Re: keyboard workstation vs. controller + PC for the hobbyist composer

On Apr 18, 9:10 pm, Hank <hanky...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:42:23 -0700 (PDT), LuigiSemenzato

One of the biggest problems I see in corporations is that IT
departments create an image of the hard disk and install same on all
PCs.  Officially Windows "supports" this practice, but it rarely
results in an OS install that is as stable as if Windows is properly
installed, individually, on each PC.  This is because Windows itself
detects subtle hardware differences and configures drivers
appropriately.  Even if the PC model number is identical, there can be
subtle manufacturing differences (even in chipset versions) that cause
enough variation to weaken the stability of images created on one PC
and loaded on a "similar" one.  Most of the time, IT folks test the
image by loading it up.. to them, if it boots up, it means all is
well.  Never mind the fact that driver and configuration settings are
not the way they would be had they just installed the OS from scratch.

My observation has been that the majority of the "windows bugs" people
experience are in some way attributable to this problem.  Buy a PC
with the OS installed from a reputable vendor and I think you will
find Windows to be remarkably stable.

That's an interesting observation. It turns out I've never had to use
a
"corporate" PC. Of my last 3 Windows PCs, two were custom-made and I
installed XP myself. One (for the family) was an HP with preinstalled
OS. The HP is the one that gave me the most problems, possibly
because it was the one that got used the most.

True, but my fear is that you will notice when your CPU maxes out on
simple patches for the synth you really want to use, when you go to
the synth vendor forums and see the nightmares the Mac users are
experiencing in comparison to the PC version of the plug-in.  Remember
the out of box experience Apple provides becomes completely irrelevant
when you begin using music plug-ins, because most times the Mac
version of the plug-in is written as an after-thought / ported
product, where the original code was written for PC.

I can believe that.

I have never used Pro Tools, nor have I even tried Logic.  I use FL
Studio which is a picturesque example of usability and slick
user-interface design.  I have seen videos of Logic and my general
impression was that it looks like a capable enough piece of software,
as does Ableton Live, Sonar, Cubase etc..  but in none of them do I
see the usability and overall "fun factor" that FL Studio provides.

I will eagerly look into FL Studio.

 As I mentioned
before, a fair amount of computing power is attainable in upper-end
Macs, but the price tag is often 2-3 times what a faster PC set up
costs.  What's worse, even at the high-end of Macs, the hardware is
always a year or two behind what's available on the PC.
4.  The really talented programmers of synth software (and believe me,
that means everything and is possibly more important than the three
reasons that preceed it) seem to prefer the PC as a platform.  Perhaps
it is the openness of possibilities and the fear of investing in a
platform that Apple controls so tightly, or maybe it's the platform
they cut their teeth on, I'm not sure.

A high-end synth workstation might just provide the best out of box
experience, due to the self-contained nature and the lack of
dependency on a separate computer.  I have considered this route more
than once, it's just that as my skills have expanded with soft-synths
I feel like I would need a room full of hardware to achieve the same
diversity of instruments, editing capabilities and so forth.

Yes, I considered that for a while, but I figured, like you did,
that a PC would be a vastly more flexible tool.

I'll look at FL Studio and see if there are any good-looking, quiet
PCs out there. Thanks and take care!

Luigi
.

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