Kara-Moon Forum

So, I'm a dyed in the wool Windows guy.  My very first computer was a Commodore VIC20 (anyone remember those?) WAY back when.  Graduated to a Commodore 64, and after that we got our first IBM PC.  From then on, it's been all Microsoft all the time for me.  And it still is.  I have a powerful Windows 7 machine that I do my "real" work on (AutoCAD, Revit, blah blah blah) that was also doubling as my DAW workstation.  But in taking the next step with my "home studio" and having recently acquired my XF8 and starting piano lessons, my wife generously offered an unused room we have in the house that she had the rights to, for me to use as a independent studio away from my regular office.  And she was gung-ho to also encourage me to get a Mac to go with it.  I'd been careful to only acquire soft synths and a DAW that would eventually be Mac compatible, so I was set in that regard.

Anyway, I finally did it, and am now in my own dedicated studio in the house.  It's really a rather beautiful thing, and without having to use my DAW computer for different work related tasks, it also has made certain software instruments work MUCH better (namely Native instruments Kontakt and Reaktor, which I really had some drop out issues with on my Windows machine--I'm sure I could have solved it somehow, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet).

I'm very much enjoying learning the Mac so far.  It's different... WAY WAY different, but in many ways, that difference is very very welcome, especially in the audio production realm.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Windows guy--I mean I have to be.  My job requires it, and for what I need to do it's the only way to go, but I really am enjoying the iMac so far as well.  I'm glad I took the leap.  It feels weird, but it's fun too.

For those interested my specs are as follows:

27" iMac w/ quad core i7 intel processor
8 GB RAM
1TB HD (already have an external drive hooked up to it, as that first TB goes quick!).
DAW : Cubase 6 (although I will be looking more seriously at Logic as time goes on)
Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Superioir Drummer 2.0, Komplete 7, Halion 4.
Final Cut Pro X (for when I finally get off my butt and make some "music videos" of my stuff).

Just so everyone knows... I'm not trying to sell anyone on a Mac.. and the last thing this post is meant to do is ignite a PC versus Mac debate.  Please... please don't!  :)  I just thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone would like to discuss.  ::shrug::

Oh, and all my respect to you Linux guys.  I'm just not ambitious enough to go down that route, but hey I got a Mac... so you never say never.  :)

Oh, and did I mention that I have the best wife EVER!  :)  14 years and counting!

Heh - congrats man! :- Sounds like a great system. My live laptop is a mac with Live and I do like how it just works. Having said that, my Win 7 desktop runs my daw just fine so even though I'm lusting a bit after those iMacs, I can't really justify getting one at the moment. :) Seems like we have a lot of the same software: cubase 6, NI Komplete and Omnisphere. If you'd like to do a collab one of these days let me know, at least project exchanging should be easy. :-

I began my computer experience with Mac, then migrated to Windows because of my brother's association with Microsoft. Once I'd had enough of Slippery Bill toying with my emotions, I switched to Linux, for good, apparently.
MacIntosh software served me well for those first couple of years, though... :)

Aahhhhrrrr, I'm jealous... not for the wife (11 happy years and counting) but for the Mac  ;D

I'm having the attic for my work and studio so plenty of room for a Mac. If it wasn't for the fact that Sonar is Windows only, I would immediatly get myself a mac.

I just love their new 27" thunderbolt display and am melting for the 27" iMac or any other Mac connected to that thunderbolt display. I'm wondering how well Sonar would run in a virtual windows environment on a Mac (?). But for now... I just keep on dreaming  ;)

Moon

Ah yes, that reminds me: I've always been curious about the fan noise of those iMacs since you're working right in front of them. In shops its hard to hear them over the other people, but can you give me an indication? I imagine they're louder when you're running CPU intensive tasks.

That's actually another of its strong points.  It's the quietest computer I now own, or perhaps have ever owned.  Being someone who's used to having the traditional windows desktop computers, that was one of the things about my office that I didn't like for a studio.  I have two computers in my office and the fans are just too noisy.

My new studio is EXTREMELY quiet.  I can't hear the iMac at all most of the time.  In fact, I've only really "heard" it so far when I need to put in a DVD-ROM.  The most intense workout I've put it through so far is some video editing and processing in Final Cut Pro, and although it certainly can get hot (which from what I've read is normal), it's still as quiet as a mouse.  There IS a fan in the machine, and it's regulated by the OS, but I haven't really heard it yet.  Granted, I'm not playing uber high performance games on the machine for hours at a time, nor do I have plans to, my studio is air conditioned, and and my work with Cubase so far seems less intensive (in terms of resulting heat) than the video editing stuff I was doing. 

So the short story is that so far, aside from it's accessing the DVD disc drive, it's been refreshingly quiet.  It's part of what makes the studio so damn nice now compared to my office.

Congratulations of your new DAW, new studio and understanding missus!

In my opinion, no matter what base OS you use, as soon as you can afford to dedicate one machine to absolutely nothing but music you should do so and strip out all the other crud. It always seems to make a massive difference to performance and stability.

Being fortunate enough to have a room you can also dedicate to music is also a great asset. Apart form the convenience of having everything set up ready to go at the flick of a switch, there is the psychological lift you get when going in to the music room.