I'm Window user and tending to buy a new Macbook Pro M4 Pro. Many people around me said that "Mac is better for music production/mixing than Window" and my window laptop is gonna broken soon so I want to make a switch. However, most of my plugins are from sister site. I don't have much experience with Mac's stuffs but I'm afraid that there are a lot of plugins can not be used on Mac (or required Audiogridder/Crossover, which I believe that's not so effiecient), especially on the new OSX Sequoia. I'm not sure how to check that they are usable on the new Macbook system before buying. It would be great if anyone could confirm what plugins are compatible (and how).

Please advise me about my switching decision. Here is my most use plugins list:
Mixing Plugins:
1. Waves
2. Pluggin Allience
3. Soundtoys
4. Acustica
5. Pulsar Audio
6. Ozone, RX
7. T-Racks 6
8. Softube
9. D16
10. Valhalla
11. Neural DSP
12. Fabfilter
13. Arturia Fx
14. Output
15. Melodyne

VSTi:
1. Arturia V Collection
2. Keyscape/Omnisphere
3. Kontakt
4. Roland instrument
5. East West Play
6. Diva
7. Serum
8. Arcade

Is it worth to switch to Macbook? or should I stay in window and upgrade my laptop instead to preserve the plugin usage?

 

Almost everything in that list can be used on a Mac with no workarounds or hacks. The "problems" will be Soundtoys, Neural DSP, East West Play, and Arcade (works but just about as well as on Windows). You can run Windows versions of most "problems" via Crossover+Audiogridder = Crossgridder using just the Mac, Parallels Desktop, or you can use Audiogridder with both machines connected via ethernet cable.

With Audiogridder, the Windows plugins will be "served" to the Mac DAW with an Audiogridder instance, as a plugin. All the DSP cpu usage will be offloaded onto the Windows laptop.

Arcade is its own problem.

 

thanks for your advise.

So this means they can be found on sister site and work well right?

If i use just the Mac, does it have any issue with the performance? I saw someone here said the audiogridder make the plugin uses more CPU power. And it would be nice if you have a tutorial how to install the Win version on Mac

 

1) can be found on Sister Site
2) virtualization always uses more CPU resources. That by no means is to say that the same thing running via Crossgridder on a Mac M4 Apple Silicon machine will run like it does on your current PC. That depends on how fast the Windows machine you are currently running is. None of the plugins you are asking about which might need to be run virtualized are all that heavy on CPU to begin with. But they are iLok'd.

 

Guys, I have to ask this, I've been reading the forum for weeks and I love how everyone is super helpful. And I just created an account to ask what is sister site, sorry for being a dummy :D

 

If you don't want to use Crossover Audiogridder, stay with Windows.
You will get WAY more releases.

Check sister site : windows softwares are DOUBLE than Mac.
This is simple.

Another point : Apple is locking software installation more and more, each year.
Downgrading from Sequoia seems harder than ever ... may be impossible now.

So YES, OSX is a good OS.
But Apple behavior is becoming problematic for music production, especially with scene releases.

 

Just going to set the record straight here. Those who are telling you this are obvious apple fanboi's/grls. The truth is, as far as audio or video production goes, there is zero difference between the two platforms from a "getting work done" or "final product" standpoint. Apple computers tend to come with, for the most part, quality hardware builds which is understandable given apples' very controlled and proprietary nature. On the PC side when building new machines its the wild wild west as far as what hardware components can be used to build the thing. HOWEVER, given the use of quality hardware in a build for the PC side, the PC platform vs apple is nil. The final crux of the biscuit only being which OS you will be more comfortable using day to day. The platforms wars were over a long time ago and nobody won.

I will say this, something that no one seemed to shed a foot-candle of light upon thus far - while the apple system is more tightly integrated to their hardware, the proprietary nature of apple corp will make using stuff from the sisite much more of an uphill battle than you're used to on the PC side. Just fyi... In the end you can obviously do what you want. Personally I am not a fan of either platform.

 

Last edited: Feb 6, 2025