Audio & Music Programs using Boot Camp?

zenvision said:

Has anyone tried running Cubase SX3, Acid Pro or WaveLab (or equivilent audio programs) through Boot Camp? I've got Windows versions of these programs (and Acid is Windows only) so I really want to know if these run ok! I want to use Boot Camp (ie XP) for my music creation & design work (until universal binaries appear) and Mac OS X for everything else...

This is the most important factor for me in whether I get a MacBook Pro! Please persuade me

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There is no reroutable audio on the mac (running xp) period. I have an m-audio fastrack pro. I did install it (using the newest xp drivers) for giggles..No go. There are no conflicts, and no sound

zenvision said:

What do you mean by reroutable audio? If I want to run Acid Pro or Cubase to create tracks & edit sound, maybe record some audio through the line-in or use MIDI, will it simply not work?

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Mac OSX: Optical/Analog in & out.
Windows XP: Optical/Analog out. No audio in. You cant switch off the Apple speakers. You plug in your headphones, the sound still comes out of the integrated speakers as well, as mentioned in the "boot camp FAQ".

So...Buy a macbook pro, buy Logic Pro/Express 7, enjoy.
Win xp are teh suck for audio, and the macbook audio circuit obviously is of great quality, I would tend to say the best on the market. Listening to some music from the integrated line out of Apple computers (even an iBook) is 1000x better for quality as the integrated line out of any pc, but that may just be my biased ears.

Make your choice...I suggest macbook pro, and for the whine issue, cant hear it even in analog mode, and if it does, get it replaced for free for a year.

Good luck for your purchase.

Whiteapple said:

Mac OSX: Optical/Analog in & out.
Windows XP: Optical/Analog out. No audio in. You cant switch off the Apple speakers. You plug in your headphones, the sound still comes out of the integrated speakers as well, as mentioned in the "boot camp FAQ".

So...Buy a macbook pro, buy Logic Pro/Express 7, enjoy.
Win xp are teh suck for audio, and the macbook audio circuit obviously is of great quality, I would tend to say the best on the market. Listening to some music from the integrated line out of Apple computers (even an iBook) is 1000x better for quality as the integrated line out of any pc, but that may just be my biased ears.

Make your choice...I suggest macbook pro, and for the whine issue, cant hear it even in analog mode, and if it does, get it replaced for free for a year.

Good luck for your purchase.

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agreed. I use logic express. Incredible program. I play my fingers to the bone and when I need a break, I just hold down the alt key for my XP gaming. I'm really digging it.

Stick to OSX for audio. No comparison to Windows.

On a side note; I may install the sigmatel drivers to get my headphones to work (even though there goes the internal output) we shall see.

zenvision said:

Ok so theres no line-in recording under XP (yet), but surely this means I can still edit audio files (say samples or loops) within the music programs, and install & plug in my MIDI keyboard via USB and it should work? If the only problems are that I can't use the line-in yet and the speakers dont reroute, then it seems I can run the programs pretty much as usual...am I right or misunderstanding it all?

As for Logic Pro, I would LOVE to get it, but I don't have the funds to buy it right now...Plus it seems like a perfect solution to use my existing Windows software via Boot Camp (especially as Acid Pro is Windows only)...

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you got it!

Buy a macbook pro, because you cant download a macbook pro.
As for the software, even if Logic is Apple and Acid is not, i wouldnt feel so guilty to download it if I spent about (well for me: 2799€) on an Apple computer, especially if it's not compiled in universal binaries yet.
Of course, I wont tell you where to do that, it's forbidden

PS: dont forget Logic won't be as fast as Acid until a UB comes out for OSX.
You could use your MIDI USB stuff under XP at the moment, since you dont apparently need more than the internal speakers&headphones.

Make sure all your audio hardware is mac compatible, which it should generally be...

good luck

Running Cubase SX3/Reason 3 under XP on MacBookPro

Hi there,

To address some of the points I came across this forum, I'd gladly share my current experience with using the aforementioned softwares under XP on a new MacBook Pro.

I used to run these two softares "rewired" together, on top of other things from Native Instruments (Guitar Rig, Absynth...) and perhaps Rebirth occasionnally.

My main problems are:

1. the USB optical mouse doesn't work properly under BootCamp. I've read a few notes in this trouble on the Apple website and I must admit this is a pain in the neck, especially when editing a drum track on Reason.
2. I am using a Tascam US-224 as audio card. Guitars are plugged in via a Line6 POD XT into the Tascam entries, as I haven't downloaded the XP version of Line6 Gearbox yet ;-) No latency whatsoever. Yet, I do have the Tascam that sometimes get disconnected for no apparent reason. Investigating to figure out whether it comes from the USB hub or not.
3. the overall sound quality of Cubase SX is matching what I had on a Windows desktop. No big surprise in here. I can't wait to try it on ont the MAC OS X platform, with the UB version. Also, I'll try a few of the latest recordings with active loudspeakers anytime soon, to have a better idea I'll share with you guys. But today, nothing bad, but nothing fantastic either.
4. In terms of performance, it's flawless. Not the boost I expected though. Perhaps due to the Mac brainwashing I admit to be a victim of. Or perhaps due to the fact that in the end, I should be running things under OSX...
5. Minor issues such as the powerdrive not being able to burn any disk under XP or USB devices unusable make my life hard when time has come to edit my recordings.

So, I must say I am rather happy with the temporary setup I've got at the moment. The only very negative point is the integration of MAC USB devices such as the mighty mouse and the Apple keyboard. For the price of the MacbookPro, I believe this shouldn't be the case.

I am thinking of moving onto Logic Express7, after having seen a friend runnin Logic Pro. I don't want to spend all that money on Logic Pro for the use I'll have of the latter. The difference will be injected into a proper soundcard I guess.

I shall try the Universal Binary version of Reason 3 this week and shall post my comments accordingly.

Regards,
Dom