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Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 9:14 pm
by Dub_Fiend
Easy all,

I recently got myself a Macbook to write music on the move with and to play out live with (without having to borrow a lappy from people at the venue) and I was wondering what interesting and/or good software people would recommend to download (music-related or otherwise)...

I've been using PCs with Windows on for the past 15 years or so, so I'm relatively comfortable with the kind of software which is available to PC users but I have no clue about interesting or useful Mac software so it'd be nice to get some hints, tips or nudges towards certain software packages (free or paid) so I can get to grips with the Mac 'scene' if you will.


Dub Fiend

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 9:26 pm
by samurai
i'm thinking of getting a macbook soon. just wondering did you get the regular macbook or macbook pro?

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 9:28 pm
by deadly_habit
bootcamp

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 9:54 pm
by wirez
Logic :twisted:

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:06 pm
by Dub_Fiend
samurai wrote:i'm thinking of getting a macbook soon. just wondering did you get the regular macbook or macbook pro?
Got the regular one :) Bought a second hand one off a Uni mate for £500 quid, bargain considering it's under a year old and in great condition :3

Deadly, I've got a SICK kitted-out PC, don't need Boot Camp :P And screw Logic, got Ableton and Cubase for all my DAW needs ;)


Dub Fiend

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:10 pm
by wirez
Dub Fiend wrote:
samurai wrote:i'm thinking of getting a macbook soon. just wondering did you get the regular macbook or macbook pro?
Got the regular one :) Bought a second hand one off a Uni mate for £500 quid, bargain considering it's under a year old and in great condition :3

Deadly, I've got a SICK kitted-out PC, don't need Boot Camp :P And screw Logic, got Ableton and Cubase for all my DAW needs ;)


Dub Fiend
Lol I know this foooooo'. Peace and harmony over here from Logic man, stop hating. :lol:

Nah seriously though man if you find anything you need specifically give me a shout, Mac's do handle themselves pretty well and there's only a minimum amount of things you're going to find you need in addition to what you already have.

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:10 pm
by collige
Audio Hijack
Soundflower
Logic

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:15 pm
by Depone
all the things like ableton and cubase are also for pc. why did you get a mac? :P

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:19 pm
by Dub_Fiend
wirez wrote:
Dub Fiend wrote:
samurai wrote:i'm thinking of getting a macbook soon. just wondering did you get the regular macbook or macbook pro?
Got the regular one :) Bought a second hand one off a Uni mate for £500 quid, bargain considering it's under a year old and in great condition :3

Deadly, I've got a SICK kitted-out PC, don't need Boot Camp :P And screw Logic, got Ableton and Cubase for all my DAW needs ;)


Dub Fiend
Lol I know this foooooo'. Peace and harmony over here from Logic man, stop hating. :lol:

Nah seriously though man if you find anything you need specifically give me a shout, Mac's do handle themselves pretty well and there's only a minimum amount of things you're going to find you need in addition to what you already have.
Hehehe, got love for Logic man as it's a sick sequencer from what I've heard/seen, just cba to learn to use another sequencing platform :P

Fair does bruv, well aside from me installing Cubase 5 and Ableton when I'm back home there isn't much else on my agenda to get right now, I was just wondering whether there was some other marvellous Mac-exclusive software that peeps were using :mrgreen:

And Dep, mainly so I can play out to be honest :D As I said, I felt it was a tad unfair to ask people to provide me with a Mac or laptop for me to play out with every time I played a gig, and on top of that the last time that happened I was rushing around trying to install QuickTime and ASIO4All cause it wasn't natively equipped to run live audio (it was the missus of one of the co-organisers' laptop :roll:)


Dub Fiend

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:32 pm
by decree
I found Logic to be way more applicable with mac than cubase, especially logic 9

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:34 pm
by Dub_Fiend
Can't really afford the Logic price tag though... And I already have Cubase 5 :3


Dub Fiend

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:43 pm
by tripaddict
apples n stuff lol

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:57 pm
by wirez
Depone wrote:all the things like ableton and cubase are also for pc. why did you get a mac? :P
Because they're better :lol:

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 11:01 pm
by wirez
collige wrote: Soundflower
Good shout. I use it with Audacity as opposed to Audio Hijak though, but SoundflowerBed is essential if you want to rip audio from stuff...

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 11:07 pm
by samurai
since macheads will come to this thread. is it worth lumping out the extra cash for the macbook pro? i know you get the fancy keyboard, aluminium shell and firewire port but apart from that is it just the same as the regular macbook? i heard something about macbook pros having a better headphone socket. is that true?

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 11:49 pm
by wirez
samurai wrote:since macheads will come to this thread. is it worth lumping out the extra cash for the macbook pro? i know you get the fancy keyboard, aluminium shell and firewire port but apart from that is it just the same as the regular macbook? i heard something about macbook pros having a better headphone socket. is that true?
I don't own a macbook but I know that when I do buy one I will definitely be going for the macbook pro only because of the firewire issue. I actually think it's a bit out of order of apple not to supply these in the normal macbooks though, don't see why they can't.

Are macbook pro's not more powerful btw? Surely you don't pay extra just because of those things you mentioned? (Can't be bothered to trapes all the way through the apple store ;))

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 11:57 pm
by chewie
audiofinder

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 12:11 am
by wirez
chewie wrote:audiofinder
This is a brilliant piece of software but I don't find myself using it too often, I think it's mainly because I can't seem to drag and drop from the software into Kontakt in Logic :( Otherwise I'd definitely use it a lot more I think!

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 12:16 am
by deadly_habit
wirez wrote:
Depone wrote:all the things like ableton and cubase are also for pc. why did you get a mac? :P
Because they're better :lol:

Re: Just bought a Mac - Useful Software?

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 12:19 am
by tylerblue
Stuffit Expander and Toast are pieces of software you'll probably want in your toolkit. +1 on Audiofinder.

As far as Macbook vs Macbook pro -- definitely spend the extra money for a Macbook Pro.


Safe