Why Do Most DJ's Prefer MAC over Windows PC for Live Performance ?
Apart from the Usual line, that oh well yeah ! Mac is a Mac you see after all... Does anyone have a real genuine, advantage point that Macbook has over a Windows PC that a Lot of the DJ's these days prefer Mac during a Live Performance. I know Mac is Slick and Fast and all that...But really is that it ? is that all ? why Mac is prefered over Windows PC for DJ ?
Comments
Part of a DJ's "schtick" is IMAGE.
Macs are considered "cool" and "hip"... they'd rather have that glowing Apple logo visible on their table because it just looks cool... not because it can necessarily do something a Windows laptop can't.
Ok from the dope I found was,
1. No fear of OS crashing, machine hanging etc...
2. Faster boot up just incase the OS Hangs or crashes.
3. No issues to worry about the laptop's sound card being compatible with MSDI ( if I have got the name correct )
4. Tons of DJing APPS to choose from.
5. And last it is kinda uber cool to own and posses a APPLE product, imagine the kind of super cool image the DJ will have on the crowd which already is a ghetto of people who believe in doing things ostentatiously !!
http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2012/10/pc-vs-mac-for-djing/
Makes a change from iOS vs Android these days. Macs typically have better firewire support; even with Thunderbolt, it's an adaptor away. This tends to have lower latency and CPU usage for audio processing than USB and can be daisy chained.
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/576751-does-rme-ufx-perform-just-well-using-usb-compared-fw.html
"As an example, I've connected the UFX to a 9-year old system with a P4 @ 2.4 GHz... This PC becomes practically unusable when I try to use the USB connection, but with a FW connection, audio with the UFX works quite well."
"my Asus P6T has clicks over clicks with USB, and when I use FW, it works like a breeze... strange.... (Windows 7)"
There are mixed experiences and some people will get along fine with USB but it's likely a factor in the decision. I doubt the choice to use a Mac is for just one reason but when you combine the stability and compatibility of the OS, aesthetic style, hardware quality and IO interface support, it adds up to be a good option.
Didn't understand this Latency thing, I have read it else where aswell what does it mean but ??
Latency is delays involved in processing signals so if you had signals from different sources, they might go out of sync. It would have to be quite a lot to notice but it can happen. It's important in real-time signal processing like live video/audio. DJs sometime use video output too and the audio should sync up with the video. The more that technology progresses, these issues aren't as relevant as they used to be.
Latency is delays involved in processing signals so if you had signals from different sources, they might go out of sync. It would have to be quite a lot to notice but it can happen. It's important in real-time signal processing like live video/audio. DJs sometime use video output too and the audio should sync up with the video. The more that technology progresses, these issues aren't as relevant as they used to be.
You know what, I am becoming more and more interested in knowing about this thing. is there a Example that you can give here when you say "If you have signals coming in from different sources, there is a possibility of it all not syncing together". is that what you are saying ? Cna you give an example here ? and how come using a Macbook solves this problem. Which a Normal windows PC will not be able to tackle this. With regards to the Latency thing that we are talking about.
And there's the difference between USB & FireWire (FW). FW has a few advantages over USB, like 80% isochronous transfer methods (continuous, guaranteed bandwidth). Wiki has an article, obviously, and makes a comparison summery:
While both technologies provide similar end results, there are fundamental differences between USB and FireWire. USB requires the presence of a bus master, typically a PC, which connects point to point with the USB slave. This allows for simpler (and lower-cost) peripherals, at the cost of lowered functionality of the bus. Intelligent hubs are required to connect multiple USB devices to a single USB bus master. By contrast, FireWire is essentially a peer-to-peer network (where any device may serve as the host or client), allowing multiple devices to be connected on one bus.
The FireWire host interface supports DMA and memory-mapped devices, allowing data transfers to happen without loading the host CPU with interrupts and buffer-copy operations. Additionally, FireWire features two data buses for each segment of the bus network whereas until USB 3.0, USB featured only one. This means that FireWire can have communication in both directions at the same time (full-duplex), whereas USB communication prior to 3.0 can only occur in one direction at any one time (half-duplex).
There's a good explanation here:
http://www.presonus.com/community/learn/the-truth-about-digital-audio-latency
You can solve the problem with a Windows PC but Macs are just easier to deal with:
http://www.everythingableton.com/2011/02/ableton-live-mac-or-pc/
"I’ve used ableton on both platforms and now I’m exclusively mac. I had a killer Win7 64bit rig with RAID 0/1 on the media drives and 6 gigs of ram. Ableton would chirp and hang when running at 96K sample output. I don’t think its ableton and speaking with tech support it seemed to be more of a driver issue. Ableton is not a 64bit app Still, when you drop 5K on a DAW you expect some bang for buck.
Sold the POS, got a mac. It’s slower but everything runs out of the box."
https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64627
"On my three year old (slow) Powerbook G4 (1.25 GHz G4, 768k RAM), when I hit a key on the 02, I INSTANTLY hear the note. It's wonderful. Doesn't matter which instrument I'm using. No latency. Perfect.
But, on my brand new Dell Latitude D620 (Core duo at 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM - MUCH faster computer) when I hit a note on the 02, there is at least a 100ms delay before I hear anything. Totally unacceptable. Impossible to play in sync with drums. Horrifying. Makes me quit LIVE immediately."
They got the latter sorted out ok with drivers but the Mac tends to work out the box and it offers a more consistent user experience over time. It's not that you can't use a Windows PC, this is about preference. You could very well live in a caravan if you wanted and live much more cheaply than a house but not everybody wants to live in a caravan. Windows is like living in a caravan.
No wonder I have always felt there are Apple products exclusive forums every where but if it is some wealth of knowledge or information I only find it here....Kudos to you guys to run this show !
I had an iMac from early 2006, the keys might play when you hit them but three in a row and they don't.