[Note: subject line changed to GEN, because I think this is a relevant and useful discussion and no longer OT]. > > And then there are those of us who make no (public) dramatic emotional > > statement, who quietly bide our time with LAWP 5.5 while we wait for > > our favourite Logic features to show up in a competitor's product. > > > Yeah, we've gotten the same message from three people or so. I am sure there > are people in transition. Now that there are those new devices to hook up > multiple computers (macs and pcs together - teleport?)), why not considering > getting a used mac to go along with your pc - and use them both. it wouldseem that > converting a lot of Logic songs to another format would be a hassle, learning > a new program (plus buying it), etc. Its a little money but it ads power to > your studio without wasting your previous pc investment, and you can get plenty > of help from mac people here to make the transition. G4's will become > increasingly cheap on the used market as people dump them to get the G5's. By the > way, one of the British music mags, recently addressed the question of whether > macs were actually more expensive or less, and the general conclusion wasthat > they were cheaper for the same power and functionality. Thanks for the well-considered advice. I actually did evaluate whether the OS was more important to me than the DAW. I continue to reevaluate this from time to time. Even though getting a cheap mac to run Logic sounds simple, it is actually a bit more complicated than that. First of all, I'm a hobbiest. I program computers to support my music habit. I use PCs (Windows and Linux) for all sorts of things besides music (and I have certain software that I use which is tied to x86). Also, being mobile to me is important. So buying a Mac for music means buying a second notebook as well as a second desktop. Or maybe just a powerful mac notebook would be fine for both uses. Still, a pretty big investment. Plus, I'd need to carry around two notebooks if I wanted to do both work and music on the road. That seems like a whole bunch of no fun. Secondly there's the matter of the audio interface. I have a Soundscape Mixtreme, which is rock solid under Windows but doesn't have drivers for the Mac. So replacing that would be another hefty expense. Thirdly, I don't trust Emagic any more, and it's not fun to be dependent on software from a company you don't trust. I mean, nobody trusts ANY software company (or business) anyway, but some companies you trust less than others. Emagic has always tried to leverage its proprietary plugin format to lock users into Logic. So I feel I should have seen it coming when they actually pulled that lever and tried to get people to switch platforms. Now, the whole "all-or-nothing monolithic Logic studio" with everything tied to a single runtime environment seems so fragile to me now. Not only in the sense of putting all your eggs in the same basket, investment-wise. But also the fact you can't use Emagic instruments outside of Logic means you can't do simple things like use an Emagic instrument in a lightweight plugin host (e.g. Chainer) when you just want to try out some ideas without starting up the whole DAW environment. (say on an underpowered computer like a notebook). Finally, I've tried to see this whole thing as an opportunity. While I grew to love the speed of Logic's usability features (esp. key commands), I've always been unhappy with its UI inconsistencies and general usability flakiness. Every so often you find something in Logic that simply cannot be done with the keyboard (e.g. bouncing, or adding a plugin, or changing the patch on a MIDI track), or uses an arcane multi-window interface (e.g. moving a plugin from a channel to a bus). So finding software that is clean and logical (e.g. Tracktion) or at least internally consistent (e.g. Cubase SX) is quite refreshing. Bottom line: it takes a whole lot of time and effort to switch platforms (whether it's your DAW or your OS). It's not as easy as buying a Mac or buying the crossgrade to Cubase. So I have to ask myself - after all this work that I will have to do, which outcome would I prefer? Either: * Logic on Mac (purchase and maintenance of multiple computers, new sound card, loss or compromise of portable environment, need to keep faith in Emagic, inflexible plugin system which ranks customer lock-in higher than usability, commitment to arcane UI traditions), or: * SX or Tracktion on Windows (small software expense, considerable learning curve, hassle of old songs stuck in Logic). From where I stand, moving to SX or Tracktion on Windows seems to be the easiest path with the most benefits at the end. And, since Tracktion and SX are both cross-platform, I still have the option of switching to the Mac if I really want to! Michael -- Michael Graham magog@...