Why I Don't Use A Mac  

A quick note about keeping the inside of a computer dust free (because although this video was cool I don’t really care much about the Mac vs PC debate). If the inside of the case is dust free after all that time it’s because the system was designed with intake fans that pull in slightly more air than the outgoing fans push out. This leaves the inside of the case with a slight positive pressure which tends to, over time, push out any dust lying around. That’s a nice touch by Carillon. 👍

Sorry, I'm still not convinced that Dan isn't powering his studio with some kind of hyper advanced alien technology, but this was a nice attempt at throwing us off the trail. 😁

can i just point out how epic Dan's voice sounds on a home theater system?

im 40 seconds in, and I just have to say that I love how you're able to set the perfect mood with your music

The files management, the retro compatibility of ancient software and the fact you can update every single piece of hardware.. it's something I could never live without. And when your PC is totally outdated you can place your OS hard drive (with all your softwares) in a new machine and everything works fine. It's just insane.

Not being able to upgrade or repair macs is what got me to switch. IMO the last good mac was the 5.1 cheesegrater.

Dan Worrall is so good at music production he can make compelling technical videos about operating systems.

Congratulations on the new system! Hope you'll have lots of productive and inspirational hours/days/years with it.

This video is very important for every person that is pursuing to be a musician / sound engineer. It really shows you the choices you have with different OSes and lets you take an informed decision based on your preference, and not by some peer pressure bs. Thank you Dan! People need this clarity. And as for the people that are reading this comment, if you're on the look out for a new computer, here is my general advice. If you've grown up with a specific OS, STICK TO IT. You know that OS better than the other. Its easier to make your way around it, especially if you get to troubleshooting and tinkering(assuming you do that). Please don't get influenced by your peers and mentors. The same goes for your DAW choice. Its what's important to "you" that matters. After all you are gonna use it, not they.

Always reassuring to see a large Noctua fan behind a good air cooler. The best combo for low maintenance, longevity and minimal noise. Great choice.

I remember seeing Carillon ads in Future Music magazine. I never actually pulled the trigger, but it did inspire me to build one version of my pc into a rack mounted case. As my storage needs increased and I was using my pc for more and more tasks, not just audio, I outgrew that box - I’m happy to hear they are still on the go and making real engineers happy Best of luck with it Dan!

I think it's really cool that music production professionals are even talking about Linux at all. There has been a gigantic effort recently to make the user-facing software more polished and easy to use, and that is only going to get more intense as it keeps picking up steam. It would be so cool if mainstream Linux distros stop being perceived as operating systems exclusively meant for comp-sci nerds, and instead are instead seen as regular competitors to Windows and MacOS.

I switched to apple silicon in 2020. Not looking back. Works better than any pc I ever owned or built.

Love Quicksand, Dan. I used to be one of those who erroneously thought Apple “took care” of Mac users. The wool fell away when I got into 4K video editing and learned the best cost and performance options were to build my own pc. I’ll never look back. Thanks, as always!

I switched to a MacBook Air M1 2 years ago and run Logic Audio after years using a PC running Cubase. Switching to the MacBook was the best thing I ever did. It works for me and that’s what’s really important.

Dan, you are the man! Thank you for everything you do for music! I’ve learned a ton from your work over the years. Please keep doing your thing! 🤟

since I understand computers roughly how Dan understands audio, here's few brief comments on the topic: 1) advantage of CoreAudio is, it has built-in audio device aggregation capability, MIDI device access to multiple apps, MIDI over ethernet native capability (Windows users can use rtpMIDI and loopMIDI for similar result, but can only dream about being able to use multiple audio and MIDI interfaces across multiple apps simultaneously without hiccups) 2) serious disadvantage of Apple Silicon Macs is push towards DriverKit drivers, which are inferior to standard kernel extensions in a way audio interface driver has no longer direct kernel access and priority over any other processes running on a MacOS, RME recently did a video on the topic, it's basically a dead-end for professional audio work on Mac (and meets expectations of Macs slowly devolving to iPads) 3) for audio work, consistent sustained performance is what matters, and also minimum bloat (including useless features and connectivity on computer's motherboard), spec shown in the video (i7-13700KF, 32GB ram, RTX 3050, two SSDs) is more than enough for 99% audio users - that said I'd arguably suggest i7-13700K without "F" which has integrated graphics that could be used for video encoding/decoding acceleration or as a backup in case of dedicated graphics card failure 4) rack PC cases are somewhat rare, but it's not true rackmounted computer is not user-friendly, in fact you can get a rack shelf with rails (computer racks are usually deeper than pro-audio racks, so depends on studio desk/rack) and comfortably slide computer for easy maintenance (just be sure there's enough counterweight and attached cables long enough or detach them)

Hi Dan. As usual, thanks for this very instructive video. I'm 100% with you on the PC / Windows choice for stability and versatility. I also keep my PCs as long as I can. My last PC is also 8 years old, and can still run a huge number of tracks and plugins under Reaper / Windows 10. So no real need to upgrade. I just want to share a little tip here for those who think that their PC is beginning to die : sometimes, you just have to renew the internal 3V CMOS battery fixed on the motherboard. By experience, a low battery often induces very strange unsual behaviors that could make you think that some of your hardware is dying. They usually last for 5 to 8 years. So it could be a good inexpensive test to change the CMOS battery before going further.

I used PCs for audio forever, even though I'm a developer by trade. For me, having all of those *nix tools really do make my life easier, which I discovered when my company bought me a fancy Mac. I've gotten really used to having a similar platform for audio work and proper work. But you can do great work on any platform.

I'm now on my 3rd Carillon pc. In my experience their customer support is excellent and the PC's are fast and reliable. Recommended!

As a computer-guy - I think your take is pretty much spot on. There is no "best" OS - it always depends on use-cases. For development, testing and running server-side business applications, Linux has definite advantages I wouldn't to live without. For private, general use - there are drawbacks. And for business-cases using desktop applications, it's never really been competitive. I personally strongly prefer not to be locked into a single-vendor ecosystem and to have backward-compatibility, which is why I use Windows with integrated WSL for doing Linux-stuff. But there are many use-cases where Macs are perfectly fine, and in general, they usually offer better usability to less tech-savvy users. To me, that would still not be worth locking yourself into their ecosystem and paying the "premium brand" cost for similar performance... but I naturally respect when others prefer having the level of cross-device integration that is possible with a single-vendor ecosystem.

Hey Dan! Hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to tell you that "Quicksand" track is amazing!! Keep it up…

Great PC, Dan! I sincerely hope you are doing well! Thank you for the new video.

I second that as a user of both Apple's M1 16gb ram MBP & i7 12700K 32gb ram. I do most of my production on Windows, an only use MBP when I travel and feel creative

your videos are endlessy entertaining. that said, i've used Mac for more than 20 years, i'm the computer version of "i just want to drive to the shops", and never had any problem. i don't understand anything you're talking about in the part where you go on about installing drivers and stuff, i just want to turn it on and start to create (i am a video editor and a musician since the end of last century), and i want to only think about the creative stuff. so i guess mac is designed for people like me, i say this with no pride or shame, just facts.

Freaking love listening to basic waveforms. What a lovely backing track to this video

To each his own. I was on PC for a long while and hated MAC. I had bought 3 PC laptops that all failed within 2 years. Then I bought a Mac book Pro which still works. 2007. Then mac mini with the DVD drive, still works. I have 2 "cheesegrader" Mac Pros working just fine. I know many people don't like how the Apple ecosystem works but I bought a MBP 10 core MBP and everything just works together. Still using the 5,1 and its operating fine.

That's a really nice Reaper set-up you have, Mr Worrall. Thanks for everything you do. Keep up the good work.

I am an “old-timer” having worked and developed in computer-based media since the OpCode, Sound Designer and related sequencer days before digital audio in any modern sense. Anyway, I mostly use NVidia H100 based Linux PC’s for AI Deep Learning and related development, Mac for many things including DAW work (mostly in Reaper) and PC’s for Pyramix (for DSD), Reaper and various other digital media things. In any case, I agree that OSX buries and isolates things in such a way that if you do {and I have) have deeper audio chain issues, they can be a real pain to address. I have used Mac’s since my first Lisa and 128K, but I have moved to Merging fanless rack PC’s for much of my mission critical studio work (and a dedicated M3 Mac running nothing but critical audio software). I am glad to learn about Carillon as a good option to Merging (now Merging/Neuman). Thanks!

New PC cool! Looking forward to more videos, you're the best.

Hey Dan, I'm a big fan of all your videos and love to keep binging them because of your precision in geeking out about sound and explaining what's going on! I know I'm not a good representative of the majority of your audience, but I do have some suggestions I'd personally like to see on your channel, and maybe others would too, and I'd be honored if you made a video on any of these suggestions. Anyway, here are some of the topics I'd like you to cover more in future videos: - Diving into more creative effects like various kinds of waveshapers and nonlinear filters, extreme filtering like flangers and phasers, vocoders and other spectral processors, and etc. I'd especially like to see you talk about your favorite creative effects and/or your favorite uses for specific creative effects - Talking about various types of synthesizer plugins and various techniques you use to dial in certain sounds, and maybe talking about your favorite synthesis methods to work with, like subtractive, additive, wavetable, fm, granular, etc - Breaking down free plugins like the kilohearts essential snapins or the melda free plugin collection or other miscellanous ones like plugins from ChowDSP, and talking about how well designed and good sounding they are compared to significantly more expensive plugins of the same category - More philosophical talks about the creative process and maybe some approaches to overcoming writer's block and/or developing a song further when you're not quite sure where to take it To be fair, I absolutely love your videos that geek about plugin design in the context of mixing a track, and I also love the various videos you make discussing various techniques for approaching a mix. However, given that there's so much more to music than just mixing and polishing material you've already written, I'd love to see more videos from you discussing various other aspects of music, especially since I look up to you so much for your no bullcrap, straight to the point, practical and direct approach to thinking about audio and discussing audio to other people. Whatever content you decide to create in the future, I wish you all the best working with your brand new computer! I can't wait for whatever you're cooking up next!

I’ll never return to PC and Windows when it comes to music production. I switched to mac a couple of years ago and I don’t think one day goes by without me thinking about how glad I am that I switched. I don’t miss ASIO, annoying fans, crackling audio, poor performance, high latency. They are all pure inspiration killers.

i usually have to go over Dan's videos twice. The information given is gold, but I do get distracted by the music/soundtrack arrangements, and I say that as a compliment. The acoustic guitar ending is brilliantly arranged.

I worked in IT and always had PC’s usually built by me. However when my kids started to use a computer, I got totally sick of constantly having to fix the PC. It was then that I bought a Mac for the kids, and no more PC support at home. Macs are closed proprietary systems, have less apps available for them and generally less tweaking and customisation is available. I switched to a Mac for studio use and haven’t looked back. The computer just works, is a tool for the job. There is a premium to be paid for macs and the inability to upgrade hardware (ssd, memory) is a disadvantage. In the end use what you’re comfortable with, turn off automatic software updates, and make music.

Spot on. Dan.

very happy with m1 macbook air, today marks my first year with it. I would probably chosen a windows laptop if such combination of cpu power, battery life and dead silent operation existed in pc world, but it doesn't. It's my main studio machine and it allows working for hours in case of a power outage or blackout.

The dust free thing just depends on if you are running a positive or negative pressure fan set up (or neutral tbf). Positive means that no dust can get inside any gaps, and the only way for air to get in is through the filtered intake. Negative literally sucks dust into your system, so is usually avoided (it's also argued it has worse thermal performance due to less air being inside at any one given time to cool the components.

Every word!! Exactly the same experience! Thanks!

a second hand macbook air M1 is something every Audio Person should have, it is that good. i know plenty Audio engineer mac haters that have one now.

Gotta love Dan's pragmatism. Pick whatever tools get out of your way so you can get stuff done :) I'm a full time software developer and have used Linux as my main desktop PC for around a decade, but have done very little music production on it because the audio stack is a total mess. I've talked to a few folks who've gotten low-latency audio working with pipewire, but in my experience it's always busted in some way on my machines. I do most of my audio production on a Mac, but have also run afoul of Apple's deprecation of "old" but perfectly functional hardware (RIP my 2012 iMac 😢). These days I use a 2013 Mac Pro trashcan I found on ebay for a couple hundred bucks which runs macOS 12. I figure it should be supported for at least another 5 years or so. It's not like computers are getting that much faster anymore, so old hardware can be sufficient for a long time.

Great music as always !

Not fair Dan - RME haz custom drivers that rival most interfaces on the market. Probably runs fine on Windows ME too!

Great video Dan!!!

I had the same Carillion pc! Back to memory lane. Worked really for years and years in combination with Powercore for the plugins. ❤

Sticking to what works for you is essential. I used Linux as a student many years ago, at home, and then for work. No problems for my use cases, except testing some things in MS Word (as users have it) and I found a workaround for that.

Rack mount hardware can be harder to cool, and thus louder. Lots of it is aimed at servers where noise isn't a concern. But it's good to hear your pc is fine :).

All hail to perma computing. I salute your old work horse. All the best regards from a linux user. ❤

I'm doing something similar, even though I'm on a Mac. I'm using the Mac Pro Rack 2019 (Intel). I leave it off the internet, and I will not be updating the OS or Pro Tools, because everything works great. I might even leave it like this forever.

Dan, can you please post the music you used for the Pro R 2 video you did? I love that tune

Dan! Great vid!

People who think: "PC's are unstable!" bollocks... been using computer on windows 7 that was on heavy use and on 24/7... it was rock solid and crashed basically never. And now been running windows 10 for few years and this is solid as can be. on 24/7 as well... I've no complaints at all. There are many things that can cause one's PC to be unstable, but they're mostly hardware issues or user errors or bad drivers, which can all be circumvented quite easily. RME fireface 800, Nvidia 3060 with studio drivers, AMD 3600 (to be updated soon) and Asus Pro-art x570 motherboard and 32gigs of kingston 3600 c16 ram... been stable as a rock. No complaints.

Its so great to hear a more or less parallel story of computing to my own, I built a rackmount PC back in 2009 using a lian li case, asus motherboard etc, that machine was rock solid and I think it was the capacitors on the mother board which gave in about 12 years later. I then bought another rackmount PC from Inta-audio in 2021, cost me £2000 but it is a flying machine and handles anything I throw at it video editing wise and serious Music projects running EW Hollywood symphonic libraries plus etc. Love the video!!

I've been an opinionated Unix dev for 12 years, but I admit that Windows is incredible for general computing needs: running ancient software, compatibility, easy end-user experience, etc. I never fault anyone for using Windows, and I enjoy it for my music production. I've built custom PCs ever since I was a little kid. My music PC is 9 years old, I've saved thousands over the years. I upgraded my NIC, RAM, Graphics card, and drives. I've replaced a bad SSD (save/automate your backups!), broken CPU cooler, and a failed DIMM. I will keep using that fat bastard until Windows 10 is EOL, but I haven't decided what to do afterward, yet. An OS is just a tool. PC Gaming: obviously Windows. Music production: obviously Windows or macOS. However, I'd never choose Windows or macOS to run a server over Linux or BSD. For example: Netflix pushes 800 Gb/s of TLS-encrypted video out of a single FreeBSD server, and that kind of bandwidth is simply impossible to accomplish on Windows. At the same time, I'd never use Linux for music production, Windows and macOS is just better for music, and I'd just spend too much time fighting Linux and music production is supposed to be my escape from Unix/Linux anyway. My only legitimate criticism with Windows is that I have absolutely zero interest in "AI", ads, and spying crap that Microsoft does. Apple does it too, but not nearly to the same extent. That's the only thing that may push me towards Apple when it comes time to upgrade. Hopefully there’s still a way to disable all of that junk with a professional edition of Windows 12 (or whatever's coming), but who knows. I don't have to worry about it for a couple of years anyway. Some people aren't bothered by these features and may even find them useful, but I value my privacy more than most do and I want to run the cleanest slate possible. I always free up resources and kill background processes and remove stuff that I never use.

My previous self-built PC lasted me 2012 to 2021. I’ll get around to reviving it one of these days. In 2021 I bought my first ever PC assembled by someone else, Scan Computers. I’m very happy with it 3XS Doctor Mix Edition - my spec. Quantum 2632 interface. On paper I could have maybe saved £200 going DIY IF I could have sourced all the components myself, that is. Stocks of parts were dwindling back then thanks to C19. It started off with 5.5TB of disks and 32GB RAM. Now it has 10TB and 64GB.

Can you do a video on how speed/time warping works like those algos that warp time without shifting pitch. Is it just black box magic or is there some clever maths?

So sorry for your loss.

Cool video, cooler music. Nice work! Edit: I just purchased this soundtrack on Bandcamp!

I've been using self built PCs as DAWs since starting in 1998. Windows 2000 + Cubase proved to be an extremely stable setup and i was very reluctant to move to XP. Had to eventually, but a new system with Windows 7 eventually replaced it and kept going for a long time. Macs have never been a consideration for me because i see no additional benefit. Keeping it simple, installing as little software as possible, Windows can be extremely reliable for audio work. But looking at the direction MS has been going in with 11 and 12 ... I may finally try getting Ableton to work on Ubuntu...

the new macstudios are small , very powerful , reliable and most importantly dead silent .... Best computer I ve ever had

Typing this on a 12 year old PC! Absolutely bonkers how capable it still is, although a new one is finally on the horizon.

I've been in IT from 1983 when I worked for one of the first micro PC companies in the UK (CP/M). I've seen every version of DOS, Windows, and OS/2. Also many version of Unix, Linux and lots of big iron systems. The old issue with Windows was the backward compatibility which has now very much been reduced. Now retired I still prefer a PC with Windows.

The rack case is swaggy. Too bad I don't have an audio rack and it doesn't make sense for me right now but it's dope.

I haven't heard the Carillon name since the 90s when I religiously bought Sound on Sound. delighted to know that a pro-audio PC builder still has a role today.

I'm with you. I've been recording/mixing on PC since 1993. My first PC truly dedicated to audio was a 486DX 33 with 8 MB running Windows 3.11 and Cubase. And me never being too scared to upgrade, I would do so when needed. I was already used to the Windows OS and I could very quickly troubleshoot any issues if they were to arise, which wasn't very often and by Windows 98 and Cubase VST, I was able to confidently record bands/solo artists and charge for my services. It's been my only job ever since. I could have easily gone with a Mac since Cubase used to only be for the Mac but, when Steinberg started to offer it for Windows, I decided to take the chance simply due to already being a PC user and having a great understanding of the hardware since I've built a few by that time. I also had a problem with the cost of Apple products in general as well as not being able to build a Mac or even really upgrade them so, I built a PC that was at least twice as powerful and half the cost. It was no longer necessary to have a Mac to make music like it was in the 80's. And the available software for PC became 100 fold. I'm still strictly a PC user and always will be. Cheers! 🥂

The early 2000's THIS (Carillon)was the thing to have for in the box DAW-production. Boy, I wanted and needed 1 sooo bad. Then MultiThread came out and duo core became less expensive, fun times.

Great stuff.

PC guy here. Pretty high IT knowledge. I still prefer PC's as they are just better value for money. I've worked on Macs for 10+ years (studios) and my PC (my studio work) - W10 is a workhorse, no problems at all. OSX is just more convinient, looks nice and "it works". On PC it used to be more complex - but since W10 - it works too. Drivers thing is a not a problem. I don't mind, or even care - I have z e r o issues since W10. W7 was OK too, yet it had issues. So if Logic or PT - then Mac. If Studio One (like me) - whatever you know better. I choose PC.

I have a Sweetwater built audio PC that's going on eleven years and is rock solid. I use it for audio, video, digital imaging and graphics, and wed development. Yes, it's a pain to open it up, being a rack mounted unit. I've upgraded or added several SSDs and some cards like video, capture, and my two UAD Octos. The form factors for the internals like memory and SSDs have changed, so I know I'll have to upgrade a some point, but I'm about to upgrade my sound library SSD from 2TB to 4TB and it'll cost me about $250. Then my old one becomes useful as a backup. I just never got into Macs and don't think it's hurt me at all.

I had one of those Carillons! Damned good audio PCs back when Macs were all the pros talked about.

I’m still using my 2nd Carillon laptop from 8 or so years ago. (Before that I had an AC1 for almost as long) I’m thinking about buying the next one soon, but only because I know that although it hasn’t yet, my current one will one day start to have issues and I’d like the transition to be as seamless as possible. As for the Mac PC thing… I never really saw the need to bow to the cool kids’ peer pressure to get a Mac when my PC worked as well as it did for the price…. And it does still work very well!

I love PCs for video stuff (graphics cards are just so much more powerful on PC these days) and macs for audio. The main reason for Mac for audio for me is that you can link up multiple interfaces with it and have them all work at the same time. Not something I’d use all the time, but there have been a few times it was useful. Also low latency core audio comes in handy for things like streaming (though tbh it’s better on a pc overall). On a PC the built in MME and similar drivers are just so high latency and not every application allows for ASIO drivers. Same goes for certain interfaces. Granted if you have RME it’s the top of the line for PC and all, but some interfaces are also more buggy on PC, so you may be more limited. If you are having a pro studio most of the time the PC is stable enough, but i find that the Mac is slightly better in certain situations. My last two computers (one Mac one pc at the same time) lasted over 10 years each. I also recommend most people get a PC desktop over a Mac desktop. Just more customizable and more power potential long term. Mac laptops are just top notch though. All that being said i know a few people who installed Mac OS onto a PC (hackintosh it is called) and it was like the best of both worlds. Also i am surprised you went with a 3050 graphics card when you do video editing. A 4060 or something more modern would have sped up your video editing workflow/render time a LOT. But I assume whatever you had before was much slower so it’s a huge improvement. Anyway enjoy the new pC!

i'm on year 5 with my machine and a couple hundred replacement parts later and i have something that gives me at least another 4 or 5 years of service. my mac mini is 11 years old but still runs what it runs. cant get online hardly anymore.

This is a great video and I don't mind the collaboration with Carillion, but I agree that it should had been disclosed at the start of the video instead of 8 minutes in.

Cheapest Mac Mini M1 with 8G/256G, (Mac Mini M2 now 599 €) more than a year now. ca < 30 Watt. Completely silent. Running Cubase El 13 and other apps like Blender, Xcode, flawlessly on two 4K monitors. My Windows 10 PC has been "promoted" to games only on my 4k TV. The only disadvantage of this Mac Mini M1 is, that I can't use it to heat my apartment in the winter😊

I once ran Logic on a hackintosh with a Soundblaster Live Drive 2 and it was great.

WIth regards to building a new system or Windows reinstall - it's an absolute headache WRT VSTs most notably with your custom patches, esp. if a plugin gives you little to none control over WHERE it saves them. They can end up in - AppData/Local - AppData/Roaming - My Documents - ProgramData (hidden by default, good luck) - Program Files - VST directory How is an average user supposed to know where to look for his patches to backup them before doing a system wipe? (not to mention how tedious it is to restore them into appropriate locations). Am I missing something or is there a way to do it easily?

As a music software developer I have to use multiple OS (PC/Mac sometimes Linux) and even keep systems with different versions of OS, but for music making I generally stick to Windows due to the flexibility of upgrading and long time support for hardware. The one major thing I found preferable on Mac vs Windows is not having to sit through forced updates that require multiple reboots - sometimes if I have not used my production PC for while, this happens right at the point of wanting to record an idea. Also the Mac audio drivers/OS let you build composite audio devices easily - that could be a nice thing with audio over USB and multiple audio interfaces - reducing cabling and noise if you work exclusively 'in the box' for mixing. Scoring for Video on Mac has always been a much smoother experience too in my experience. Anyway, congrats on keeping the old system going so long and on the new machine.

rack cases with rails suck a lot less for maintenance than without. you just kinda stick something in the gap to hold it out and work on it like folding clothes into an open drawer.

I had no bluescreen since 2007. I'm still making muslc on W8.1. Works like a charm.

What about multiple soundcard output with ASIO? On linux with pipewire, this is no problem at all, but on windows I get terrible lags with this, no matter how small or large buffer I use. So there must be some kind of relevant difference. And I really want to get this working, but I have no idea how.

I'm kind of surprised Dan doesn't build his own PC. Those rack mounts do have the look, though.

Also, if you are the type that really likes to tinker, it's possible to get an off the shelf machine and optimize it for audio. It takes a really long time to get it exactly right, but after doing this for the past 20 years, I can get it done in an afternoon. That is, provided, you know a little about which devices cause latency issues (for instance Realtek NICs). If you don't want to get your hands dirty, then Carillon is a great alternative, and well worth the money.

Mubrook ya 3am Dan. Keep up the good work.

As a kid of the 1970s, I can only say that Dan's videos have a calming effect on me, in much the same way that listening to Arthur Lowe narrate The Mister Men did back in the day. Nowt better than speccing a piece of gear and having the proper 'nerds/geeks' that you can trust to do the job properly. Thanks for posting another informative vid Dan. 🤘🤘

One thing the newer Apple silicon macs are great for is the fact that they make ZERO noise. I love my M2 mini for that reason and also how powerful it is. However, if Logic was on Windows, I would 100% be using my PC for everything.

Dan, A rack mount PC doesn't have to be a chore to access for upgrades. They make slide-out rack rails. My rack PCs are fitted with these and just slide out and the case top tilts up and stays in position. Of course, the slide-out can be secured for moving the rack with two thumb screws (my under-table racks are on wheels). Pair this with removable drive carriers for SSDs and there's no need to even slide out the PC to add or change drives. I make my drives hot-swappable so I don't even need to power down the system (assuming it's not the OS drive which is an NVMe drive on the motherboard). There are even PC power supplies that can slide out the back of the case with removal of two thumb screws. All this is pretty standard in the server world and there's *tons* of second-hand server gear always being sold surplus.

A 13700KF with lots of cache on a single die, Windows 11 to accompany the CPU architecture, 32 Gigs of RAM to fit them soundbanks, SSDs to do it quickly, and probably the best GPU option, not too expensive but with plenty of horsepower to run a DAW, or to record or encode a few videos. That's a good prebuild, very well suited for the job.

Thanks for the vid! If you don’t mind, I had a thought about a possible topic for the future: the new Moog VST synth has something called ‘Virtual CV’. So does their Moogerfooger plug-in, and so does Polyverse Gatekeeper. What is virtual CV and how does it work? 🙏👍

thx dan!

Are there any good US equivalents to Carillon that you (or anyone) can recommend?

Muse Research Receptor spilled the WINE 🍷🤦‍♂

What about latency in live performance applications? Ive never been able to find a decent reference on this, searches are suspiciously blank on this topic......

Interesting thoughts! I like total control over my computer, which is why I run Linux on all of my non creative machines, but I run a hackintosh for my audio workstation and I'm kind of dreading the next generation of what that's going to look like. You've made me at least consider trying Windows in the future

As an Apple user for more less 20 years and also a Linux developer, I'm glad to watch such a well informed and not-fanboyish-at-all video, Sir! I use the three systems in tandem (Windows, Linux and Mac) and also keep a "top of 2001" Windows XP box running E-MU's Emulator X and some Reason 4 stuff. Anyway, I agree that if you just want to be productive without any experimentation, Windows is a perfectly valid option, specially if the computer is used for music production exclusively. My Atari STe is still plugged and ready to be used from time to time... I just love to deal with OSes, though I completely understand I sadly travel a lot because of my job, so I'm not always at my home studio but in a hotel room. In that regard, there are some details about macOS that I'm think are superior, though they could be overcome with some patience in the other two systems. Core Audio recovers pretty quickly from accidental unplugs of the soundcard and for a mobile musician / dj that could be a plus. Anyway, use whatever helps you create and gets out of the way. Gear servers creation, not the other way around.

I’m one who straddles both sides of the fence fairly equally. Day-to-day I run a Windows 10 PC that started its life in Windows 7 back in 2012, and only got upgraded to 10 last December when I was sick of certain software crashing the thing. 10 has proved itself a most fantastic operating system (after days of tweaks applied to it at any rate) and that’s where I do two-track recording/editing in Sound Forge Pro 16. For music-making however, my M1 Max Laptop is my preferred system, where I live in Logic. I’m happy to work on both platforms for various reasons. I like the quickness of editing in Sound Forge, but I like Logic’s flex-time, Komplete Kontrol integration (which I rely on very heavily indeed) and the fact that I also gig, so having a laptop with the exact same sounds at home as on-the-road is simply no question. My windows machine is just an old I5 3570K with 16 GB RAM but it doesn’t have to be much more than that. Yes, even the boring onboard graphics, but it serves the purpose it was built for at the time, and 11 years later, still runs. I will use whatever system I need for the job at the time I need it. I have absolutely no love for Windows 11 though, so when I’m forced to get a new PC, maybe I can *upgrade* it to 10, and hold it there indefinitely.

Not looking for trouble, but for accuracy: the Mac operating system dropped "OS X" in 2016 for "macOS". Also OS X referred to system 10, and currently the Mac architecture is system 14.

I had that exact same Carillon PC. Still in my garage probably.

I've just done an upgrade myself, to a 13th gen Intel i7 - also used a Noctua cooler! The question I'm currently grappling with is how to have my DAW smartly use these new gen Intel chips with performance and economy cores (in Windows 11). Would not want for example an economy core to be used by the DAW when a performance core is free. There is software like Process Lasso designed to manage this but not yet sure whether that is needed under Windows 11. Others reading this might have some advice?

I work in audio post, Mac+Pro Tools (wish the industry worked such that we could use Reaper), and whenever I open a project with a different samplerate from my previous, my Apollo interface makes an audible, almost mechanical, click from the unit itself, switching over to the new samplerate of the project. MacOS doesn't get in the way of Pro Tools instructing the interface to switch over.

I used to run a rack pc with RME HDSP, worked fine for years. I run a Mac Mini on intel for 3 years now and both systems run fine, never any issues with them 🤞🏼