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Ok I don’t have a citation other than amongst the hundreds of djs and producers I’ve had contact with in the rave/club scenes over the past couple decades I’ve

Ok I don’t have a citation other than amongst the hundreds of djs and producers I’ve had contact with in the rave/club scenes over the past couple decades I’ve seen that Macs, Atari, and Amiga were dominant in the early 90s and by the early 2000s the tide was turning and now it’s almost exclusively Windows everywhere other than people doing all-hardware sequencing and modular stuff. I haven’t exactly pestered everyone with a notepad and pencil taking a survey so I do not have a citation. I’d be VERY curious to hear a credible citation to the contrary showing that Macs are growing in use or even maintaining steady market share. That’s not what I see out in the world.

prokoudine 6y ago
Since we are exchanging anecdotal evidence :), every single one of my musician friends except just one person has moved to the mac in the last 10 years. The reason why that one person didn't is that he needs some Windows-specific software for work.
- spacechild1 6y ago
  I can concur, many - if not most - musicians musicians I know use Macbooks for their live performances. Low latency audio on Macbooks just works (tm). It's certainly possible on Windows and Linux, but it requires the right hardware and some tweaking. I'm on Windows, btw.
  - stallmanite 6y ago
    I’m talking in the studio when the actual work is getting done. A soldered down ssd and ram is not a good investment for a studio musician who wants to be able to expand. Definitely for live shows fashion plays a role so you’re gonna see more macs. Re: the latency thing everybody I know just drops the $50 for a Focusrite 2x2 and installs the right ASIO driver.
    - spacechild1 6y ago
      > I’m talking in the studio when the actual work is getting done Ok, the situation in studios might be different (but I would curious to see actual numbers). In a live show you want reliable low latency audio (especially if you play VSTis on a keyboard or do any kind of live processing) and macOS is very good at this, better than Windows I would say. Dismissing this as "fashion" is a bit simplistic. I'm a computer musician and audio programmer. Although I use Windows most of the time, I would be the first one to admit that the audio situation on Windows is a total mess. As Paul said, on macOS you have a single API and it just works (tm). On Windows, we needed an external company (Steinberg) to come up with a usable solution for low latency audio (ASIO).
- stallmanite 6y ago
  Weird. What genres are your musician friends into? Must just the circles I travel with but in the parts of the techno/house/drum and bass scenes that I’m privy to in the US, UK, and Germany I see less than 5% macs probably and as the hardware has gotten less expandable (soldered ram, soldered ssd) that number has been decreasing further. Odd that we see such drastically different trends in our respective subcultures.

prokoudine 6y ago

Since we are exchanging anecdotal evidence :), every single one of my musician friends except just one person has moved to the mac in the last 10 years. The reason why that one person didn't is that he needs some Windows-specific software for work.

spacechild1 6y ago
I can concur, many - if not most - musicians musicians I know use Macbooks for their live performances. Low latency audio on Macbooks just works (tm). It's certainly possible on Windows and Linux, but it requires the right hardware and some tweaking. I'm on Windows, btw.
- stallmanite 6y ago
  I’m talking in the studio when the actual work is getting done. A soldered down ssd and ram is not a good investment for a studio musician who wants to be able to expand. Definitely for live shows fashion plays a role so you’re gonna see more macs. Re: the latency thing everybody I know just drops the $50 for a Focusrite 2x2 and installs the right ASIO driver.
  - spacechild1 6y ago
    > I’m talking in the studio when the actual work is getting done Ok, the situation in studios might be different (but I would curious to see actual numbers). In a live show you want reliable low latency audio (especially if you play VSTis on a keyboard or do any kind of live processing) and macOS is very good at this, better than Windows I would say. Dismissing this as "fashion" is a bit simplistic. I'm a computer musician and audio programmer. Although I use Windows most of the time, I would be the first one to admit that the audio situation on Windows is a total mess. As Paul said, on macOS you have a single API and it just works (tm). On Windows, we needed an external company (Steinberg) to come up with a usable solution for low latency audio (ASIO).
stallmanite 6y ago
Weird. What genres are your musician friends into? Must just the circles I travel with but in the parts of the techno/house/drum and bass scenes that I’m privy to in the US, UK, and Germany I see less than 5% macs probably and as the hardware has gotten less expandable (soldered ram, soldered ssd) that number has been decreasing further. Odd that we see such drastically different trends in our respective subcultures.