Oh No!

Jabel

Hi all.
Just got some bad news that I'm being made redundant after 24 years in the same company. Tough times ahead I'm sure and I know there are thousands more like me but on the plus side I will surely have more time to concentrate on my songwriting and producing if my better half does not have an endless list of home improvements for immediate attention!
All that said I had been considering moving my PC set up which consists of
Dell Pentium D, Cubase SX3, Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96, Addictive Drums, Kontakt 3, Halion Player, Guitar, Midi keyboard, Bass & Mic over to a Mac DAW running Logic Studio.
I work in the graphics end of the print industry and been using a Mac Power G5 for the past 8 years or so and the thought now of being without it terrifies me. I do all my 'home' projects, CD covers, business cards for pals e.t.c on the Mac and only use my PC for music and email.
My PC continually crashes and has become an object of hatred especially when I enjoy a trouble free working Mac loaded with all the usual Graphics programs running all at the same time. My plan is to use some of my redundancy payment to finance a switch to a Mac Pro Quad core and Logic. Have not decided which front end to use yet but something similar to the Aardvark (which has been brilliant) would be adequate. I have used Line 6 UX2 and liked it a lot although it has no midi but will keep an open mind on anything suitable and stable.
I have about 40-50 songs in various stages of completion at the moment and would like to know how painful such a transition will be? I know I could run Cubase on the Mac and my fear is that I will have to do an awful lot of work to get the Logic projects up to the stage I'm at now but am convinced Logic will run smoother and be more beneficial in the long run. I know it is not the most cost effective option but I may not have the funds available for quite some time if I don't do it with redundo money.

So what do you guys think?
I don't always have the time to check out Boards but will reply to any advice as soon as I can.
Thanks
Neil

trackmixstudio

Mac Pro with Logic is a killer combination.
The new imacs are super fast too and should be able to handle most sessions if you max the ram. Even the laptops are fast enough but be aware that the new macbook has no firewire.
If you have old cubase projects just export all tracks as audio files and import them into logic.
If you need no more than 2 channel recording/playback the Apogee Duet is perfect although with the Mac Pro RME PCIe cards (multiface/digiface) are really fast and trouble free.
If you have any issues switching to logic post here and I should be able to help.

dav nagle

I wouldn't be afraid of making the jump I would be delighted! You wont ever look back up!

madtheory

Maybe you should get the driver conflicts etc. sorted out on the PC, finish those songs, gig them and promote them, sell the album. Get the technology to serve you, rather than spending months transferring to a new system, learning how to use it, and getting annoyed with the music when it's really the technology that's at fault.

Neurojazz

madtheory wrote: »

Maybe you should get the driver conflicts etc. sorted out on the PC, finish those songs, gig them and promote them, sell the album. Get the technology to serve you, rather than spending months transferring to a new system, learning how to use it, and getting annoyed with the music when it's really the technology that's at fault.

+1 - PC can be made stable!

trackmixstudio

"driver conflicts?"
What the hell is that?:p

PaulBrewer

Sorry to hear about your job loss and Kudos for looking at it as an opportunity.
That's a very positive outlook which no doubt gets expressed in your music.

I agree with Trackmix, Mac + Logic = More Time Making Music and Less time doing IT.

Jabel

Thanks for the replies so far
madtheory, you have a point and it raises another important discussion about songwriters who self produce, I don't know about everyone else but I find I spend too much time with all the production end of things and less than I should on simple things like just jamming and letting your playing evolve. The easiest thing to do is to record your piece and put it on loop and chances are you wont go back and redo. Therin lies a paradox of computer recording, though still beats demoing back in the 80's!!
In truth some of my older tracks probably need to be started from the ground up and I'm certainly not afraid of learning to record with Logic, as I've said my experience with Macs is universally positive so much so that I could probably work for Apple's Promo Department.... now there's a thought!
Just want to computer to do what it says on the tin and not to be chasing viruses and conflicts e.t.c As Paul says 'More Time Making Music and Less time doing IT.'
Trackmix, is there a way to get midi information transferred as well as audio? I use Midi a lot and trigger Virtual instruments in Cubase for sounds and may like to hear what's available in Logic before I make audio files out of them.
Thanks
Neil

trackmixstudio

Easy as export/import midi file.
If you don't have the same VIs for the mac you will find logic's included instruments and huge sample library should cover everything you need.
If there are certain instruments critical to the sound just solo them then bounce as an audio file then import into logic.

madtheory

Well, it takes a lot of work to get your ideas into a tangible form, whether you self produce or have someone producing you. This is a good thing

To contradict myself, I found that changing to Pro Tools from Cubase forced me to finish stuff, and discard the material that was not up to scratch.

Just the change can breathe new life.

As has been said, you just bounce out each audio file, and export a MIDI file, then import that lot into Logic.

It's a bit of a PITA exporting individual tracks from Cubase, you have to do a "mixdown" for each track. There's no consolidate type feature like Pro Tools and Logic have.

PMI

PC's can be 100% stable mine are both live and home....

Dont throw your PC out yet, keep it as a VSTi host and +++++1 for Logic on MAC

Come to the darkside luke

Rockshamrover

Logic all the way Jabel.

Best of luck with it.

frobisher

PC's can be rock solid. Mine was/is. Although I'm mid migration to Logic on Mac so I'm not blind to their benefits. Computers don't make music, people do. YMMV

As for writing v production. Find what what genuinely works for your modus operandi and stick to it. Very hard to do but discipline rewards! I've gone through a long spurt of purposefully avoiding any intense recording and concentrating on writing. Now I'm going to start recording those songs. I find the songwriting suffers if I do it while I produce at the same time. Best of luck!