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Author Topic: SD8 software for Mac  (Read 4073 times)

Riley Casey

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SD8 software for Mac
« on: February 15, 2013, 09:54:33 PM »

Blatant cross post from the Gearslutz forum but I thought this too cool to pass up.  I've been looking at an SD8 in comparison to a CL5 console with an eye to a console investment and the lack of a Mac native editor was a minor annoyance.  Not any more.  Now onto all the myriad other differences between the consoles and snake architectures.

Adam Robinson

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Re: SD8 software for Mac
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2013, 11:43:41 PM »

Blatant cross post from the Gearslutz forum but I thought this too cool to pass up.  I've been looking at an SD8 in comparison to a CL5 console with an eye to a console investment and the lack of a Mac native editor was a minor annoyance.  Not any more.  Now onto all the myriad other differences between the consoles and snake architectures.

I've been virtualizing Windows in Parallels for years for the Digico editors, Digidesign editors, Soundcraft editors, Studer editor, Lake software, XTA software, and so on and so forth.  With how easy it is on the Mac to successfully run Windows whether it's in bootcamp or in a piece of software like VMWare or Parallels, I would hope that the OS requirements of a console's offline editor play little into a purchasing decision.
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Riley Casey

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Re: SD8 software for Mac
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2013, 02:09:58 PM »

Well as it turns out I jumped the gun on my post as it turns out that the X11 environment that this ported version of the Digico control program runs in can be less than entirely ideal.  I routinely run Windows apps like the BSS and Digidesign control programs on Macs with Fusion as well and have been doing so since the days of Virtual PC which in part drives my interest in in Mac native console control.  Running Fusion with even a copy of XP takes a fair amount of computer resources.  I am moderately uncomfortable about switching out of the Windows environment to run say an audio cue on the Mac side and then back to Windows.  This isn't an issue when everything is Mac native.  I can easily run Studio Manager, Spectrafoo, Qcart and QLab all at once from a Macbook without undo concern for crashes, lost connectivity with the console or stalled audio from interfaces.  That level of comfort with a Windows only control app would require a second computer.  Not a deal breaker if the console meets my other needs as well or better than the console that has a Mac native app but one of many considerations.  Oddly enough as a sound company owner and one who's business mix is less than half music centric my investment plans are driven less by what sounds good than what is flexible and easy for a large number of engineers to operate quickly and easily. Things like the offline editor and the speed and ease of setting up another mix minus buss out to a particular XLR for me at least might be a bigger part of that equation than might be for a tour engineer who needs the warmest vocal mix for the next three months of an arena tour.

I've been virtualizing Windows in Parallels for years for the Digico editors, Digidesign editors, Soundcraft editors, Studer editor, Lake software, XTA software, and so on and so forth.  With how easy it is on the Mac to successfully run Windows whether it's in bootcamp or in a piece of software like VMWare or Parallels, I would hope that the OS requirements of a console's offline editor play little into a purchasing decision.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2013, 02:43:25 PM by Riley Casey »
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Adam Robinson

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Re: SD8 software for Mac
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2013, 05:46:16 PM »

Well as it turns out I jumped the gun on my post as it turns out that the X11 environment that this ported version of the Digico control program runs in can be less than entirely ideal.  I routinely run Windows apps like the BSS and Digidesign control programs on Macs with Fusion as well and have been doing so since the days of Virtual PC which in part drives my interest in in Mac native console control.  Running Fusion with even a copy of XP takes a fair amount of computer resources.  I am moderately uncomfortable about switching out of the Windows environment to run say an audio cue on the Mac side and then back to Windows.  This isn't an issue when everything is Mac native.  I can easily run Studio Manager, Spectrafoo, Qcart and QLab all at once from a Macbook without undo concern for crashes, lost connectivity with the console or stalled audio from interfaces.  That level of comfort with a Windows only control app would require a second computer.  Not a deal breaker if the console meets my other needs as well or better than the console that has a Mac native app but one of many considerations.  Oddly enough as a sound company owner and one who's business mix is less than half music centric my investment plans are driven less by what sounds good than what is flexible and easy for a large number of engineers to operate quickly and easily. Things like the offline editor and the speed and ease of setting up another mix minus buss out to a particular XLR for me at least might be a bigger part of that equation than might be for a tour engineer who needs the warmest vocal mix for the next three months of an arena tour.

If the console control app is important, I'd be running it on its own machine regardless of platform so it had dedicated resources and was always ready to go.
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Steve Milner

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Re: SD8 software for Mac
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2013, 08:08:21 PM »

If the console control app is important, I'd be running it on its own machine regardless of platform so it had dedicated resources and was always ready to go.

 I agree, whenever I run Qlab, it's on a dedicated machine. I typically run show cues w/ a mac mini or mac pro, and then have a laptop open for console control. I'm running windows 7 as a VM (on my laptop) using Virtual Box, and it's great, runs the DiGiCo & Avid software fine, but I agree that I would never want to be switching back and forth for mission critical applications.

 The cost of setting up a Mac Mini w/ Qlab and an 8CH firewire interface is still cheaper by a good margin then the cost of a single IR360 ... so I feel it's worth it to setup things like Qlab as it's own rig. The computer is just a part of that rig, and doesn't get used for anything else... well the same rack does come in handy for small recording sessions too... but you get the idea.

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Re: SD8 software for Mac
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2013, 08:08:21 PM »


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