New Computers to buy - Advice?

[vibrato]

Hi! One and all...

I am planning to change in set up soon. Mainly the computers.

I am going to need some valuable advice from all of you - whatever you can say.

Right now, I have two computers :

1. 2.79 Ghz, Pentium 4 HT, 2GB Ram, Win Xp Home, Pro tools LE 7 (Digi 002 Rack), 120 GB 7200 Rpm HDD, 160 GB 7200 Rpm HDD. Sony Vaio - 2003 Make.

2. 3.02 Ghz, Pentium 4 HT, 1GB Ram, Win Xp Home, Gigastudio Orchestra 3, 160 GB 7200 Rpm HDD, 300 GB 7200 RPM HDD, Sony Vaio - 2004 make.

I have recently started scoring animations and short films. I find that my main recording engine (the first computer) is not up to the challenge anymore. It keeps stopping with video and all of that. Also the one with giga - I can only have two instances of Gigapulse at one point. I am going to do a masters in film and television music from October this year and am head diving to become a film composer. So, any suggestions you give - please keep that in mind.

Is it advisable to buy a laptop and a desktop instead of buying two desktpos?

Plan A: I sell both computers (one its getting old - 3 years) and buy a new Pentium Dual Core with 2 GB or 4 GB (I dont know if thats good) and get fast hard drives. I have three flat screens already - so dont need to buy new ones. One is 3 years old - advisable to let go or keep?

And then buy either a Apple desktop G5 Dual Core - Quad is too expensive if I am already buying a powerful PC. I can still run Pro tools LE 7 on the Mac.

I have a third screen already - so dont have to worry about dual screen.


Plan B: I do the same as above but instead of apple Desktop - I buy Apple Laptop - are these poweful enough?

Plan C: I sell the old desktop Vaio - suffer a bit througout the year with giga and still do stuff with the newer computer. And just buy a poweful G5 Desktop or Laptop.

What else do I need to get going as a film composer in terms of technical equipment in computers?

How are Windows Laptops for film music work? Also Apple? It is advisable for a film composer to buy a Laptop and a desktop instead of two desktops - does it make sense?

This is a LONG mail but I would really appreciate any ideas/help.

Thanks.

Best,
Tanuj.

[PaulR]

I wouldn't bother with a PC right now. They're crap. They're total bona-fide bollocks.

What I would do is wait until maybe the autumn and look at what Apple comes out with visa vi the Intel Powermacs. Maybe they'll be a bit later than that - but making a decision before they come out could result in a financial boo boo.

If you do that, and they turn out to be not as good as I think they will be - then I would look at the Quads, remembering that currently you can't use Powercore on them if that's relevant to you - but that could have changed by then. To slave a PC to a Mac is like putting a fiesta engine in a Rolls.

But the bottom line is - PC's are basically junk.

[DG]

@PaulR said:

I wouldn't bother with a PC right now. They're crap. They're total bona-fide bollocks.

What I would do is wait until maybe the autumn and look at what Apple comes out with visa vi the Intel Powermacs. Maybe they'll be a bit later than that - but making a decision before they come out could result in a financial boo boo.

If you do that, and they turn out to be not as good as I think they will be - then I would look at the Quads, remembering that currently you can't use Powercore on them if that's relevant to you - but that could have changed by then. To slave a PC to a Mac is like putting a fiesta engine in a Rolls.

But the bottom line is - PC's are basically junk.

Ha, ha...... [:D]

DG

[jamriding]

@PaulR said:

I wouldn't bother with a PC right now. They're crap. They're total bona-fide bollocks.

I'm far too polite to say that in so many words but I do tend to agree [[;)]]

[PaulR]

@vibrato said:

I am still evaluating all the suggestions posted here and I thank you for that.
But, I need at least 1 PC to run Gigastudio....But I have just read a couple of days back that apple has revealed a software that enabales Mac users to use Win XP.
Tanuj.

Why would you put Windoze XP on a Mac? Or run Gigastudio? PC's and Windoze are for poor people. Gigastudio will be totally defunct by the time Intel Powermacs happen. Forget all that PC crap.

[DG]

@vibrato said:

I am still evaluating all the suggestions posted here and I thank you for that.
But, I need at least 1 PC to run Gigastudio....But I have just read a couple of days back that apple has revealed a software that enabales Mac users to use Win XP.
Tanuj.

Gigastudio will be totally defunct by the time Intel Powermacs happen.
Actually, you are probably right. I would imagine that most people will be side-grading to GVI.

Oh, and BTW, a Mac is a PC (quickly ducks) [:D]

DG

[PaulR]

@vibrato said:

Paul:

I am not quite sure what you are suggesting here. I can clearly see how frustrated you are with Windows based computers [:)]

But, if I buy Mac - how will I run Gigastudio? I wish I could afford to change my set up completely and buy the Vienna Instruments. But that cant happen.

So, I still need to use Giga. And how do u mean - Gigastudio will be defunt? Is there something new coming out?

Best,
Tanuj.

A crossgrade from giga to say, EXS24 (ten times better than gigastudio) isn't going to cost much I believe. Giga conversions to EXS24 MkII work very well - it all happens in EXS - very simple.
Regarding giga - how many sample manufacturers are now going to bother with making giga libraries in the future? I would suggest - not many.

This is what happens on forums - people ask for advice and when you give it to them - there's somehow always a problem. WAIT - until the Intel Powermacs happen. That is my advice to you. Like I said earlier - if they don't work out - look at the Quads either new or refurbed. Macs hold their prices btw. As to what Daryl says about Macs - try putting the Mac OS on a PC and see what happens.

I would also advise that if you get a Mac - use and learn Logic. You get a mass of things with Logic like Space Designer, Sculptor, loads of instruments that are very good and used all the time in soundtracks, loads of effects and mastering tools like Multicompressor, great channel EQ and so on. And you can load up 16 gigs of ram if you want to.

The only thing worth keeping on my crappo PC is probably the ram. You can wear the rest of it as a hat AFAIC. It's shite.

Edit; And it was especially built and cost 1600 quid.

[Mattias Henningson]

Paul...are you really serious in your answers??? When you posted your first post I was absolutely certain you were joking, but I'm not so sure anymore.

I didn't even want to post an answer as to avoid a Mac/Windows flame war, but this is going beyond sanity... Tanuj is not helped by this type of biased opinions.

The good thing is that while this goes on the rest of us are making music on our Windows machines day in and day out.

/Mattias

[cm]

fellows, also having to notice this in several other threads it seems this meaningless discussions about PC vs. MAC are rather emotional than helpful. many comments remind me on discussions about cars. beforehand a few considerations ...
- macs are built from one maufacturer who can secure all components work together flawlessly
- err, not a single mac is produced by apple, everything is done by third parties who increasingly are using crap parts to meet the monetary pressure
- PCs are built by dozens of manufacturers who are competing to build the best and most performant machines
- err, most of them use the same third parties to assemble their stuff who increasingly use crap parts to meet the monetary pressure.
- OSX and its applications are maintained by a managable number of developers and so make sure all works together without problems
- XP and its applications are maintained by a huge number of developers and so make sure all works together without problems
- obviously both statements are not true
- sometimes or in some cases this platform is one step ahead, next time the other
- for us the question is just to choose the lesser of two evils (IMO)

in both worlds we had and will have to see major changes going on and no matter which machine we decide to pick up today, we will look at it as a bad choice in three months.

regarding the initial post i could only say: cross out plan B. the new laptops are great but still limited to 2 GB RAM, so you are restricted to a certain (lesser) number of loaded instruments.
the G5s seem to have less problems currently to get at least 3,5 GB loaded and a slighly better polyphony in well configured systems.
you have to pay a high price for this though - you can get 2 PCs for the money and so exceed, but you double the trouble and the number of devices to handle.

i'd say get the one you feel more familiar with and does better fit into your existing setup - or you think its more tasty ... you will encounter limits and headache with both.
christian

[chemicalseb]

Christian is right.
Both mac and pc platorms can be great..and can be pain in the ass.
From what i've seen, the weakest link is usually the user.
I personally prefer PCs, mainly because they are cheaper, and I am more experienced with them.
I have seen great top notch PCs crash insanely and mess up just because the user did not know what he was doing.
With PCs you can build one from scratch and have the absolute best parts and have a perfect computer, under a managable price.
I can't really speak about macs as I haven't used one in 3 years. But what seems to be one of their advantages is their design, which i love. But when working on one, I find myself to hate it, mostly because I am so used to Windows. So choosing which one works best for you, like Christian said, is the way to go.
Mac is regarded as the audio industry standard, just like Protools. However, for me protools has been one of the most pain in the ass programs and I hate it. Instead Nuendo has been my ultimate favorite program. I think it's the same between Macs and PCs.
One is regarded as the standard so most people will go toward it, yet the other platform could be just as good, or even better.

But both are good platforms and they appeal to the different ways people think, again, whichever works better for you is the way to go.

I also think the idea of the intel powermacs making windows platforms useless is nonsense. Windows platforms are the leading platforms in gaming and the general consumer market. Since it's the leader in gaming, it will have to have the best graphics, best processors, etc etc, always getting better and faster.

[Ramu]

Hi guys!

I don't want to enter the Pc/mac debate.

I was about to buy somekind of a monster :

Asus K8N-DL
ATX - Opteron - Dual Socket 940 - Chipset NVIDIA nForce4 Pro

2 AMD Opteron 265

6 gigs of ram

4 SATA 10000rpm HD

But I failed!
I don't know what you think but I've figured out that Windows XP limitations would not allow me to use this configuration at its best. I was said that SP is still in 32 bits and makes a 2 gigs limitation by app.
Also, I was planning to get a dual proc with a "simple core" thread. Is it better to take a single proc with a dual core thread?
Of course I guess it's best to get 2 dual cores but I feel it might be useless. What do you think?

[Mattias Henningson]

@Ramu said:

What do you think?

Maybe I'm not seeing the obvious, but what is the "SP" you refer to?

/Mattias

[PaulR]

@Mattias Henningson said:

Paul...are you really serious in your answers??? When you posted your first post I was absolutely certain you were joking, but I'm not so sure anymore.
/Mattias

Partly Mattias, yes. [[;)]]

But I stick to what I said to Tanuj - get on the Mac platform and use Logic with all the extras that go with it.

[Ramu]

@Ramu said:

What do you think?

Maybe I'm not seeing the obvious, but what is the "SP" you refer to?

/Mattias

Sorry I meant windows Xp

[Mattias Henningson]

Ah. There are two different versions of XP, one 32-bit and one 64-bit. The problem with the 64-bit version is that you have to have driver and software support to really gain anything. Currently the only sequencer with a released x64 version is Sonar AFAIK. 32-bit apps works fine in Win64 too, but you still have to make sure 64-bit drivers are there.

The process limitation of 2GB for 32-bit apps can be lifted to 3GB using a configuration change on your system if needed. You can even lift it to 4GB if you run your 32-bit apps on Win64. With your 6GB machine this would definitely be the case and you still have 2GB free for operating system needs. Check the sticky "Memory configuration and VI..." in the Vienna Instruments forum for more information regarding this type of configuration.

If you decide to do the Win64 thing, be aware that you're in the frontline of the development and that you're wearing the guinea-pig dress...

/Mattias

[Mattias Henningson]

@PaulR said:

Partly Mattias, yes. [[;)]]

Thank you. [:)]

/Mattias

[Ramu]

@Mattias Henningson said:

If you decide to do the Win64 thing, be aware that you're in the frontline of the development and that you're wearing the guinea-pig dress...

/Mattias

Ok! I might wait then [;)]

thx for your answer Mattias

[jamriding]

@vibrato said:

...However, ultimately I am more comfortable with Windows...

Well that's as good a reason as any... All the best for your music projects. I just wouldn't hold your breath waiting for the Vista announcement, though. You could be waiting quite a long time... [*-)]

[DG]

@PaulR said:

As to what Daryl says about Macs - try putting the Mac OS on a PC and see what happens.

Not to ignite the flame once more, but NEXT............! [:D]

DG

[weslldeckers]

@Another User said:

I would also advise that if you get a Mac - use and learn Logic. You get a mass of things with Logic like Space Designer, Sculptor, loads of instruments that are very good and used all the time in soundtracks, loads of effects and mastering tools like Multicompressor, great channel EQ and so on. And you can load up 16 gigs of ram if you want to.

The only thing worth keeping on my crappo PC is probably the ram. You can wear the rest of it as a hat AFAIC. It's shite.

Aren't Macs supposed to be more stable and reliable than Windows?
I have used Windows 98, NT, 2000 and now XP, and all it does is crash for the silliest of reasons. I mean: video-editing isn't as hard on the PC anymore as it was during the days of 98 and NT, but it hardly runs any better.
(The downside on Mac is the unfamiliarity and the lack of software. Altough keeping a PC aside might be an idea)

[*-)]:
Paul, could you direct me to the logic site, please? I thought it was www.logic.com but obvisously not as I got a site about vacations or something.
Thanks!