PC to Mac... Can I take SAWStudio along?

[Kent F]

Hey there,

I'm on the fence. PC or Mac. I'm needing to replace my laptop workstation and am considering getting a MacBook Pro. My next portable won't be a dedicated DAW. I'll be using it for graphics and video work. I'm moving away from Adobe because of their subscription model. I can do everything I need with other programs... except I won't leave SAW. My main concern with switching to Mac is how much more I would need to do to bring SAW with me. If I can't bring it without hassle, I'll stay with PC because the bulk of my work is audio. Dell Precision 5510 or 7510 will do the job, but without Mac media programs like Final Cut.

So... I'm wondering what I would need to do/spend in order to port SAWStudio to Mac - in particular, what would I have to do to get it running flawlessly, and the cost of any software (including legit install of Windows if necessary).

Also, if you can share any experienced-based pros and cons to going this way or not, or anything else that might be helpful, I would be grateful.

Thanks!

Kent

[cgrafx]

I have a copy of SAW and SAC running on my Mac Pro Workstation under Parallels. I'm using it under a winXP3 VM.

I can't say if its flawless as I primarily use it for testing, but at present it appears to be pretty seamless. It works well enough for me to mix 24 track sessions on, but I haven't done any heavy processing with external plug-ins.

If you're connecting an external interface you'd still have to test that functionality, as the Parallels passes that hardware connection via a virtual Port to the PC side of things.

You could of coarse always dual boot the machine with Bootcamp. Under that scenario you'd be 100% native windows.

Parallels is about $80 for the most recent version.

[Bob L]

I have also used VMWare's Fusion on a few Macs to install Windows XP, Win 7, or 8 or 10. SAWStudio seems to work pretty well there as well.... and since it is a virtual machine window, you can switch easily between the Mac and PC and evenb setup shared folders between the two platforms.

There are a few keyboard differences that you can adjust within Fusion to get around most issues.

Bob L

[Kent F]

Thanks for the input. Apart from having to source a legal copy of Windows, it sounds like a possibility. The keyboard issues are on interest to me because I have the keystrokes and sequences that I commonly used memorized and can do them blind-folded, backwards, chewing gum. I use the insert and page up/down keys a lot. Is the alternative just as easy on the mac keyboard? Any functions that can't be done with a keystroke?

Thanks.

[cgrafx]

Thanks for the input. Apart from having to source a legal copy of Windows, it sounds like a possibility. The keyboard issues are on interest to me because I have the keystrokes and sequences that I commonly used memorized and can do them blind-folded, backwards, chewing gum. I use the insert and page up/down keys a lot. Is the alternative just as easy on the mac keyboard? Any functions that can't be done with a keystroke?

Thanks.

Keyboard mapping is already pretty decent on apples extended keyboard. Not sure about the Laptop layout. Although you could always plug in your favorite PC keyboard and even have it permanently mapped to the windows VM.

[Microstudio]

You can easily install windows on any Mac using BootCamp, it comes on every Mac and it is 100% free. Check out this Apple page.

What is cool is that Apple writes all the drivers that windows needs to run on their hardware and they are rock solid. I have run XP and Win 7 on my Mac Mini and Mac Pro with no problems at all.

[AudioAstronomer]

Are you guys that are using VMs capable of getting multi-channel I/O in?

I use SAW via boot camp on macs relatively frequently, but it'd be nice if I could get in via a VM.

[cgrafx]

Are you guys that are using VMs capable of getting multi-channel I/O in?

I use SAW via boot camp on macs relatively frequently, but it'd be nice if I could get in via a VM.

Yes, multi-channel, though I haven't tested with high channel counts.