There is much debate concerning Mac versus PC music recording and it didn’t start yesterday. Initially many people believed that Mac was better off, but that’s not the case. The PC manufacturers also revolutionized their business to get a share of the music recording business. So, basically, the resolve to use Mac or PC for music recording boils down personal preferences. Let’s see the pros and cons of each mode based on cost, efficiency, sound quality, and hardware and software support.  

Cost

It goes without saying that advanced Mac models are pretty costly than their PC counterparts. Additionally, some of the things you can upgrade on Mac are limited to hard drives, RAM, and a few other parts. For PC, you can customize virtually anything that can be upgraded or downgraded with just your basic computer skills. This is one of the main reasons why some musicians prefer PC- ability to be customized easily.  

Efficiency

When it comes to performance, most artists and producers prefer Mac, partly because it’s made by Apple. It has been designed in such a way that there are minimal conflicts between the software and hardware, thus runs smoothly. The hardware, production panel, driver writing process and other functions are strictly checked for order before the recording starts. This saves you the time you would have taken to fix errors and attend to your music production task. PC, on the other hand, is flexible but hardware and software conflicts are usually inevitable. For it to work efficiently, you will need to do some major changes to the hardware and software before you can start working, of course, this is usually a one-time thing, but it calls for additional financial expenditure which can be troubling if you are financially incapacitated. Mac adopted the Thunderbolt technology from the previous Firewire ports and in so doing increased the speed and efficiency of Mac music recording products. A huge amount of data, both audio and video can be transferred to other external devices in a matter of seconds. PC hasn’t yet adopted this technology, but since they have proved to be a worthy competitor, it could just be a matter of time before they embrace the technology.  

Sound Quality

Mac has been praised for producing better quality songs due to its advanced DAW software. There is no accurate statistical data to back up this claim. For instance, both Mac’s Thunderbolt and PC’s USB 3 offer better services, yet they are not as popular as the traditional Ethernet port, which many audio devices manufacturers seem to support. So what does this mean for your music recording? It’s simple, before you choose a new audio interface, wait until the dust settles or go with what is currently working, based on your preferences.  

Hardware And Software Support

One of the most important aspects of a song recording device is its capability to work with almost any software or hardware. Sometimes there is just a software or hardware that gives you better services that you can’t do without. Mac and PC have different ecosystems, and thus, each works with a different software. PC works with Sonar, FL Studio, and Sound Forge while Mac works with Garage Band, Logic, and a few others. Cubase, Pro Tools, and Nuebdo work with both Mac and Windows. However, PC seems to support many other types of hardware and DAW software (and plugins) which gives it an edge over Mac (provided they are compatible with the audio software/hardware).  

Conclusion

It may be evident from the above discussion that Mac and PC products may somehow be similar. Therefore, if you want to work right away without having to adjust anything on your equipment, you can go for Mac. If you wish to customize the equipment to suit your needs, then PC is for you.    

Your Turn to Sound Off!

Which platform do you prefer for recording?

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