Hey fellow members

Is it worth it to install Windows on a Macbook pro? I study Music Technology and Production, and for lots of composing projects I just feel like I need the 'real deal' kind of plugins to actually make for example a proper sounding orchestra composition. The thing is tho, Windows seems to be an Operating System which is still lots and lots more popular than OS X when it comes to illegal plugins. I genuinely want to pay for my plugins, but right now the poor student i am I can't afford it, yet i feel like I do need the plugins. If you were in my situation, what would you do? Is it worth it to install Windows on a Mac, just so that I can have some really good plugins to work with for my school projects and once I've got enough money switch back to OS X and pay for it or not?


Also, will a Mac run just as smooth on windows as it runs on OS x?


Thanks in advance, and a merry xmas!

 

Merry Xmas. First off, Windows on Mac runs well of you use Bootcamp. If any, the only problem is rebooting every time you need to switch OSs.

As of plugins, they are as efficient on Mac and PC. Of course, there are some Mac exclusive or Windows exclusive plugins that make the other side drool, but in general terms, all the main plugin manufacturers have released for both platforms, and they have properly been cracked. It is just a matter of digging properly.

However, it OS not the plugins that make the producer. It is the other way around, indeed. If you NEED certain line of cracked plugins to get your job done, you are not learning the skills to be the next big star. Indeed, any major DAW (which offers student discounted package deals) will come with a complete set of processors to go with it. For instance, a compressor is just that. Nevermind if it comes dressed up as an API or a Neve channel strip, if you know how to work a compressor, you can make them all sound the way YOU intend. The default plugins of all major DAWs are awesome to work with. If you are already on the Mac, Logic's tools cover almost every aspect out of the box.

Finally, I'm not playing moralistic here nor do I intend to preach anything. I'm just suggesting you try to focus on what really matters: Get you mixing and producing chops polished in your school. If are in a school, you can try different operating systems and compare. It's true, but in the end, like I said before, a processor is just a processor.

 

Hey thanks mercury for the quick response. I agree default plugins that come in the box are fabulous, and I use them a lotttt. I'm working in ableton by the way, and i absolutely love its autofilter, compressor, and eq. But i was more referring to VST plugins. I know operator or analog sound amazing and you can do really cool things with it. But I have to compose a lot of music for movies, commercial breaks and stuff related to that. And i feel really limited only using opensource VST's or plugins that come with ableton. I'm more of a composer than a mix engineer, so tools like VST's are crucial in my writing process. I've tried to write some big rich orchestra composition, but when I was comparing my work with work from my classmates their sound was just so much better. Like you could literally hear they were using these 600 dollar industry standard high quality samples. Also their compositions where way more advanced than mine simply because they had more tools to crazy and creative with than i did.

It's not that i have massive amounts of spare time to dig around the internet searching 2 days to get a certain vst plugging. (If someones willing to share his plugin folder with me that would be great :p )
Right now, it just feels like i have a guitar with only 1 string I could do fun stuff with 1 string, but yeah ....

Thanks again for your time.

 

Use BootCamp to install Windows, then use SharpKeys to swap the CTRL and COMMAND assignments on the keyboard. (Have to do left and right side). This way your function are the same for Mac and Windows.

 

Hey ovalff, thanks for your response although i didn't understand all of it. Do you mean that if your run windows on a Mac it loses some of its performances? Also it's not that I want to switch to windows just because there is certain software that only supports windows and i want to try, it's more like me not having the time to search weeks and weeks on the internet for certain plugins. I understand lots of you like to try out different things, and I think it's a good thing to know your way around other daws and plugins that they may use in different studios. But when I usually find something that works for me, i stick around with it.

Thanks for those tips, they're really useful. Are you macbook user that runs OS X and windows on the same system? If yes, do you like it?

 

no

 

I don't get the point... if you want to use "try before buy" software nearly all the stuff is available for both platforms and logic x is a fantastic DAW... You will spend more time tweaking windows on mac than downloading some stuff..

 

Ok, Fast recipes: I'll refer to those I've tried and liked. Although I have to tell you, I am at one point in my life where simplicity in the tools clears my workflow. Having too much of too many manufacturers makes it difficult to decide what to use, and you never learn all the tools that well. At least for myself, I learned about lots of little things not one thing learned well. This is alias of the best I'm my experience:

- Waves 9.x suite
- Softtube, complete suite
- Nomad Factory
- T-Racks
- the always ubiquitous Native Instrments Kontakt 4.22 and 5.1
- Overloud

I might be missing others, but these should give you lots of power under the good of your VST engine. However, I've never used the VST versions, only RTAS for Pro Tools. They should be ok, though.

 

Every plugin you need is available as AudioUnit.

 

There are definitely mac warez sites (I know a few), and mac audiowarez sites (like audioz). x-platform DAWS like Reaper, etc which can load mac VST/AU. FL beta is a WS/CX port, so you can only run windows VSTs on it.

As has been said before, most of the big devs make their plugs for mac/pc, but if you have any u use which are PC only, you may be SOL unless you find an alternative (or run win VSTs on mac, which can be tricky).

You can bootcamp (but why run windows when you have a mac?) or virtualize (realtime stuff may get laggy, please chime in if you have ne experience with this)

The mac audio foundation is generally more solid from my impressions. CoreAUdio/CoreMIDI is mostly what you need. On windows, you have WASAPI, WINMME, ASIO, etc.

 

Sorry for my late response, I've been kinda busy. Thanks for all the responses though, I think i know enough