MacPro or new Dell

Hi,

I'm trying to decide if I should get a MacPro 2.53Mhz with a 4GB Ram or a Dell Studio 15 with about the same Processor speed and Ram. Yes I know there is a big price diff but I'm looking for performance reliabiltiy.

I have about 320GB of music I store externally and was wondering if anyone has transitioned from a PC to a Mac and how hard is it to save all the manual tagging, cue points, beat grids, and etc I have already created on many of my music in TSP?

I am a long time PC user and hate to buy a Mac and then have to redo everything to convert. It would take forever. All my DJ buddies seem to use a Mac and love it.

I have skipping issues on my Sony now with the Denon 5000 CD players and it seems to happen at the same point in every song. I also get some freezing in TSP whenever I click and drag a new song to the other deck. I know it may be my Ram now but I see that another Moderator has the Dell Studio 15 and he practically has to re-mod the whole thing.

What are you opinions?

Thanks for your help.

 

really,
if you ask, i will answer:
go for a mac.

i had several issues with my hp laptop, wich meets the min.specs in any way.
but it just seems to have some major problems with tp.
on the mac, i never had a similar issue.

you don`t need to configure your computer/os to eventually work better,
mac os works out of the box just perfect.
i`m not telling that it`s not possible to have a working pc with tp.
but if you ask me, you`ll have much more fun with a mac.

you don`t need to convert anything within your collection,
since tp stores it`s info in the --.tsi-file -
as well as into the mp3-files itself.
so, when you re-import your collection,
you should find all your grids, cue-points and such.

see some other threads about sharing collection from pc to mac,
you`ll find lots of tipps ...

do yourself a favor, buy a mac.

 

I'm not going to get into the PC vs Mac debate, however I do notice you're running version 1.1.2.

Have you ever tried running newer versions? Also, have you checked your system for dpc interruptions, etc?

 

Thanks Milesahead for the help. My main concern was losing the cue points, tagging, etc. I have neeb saving .tpi files every so often and just wanted to make sure before I do the big leap.

DJ Quartz,

I have much respect for your knowledge/expertise and I appreciate you not getting into the debate of PC vs Mac but I have tried the DPC latency check and also pretty much turned off everhing I possibly can to prevent the TSP from faulting...but it still does get its gremlins. I also have not added any spyware/anti-spy ware etc but still have the skipping issues. I recently switched to using 1200s again and that seems to fix my needs but whenever I use the house system ie CDJ 1000MK3 I get the gremlins back. other DJ on the venue for that same night have no probs with serato and their macs.
I have not upload a newer version yet until the forums say that they don't have that many issues. I will actually upload the 1.2.2 since it seems like it is more stable.Don't get me wrong I will go all the way with TSP and can't wait for the X1 to be sold but a Mac seems like its just turn on and spin without the hassle. I am not a big fan of the Mac but it that works for the big name DJ listed on NI then it should work for me.

Thanks again

 

Nuff Respect,

That gives me a bit more info because if you can use vinyl timecode with no problem, there is something else causing issues.

At first I thought you were having problems with audio drop outs, etc. But this seems like a totally different issue.

Try with 1.2.2 and see what happens.

 

Ok DJ Quartz,
I just updated to 1.2.2 and audio 8 to 2.0.5. I stillget the skipping issues with my Denons and now I cant control my CD Tiemcodes. I would hit cue(stop) and the music seems to be all distorted (don't know how else to explain)? I have my audio 8 USB buffer set to 2ms and my Audio buffer set to 6ms with a sample rat of 44100. I tried changing the audio to 5ms and I get the reaction as stated above. am I going the wrong way?

Thanks for your help.
---
I also get a humming noise from when ever I hit pause or cue and it seems to go away if i spin the platter any ideas?

thanks

 

It sounds like you have a major ground loop. First things, we have to eliminate that hum.

Do you have thread post in the technical section for this problem, yet?

If not, could I rename and move this thread in there and continue troubleshooting? Or would you prefer to create a seperate thread and continue the mac vs pc discussion here?

 

Never mind, someone already moved it. I will rename the thread appropriately.

We need to get rid of that hum, if you run off battery power alone do you still hear the hum?

We'll deal with timecode control next.

 

I think I got rid of the hum and the other issues. I unclicked the CD Mode and that fixed the distortion. Maybe that feature doesn't work well with the Denons?

 

I am a new convert myself. I upgrade both of my HP systems to Windows 7 and had no network connection (HP was not supporting either system under Win 7- thus no driver development). These are not that old either- under 18 months (and the desktop was a quad core). I realized that I spend more time trying to tweak and fix my pc setup. I was a big pusher of DPC Latency Checker- why should I have to use that? I just wanted my music apps to work.
So I bought an imac and a MBP (the same one you are looking at). Got Logic Express (now saving up to get the full Logic Studio). And am loving it. I am not tweaking anymore- I just do music.
So, not knocking PC's (I sell them afterall)- but for music- I am now happy to focus on just that. BUT, I say this as someone who cares only about music (and not games).

Last thing- if you think the price is way too high for Mac- consider the design and technology that you are getting My MBP is unibody- beautiful screen- cool keyboard ( backlit as well). Solid as a rock- no vents or fans on the bottom. Shuts down in under 4 seconds. Had a fantastic touch pad (once you start using it- you will hate going back to a normal PC trackpad). I can't say enough about the value for the design.

 

CD Mode stutters the playback when you pause the deck. So that is not a timecode problem. That is an actual function.

 

Yea I know I use that for CDJ1000s but that feature never seems to work for Denon.

 

It could be the way jog's work on the Denon as well. So it's working with CD Mode disabled?

 

Hey Quartz,

If you can help me with the TC for CD that would be great. I will probably be signing off in the next 15mins though. so here is a brief history I get the skips at aprox 10 secs into the begining of a song that I am trying to blend in with. so needless to say (live) it make me offbeat. It is at every song especially this weekneds gig. I copied the TC CD at a lower volume as well because the tech support told me that Denon's volme output are louder than the other guys so that did not fix it.

Thanks!

 

Actually I'm glad you mentioned that because that was the next question I was going to ask.

So it happens exactly at the 10 second mark on every song?

What happens if you're in relative mode? Also, what does you're scope look like when it happens?

 

It actually happens in both modes
---
the scope does "reshape" meaning that the circle gets distorted just when you would first hit the RST button then the CD on bottom left says CD skipping.

 

That seems very weird....

So it happens exactly at the second mark everytime?

If so, record the timecode being played past 10 seconds.

I'm curious to know what happens at that point. I've tested timecode cd's on a cheap portable dvd player and never had that problem.

Something is up.

 

Personally i use mac and pc, they are the same inside, same parts exactly.

The only difference is the operating system and EFI/BIOS

I personally prefer OSX as an operating system and wish the EFI was as configurable as a BIOS

 

I put in a NI ticket and Got a reply but cant get a complete fix yet...waiting to hear back from them now.
I have tried playing the TC from anywhere past the 10 sec mark like from 2 mins in and it seems to be fine.

Also Im trying to think about how to record it on another program in to get it past the 10 second mark. I will load it up on Sonic and try it that way...I hope that is what you are talking about.

thanks man,

 

ray eng,

Does you dns-5000 have a setting to turn on/off the audio curve?

This is one of the drawbacks with using older Denon model players.