sac on a mac?

[Y_amit]

Hi all,

I'm starting to test SAC on my windows computer with a DIGI 003. right now I'm heaving trouble with my system as a whole so I'll come back to it when I figure what the trouble is.

This brings me to the question: can SAC work on a mac platform (Macbook, Imac, etc.) with any inteface, digi 003, RME, Whatever?

I'm talking about intel-based macs operating XP with boot camp. the reason I'm asking is that macs seem to offer more reliability in a more compact / portable form.

If ther were any plans to port SAC natively to OSX it would be even better.

did a search but never found anything.

By the way, I'm not a mac head. I've always used PC's until now but I think MACs do have some advantages.

Well, If you can tell me what you think...

Thanks!

[905shmick]

It should run fine if you're fully booted into windows via bootcamp. At that point, you're just running windows on a really expensive intel based computer

[Pedro Itriago]

... I'm asking is that macs seem to offer more reliability in a more compact / portable form.

...

By the way, I'm not a mac head. I've always used PC's until now but I think MACs do have some advantages.

I'll just stay quiet, for the moment...

[905shmick]

I've also been able to get SACRemote running just fine under OSX using XP with VirtualBox.

[RBIngraham]

It will work, as I have tested it out. One of my home systems is a Mac Mini running Bootcamp. It spends most of it's time running Win XP.

There are some things to watch out for however. The newer Apple Intel based systems have changed the controller chip for the Firewire port from TI to Agree or something like that. I have received many reports from users that this chipset while it works just fine under the Mac OS, causes many issues with Firewire audio when they are booted up into Windows.

So obviously that's a big issue because at least for me it makes going with a Mac and running Windows on it a show stopper. Unless you get a Mac Book Pro with an ExpressCard slot or a Mac Pro Tower (big bucks) with PCIe card slots your only option for hooking up an audio interface is via Firewire or USB2. I guess you could go with the RME USB2 audio interface. I suspect that would work OK. But even so, this change by Apple that neither Apple or Microsoft (lets be fair about it, they are both to blame to some extent, but I blame Apple mostly for making the change in the first place, and they are also responsible for writing the drivers that make their hardware work in Windows) seem to be in any kind of hurry to fix and pretty much turned me off of the idea of buying a Mac and running Windows on it.

I don't know all the details about which Mac products have the TI chipset and which have the Agree, but I know the Agree seems to have made it's way into both some Mac Mini and some iMac products. I would check with some real Mac heads, they will probably know more about specific models.

Other than the obvious benefit that I can run either platform the only thing I really like about my Mac Mini is it's size and the fact that it's nearly silent. Those are 2 nice factors mind you, but I also think that is causes more issues. Frankly I think the Mac hardware is actually less reliable in my not so humble opinion. From a pure hardware point of view. The hard drive in my Mini died just after the 2 year warranty expired. And of course being an Apple, they made the Mini a bitch to open up and fix yourself. You have to get out 2 paint scrapers and essentially pry the lid off. Almost every owner of a Mac Book Pro I know has had to send their laptop in for repair at some point, many with a total failure of the unit and some even several times. In contrast, I have PCs and Laptop PCs that almost refuse to die and I've only stopped using them because they get too old to run any modern applications. Plus I like to buy products that allow for easier swapping of components. On my Lenovo Laptops (all ThinkPads) I can swap out batteries, hard drives, Optical Drives in seconds once I have a replacement. The Macs always seem to put the look of the computer over it's practical maintenance, which has always bugged me about their products.

The iMacs are nice, but I refuse to buy into that computer built into my monitor nonsense. I don't want that sitting on my desk thank you. And a Mac Pro is just completely out of my budget range in all but a few organizations I work for. So frankly I don't find that they offer all that much in terms of options from a purely hardware point of view. The Mac OS is nice, I will admit that. And it has less issues because of the obvious reason that there is only 1 hardware vendor that makes the computers that run the OS.

To sum up, I just wouldn't recommend that route until either Apple or MS fixes this Firewire chipset issue unless you really have a need to run the Mac OS. I needed that, and I do make use of it, so for me the Mini is useful. But if I didn't have that want/need I wouldn't bother getting a Mac. Waste of money. You can get similar sized units (although not quite as small and quiet as a Mini) in a standard PC and probably get more processing power for the buck in the long run.

The Shuttle units (while not cheap) make nice, easy to lug around SAC systems.

Here is one place you can look for small form PCs:
http://www.thebookpc.com/

There are others as well, just Google around.

[Larry Burger]

I have operated SAC on an intel macbook pro with bootcamp on the windows partition.

Personally I never achieved perfect operation (just a few slipped buffers), I could never hear a problem but I never reached 0 slipped buffers.
Express card HDSP (RME) and Maudio firewire interfaces.
{ If someone has please help me}

I have had some challenges with Vista while some Vista installations are error free and 7 will work.

I think you could count on macbook pro if you go that route.

[Ogmeister]

I am a MAC shop and most of my audio testing software is based in this domain.
I use MAC because the best software was on this platform.
That being said, I would have never considered BOBs audio console if it were not meticulously coded as he does.
He simply defies MS windows limitations when it comes to reliability and speed.
The only other audio program I have running on MS OS is the MLS audio analysis and that runs on an old DOS 6.2 platform and is command line based.
It is coded with primitive machine language as I suspect is SAC.
This is what makes the difference. Does the software do the job you are after and is it stable??

SAC is rock solid on a properly built computer.
Don't try and create a virtual mixer with this kind of power with a Emachine or something.
Get a seasoned professional to custom build from the best tested components.
After all if the PC cost a few dollars more, its still way cheaper than my LS9, M7Cl, PM5D or any analog mixer in my line.

Just my opinion. You milage may vary.

[Y_amit]

Thanks all for the valueable input. I don't fear the stability of SAC, but I do fear PC instability. for my needs processing power is no big deal but stability is. I've seen macs go crazy too, so I know they're not foolproof. still, What I'm going through now with my PC (a pro-built studio computer, at least from the hardware side) makes me wish I had a litlle less processing power and more reliability. I will continue to check both options.

[905shmick]

Thanks all for the valueable input. I don't fear the stability of SAC, but I do fear PC instability. for my needs processing power is no big deal but stability is. I've seen macs go crazy too, so I know they're not foolproof. still, What I'm going through now with my PC (a pro-built studio computer, at least from the hardware side) makes me wish I had a litlle less processing power and more reliability. I will continue to check both options.

How are you measuring reliability, and how does less processing power = more reliability?

[Pedro Itriago]

How are you measuring reliability, and how does less processing power = more reliability?

I think he's just saying that for the money he spent, the guy who built it should have made it more reliable than powerful.