Late last year my old MacBook Pro finally bit the dust, which led me to the annoying position where I had to buy a new computer. Another much thought I decided to build myself a Windows PC and move to the ‘other team’ for a combination of reasons. It was a more cost effective for me,I fancied the change after being a loyal Apple customer for about 14 years and I wasn’t keen on the price vs specs and inputs and outputs of the latest Mac computers/laptops.
On my old Mac, I used to use four main bits of software, discounting the usual word processor/emails clients etc. which I always used Google’s Suite for.
For writing out Music/Software for my students or compositions I used Avid Sibelius which had to pay a subscription for. I was never that keen on Sibelius, I found the interface a bit clunky and that it crashed a lot on me. Even though Sibelius has a Windows version, I decided I was going to change software when I built my new computer. I settled on Muse Score 3. This a free program (they do make a paid version for £60ish) but the free version is amazing. Whilst the interface isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as Sibelius the functionally is much easier to use and I haven’t had it crash on me since I downloaded it!
The main bit of software I used on my Mac was Logic Pro, I started on Logic Pro 7 and used it all the way up to version ‘X.’ Logic was my choice of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), which I used for recording/mixing/editing audio, unfortunately Logic is an Apple made product so it is exclusive to their own operating system. After much investigation I settled on PreSonus Studio One, this was a great find as I nearly instantly preferred it to what I was used to and had a number of features that Logic didn’t have!
The third bit of software I used was Apple's Final Cut Pro X, again as an exclusive to Mac I had to replace the software. I had a bit more trouble with the video editing software for Windows. I initially started on Movie Studio Platinum, but found this quite limited feature wise so quickly upgraded to Vegas Pro 16. When I first started using it, I was keen on it but I ran into problems with it constantly crashing and problems when exporting files. This is when I decided to move to Adobe Premiere Pro, which is an incredible software package and has been faultless when using it. The only slight issue I have is that it is subscription based, I prefer to pay for things up front, but on the flipside it means that I don’t have to ever pay to upgrade as I will get the new version on my subscription.
The final bit of software I use is the free photo editor GIMP, luckily they make a Windows version as well as Mac, so I didn’t have to worry about that!
It has been around 9 months since I moved, and I haven’t regretted it. I have even bought a Windows laptop, the only issue I have is that it doesn’t get as many hours of battery life as my old Macbook.
This blog post isn’t meant to bash Macs or Apple, I was a loyal user for years. I just know there is a myth that you need to use a Mac for Music or Video production, but I have been working professionally on Windows without any issues!