IK plugs - Mac vs. PC?

[Kim Lajoie]

No holy wars please!

I'm just interested how IK's plugs (ST2, Amplitube, T-RackS) perform on G4, G5, AMD, and Intel processors.

Squids - you've got a whole bunch of computers in your laboratory, have you done any tests? Even if you haven't, what's your impression?

Anyone else who's done comparisons, please post!

Forever,




Kim.

[Squids]

They perform well on both. Between the two ST2 tends to be a little more powerful on the PC though. It depends. The effect plug-ins are practically the same on both although I haven't tested to the max (haven't needed to).

[Zoing]

hi Jeez,

I have a G3 mac (only 400mhz!!), and I remember you have or had a g3 ibook as well as a PC, from an earlier thread.

I could get a lot more stuff happening using Logics EXS sampler than ST2, however I own ST2, and only had the EXS demo. I have a feeling that ST2 is not well optimised for macs

Still its worth it for the sounds... and only workable for me because of Logics 'freeze'.

are you wondering about getting a mac for music???. Sometimes I wonder about getting a PC... (don't think I will though!)

[Kim Lajoie]

hi Jeez,

I have a G3 mac (only 400mhz!!), and I remember you have or had a g3 ibook as well as a PC, from an earlier thread.

I could get a lot more stuff happening using Logics EXS sampler than ST2, however I own ST2, and only had the EXS demo. I have a feeling that ST2 is not well optimised for macs

Still its worth it for the sounds... and only workable for me because of Logics 'freeze'.

are you wondering about getting a mac for music???. Sometimes I wonder about getting a PC... (don't think I will though!)

My iBook is a G4 800mHz. hmm... maybe I should install my IK plugs on that too. Don't know if it's worth using an extra machine registration just to benchmark though, I wouldn't use my laptop for any music composition.

I remember installing Cubase SX1 on it some months ago to do some quick benchmarks, I found that my AMD Athlon 2200XP desktop could load almost 3X the number of Cubase Reverb A's compared to my G4 800mHz iBook. Slightly disappointing, but it doesn't say much, only that Cubase Reverb A runs similarly on G4s and Athlons clock for clock (and thus the Athlon wins dollar-for-dollar). Kinda useless though, because I don't usually have projects with 48 reverbs and nothing else. That's why I ask about IK plugs - because for my typical projects, I use IK's plugs far more than anything else.

I suppose I'm really poking the idea of getting a G5 sometime next year. I know they're fast, and they're probably faster than Intel/AMD offerings clock-for-clock, but what I'm really interested in is how they compare dollar-for-dollar - because that's what really counts for me.

That, and I use Cubase as my sequencer of choice... and I hear it doesn't perform so well on Macs.

Forever,




Kim.

[Zoing]

got mixed up about the G3-G4 thing.

I don't think Cubase runs fantastically on Macs, you could post an enquiry at http://www.osxaudio.com, I know there are some Cubase people there, but not as many as the Logic people... Its a great forum for the Mac side with some of the same people you see here, and run by a fellow Aussie dude. You probably know it anyway.

I can sympathise with the dollar for dollar thing though. Macs don't measure up now, I believe they did in the early days of G3's, next year? who knows. I don't know how much longer I can stand my 400mhz g3 (for music at least), I guess as long as there are higher priorities for money!

But the next generation dual core G5s have been signposted by IBM for sometime next year, which should be good, though AMD and Intel have these coming too...