Mac vs. PC, Which Is Better For Audio Production?

Miami breaks down the differences between Mac and PC. What are your favorite features of each? Let us know in the comments!

Tags:Mac,PC,audio production
#Mac #PC #audioproduction

[dgohrndz]

You can purchase 868 copies of Reaper for $52, 112.00

[mikejulian]

ahahaha your transition game kills me. BTW thanks to your video on guitar setups, I ended up looking for and finding a Peterson StroboRack and it just came in :D

[VowofRuin]

The 2013 Mac Pro trashcan with the 8 core Xeon, 64 gb ram, 1 tb nvme, and the amd fire pro D700 set me back ~$400.

Oh, and CoreAudio > windows audio and ASIO.

I can run the same interface on studio one 5 with the same 40-channel project on both my PC and MAC, coreaudio gives me a latency of 16 samples; on windows with ASIO: 256-384 samples.

Apple’s coreAudio system is by far the superior platform.

[jakestechtravels]

The cheese grater mac (the 5k one) is designed for high end video production, would be insane to have for audio production only. Also the M1 chips are still not 100% stable, I have both PC and Mac and my M1 Mbp has issues with hardware and DAW software still (because most still run on Rosetta which is emulating intel to ARM).
Windows is much more stable I feel, but that is just my own experience.

[charlespowell]

My Mac Mini is absolutely silent! I love that about the Mac Mini and I really enjoy using it to record on. Having said that though, my Windows tower out muscles that Mac every day of the week. So the Windows customized tower is what I mix on. I have all my mixing plugins on my Windows machine and it can handle anything. The only problem is that it is just so loud! So I settled on tracking with the Mac Mini and mixing on the Windows tower. Best of both worlds.

[CarlGonzalesGuitar]

You kinda sounded like Stephen A when you're ranting! Good stuff dude!

[Nedvio]

You can't compare Windows vs Mac computers just by specs. The way the OS works and uses resources is also very important.

[alessandrotorres]

Yo Miami, would you recommend a razer blade studio edition or a Microsoft surface?

[Hirokee_]

Im on a monster PC but i gotta say ive been wishing for a mac just to get my hands on Logic and the smooth UI. If only windows is paying any attention to their customers at all.

[bolodmata]

Is there any audio quality difference between Mac and pc? Like if I make music on windows will it be any difference from Mac? Plz let me know thanks!

[jameshayward]

Alright, so basically you're telling me to build a hackintosh? ;P

[devarni]

There are only 2 words... Core Audio ;) Macs are miles ahead if it comes to the important things for music production like low latency and stabilitiy

[LazBeans]

PC vs MAC was is long over. Mac was the only way since Graphic Design and Audio companies designed solely/mostly for Mac. Now its different. Also Mac controlled all the drivers and hardware and PC had issues with open arch and bad 3rd party drivers. Now its more regulated and validated. I started on a PC Pro Tools almost 20 years ago. In 2007 I went to Mac in 2020 I went back to PC with zero issues. There is no wrong choice its what your ecosystem is. If you are a Mac guy then Mac, etc.

[AtelierMarsViolet]

The Zune *squirted* between devices. It was brown and it squirted. You're welcome.

[thatchinaboi]

ASIO has lower RTL using the same buffer settings as Core Audio. Meaning Windows is better than a Mac for latency sensitive situations. DAW Bench has done a number of verified tests to prove this.

[pedrovanzeler]

Reasons why I love my IMac:

- no driver problems

- no faulty installations or programs

- runs smoothly

- better and more inspiring OS, Hardware and GUI (Logic Pro x) (I’m a perfectionist and a lot visual so that helps me to get into the mood, always looking fresh and polished)

- every task is made simple by the OS

- NO COIL WHINE like I had on my PC

- Silent

- AirDrop

- Keychain

And probably a lot more

I used to hate Mac for their prices, and I still think they do overprice their products but I’m using a 2012 i7 24Gb ram iMac on 150 track&bus projects with ease.

The secret is getting it used like I did.
I also do the same with audio gear, I would rather have a good used interface than a shitty new one. I got an Apogee duet 2 for 200 euros and it’s in mint condition and running like it’s out of the box, why would I go for a focusrite or whatever just to get it new?


Edit: I’m not saying it’s better or worse but for me the longevity and those “little” things add up. I used to be a pc master race type of guy, specially when I used to play games on it.

[guylikesguitar]

Came for the comparison, stayed for the likable host.

[HugoRibeiroDrummer]

My mid 2012 MacBook pro still works like a champ! 👌🏻

[millenliam]

Another point should be awarded to macOS for it’s built-in MIDI support. Windows has a single-client MIDI ‘issue’ where only a single application can connect to a MIDI device at any time, unless the device has a custom MIDI driver. This isn’t an issue on macOS - multiple apps can connect to a single MIDI device at the same time. Also macOS has built-in support for virtual MIDI devices which is very useful for inter-app communication; I believe there are 3rd party Windows apps for this but they can be quite convoluted to set up. macOS’s built in network MIDI support is also really useful, but I’ve not used Windows enough to know if it has its own solution for this.

Overall a good comparison though. The biggest reason I use macOS is the consistency points - because Apple make both the hardware and software, in most cases stuff just works - no hardware compatibility issues. Though saying that, I never update to the latest macOS major version until a week before the next one comes out to prevent all the well known software compatibility issues that come with each release!

[shayne]

I'm confused, I've done sooo much research on the M1 macs and it beat specs on last years Mac computers using the Intel i7's, those had more ram as well. I have the M1 Macbook pro and it's been a beast compared to my older iMac i7 (granted that one was multiple years older) but all tests i've seen show the M1 is more efficient than lots of the newer i7's 🤷🏻‍♂️