elerouxx wrote:arkham00 wrote:Have you noticed how cool the admin is ? He did it without problems!
Thank you for your support!
And then I said it was a Notion for Windows problem and got no further reply.
All of you guys use macs?
QUESTION: Did you follow the specific procedure?
MAC vs. Windows
I do everything on a 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.7.2 (Lion), and the main advantage when doing digital music production is that the computer and its operating system are designed by one company (Apple) with the primary goal of the hardware and operating system working correctly as a Gestalt . . .
This does not happen in the Windows universe by design, since Microsoft focuses on the operating system and a handful of essential hardware drivers, while third-party vendors focus on specific hardware and its drivers, which is made all the more variable by computer manufacturers having yet another primary focus . . .
Another key factor is quality, where everything on a Mac is the highest quality, but component quality varies greatly in the Windows universe . . .
In other words, Apple designs and builds the entire system, but this is not what happens in the Windows universe, because there is no single manufacturer for the entire system . . .
DELL might design and build the computer, but DELL does not design and build the operating system, and when the specific computer is used for digital music production yet another set of criteria come into play, where once again there are variations depending for example on the third-party manufacturers who design and build sound cards and sound card hardware drivers . . .
If you know enough about hardware and operating systems, and have the time to do the required work, then anything is possible, but I suggest that it is easier in the Apple universe because the hardware and operating system specifically are designed as a unit, where for example the audio hardware on a Mac is designed specifically to work with Mac OS X Core Audio, and vice-versa, where if Apple decides that Core Audio needs to do something, it includes whatever it might be in the design specifications for the audio hardware . . .
Microsoft tried to do the same thing beginning with Windows Vista, where initially there were vastly detailed specifications for every aspect of a Windows logo compliant computer, which for audio at the highest quality level required computer manufacturers and sound card manufacturers to do extensive testing with highly specialized and very expensive audio test equipment, but the requirements were so stringent and the audio test equipment was so expensive that the computer manufacturers and audio hardware manufacturers revolted and protested so much that Microsoft eventually relented and made exceptions in the form of different levels of compliance, delaying other more stringent requirements, and so forth and so on, which is where all the Basic, Home, Business, Ultimate, and so forth levels of Windows Vista came into play, but even when a machine was certified as being Windows Ultimate compliant, there were no guarantees . . .
Explained yet another way, every Windows machine is a hodgepodge of hardware and software from a virtual festival of vendors, and there is no high-level coordination of anything . . .
There are variations among Apple computers, but the variations primarily are focused on specific processors, memory, video cards, and hard drives, but even then everything is designed and specified by Apple so that the computer has everything it needs to be the highest quality in every respect . . .
Some of the hardware on Apple computers is similar or in some instances exactly the same as hardware one finds on high-end Windows machines, which certainly is the case with video hardware, but the hardware drivers are not identical, and while everything might look similar, this does not map to its actually being identical in every respect . . .
If you know enough about hardware, then you certainly can design an excellent computer for running Windows, and everything might work wonderfully, but if there are problems, then best wishes on getting any specific company (Microsoft or any of the third party hardware vendors and computer manufacturers) to accept accountability and responsibility for everything working correctly as a Gestalt . . .
Yet another great aspect of Apple computers is that it is not necessary to know much of anything about the hardware, because it "just works" . . .
For example, last week I removed the original 320GB internal drive that came with the Mac Pro and replaced it with a 2TB 7,200 RPM Seagate Barracuda internal drive, and while doing this I noticed that the Mac Pro has a video card, probably one made by ATI based on the graphic design and colors, but so what . . .
So what!
Why do I need to know that?
I suppose it is an interesting thing to know, and now I know it, but so what . . .
So what!
The Mac OS X 10.7.2 "System Report" indicates that the video card is an "ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT", which is fine with me . . .
The key bit of information is that when I was doing stuff in the Windows universe I could tell you exactly which components where in the machines, since I specified everything and assembled the computers myself, which in some respects was a bit of FUN, but I never could get all the digital music production software to work, because there always was something that was not happy in one way or another, and after messing with it for entirely too long and spending lots of money but accomplishing nothing I decided for a variety of reasons to switch to the Mac, and although it was a bit odd for the first few months the great thing about Apple computers is that they are born knowing what to do, which for me maps to not needing to mess with a bunch of computer hardware stuff . . .
The only hardware drivers I need to check every once in a while are the ones for the MOTU 828mkII and MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid, but this only happens when Apple releases a new operating system version, although it usually is installed automatically when MOTU does an update to Digital Performer . . .
For reference, I have a degree in Computer Science, so I understand all this stuff, but I have no specific interest in it and really prefer to know only what cannot be avoided, since my primary focus is digital music production . . .
If there is no way to avoid it, then I can put on the Computer Science hat and delve into everything in extraordinary detail, but it is something I do only when there is no way to avoid it, because it has nearly nothing to do with music, and since it has nearly nothing to do with music, it is a vast distraction . . .
Summarizing, there is nothing particularly bad about the Windows universe, and there are some good aspects, but in the grand scheme of everything if your goal is to focus on digital music production without having to mess with annoying computer stuff, then I suggest that it is vastly easier to do it on a Mac, because all the highest quality stuff is there from the beginning, and it works, which is fabulous . . .
Fabulous!
