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Looper's Delight
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For me this is also a cost issue. I usually don't make much more money than I need for staying alive and I wish to keep other priorities rather than putting more time into making more money. On the other hand, using OS X is more time efficient for me when producing recorded music because I can work in Logic, which is not available for Windows. I also make a partial consultant income teaching Logic and OS X related skills. But for doing live looping concerts I could as well use Windows, as I do now. So far I have actually had better experiences with Windows in that department. The good thing with looping on a MacBook running Windows XP, compared to any other non Apple PC, is that the firewire audio interface can get its power fully supplied by the firewire chord. When using the same interface with a typical Windows laptop I also need to bring a separate power adapter for the audio interface, another small gadget that adds up for your luggage weight and that may eventually get lost on the road. I still have two years insurance left for the MacBook, so for that time I'm well set, but if it turns out a too big additional cost to stay with Apple two years from now I may get rid of my convenient habit of always having a Mac handy on the side. It would mean a little more fuss, like for example not being able to directly connect computers "as external drives" by the firewire target mode... but I could live with those extra minutes for transferring files on some big USB2 stick instead. As for now I prepare for an unknown future by converting my EXS24 sample libraries to Kontakt, that I actually find a better sampler for live looping and that runs on both OS X and Windows. On the MacBook I can keep the patch and sample library within the Windows XP partition and, since I formatted it as FAT32, still read the samples from the OS X partition or any other firewire networked Mac. And if the day comes when no Macs are around here the very same instruments I've learned to play will still be exactly the same in any eventual Windows based rig. Another downside by not having Macs around would be that you miss out on the seamless process of having your iPod's content instantly updated according to your subscriptions. I've heard Windows users complain about this functionality, but on Mac it really is just seamless and takes up no time of mine at all - except for listening to all that great stuff (during transport downtime etc). Maybe it will make sense in the future to keep just one of the cheapest consumer Macs? The shared video memory was also my concern, but it really has not caused me any issues on the MacBook. I don't look at the screen when looping so in fact I couldn't care less. I even did a Logic master class at the university with the MacBook and a big screen projector connected. Even though working a 30 channel mix the audio came out pristine as always from the firewire audio interface. -- Greetings from Sweden Per Boysen www.boysen.se (Swedish) www.looproom.com (international) www.myspace.com/perboysen www.stockholm-athens.com On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 3:35 AM, Matthias Grob <matilists@atarde.com.br> wrote: > I think we all want the Pro, because it has separate memory for the >graphics > I experienced that the mini (and probably the non pro equally) creates > clicks easily > On 20 Oct 2008, at 11:49, Travis Hartnett wrote: > > The idea behind the "Pro" line is that it contains features that most >folks > won't use/don't need/don't want to pay for. There's a jillion USB 2.0 > devices out there (hard drives, scanners, printers, audio interfaces) >that > covers the majority of Mac users. For the "power" user, there's the >MacBook > Pro line which does have Firewire. However, demand for dinky 12" >screens is > pretty thin at that price point, so the smallest you can get is 15". >You're > in that small small market share that wants a tiny screen on a >full-featured > box. > > > > On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 1:20 AM, Buzap Buzap <buzap@gmx.net> wrote: >> >> now, this is really off topic, but I wanted to let off some steam: >> For a laptop setup, I was waiting for the new MacBook to come out. Now, >it >> is there and: it has NO FIREWIRE INTERFACE anymore!!! >> >> Obviously, for looping this really sucks. Now, what to do? I would be >> willing to pay extra $$ for a 12"/13" MacBookPro if it had firewire, but >> there is none. >> I was really getting comfortable on the Mac OSX platform with Logic and >> now (finally :-) with Moebius on Mac. But I don't plan to carry a big >15,4" >> MacBookPro around. So...