the plugins, for example Kontakt. Although it is not accessible on Windows, at least I can load libraries, which I have not been able to do on Mac, even using VOCR. PS: I have only tried it on MacOS15.1 and Kontakt 8.
What other libraries are accessible? Like guitars, pianos, basses, drums and others?
Another thing: is it possible to load the main stage instruments in Reaper? And finally, what are the best arguments for why Mac is the best for producing music? I really appreciate your comments!
Comments
Yes, definitely
I have the exact same question. As a prospective Berklee College student, I'll need to use a Mac. Although I had a 10-month experience with a Mac as my school laptop during my exchange year, I no longer have one to test things. So, is Logic Pro fully accessible? And how do music folks like it?
What I have tried so far is
I want to add comments as I do my tests, and I have news.
At least in Reaper, while I couldn't load a library in Kontakt, I was at least able to successfully install and load the SSD5.5 drum kit, and the Arturia v3 piano. In both cases I was able to change presets, although for the drum kit it was necessary to use VOCR. I also want to add that the piano roll in Reaper is just awesome! So I was able to do the same things as in Windows, such as quantizing and shifting notes and chords to the right or left.
also, when recording with a midi keyboard (in my case yamaha) the latency is lower than in windows, and above all, it doesn’t happen to me what happens with windows, where when recording, it doesn’t sound exactly as you played it, but it sounds a bit strange, so much so that it forces you to quantize, which according to the little time i have trying on macos doesn’t happen, but what you record is exactly as you recorded it, of course it is a bit ahead, so you just move everything to the right a bit, and it is original, without the need to quantize, which helps the music sound as natural as possible. i will keep adding things as i learn, so stay tuned! i’m sorry if my english isn’t good, i’m actually using google. again thanks to everyone for reading and contributing, as i’m sure many here can provide very valuable opinions.
Logic.Band
You’ll find everything you need to know at www.logic.band and the YouTube channel of the same name. There are extensive tutorials on pretty much every subject, and Steve walks you through them all in a concise and clear Manner. Hope that helps.
couple of things
Reaper is great on both windows and mac and some plugins are accessible and some are kind of not. With that being said, I find it hard that noone has mentioned ableton yet which just got accessibillity added in a vary big way. Logic is good too however, it's been gradually kind of, going down hill however, you can still do most if not all the things with a bit of fidddeling round. What I do like about logic is it's stock sounds and plugins for just $200 you'll get all of that. I'm honestly thinking about bying ableton and dissing logic, at least for midi editing and some basic editing stuff but logic still has a vary great place in my heart that's for sure. So is reaper. I always say, there's nothing wrong with using multiple daws to get the job done and whatever you do in one daw, you may find you do better in another. For example, if I edint podcasts or what not, reaper all the way as I can freely edit on the fly and have an hour edit down in about 10 to 15 minutes. Logic is a bit cumbersome when it comes to that sort of thing. Time is money.
I really wouldn't like it
honestly, i feel comfortable working with reaper, only windows is not good enough, or at least that's what many say and in a few minutes i think it's true. so what i want is to keep working with reaper but on mac, i wouldn't like to work with logic or another daw, i think it's better to perfect and expand my knowledge in reaper before entering another daw, and the website that they pointed me to here doesn't talk about reaper. besides, the most important part for me is the vst, since reaper's commands are almost the same as in windows, so i feel good working on mac. anyway, thanks for your comments.
You're using a built-in sound card, aren't you?
I say that because if you use an actual audio interface, you shouldn't be having this latency you're talking about. If I record midi on Windows, it sounds exactly like I recorded it. There's no delay, I only have to quantize because I messed up, and so on.
On the off chance that you actually *are* using some sort of professional interface, you've got something set incorrectly, if that kind of stuff is happening to you.
None of this is to advise against switching to a Mac, I'm probably switching myself because I'll get access to Logic and its easier looping.Also Reaper and as somebody pointed out above,Ableton Live as well. So you actually have access to more DAWs on Mac than Windows.
I bring up the issues you're having on Windows because if you're not using an audio interface and are in fact using the built-in sound card, Mac is only going to help you so much. Even people working on Mac will tell you to get a real interface.
Yeah, if you're on windows…
Yeah, if you're on windows hardware you'll have some latency for sure. Mac hardware is actually the best, besides audio interfaces for that sort of things, their drivers, just work. However, I'd recommend an audio interface sometime if you want that latency totally gone. If you want an accessible interface, evo is where it's at. Plus there's loopback and loads more you can do with that thing. If you're just wanting like a simple 2 channel, the focusright is good as well. I'm actually thinking about getting the eevo 16 for the work I do and what I'm gunna do soon. You have options my guy. In either case, yeah, mac works better great a lot of daws and let's not forget protools if you really wanna go that route. Mac is fantastic for audio production and a lot of pro studios I've worked in use macs. I haven't really seen a pro studio using windows as their daily drivers if that tells ya anything.
About interfaces and audio cards
I have recorded with a Behringer UM2 audio interface (I know it's cheap and I shouldn't expect the best results) and the result is the same. My Yamaha E463 keyboard has an integrated audio/MIDI interface, so besides serving as a MIDI controller, its integrated audio interface allows me to listen to everything directly on the keyboard speakers, which is very useful, and the result is the same. Another thing is that, using the integrated card of the Mac, I don't know, I know that in Windows you have to use ASIO4ALL to avoid latency but its audio is very bad, and you usually get strange sounds with that program. In any case, I think that what can help the most here is the accessibility of plugins, since a user has posted a message responding in a forum here and he said that, the plugins in Mac with Reaper are accessible at least 90% and that in Windows they are not, which has interested me a lot, because if there is something that you struggle with when producing music, it is the accessibility of the plugins. In any case, thanks for the recommendation.
You might want to check settings.
Before I got an Evo 16, I had a Behringer UMC404-HD. I didn't have latency there either.
I haven't tried recording yet, so I'm sorry I can't tell you about accessible plugins, although keep in mind, it comes down to what you're going to want to use. I'm fairly sure all of the stock things in Reaper are just as accessible on Windows as they are on Mac. Your milage may vary once you get into third party stuff though.
Anyway, my point is that you shouldn't be having this kind of latency, at least with your Behringer, which should have ASIO drivers. Again, this isn't to say you shouldn't switch. I just feel like this is a big part of why you want to switch, and it's an issue that needs to be solved, not some inherent flaw in Windows and the way it handles audio.
You might just decide to switch and not solve it, which is fine. If Mac is doing things you like better and it also solves this issue you're having,that's great. You don't have to fix whatever's going on in Windows. It's just that I think it is something that can be fixed, if you're otherwise happy with Windows.
If it is something in…
If it is something in windows you want fixed, check your buffer size. That's mostly where the problem lies if you're running through an interface. It might be in your interface settings or you'll find it in reaper too.
I prefer GarageBand
Personally, I use GarageBand for my music production. Is it as powerful as alternative such as logic or reaper? No, definitely not. But it’s easy, and it has what I need, and you don’t need to mess around to find things, and it’s free. As long as it can make okay music tracks then I’m okay.