Letters to the Editor

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Rayon Fog

Published Letters: 157     Editor's Choice: 7

  • @dalevi1 (and 6stringer)

    [Read the article: Once and for all, proof that Macs are cheaper than PCs]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Wow, now I see why these things invariably degrade into insult-laden pissing matches. Sorry, but you are just incredibly off here.

    "spare me the "artistic" side of mac, windows has possessed greater third party tools for years (see fruityloops, the greatest amateur music production software in history)."

    You have got to be kidding me. Of course the key word here is "amateur", but to say it's the greatest music production software in history tells me I should certainly not be hiring you for any work in the near future. I'll admit that FL is good for what it is (which could hardly be called production), but what a shortsighted view you proffer - geez. FL is popular because it's easy to use and you don't have to be musical at all to use it. It's a toy. You know, that actually sums up a number of the i-apps available only for the Mac, come to think of it!

    Greater third-party tools available for Windows? I nearly spit out my bagel (still the preferred sustenance of overworked audio engineers) when I read that. I still can't get my head around that one and I've been continuously employed full-time in the studio business for over 20 years. I won't go so far as to say that there are no good third party tools available for Windows, but to say that there are more for Windows than Mac is just plain ignorance in its highest form. Perfect example (one of hundreds I can offer): look no further than Apogee Symphony (decidedly NOT at toy). You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about here.

    If I took all of the Macs out of my studios and attempted to replace them with PCs with similar software (where available), I would lose 90% of my business overnight. Show me one professional, busy, top-end studio that uses anything but primarily Macs for its core production. Seriously. One that relies on functioning workstations as the very core of its operation and business. I've worked in all of them and I can tell you - you can't. Do you think that's by accident or because they are just trying to be "cool"? These studios spend sometimes millions of dollars upgrading gear to make sure they have the best equipment available. Fox just spent millions upgrading its audio facilities and Sony did the same a couple of years ago. Do you seriously think that if "third-party tools" were "greater" on the Windows platform that we wouldn't have seen them more in the professional ranks years ago? Walk into either one of those studios I mentioned today and you won't find one single PC that's used as part of the production artillery (hell, walk into ANY major studio, for that matter, Capitol, Westlake, Ocean Way, NRG, ). That's across the board. You may find one or two PC machines that are being used as Gigastudio samplers, but even those are being replaced by Macs running Kontakt or Mach5 these days. And do you know what the number one (and it isn't even close) app is for music post-production? Digital Performer, which isn't even available for PC. Logic is second. And yes, I know Pro Tools and Cubase are available both platforms, but there are far fewer people using them for PC than for Mac. FAR fewer. That's for a reason.

    And BTW - I have never run Parallels or BootCamp on any of my machines. Since those are recent developments and Macs "survived" up to this point, does that they win (it was an either/or you posed)?

    Bottom line - this is a ridiculous thing to be even talking about.

  • Edster92 wrote:

    [Read the article: Once and for all, proof that Macs are cheaper than PCs]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    "Face it, Apple = the Bose of computers: cutesy industrial design but hideously overpriced, overhyped, mediocre quality, and geared for folks who are too stupid and/or lazy to learn how to use real equipment.

    I totally agree with you there about Bose. So much for so little. As the saying goes, "No highs, no lows, must be Bose" (which is actually the opposite of why Bose sucks - they have no middle, which is where all the energy and life of music exists, and consequently, is the most difficult range to reproduce accurately). Speakers that are 10 times better can be found for less than half the price easily. This same holds true for Monster Cable and everything they make. The have perpetrated a bigger fraud on the electronics-buying public than Bose has for sure. We've tested them all and it's beyond debate - Monster is no better than the stuff you buy at the drug store and is actually worse than the Radio Shack standard fare.

    But see, the thing that makes you guys look like fools is when you insinuate that Macs, or any piece of equipment for that matter, are geared solely towards stupid/lazy/incompetent computer users who have trouble flossing their teeth, much less using "real equipment" (whatever the hell that means). I'm not gonna re-hash my credentials as I've posted them earlier, but lets just say that in my line of work, if we have downtime caused by one of our workstations, the potential loss is a billable $650/hour. I have an engineering degree. Everyone in my field has some sort of formal engineering background. Not one of us can afford to use anything but Mac. The PCs we have only run simple automation programs, yet they are the ones that require most of the attention. Not only that, we don't really want to spend the money to have a full-time computer/IT guy on staff, so we don't. We don't need it. Granted, this is way different than general population use, but to insinuate that these machines aren't "real equipment" is just plain stupid.

  • Brightstar says...

    [Read the article: Quote of the day]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    "... Zero tolerance was created by Libs."

    That's a new one.

  • Brightstar is neither

    [Read the article: Quote of the day]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Good lord. You could do yourself a serious favor by reading some Henry Giroux on the matter. You are just completely out to lunch.